“Casey, this is Aiden. He’s our owner.”
She waved. “Hi. Sorry for being a chicken about this.”
He dipped his head down because she was so much shorter than him. “Don’t ever apologize, okay? It’s hard to let someone put their hands on you, even if it’s just to practice.”
I had to fight the urge not to think something unfair like, oh, screw him for saying something perfect. I didn’t want Aiden to say and do perfect things. I wanted him to screw up. Do something that made me mad. Do something that made me want to call Carl back and tell him I’d take his job offer.
And that was the thing. I didn’t want to take Carl’s job offer. I’d only do it if I had a really, really good reason. As Aiden faced me, green eyes locked onto my face, I had to make peace with the fact that him knocking my emotions off-kilter was not a good reason.
Imagining us together wasn’t a good reason.
Wondering if he had any room in his life, his heart, for someone new wasn’t enough either.
Acknowledging it was enough to calm something frantic inside me. Trusting that I knew it was right to stay, even if it took me time to move past this, had me breathing easier.
“Aiden is going to grab my hair, okay?” I said to Casey even though my gaze didn’t move from his. “And I want you to watch how I move my arm.”
He made no quick moves, nothing designed to surprise. As his arm lifted, shifting the muscles underneath the cotton of his shirt, it was just a little bit harder to breathe. Ribs squeezed in when the thick column of his throat moved on a heavy swallow. Because I’d just imagined us so clearly, there was a blurring in my head of what was real and what wasn’t.
Just before he touched me, he hesitated. Our gazes held like that, and I wondered what he saw in my face.
When his hand curled around my braid, his fingers brushed against the nape of my neck. It was so light, barely even there, but I shivered all the same.
And he noticed. His eyes narrowed just slightly.
To the side, Casey moved, and I blinked.
I moved my attention to her. “Don’t ever try to yank away or try to pull their hand off your hair.”
She’d wrapped her lips over her teeth, but she nodded. Two bright pink spots dotted her cheeks.
“Watch where I pull down, just by his elbow.”
I took a deep breath and swung the arm that was between us, hooking it around the top of his arm and yanking it forward in a big C shape. Aiden stumbled forward, and I caught sight of Casey’s huge smile.
Aiden quirked an eyebrow at me when he straightened to his full height, and at his expression, I exhaled a laugh.
“Again?” he asked. His tone was warm, and my toes curled in my shoes.
I nodded.
He grabbed my hair again, his grip a bit more firm. I motioned for him to wait. “Watch what I do at the end now. This is only if you feel like you need it.”
“Do I get a warning of what you’re going to do to me?” he asked.
“Nope.”
Casey laughed.
His hand tightened, my skin humming as it did, and I swung my arm around again—harder this time—and when he stumbled forward, I kicked my foot into the back of his already bent knee, and he immediately fell forward.
Casey clapped. “That was awesome.”
With a grin, I gave her a high five. “And I’m not bigger or stronger than him, right?”
She shook her head.
Aiden straightened again, pinning me with a look that almost, almost could’ve looked amused. Something light and bubbling hit my bloodstream, and I desperately wanted to grip his face in my hands and kiss him when he looked like that.
With all the control I was capable of, I pulled my focus away from him.
“It’s not about fighting them off, Casey. Disengage and escape. That’s all you ever need to worry about.”
“Thanks,” I told him.
“I think we’re even now,” he murmured, pointing at the steel beam where Anya had been perched.
I nodded jerkily.
He gave a quick nod to Casey. “Call tomorrow if you want to set up a free training session with either Isabel or Kelly, okay? It’s on me.”
“Thank you,” she said fervently. “You guys are awesome.”
He disappeared off the gym floor and back into his office, and slowly, my heart returned to a normal speed.
Casey set her hand on my arm. “Thank you. Seriously.”
“That’s my job,” I told her.
And it was.
She waved goodbye, and I sat on the edge of the center ring, leaning up against the ropes when I felt him approach.
Neither of us said anything, and I had to close my eyes to fight the urge to escape. The urge to stay. It was a constant battle when it came to him.
“Ward,” he said.
Slowly, I opened my eyes. I wanted to hear him whisper that in my ear.
He was staring at the parking lot, where Casey was pulling her car out of her spot. “Whatever you need to get some classes like that on the schedule, you make it happen.”
My throat was tight as I nodded.
“If you want,” he added quietly.
“I do.”
“Good.” He exhaled, eyes coming to rest on me for just a moment. But I felt like he’d just wrapped his hands around my hair again, like his fingers tightened in the strands and tugged my head back.
For a moment, we were quiet.
“You taught a lot today,” he said.
I glanced up at him. “I don’t normally do that much.”
“How many more do you need?”
He’d seemingly plucked my earlier thought from my head, and after a deep breath, I said, “Two more would make things more comfortable.”
Aiden nodded. “What else?”
“What?”
“What else do you need?” he asked.
I blew out a breath. What a question.
Heavy eye contact. Loaded subtext. Sex vibes, wasn’t that what Emily had called it?
There was no
