Carver clearly didn’t know her that well after all based on the look of surprise on his face.“Butyoujust—”
“Planned out a series of movements to gain a submission and followed through with them while making adjustments in form to compensate for your changes?That’s strategy, practice, and execution.Impromptu is not myforte.”
I wanted to laugh, but my mind was already skipping ahead.Why the hell was she grappling and submitting a guy?Was there more of a security threat than she’dleton?
“You studying self-defense for fun or out of necessity?”Iasked.
“Does it matter?”Her question to answer a question didn’tsatisfyme.
I dropped the dumbbell and lunged toward Ari, catching her off guard by locking one arm around her stomach and the other around her neck.Then I hauled her back against me like an attackermight.
For a moment, she didn’t move, frozen in shock.Probably like she would if someone actually attacked her inreallife.
“Fight me,” I growled into her ear.“If I can get you out of this room, I can get you in a car and no one ever sees youagain.”
Still she didn’t move, but Carver looked like he wanted to pull a gun and go for a head shot.Fuck him.I was more invested in her personal safety than he’d ever be.This wasn’t a paycheck to me, this was personal.Vital.
“Fight me, goddammit.Show me what you’ve got.What you’d do if your life dependedonit.”
I dragged her toward the door, and six feet from it, Ari finally snapped into action.Elbow to the gut.Good.Stomp to the top of my foot.Damn,thathurt.
Adjusting my grip, I moved my hand up from her neck to cover her mouth as she started to swear.Partially cutting off her ability to breathe would scare the shit out of her, but hopefully force her to fightharder.
We were three feet from the door when she bit my hand, and I jerked it away.Exactly the move she was waiting for.The next thing I knew, I was lying flat on my back on the mat with Ari standing above me, her chest heaving and a troubled expression onherface.
Carver stepped beside her, holding out her bottle of water.“You need to work on your reaction time.”As soon as he delivered his advice, he strode out of the room, shutting the doorbehindhim.
“You bit me,” I said, acutely aware we were now alone and I was already flat onmyback.
“You manhandled me,” she snapped out, outrage coloringhertone.
“I think you liked it.That’s why you didn’t fight me off atfirst.”
Her indrawn breath was indignant.“Ididnot!”
“Your eyebrow just twitched, Red.”With a grin, I spun on my back and swept her leg so she tumbled to the floor, landing on topofme.
“Whatareyou—”
“Going after what I want.”Her gray eyes widened as I gripped the back of her head and pulled her down until her lips almost touched mine.“Kiss me.You know youwantto.”
She opened her mouth to protest, just like I knew she would, and I seized the advantage, crushing my lips to hers and sweeping my tongueinside.
One thing was for sure, her reaction time for kissing me was a hell of a lot better than it was for fighting me off.Sweet, sweetheaven.
And when she moaned into my mouth, my instincts shot into overdrive.I palmed her ass and squeezed, pressing her into my throbbing dick.With only a couple of layers of fabric between us, there was no question of her knowing exactly how I felt about her right at that moment.Another shaky inhale, and her hips buckedagainstme.
Fuck.
Without thinking, I released her ass and rolled her under me, and she spread her legs so I could settle my hips between her thighs.Her full tits, which I already knew would be spectacular, pressed against my chest, the nipples hard through hersportsbra.
Her hands speared into my hair and she tugged at my lip with her teeth, urging me on, thrusting upagainstme.
I’d never allowed myself to think about what it would be like to have Ari under me, and it was a damn good thing.I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself.Without thinking, I gripped the hem of her tank top, ready to yank it up and over her head, and Istilled.
Not like this.Notyet.
Ari noticed my hesitation when I released her shirt and scooted out from under me so fast, I was surprised she didn’t knee me inthejunk.