“I never put it that way,” Aaron corrected her. “What I said was that it gives them the tools to be able to act like men.”
“By punching each other?” she asked, humor curving her mouth.
“By employing strategy. Boxing really isn’t about getting in the first punch,” Aaron explained. “It’s about using your opponent’s own body against them.” Opening the gym’s entrance, he held the door for her. Then, as nonchalantly as possible, he offered, “While we’re here, I could show you a few self-defense moves.” He slanted a look at her, hoping she didn’t see through what he was attempting to do.
But the next moment, he knew his attempt had failed, because he could tell that her antennae had gone up.
“Why would you think I would need that?” she asked.
Aaron shrugged a little too casually and he knew it. It would have been so much easier to be honest and straightforward about this, but he knew that would just serve to scare her away from the topic. He was convinced that the woman needed some sort of help and he intended to give it to her.
“Everyone needs to know a few self-defense moves. You never know when it might come in handy. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re really not all at the point where we’re holding hands and singing campfire songs.
“Sadly, there are some really nasty people out there and I’m guessing that we would all feel a little more prepared to face them with a few good moves under our belts.” Then, in case she thought he was trying to pressure her, Aaron said, “But those are just my thoughts on the matter.”
Maybe it was just a random remark on his part, Felicia thought. She really had to stop viewing everything as if it was intended as a warning signal.
Felicia tried to redeem herself. “And they’re good thoughts,” she told him. “I was actually just thinking about taking some classes in self-defense earlier.” She hadn’t been, but now that Aaron had mentioned it, it did seem like a pretty good idea. After all, it couldn’t hurt to be prepared. “I guess that you just caught me off guard with your dead-on suggestion.” She flashed what she hoped was a disarming smile at him. “It’s as if you were a mind reader.”
Aaron wasn’t about to get caught up in that notion. “Not even close,” he told her. “If anything, that was just a lucky guess on my part. Besides, I’m partially in the business of teaching people self-defense.”
For the time being, he changed the subject. “Okay, let me show you around here, and then, if you like, we can turn our attention to a couple of basic moves you can use if the occasion ever arises,” he told her.
Felicia looked down at her clothes. “I didn’t come dressed for that,” she pointed out.
“If someone comes up behind you, intending on doing you harm, you’re not going to be able to call a time-out because you’re not dressed for it, are you?” Aaron asked her.
She flushed. When he put it that way, her excuse sounded really silly. “No.”
“All right, then, you’re dressed for it. Come with me.”
Beckoning her forward, he took her up to the main ring. There were two fighters confronting one another. As Aaron approached, the two men in the center of the ring dropped their arms and stopped what they were doing. Aaron addressed them.
“Jake Quartermain and Peter Sullivan, I’d like you to meet Felicia Wagner. Felicia is my mother’s physical therapist.”
“How’s your mom doing?” Jake asked his mentor, concerned.
“Fine, thanks,” Aaron answered.
Felicia could see that the men all had a relaxed attitude toward each other.
Peter Sullivan, the taller of the two men, asked her, “Are you here to show us how to take care of our bruised bodies?”
“That’s easy,” Jake answered, speaking up. “Don’t get into fights you can’t win.”
Aaron laughed. “Sound advice. Except that I’m here to teach you how you can always win.”
“Unless you’re fighting an eight-foot giant,” Jake quipped, nodding at his opponent.
“Especially then,” Aaron countered. When Jake looked at him, mystified, Aaron answered, “Just use the man’s weight against him.” He turned toward Felicia. “That’s what I intend to teach you today. Just a few basic tricks in how to use your opponent’s own body weight against him—or her. It works every time.”
She thought about Greg. Her ex-husband was nearly as strong and strapping-looking as Aaron was. The very sight of him frightened her and put her at a disadvantage. Still, she didn’t feel as if she could contradict Aaron, since he was putting such an effort into making her feel safe. “If you say so,” she replied uncertainly.
Aaron wasn’t fooled by her tone. He could see that she would need extra reassurance. “I’ve been doing this for a while now,” he told Felicia. “And I say so. Why don’t you come with me to one of the side rings so we’ll be out of the way? I figure you don’t want to hold an exhibition out in the open for everyone to see.”
She shrugged a bit self-consciously. “No, not really.”
He knew this went without saying—but he said it anyway.
“And don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you. The point of undertaking this whole exercise is for you not to get hurt.” But he could see the wariness in her eyes. “Do you trust me, Felicia?”
She had to be honest with him, which meant that she couldn’t just answer automatically. So she paused, and then said, “I guess so.”
He took her hands in his and looked into her eyes. He was the soul of sincerity as he told her, “The last thing I would want to do is bruise my mother’s physical therapist. Trust me, I know that she would never let me hear the end of it.” His mouth curved.
Unable to help herself, she smiled, too. Pleased, Aaron nodded in response. “That’s better,” he said with approval. “Now, I just want to go over a few basics with you and you can go home and practice them—just make sure it’s not on my mother,” Aaron added with a wink she found incredibly sexy.
