Dating A Hitman (The Dating Series Book 4)

by Love, B. T.

  As if knowing I was thinking about him, Troy came into the kitchen. “Hey,” he said, as if we hadn’t had that ridiculous encounter the day before.

  I kept my back to him. “I’m still mad at you.”

  “I know.” I could feel him come closer to me and stand by the side of the island. “Your brother told me about your little joyride with Vladimir.”

  I scoffed and finished spreading the jelly on my bread. “And why is that any of your business?”

  “Because it is.”

  “Of course it is. Because you can have your privacy, and you can steal my mail, but heaven forbid I accept a lunch invitation with someone. Then it’s your business, apparently.”

  “Accepting a lunch invitation isn’t just accepting lunch with him.”

  I spun around and pointed my jelly-covered knife at him. “Stay out of my business and stay out of my life.” I turned back around and flipped the top piece of bread onto the bottom one. “And stay out of my mail.”

  He stepped closer to me. “You know, when I was holding you down yesterday you weren’t able to fight me off.”

  “Yeah, I was there; I remember.”

  “You need to learn how to defend yourself.”

  “I don’t need advice from you, Troy.”

  He stepped closer. “As a woman you should learn self-defense.”

  “Sure. I’ll be sure to do that,” I said with a major attitude.

  He moved forward another step and pressed his body against my back. I cut my sandwich in half and then looked up at the cabinet above me. “What the hell are you doing, huh? I don’t have time for your weird games right now.”

  “Try to get away from me.” He brought his arm up and placed it around my neck. “You think you’re so tough, go ahead. Get away from me.”

  I let out a sigh of irritation. “Are you serious right now?”

  “Yep. You need to learn to protect yourself. Because if I wasn’t a good guy I could have done something really bad to you on your bed yesterday, and you wouldn’t have been able to do anything about it. And that really bothers me.”

  “What do you care?”

  “I care more than you think. Now, try and get away.” I rolled my eyes and put my hand on his forearm to pull it away in a giant failed attempt. “I’m being serious, Scarlett,” he huffed. “This isn’t a damn joke.”

  “I, I can’t take you seriously.”

  “Do I need to squeeze harder?” He flexed his bicep, putting more pressure around my neck. “There. Now defend yourself. Use your brain; what would you do to me right now if I were someone else who was attacking you?” I brought my hand up to stick him with my knife but he knocked it away with his free hand. “Nice try,” he said flatly. “But I knew you had a knife before I even touched you; I was expecting you to use it.”

  With both of my hands free I clawed away at his arm, huffing the entire time. “You’re too strong!”

  “Figure it out.” He reached around me and grabbed one half of my sandwich, bringing it back to his mouth for a bite.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said with annoyance. “Now you’re eating my sandwich?”

  “Yep.” As I dug away at his arm he sat my sandwich back down and then dragged me over to the fridge. His grip stayed firm on my neck as he opened the door, reached in, and pulled out a soda.

  “I can’t believe this,” I groaned.

  “Yeah, neither can I.”

  He shut the refrigerator door and pulled me back to where my plate was, sitting the soda on the counter and cracking it open with one hand. I listened as he gulped about half of it down, while the whole time I jerked away at his arm, trying my hardest to escape.

  “This is ridiculous,” I said. “You’re actually eating lunch and strangling me at the same time.”

  “I agree, it is ridiculous. You would be dead by now if this really happened to you. You definitely were more aggressive yesterday.”

  “I was pissed off that you stole my letter.”

  “Yeah, but you just told me when I came in here that you’re still mad.”

  “I am, but I’m not in the heat of the moment like I was yesterday.”

  “Well, pissed or not, you still can’t get me off of you.”

  I frowned, but he couldn’t see it. “Then why don’t you just tell me what I’m supposed to do in this situation then?”

  “Well right away you should know that I have a pair of balls you can always try to kick back and connect with.”

  I almost made another joke about his testicles but I realized he wasn’t in the mood. “Ok. What else?”

  “You can slam your head back into my nose; you can bite my arm. Those are just instincts you should already have, without any training.”

  “Well apparently my instincts are bad.”

  He pulled me closer against him and brought his mouth next to my ear. “Yeah, I know your instincts are bad; you got into a vehicle with Vladimir Koval.” He let me go and moved away from me, the sudden loss of his heat making me realize how much of a comfort it was to have him pressed so close against my body.

  I spun around and leaned against the counter. “Thank you for telling me some things I can do to protect myself.”

  “You’re welcome, but’s that’s not enough. I want to show you tactics you can actually do to defend yourself.”

  “Okay,” I agreed. “When?”

  He looked over at the window that faced the backyard. “How about now?”

  “Okay. Fine.”

  “I’ll meet you out on the grass.”

  He left the room and I went out back, passing the pool and going to the center of the rectangular area of lawn that was sandwiched between the concrete and the path of bushes that led to the hot tub. A few minutes passed and he made an appearance, holding my letter in his hand.

  I put my hands on my hips and cocked my head to the side. “I thought you burned it.”

