Page 51 of Savage Union

“Got it,” he said, nodding.

“Do you? Let’s practice again. From the top,” I ordered.

Cass turned around and I came for him again, looping my right arm around his throat.

This time he acted with graceful precision. He tucked his chin, stepped to the right and swung at me. He almost got me too—I had to swivel my hips quickly to keep from getting a fist in my balls. But the move put me off balance and he was able to twist away and get free.

“Good!” I said, nodding approvingly. “You’ve got it now.”

“Thanks.” He smiled. “That’s very liberating. I mean, learning I can get away from a bigger opponent.” He looked me up and down. “Muchbigger.”

“You did great,” I told him. I knew he was probably thinking about the attack by Jerx the night before. Now at least he knew how to get out of the position he’d been put in by the much larger Crewmember if it ever happened again.

I wasn’t done teaching yet, though—he had a lot more to learn.

“So what if the move I showed you doesn’t work? In that case, see if you can get your mouth down enough to bite your attacker’s arm,” I told him. “Or stomp on his foot. Anything you can do to cause your attacker pain—to make him jerk away from you—will give you time to get loose.”

“Bite them or stomp on their foot. Got it.” He nodded.

“Good—so show me. Come here.” I beckoned for him and he came to me once more and put his back to me willingly. Once more I looped an arm around his neck and drew him close. “Allright now—show me what you’ve got,” I murmured in his ear and we started again.

27

JESSINA

The close-quarters combat training was driving mecrazy.Having Turk holding me from behind with his big, muscular body surrounding mine and hearing his low, gravelly voice in my ear was enough to send my body into overdrive. He smelled sogood—his warm, spicy scent seemed to get inside me and open parts of me that had been locked tight up until now.

I did my best to ignore the giddy sensation in my stomach of a thousand butterflies all taking off at once every time he touched me or murmured in my ear. I told myself I had asked for this training and I needed it—especially on a ship where I still had enemies. I had to concentrate and stop thinking about his big body pressed against mine, damn it!

We practiced me getting out of a headlock for a while more and then he showed me how to get out of a choke if someone was facing me with their hands around my throat. Finally, he seemed to feel like I had mastered the techniques he was teaching me. But the lesson still wasn’t over.

“All right, so those were the best-case scenarios,” he remarked after I had gotten free of yet another chokehold. “Meaning you’re still on your feet. But what if your opponent has you pinned to the floor?”

“Pinned to the floor?” My heart, which had finally started to slow a little, began galloping in my chest again.

“It might happen and you need to know how to get out of it,” Turk told me. “So come on—down on the ground we go.”

He got to his knees on the Ready Room floor, which was covered in thick black rubber flooring. It was clean because there was a tiny robot vacuum which lived in the wall and came out to sweep and mop every so often. I had seen it twice, working around his feet as he sat at his desk.

It wasn’t there right now so we had the floor to ourselves. I got on my knees as well, but Turk shook his head.

“Lay on your back,” he rumbled, gesturing to me. “I’m going to pin you.”

He was going to get on top of me and pin me down? Goddess of the Four Faces, I couldn’t believe this was happening!

Heart pounding madly, I did as he said, laying on my back on the floor. The rubber flooring felt cool against my shoulders and I shivered.

“Good, now watch…”

Suddenly he straddled me and grabbed for my wrists. I gasped and tried to fight him, but of course he was much too strong. In no time he was leaning over me with my wrists pinned to the floor, on either side of my head.

He had never seemed as huge as he did right at that moment, looming over me, and I had never felt so small and so helpless…or so hot.

“Uh…what?” I panted, because he’d said something I hadn’t caught. My heart was pounding so loudly in my ears I could barely hear him.

“I said, this is a bad position to be in,” he rumbled, looking down at me intently. “But I can show you how to get out of it.”

“How?” I asked breathlessly. I never would have guessed that being helpless under him would affect me so much. My body wasreacting to this position in ways I never could have imagined—my nipples were aching and my pussy was so wet and hot I felt molten from the waist down. Goddess, what waswrongwith me?

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