Page 75 of Selling Innocence

I took her sweater along with the clothes she took off and put them into the bag I’d also gotten from the front desk. I set it near the door, then put our phones on top, her purse beside it.

Having a phone when working out like this was foolish. I’d shattered more than my fair share of screens before realizing that conversing via text during sparing was foolish.

However, a whiteboard on the wall with a dry erase marker on a chain next to it placed just for me showed why I used this room.

“So we’re going to work out?” she asked.

I went to the large whiteboard, taking the marker in my hand.

You seem stressed. I thought some basic self-defense would help you relax.

A smile played across her lips. “You really read me well, huh?”

I take it your meeting didn’t go well?

“I wouldn’t say that. He gave me the advice I needed, but knowing what I need to do is different than being sure I can.” Her own doubts hung heavy on the words.

It was something I’d noticed with her. She had little faith in herself. She didn’t trust herself or her decisions.

Why?

From what I’d seen, she was responsible and reliable. What had happened in her past to make her so afraid of herself? How had she gained so little confidence?

I could have kept going with the writing, but if she wanted conversation, I wasn’t the best for that. Instead, I moved away from the whiteboard for the main purpose.

* * * *

An hour later and I had no question about whether or not the girl had been trained. She astounded me over and over again, countering my moves with the ease of someone who had practiced it many times.

She wasn’t up to my skill level, of course, but she proved she could hold her own against most people who would want to grab her.

Just who taught her this?

I had to guess it was those bodyguards she spoke about so fondly. She claimed they were like brothers, but I couldn’t stop a certain level of distaste. Too often women thought men around them saw them that way only to later find out it wasn’t the case at all.

Was that the truth here?

I grabbed her from behind, wrapping my arm around her and pulling her against my chest. Touching her felt strange, still, but at least doing it this way meant I had rules, guidelines.

Kenz reacted beautifully. She didn’t panic, didn’t struggle mindlessly the way most people did. She remained calm even with me that close, with my larger size and strength restraining her. Kenz grabbed my arm and shifted forward, dropping her center of gravity to throw off my balance. When I was forced to readjust, she used the moment to twist and rolled me forward.

I flipped, my back striking the padded floors, forcing the air from my lungs.

Impressive. I’d expected her to stomp my foot, to drive her elbow into my stomach, even to bite my arm. Instead, she’d managed to put me on my back.

Except, it seemed she wasn’t finished, yet. She didn’t release my arm, twisting it but not so far as to harm my joint. It forced me to roll to take the stress off my shoulder—her exact plan, since she took advantage of that by sitting on my back and pinning my wrist to my mid-back.

“It’s been too long since I’ve gotten to do this,” she admitted with a breathy laugh.

She couldn’t see my face, so I allowed myself to grin at her tone. How often did I have fun with anyone?

Still, I wasn’t about to let her win. A man had his pride, after all, and she’d proven she wasn’t some fragile thing who needed to be treated carefully.

I dug my toes into the mats for leverage, then shifted my hips to the side opposite of where she had my arm pinned. The last thing I wanted to risk was getting my shoulder dislocated because she accidentally yanked it the wrong way.

Sure enough, she released my wrist to avoid harming me. Sweet girl. I turned enough to grab her arm, then maneuvered her light weight easily. It would have been far harder to do this sort of thing with a full-grown man, but Kenz couldn’t weigh more than one-ten or so.

I flipped us, pinning her on her back below me. She lifted one leg, no doubt to wrap it around my waist and regain her upper hand. However, after an hour of doing this, I knew her strengths and weaknesses.