  “Not yet.” He stepped in front of me and held it up in front of him. “I figured I’d give you something to fight for. Maybe if I piss you off you’ll work harder at what I’m trying to teach you.”

  “Okay,” I agreed. “Let’s hear your plan.”

  He smiled with an outrageous level of charm. “I’ll teach you some self-defense moves, and after I do I want you to try and protect yourself from me. If you successfully fight me off then I’ll give you your letter back.”

  “Well then you might as well keep it because I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

  “Don’t sell yourself short.”

  “You’re way stronger than me. God, you’re way stronger than every man in this house.”

  He smiled at my compliment. “That’s why I need to piss you off so you’ll fight me better.” He dug in his pocket and pulled out a lighter. “If you can’t fight me off then I’ll burn it right here in front of you.”

  I sucked my teeth with irritation. “Wow, right in front of me, huh.”

  “Yep.”

  “And what if I don’t agree to do any of this?”

  “Then I’ll still burn it. I’m just giving you the chance to get it back from me.”

  I dropped my arms in defeat. “Fine; you win.”

  “You never know, you might win.” He went to the edge of the lawn and sat the letter down on the ground with the lighter on top of it. “Okay,” he said, coming back over to me. “We’re going to do this slow to start off. I’m going to walk you through this step by step so you can learn exactly what to do. So let’s start with the choke hold, which is what I was doing to you in the kitchen.” He came behind me and wrapped his arm around my neck like before, but this time his other hand came around and he placed it on the back of my head. “Are you right handed?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay, then bring your left hand up and grab onto my arm that’s around the front of your neck.” I did as he said. “And now take your right hand and reach behind you for my nuts.”

  “Seriously?”

 
“Yeah, but don’t grab them yet because this is just training.”

  I laughed out a puff of air and reached back behind me, lightly placing my hand against the front of his jeans. “They’re hard to find.”

  “Is that some sort of a joke?” he chuckled deeply next to my ear.

  I laughed in return. “No, I just mean I can’t see so I have to figure out where they are.”

  “Well if this was really happening you would really strain to pull back behind you and grab onto them. And when you find them you squeeze them as hard as you can. I mean, you’re fighting for your life here so you need to act like you’re gonna pull them off of my body.”

  “And you actually want me to do that to you today?”

  “If you can get to them.”

  I shook my head as I was having a hard time believing we were actually doing all of this. “Okay, what next?”

  “So by that point I’ll be in pain, so I’ll be distracted. What you want to do next is bring your right hand back up and grab onto my arm around your neck like your left hand already is.”

  I did as he said. “Okay.”

  “Now you’re gonna yank my arm down away from your neck, and bring your right arm back down and elbow me in the stomach.”

  I did it all in slow careful movements. “Like that?”

  “Perfect. So now I’m in pain from you elbowing me in the stomach, so you need to turn around and grab my arm that was around your neck and twist it backward with your left hand.”

  “There are so many steps . . .”

  “We’ll practice.” I followed his instructions and twisted his arm. “Now with your other hand push my head down and continue to bring my arm around my back, so that you’ve got me in a hold.”

  “Okay.”

  “And now you can bring the crook of your right arm under my neck and choke me.”

  After following the last step I squealed. “I did it!”

  “See? That wasn’t too hard.”

  “Well not now, but in a real-life situation . . .”

  “Well let’s practice some more.” We went through the routine a couple more times until I felt more comfortable with it. “Okay,” he said. “Let’s try something else.” He stood in front of me. “So now I’m going to grab your wrist. And pull you toward me. And as I do that I want you to take an athletic wide stance, so kind of squat down and open your legs.”

  “Like this?”

  “Yeah. So that’s going to make it more difficult for me to pull you. And now I want you to step forward and put your right foot in-between my legs and sit down.” I did as he said and was now sitting on the ground with him still holding onto my wrist. “Now lay all the way back and pull on my arm with your other hand, and as you do that it will pull me forward and I want you to kick me with your right foot in all of my vulnerable spots: nuts, stomach, and face. And because you’re in this position I can’t reach you as good with my free arm, so this is the best positon for you to be in to defend yourself. You got this one?”

  “Yeah,” I nodded. “I think so.”

  “Okay, let’s do one more. Stay down there.” He came down and put a knee on each side of my body, straddling me. “I’m going to choke you.” He put his hands on my throat. “Now tuck your chin down and bring your arms around and cross them over mine.”

  “Like a genie?”

  “Exactly.”

  “Okay.”

  “Now you’re going to hook one of your legs around mine. And when you do this you’re taking my balance away.”

  “Like this?” I said as my right leg wrapped around his left one.

  “Yeah. So now you’re going to raise your hips and push me over to make me lose my balance.” I did as he asked and rolled him over to where I was now on top of him. “And assuming your attacker lost his focus you can pull at least one arm out and bring your elbow down to connect with his stomach.”

  I sat on top of his hard body, staring down at him, taking in his attractiveness. In the last two days this man had been on top of me twice, and none of it had been sexual. That was just my luck.

  I pushed off of him and stood up. “I don’t know how this will work; I’m not as big as you are.”

