Punching and Kissing by Helena Newbury Page A

us was more embarrassed.
    I slipped off my sneakers and stood up. "Okay," I said. "Where do we start?"
    He nodded, all business again. I was getting all kinds of mixed signals from this guy. Did he like me or not? And it didn’t help that, up close to him like this, he was freaking intimidating. That darkness, rolling off him in waves. The sense that, without even thinking about it, he could just crush your head or pound you into the ground.
    Pound me into the ground. The phrase echoed around my head a few times and then seeped mockingly down into my body, liquid-hot. I forced myself to focus, my face growing hot, and looked expectantly up at him.
    "Hit me," he said. That strong accent again, each short word like an impact of stone on metal. Harsh and uncompromising. And sexy as hell. Hit him?!
    I blinked at him a couple of times. "Really?"
    "Really."
    I hesitantly made a fist and lifted it, then put it back down. "Just...hit you?"
    "Just hit me."
    I punched him lightly in the stomach, like I was miming it. My knuckles brushed his abs and I could feel the ridged hardness there, warm through the fabric.
    "No... actually hit me. I have to see what you've got. Hit me like you mean it."
    I swallowed and hit him as hard as I could, in the same spot. I expected him to do some lightning-fast block or maybe dodge out of the way. But he just stood there and my fist connected. I hit a wall of solid, warm muscle, like punching rubber. He rocked back maybe half an inch.
    "Oh shit!" I said. "I'm so sorry!" I instinctively put my hand on his stomach where I'd hit him. "Are you okay?"
    He looked down at my hand, then into my eyes. "Aye," he said softly.
    I removed the hand.
    He checked there was space behind him. "Come at me again," he said. "Try and hit me."
    "Where?" I asked hopelessly.
    "Anywhere."
    He started to move backward in an easy, fast-footed shuffle. I swung at him and, this time, he moved. I missed completely. I tried again and he dodged the other way. He seemed to know where I was going to go before I did it. How was that possible?
    He stopped suddenly and I pulled up short to avoid crashing into him. Then he lunged forward.
    I yelped and staggered back, tripped over my own feet and went down. I landed with a whump on the mat, arms and legs everywhere. I instinctively glanced around the gym. Everyone else there looked like they belonged. Even Connor was slugging a punchbag. No one was actually laughing at me, but I could feel it in their looks. What's she doing here?
    "Don't mind them," said Aedan. He put out his hand for me to take. "You've got as much right to be here as them."
    I took his hand and he pulled me to my feet. His warm grip felt amazing. As if he could have easily lifted me right up into the air one-handed.
    I wound up standing very close to him, our toes almost touching. For just a second, everything seemed to stop. My breathing quickened. We were close enough that the tips of my breasts were almost brushing his chest— He stepped back and ran a hand through his hair. "You can't hit," he said. "You've got no feckin’ power. You've got no idea how to stand or move or guard."
    I stared at him, open-mouthed. "Well... thanks."
    But he hadn't finished. "You've got no balance," he said, shaking his head. "You've got no presence ."
    "What the hell does that mean?" I asked angrily.
    "You intimidate too easily. I got in your face and you jumped back."
    I felt like I should deny it, but I knew he was right. "Is there anything good?" I asked at last.
    He stared at me for much longer than the question deserved. His eyes roamed down my body from head to toe and I felt it as a hot wave again, sluicing deep down into me and finishing with a tightening at my groin. The air seemed to thicken and crackle between us.
    "You're small," he said at last, looking at the floor. "That makes you harder to hit."
    He lifted his eyes and we stared at one another.
    "Well, that's something," I whispered.
    He stared at me for three more