Page 39 of Anyone But Her

Luke moves to stand behind me. "One more time."

I swing the club again. "What do you think? Do I not have enough power behind it?"

"It's not about strength. It's about form." He steps up behind me. "Can I show you?"

"Yeah. Go ahead."

I expect him to take my club and demonstrate but instead his arms go around me and his hands wrap around mine as he grasps the club.

Feeling his body this close to mine, I tense up.

"You okay?" he asks, his breath wafting over my ear.

"Yeah. So what do I need to change?"

"You need to relax. You tense your shoulders when you grip the club. That's your first thing to work on. Then you stiffen up again when you swing the club back. It almost looks like you're worried you're going to hit someone so you slow down the motion of the club going back."

"My dad said the same thing. I don't know why I do that. I'm not trying to."

"Here." His hands go to my shoulders. "Grip the club like you normally would." As I grip the club, he says, "Feel that?"

"What?"

He squeezes my shoulders. "Look how tight you are here. I can barely get your muscles to give." He rubs my shoulders. "Focus on relaxing this area while you keep hold of the club."

He wants me to relax? Is he kidding? My heart is racing like crazy having him this close to me, touching me.

"You're not relaxing," he says.

"I'm trying to. It's just not working."

He massages my shoulders, making me want to melt back into his arms. "Does this help?"

I almost moan it feels so good. Not just the massage but the feel of him this close to me. The feel of his hands touching me.

"Let's move on." I straighten up, which causes my shoulders to tense again. "We don't have much time."

"Let me show you what the backswing should feel like."

I've already been over this with my coach many times but I like having Luke's arms around me so I go with it.

His hands wrap around mine, gripping the club. "Okay, just relax and let me take over the swing but pay attention to how it feels."

I'm paying attention alright, but not to how the swing feels. I'm focused on how he feels, his body touching mine as he gets in position to swing the club. He does it so fast I almost miss it.

"Notice the difference?" he asks.

"It was too fast. Can you do it again?"

"Sure." He swings the club and that time I paid attention. His swing was fast but smooth, the club slicing through the air with speed and precision. "You feel the difference?"

"Yeah, I could that time."

He steps back and comes around in front of me. "Focus on relaxing your shoulders. That's step one. Then work on your backswing. Don't be afraid to speed it up. You need that speed to power the ball down the fairway."

I nod. "I'll work on it."

He glances behind me. "Cal's heading back. You'll have to give me a putting lesson some other time."

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