“I wouldn’t dream of doing that. Especially not after all the work I put in getting her back to shape.”
He realized that she had to have misunderstood his meaning. “Oh, I didn’t mean I thought you’d hurt my mother. I taught her a few tricks to use, and purely out of reflex, she could turn around and wind up using them on you,” Aaron told her.
Felicia had no idea if he was kidding or not, but the exchange did serve to lighten her mood.
“Okay,” she said, preparing herself. “Why don’t you show me a few of those moves you were talking about?”
“I’d be very happy to,” Aaron told her. “Okay, right off the top, the most basic thing to remember is to avoid alleys and stay in well-lit areas. But if you find that you have to walk in one of these areas, remember to always carry your keys in your hand.”
“So I can get into my car quickly?” Felicia guessed. That way she wouldn’t be wasting any time digging for those keys.
“Yes,” he agreed, “but you can also use your keys on your would-be attacker.” Holding his keys in his hand, he went through the actions to show her what he meant. “You use your keys and push them into his eye.” He saw the look on her face and immediately knew what she was thinking. “You can’t be squeamish, Felicia. Remember, it’s you or him and I’d much rather it was you who came out ahead than some reprehensible attacker.”
Thinking that was enough on the subject, he turned to another move.
“The next most basic move is one that every woman should instinctively know. Use your knee to kick him in the groin,” he told her. “Trust me, no matter how big the guy is, this move will definitely stop him in his tracks if you make direct contact. One really well-placed knee will have a cavalcade of stars descending on him, not to mention totally stealing away his ability to breathe.
“What you have to remember,” Aaron continued, “is that every part of your body can be used as
a weapon. The heel of your palm, your elbow against his ribs, just everything.” He could see that she needed further convincing. “Tell you what, let’s try this,” he proposed, moving so that he was directly behind her. “Let’s say someone grabs you from behind and in essence has you in a bear hug. Okay, what do you do?”
She could feel his breath on the back of her cheek and for a second, she felt a warm shiver shimmying up her spine. Divorcing herself from the sensation, Felicia tried to pull away. But the movement turned out to be completely ineffective.
“All right,” Felicia declared, surrendering. “I give up. What am I supposed to do?”
“Instead of pulling away, draw your arms into yourself and go down as if you’re fainting. Your assailant won’t expect you to just slide down. The sudden move allows you to wriggle out of his grasp. Then you turn around and kick,” he advised. “Okay, let’s practice that,” Aaron instructed.
“Now?” she asked uncertainly.
“You have a better time?” he asked.
“No,” she answered.
“Okay, I’m coming up behind you and wrapping my arms around you,” he told her, narrating his every move.
There was only one problem with that. Once he put his arms around her from behind, Felicia found herself immobilized.
Not because he was holding her so hard, but because she was reacting to the feel of his arms wrapped around her. Her heart began to pound rapidly, like a drumroll. And then her breath caught in her throat. Instead of drawing her arms in and dropping down, she turned around to face him.
In that moment, her face was very close to his.
Her breathing became more rapid as she looked up at him.
“I think I got confused,” she admitted in a soft whisper. She could feel a wave of desire stirring within her chest. She wanted to connect so badly with him that she could hardly speak.
“Yeah, me, too,” he admitted. He could all but taste her lips and very nearly gave in to the overwhelming temptation to kiss her.
In that one moment in time, there were only the two of them in that small room.
And then the spell was broken as one of the men in the ring called his name.
“Hey, Aaron, where are you? That kid you promised to take on is here to talk to you. You got a minute?”
Aaron looked at Felicia, mourning the opportunity that had just slipped away.
“Yeah, I’ll be right there,” he called back. “Just hold your horses.” His eyes met Felicia’s. “I’ll be right back,” he told her.
“I’ll be here,” she said, her mouth suddenly incredibly dry as she did her best to look away and pretend that she hadn’t come so close to kissing Aaron.
But there was no getting away from the fact that she almost had.
Chapter 9
Steve Holloway, the kid who had come looking for Aaron just now, was one of the at-risk teens he had taken on when he had first come up with the idea of helping them. Since Steve was part of the first group, Aaron was more familiar with the young man’s story than he was with the backgrounds of some of the others.
Even though he was in a hurry to get back to Felicia, Aaron didn’t want to cut Steve off too quickly, either. The kid had been through enough as it was, and despite all that, Steve had made huge progress in the right direction.
So, exercising patience, Aaron heard him out. When Steve seemed to finally be finished, Aaron was able to excuse himself.
He hurried back to the auxiliary gym. He found Felicia acquainting herself with various pieces of equipment as if she was actually trying to figure out their usage.
“Sorry,” Aaron apologized. “I didn’t mean to keep you waiting so long. I had no idea that it was going to take me as long as it did.”
She turned around to face him and waved away his words. “That’s all right. When you come right down to it, I’m the one taking you away from your work. If you need to go back to finish up...” Felicia’s voice faded away as she left the decision up to Aaron.