  He stood up and wiped off the back of his jeans. “You’re not relying on your size here; you’re relying on technique and leverage. It doesn’t matter how strong you are. If you get your attacker in the right position you can defend yourself against him.”

  “Okay,” I shrugged. “Then I guess it’s time to put my new skills to the test.”

  “That it is. You think you’re ready?”

  “No,” I admitted.

  “Ah, you’ll do fine. But I’m being serious now when we start this. Give me all you’ve got.”

  “So I have permission to grab your nuts then?” I teased.

  “Like I said, you can try.”

  I smiled and shook out my arms, readying myself for his attack. “Okay; I’m ready.” In a flash he grabbed my wrist and pulled me against him. “Dang! I didn’t think you’d be that fast!”

  “I told you I’m being serious. Now pay attention.”

  I nodded and tried to remember the steps. My first reaction was to pull away from him. “I’m missing something here.”

  “Dammit Scarlett,” he said, dropping my arm. “I didn’t want to have to piss you off to get you to take this seriously but I guess I’ll have to.”

  “No no,” I said. “Try again.”

  He grabbed my wrist again and I opened my legs so he couldn’t pull me toward him as easily. “Good,” he praised me. I put my foot between his two and dropped down to the ground, pulling him over me. Then I lightly kicked him in the crotch of his jeans. “That won’t do anything to me.”

  “Well I’m not really going to kick you in the balls, Troy.”

  “You think I can’t take it?”

  “They’re balls; you’re not super-human.”

  “Wanna bet?” With my defenses down he yanked on my arm and pulled me back up into a standing position as he spun me around and put me in a solid headlock. “Don’t ever lose focus in a fight.”

  “You’re choking me!”

  “That’s the point.” I reached around to search for his crotch but I couldn’t find it. “Try harder!”

  “I can’t see!”

  “Use your body, Scarlett. Pull away, struggle with me, drop down and reach for what you’re looking for.”

  “Ugh, this is useless!”

  “I’ll burn your letter!”

  I growled and dropped my body weight to the side so I could better feel around for his pants. He was so strong and he knew what I was going to do, so it was a hard task. “You’re such a dick!”

  He pulled my head back and put his lips next to my ear. “You want me to start pulling out the insults?”

  My breaths were getting heavier by the second. “I’m not gonna let you burn my letter.” I yanked hard on his arm with my left hand and reached behind me with my right, connecting with his pants. Finally, I did something that hurt him. I grabbed hard at whatever I could and then pulled on his arm as I elbowed him hard in the stomach. He puffed out a breath of pain as I spun around and somehow managed to get my arm around him and in turn put him in a headlock. “I did it!” I yelled excitedly. But that was a bad idea, because the fight wasn’t over. He moved forward and took me down to the ground, straddling me.

  “This isn’t over yet.” He grabbed my wrists and put them over my head, pinning me to the ground like he had pinned me to my bed the day before.

  “That’s not fair,” I glared up at him. “You didn’t teach me how to get out of this.”

  “Use your brain.”

  “I, I don’t know what to do.”

  He leaned down closer, bringing his face an inch away from mine; if I wanted to I could have raised my head and kissed him. “Don’t start spitting out excuses,” he told me.

  “Well I wouldn’t if you would have just showed me what to do in this situation.”
r />   “You’re wasting valuable time. Don’t be a little drama queen.”

  My eyes narrowed. “I am not a drama queen.”

  “Oh, you don’t like hearing that, huh?”

  “No, I don’t.”

  He smiled down at me. “Brat.”

  “Argh!” I screamed into his face and brought my head up, not to kiss him, but to head-butt him. I missed his nose but connected with his jaw, which surprised him. His focus momentarily faltered and I managed to get my hands out of his grasp. I spun around and began to crawl across the grass toward the letter, only to feel his hand grab my ankle. He pulled me back to him and got on top of me once again, but I locked my arms across my chest so he couldn’t get them. “That’s not fair; I won!” I yelled up at him as I twisted beneath him.

  “Do you really think your attacker will give up after that?” I reached up and grabbed at his hair, pulling on what I could. “Ouch,” he said with a laugh. “You’re fighting dirty now.”

  “I’ll show you dirty.” I hooked my leg around his and lifted my hips, rolling him over. I straddled him and grabbed his wrists, pinning him down. The whole time he could have easily overpowered me, but it was obvious that he was holding back. Still, I was proud of myself. “I win,” I said down at him.

  He breathed heavily beneath me. “I’m proud of you; you did a good job.”

  I let go of his wrists and leaned back, still sitting on him. “Thanks,” I smiled, my breaths heavy as well.

  He put his arm behind his head and looked up at me with a sincere expression. “I don’t really think you’re a brat. I was just trying to make you angry so you would fight better.”

  “Yeah,” I smiled. “I know.” The warmth of his body was permeating between my legs. I relaxed my body even more onto his, letting my weight completely rest against him. His eyes grew serious as I gazed down into them. “Why?” I asked quietly.

  “Why what?”

  “Why am I different from the other girls?”

  “I, I don’t understand your question.”

  I leaned forward and brought my face down closer to his. “The other girls I see you with. I’m pretty too, aren’t I?”