Save for his nightmare, when she’d been utterly distracted by his pain, she’d never seen him with so much skin exposed. So much . . . beautiful skin.
Katrina pressed a hand to her belly. Oh God, the zings. The zings.
She tried to mentally slap herself. This was Jas, not some piece of meat to ogle. He was like . . . well, she couldn’t view him as some sexual fantasy come to life.
He placed the bar back into its holder thing and crunched to come to a seated position, which did all sorts of amazing things to those stomach muscles. He twisted to grab his water bottle from the floor and lifted it to his lips. It was inexplicably sexy when he tilted his head back and drank large gulps.
He lowered the bottle, and that was when he met her eyes. He jerked back, like he was startled. Well, why wouldn’t he be? She was hovering by the foot of the stairs like a poltergeist. “Katrina. Is anything wrong?”
She licked her dry lips. Yes. Things were wrong. She’d come here for a reason. A very specific reason. “Unf.”
“What?” He swung his leg over the bench and rose to his feet. A trickle of sweat ran down his chest.
Remember that hug?
She’d carefully repressed that memory. But it came back to her in a rush now. His arms hadn’t gone around her, but she’d felt the power in them. Had he hugged her, he could have squeezed her so tight.
Those biceps were gigantic. She was willing to bet he gave good hugs.
“Katrina?” He grabbed his T-shirt from where he’d slung it over another bench and pulled it on.
She snapped out of her hypnotized state. What had he been asking? Something about his pecs? Or the way the white T-shirt clung to his sweaty man chest? “Yes.”
“Yes, what? Something’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong.”
“Then what do you need?”
“Yes.”
“What?” He took a few steps toward her.
She shook her head. “I’m sorry. Did you say something?”
He spoke slowly. “Why are you here? Is something wrong?”
“Oh. No. Um. I woke up, and . . .” She hooked her thumb over her shoulder. “I was sleeping.”
“I know. I saw you.”
“Right. I fell asleep. I don’t normally fall asleep, but here we are. I think I’m groggy. Yes, that is why talking is hard. Anyway, how was the vet visit?” Yes, good brain. Go to a neutral non-muscle-related topic.
“Good. Doodle is in great health. No chip, no one who’s called looking for her. I ran into Bikram and he says he still has a few neighbors to hear back from, but no leads yet.”
Yes, she would be happy about all of this when she could concentrate on what he was saying with his mouth and not what he was saying with his abs. “Cool.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Okay, then. I’ll go shower—”
No, he needed to stay looking like this. “Hey. Didn’t you say you’d use this time to teach me self-defense?” she blurted out, and immediately nearly kicked herself. Looking for ways to get closer to him? Control yourself.
“Self-defense?” His beautiful thick brows drew together.
She tried to laugh. If she could play it off as a joke, maybe they could let this whole thing go. “A silly idea. Sorry. I was—” Visualizing what it would feel like to have your hands touching me in any way possible. “You know. It was a thought.”
“It’s a good thought. I did say I could show you some stuff,” he said slowly, flustering her more.
She opened her mouth to protest, but then closed it again. Actually, though it had been born of sexual brain fog, it wasn’t a bad idea. “Yes. Ahem.”
“Do you want to do it right now?”
She stared at him. Why would he say that? Yes, she wanted to do it right now.
“Katrina?”
“Yes.” She gave that yes a little too enthusiastically. “Sure.” She glanced down at her clothes. “Are my leggings okay or do I need to change?”
He cleared his throat. “Leggings are good.”
Chapter Sixteen
KATRINA TOOK A moment to compose herself while Jas chugged another bottle of water. Be cool. Don’t freak out if he brushes up against you or something. You’re here to spar, that’s all.
Spar sounded sexual. How about parry? No. Never mind.
She bounced on her toes and made a right jab. “Okay, now I punch you, right?”
He cracked a smile that made her tummy flutter. “Not quite.” He motioned for her to come closer. The basement was no state-of-the-art gym. The equipment in it was at least a decade old, maybe older. But there was a fairly thick mat on the floor. “Do you know martial arts or something?” she asked.
“No. I know surviving.”
Ahh, that was a sexy answer. “Always good.” She stood a foot away from him. “So where do I hit you?”
“You don’t. First you breathe.”
She raised a skeptical eyebrow. “What?”
“Close your eyes.”
Confused, she followed his orders and shut her eyes. His footsteps were loud as he walked around her.
“This is stuff you’re already aware of. When you’re scared or get startled, it’s instinctive to freeze up, hold your breath.” His voice came from right behind her. Every single hair on her neck sat up and paid attention. “Totally normal human response. But you can’t fight someone off if you can’t get oxygen to your brain. I see you meditating, doing breathing exercises. You know how to deal with your panic when it’s coming from inside you.”
She did. Before she’d started going out to different places for exposure therapy, Andy had coached her on running up the stairs or turning in circles. Getting used to the physical sensations she felt during an attack in safe spaces, so she could start to associate them with safety.
“Apply what you already know to that. When someone startles you, you can get scared, but you have to breathe so you can think. If you can think, you can react.” He released his breath in a big rush, and she echoed him.
“Good,” he murmured, now from in front of her. He inhaled, then exhaled, loud, and she followed suit.
She matched his breathing, eyes still shut. She imagined curling up in his lap while they did exactly this.
Breathing exercises were her kink now? Okay.
She didn’t know how long they stood there, but Jas was the one who finally spoke. “That’s good.”
She staggered back a step when she opened her eyes, the mild vertigo from keeping them closed hitting her. His hand hovered over her arm, but she caught her balance and he didn’t touch her.
Touch me.
“So no hitting you?” she joked.
He shook his head. “Fighting basics: run before fighting, but if you have to fight, fighting and landing an injury, any injury, is better than no injury.”
“Where’d you learn this? The Army?”
“Yeah, but before that, getting into fights as a kid.”
She glanced upward. “You got into fights here?” Granted, she hadn’t seen the rest of the town, but this little corner seemed so peaceful.
“My grandpa’s fairly well-known in the community, my mom was an unmarried teen when she had me, my dad was some outsider, and it’s a small town where all the locals know each other. Yeah, I got into some fights,” he said dryly. She wanted to hear more about all that, but he changed the subject. “Let’s talk about sensitive areas on a person.”