“No. As it turned out, Steve just required a little hand-holding at this point.”
“Steve?” she questioned. He hadn’t told her the person’s name previously.
“Holloway,” Aaron interjected, completing the teenager’s name. “I’ve been helping to train him for his second big bout.” There was a fond, satisfied smile on his lips. “Until just recently, he really wasn’t ready. It’s not even a matter of technique. It’s just a matter of his having enough confidence in himself,” Aaron explained. “So what I did was put together a tape of Steve’s training sessions so he could actually see himself in action.” Aaron smiled to himself at the outcome. “That helped do the trick.
“You know it’s funny,” he continued. “A lot of the people I come in contact with have egos that all but suck the oxygen out of the room, egos that are definitely not warranted. Steve, on the other hand, for some reason doesn’t seem to think enough of himself. I guess it comes from being so small when he was younger.” Steve had shot up over the course of the last two years, stunning everyone. “Now he’s this big, powerful guy and he still can’t shake the self-image he has of himself,” Aaron told Felicia. “Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy.”
She got the feeling he was actually directing his words at her. She couldn’t help wondering just what Aaron thought he had detected in her makeup.
Just when she had started to relax.
“This Steve is lucky to have found you,” she said.
Aaron shrugged. “I wouldn’t make a big deal out of it. If it hadn’t been me, it would have been someone else. That tape I made for Steve wasn’t exactly a phenomenal breakthrough. Just something he needed to see.”
“Still,” she pointed out, “you took the time to make the tape.” Stepping back, she looked around the secondary gym with its various pieces of equipment, some of which appeared to be the latest models. Either Aaron was on the receiving end of some sizable donations, or he was putting a great deal of his own hard-earned winnings into these gyms he owned in order to help these at-risk teens, as well as training hopeful fighters.
Aaron Colton was definitely a good man, Felicia couldn’t help thinking.
Careful, Fee. Don’t get carried away, she warned herself. She knew exactly what could happen if she dropped those barriers she had carefully constructed around herself. Heaven knew that she had once viewed Greg in the same favorable light, and she was still paying dearly for that mistake, right up to the present day.
Deliberately divorcing herself from thoughts of the past, she turned her attention toward the various pieces of equipment that looked as if they were just begging to have someone put them to good use.
There was no doubt in her mind that Aaron was making a real difference in the lives of the boys he was mentoring, giving them hope where previously there had been none.
She could feel herself wavering again in her wariness toward him.
Changing the topic, Felicia said, “You know, you have a very impressive place here.”
Aaron believed that she was being sincere and wasn’t just saying empty words that she felt he wanted to hear.
“Thanks. Ethan, one of the kids who trains at the gym, told me that he really looks forward to coming here. He said that even though this is a gym, it’s a lot cleaner than the home where he grew up.” A sad smile played on his lips as Aaron thought about the interaction with the teen. “It took a lot to get him to open up, but when he did, he confided that his mother took off when he was five and his father lost his last three jobs because he drank too much. Ethan finally dropped out of school because he couldn’t put up with the ridicule. He kept getting into fights.
“That’s when he decided that maybe he should give boxing a try. I took him aside and started coaching him. Damned if he wasn’t right,” Aaron told her. “Nobody was more pleased than Ethan when he discovered that he had an a
ctual talent for pugilism.”
Felicia couldn’t help smiling at the term that Aaron used. “Did Ethan even know what that word meant?”
“Not at the time. But he does now.” He flashed her a smile. “It’s all part of the learning process.”
“Like I said,” Felicia repeated, “these boys are lucky to have you in their lives.” Without Aaron, she had no doubt that more than one of these kids would have wound up behind bars.
“It works both ways,” he told Felicia. “I learn a lot from them. Not to mention the fact that I realized just how good I had it growing up. I always felt as if I had been deprived because my dad took off when I was a kid. But hell, I have a great mother I’m very proud of and even those half brothers that I initially felt saddled with turned out to be a real asset in my life, so I have no complaints.”
“Looks like you’ve got everything together.”
“Yeah, I think so.” He paused for a moment, weighing whether or not to ask her what he wanted to ask her. And then he decided that nothing ventured, nothing gained, so he pushed ahead. “So, what about you?”
“What about me what?” Felicia asked warily.
She was getting defensive again, he thought. But he wasn’t going to learn anything about her if he didn’t push forward at least just a little bit.
“What’s your story?”
“No big mystery,” she answered. “I like helping people, which is why I got a degree in physical therapy. And here I am.”
He had given her an opening and she hadn’t taken it. He wasn’t about to push the matter, but he did think that he could do with just a little insight into the woman. The simplest thing was to ask her if she had any family to speak of.
“Yes, here you are,” he agreed good-naturedly, then asked as nonchalantly as possible, “Do you have any family?”
The question took her by surprise. “No,” she replied flatly. Even as she said the word, she felt an aching repercussion in her chest.
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