Page 17 of Last Resort

“So, to that end, we’re going to utilize your size and stature to get out of some common scenarios.”

Maci stared at him with a quirked eyebrow and her usual sassy grin. He was surprised at how much he liked seeing it. The last few days—hell,weeks—she always seemed to be stressed. He’d missed the sass.

“You realize I’m not exactly tall, right?”

Oh, he realized it. He gave her a grin of his own as he dragged his gaze down the length of her body, grinning wider when a hint of pink colored her cheeks.

Maci wasn’t terribly short, but the fact that she fit under his chin was something he’d always enjoyed. “Exactly. Your height means that any attackers who are taller than you will have to contort their body to grab you. That gives us a small window of time to get you out and away.”

She considered that and nodded. “Okay.”

“We’ll go through a few holds and how to break them today. Tomorrow, we’ll work on escaping a few common restraints and reiterating what we learned today. The last day is basic self-defense moves that any person should know.”

“It doesn’t seem like a lot,” she said doubtfully.

Chance agreed. “Like I said, the goal isn’t for you to win a close-quarter fight. It’s for you to get enough room between you and the danger to escape.”

“Alright, Sensei. Teach me.”

“The most important thing you have to do in any attack is keep your head. That sounds easier than it really is.” And was a situation nearly impossible to replicate in training, but he wanted to mention it.

“Okay.”

“You’re smart and a quick thinker. Use that to your advantage.”

She blushed. “Thanks.”

He wasn’t saying it to flatter her. “In a battle against someone stronger than you or with more fighting experience, you have to use your strengths. For you, that’s going to have nothing to do with your physical muscles and everything to do with your brain.”

She was listening and taking this seriously. That was good.

“Okay, let’s start with a hold from behind. An attacker is likely going to wrap around you in an effort to either pick you up or hold your arms still. They won’t want you to be able to fight back since this position is mostly about the element of surprise.”

She nodded, taking it all in. “Okay.”

He spun a finger to signal for her to turn. He then stepped behind her, forcing himself to keep focus on the task at hand and not the closeness of her body.

“If the bad guy’s arms are around you, that leaves you with your legs. Go for the soft spots and try to unbalance him. Groin attacks, knee shots, anything. If you can twist your body around, you have the ability to claw at their eyes or headbutt them. Whatever you do, it’s not going to look pretty, so don’t worry about form. Just make sure it’s effective.”

He showed her the best places to kick the kneecap, and how high up on the inner thigh to aim for maximum pain if she couldn’t hit the groin.

She seemed riveted as he taught her the weakest parts of the ankle and how to rotate herself so that she could slither out of his grasp. None of it was perfect, but she managed the basics well enough, and every time she succeeded, she got happier.

Making Maci Ford happy was a heady feeling. One he wished she’d let him try to do full-time.

“Alright,” he finally said after they’d been at it for a couple hours. “Break free one more time and we’ll move on to other things.”

Chance wrapped his arms around her, hands on either bicep, but for a moment Maci didn’t move and he didn’t want her to. He had his arms wrapped around her for the first time in months and he was in no hurry for her to escape them again.

He tried to commit the moment to memory. The softness of her shirt sleeves under his fingers, the sound of her breathing as he kept her close to his body. He even pressed his nose to the crown of her head and took in the smell of the shampoo she loved so much. When he was sure he’d remember it for good, he squeezed her arms lightly, a reminder to focus and escape.

Maci took a deep breath and dropped her bodyweight. It was unexpected enough that he nearly released her, and she used it to her advantage. She twisted, grabbed the back of his knee and shoved her shoulder into his stomach like a football star. As soon as he was on his way down, she let go of him and scuttled to the back wall of the room.

“Perfect. That’s exactly what I wanted to see. Use whatever means necessary to surprise your attacker and put yourself in a position to escape. Let’s take a break for a bit then get back at it.”

Chance grabbed his water bottle and did everything in his power to focus on rehydrating rather than on Maci eating some granola bar and drinking her cooled tea on the other side of the room.

Even with dried sweat plastering her hair to her head and in shorts and a T-shirt she was damned beautiful.

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