Page 42 of Lust
She prowled around him on the mat.
He casually echoed her steps and left the nunchaku resting over his shoulder, as though going out for an afternoon stroll. He wasn’t even trying to prepare himself. Liza narrowed her eyes.
“Remind me, what’s the point of this?” she asked.
“I get you afraid, and you release the poison.”
She feinted, he lunged back.
“And what if you get sick?”
He shrugged. “I’ll survive.”
A snort escaped Liza. She jabbed at Parker’s smug face, using the knife ring on her finger as a knuckleduster for improved impact. He let her hit him.
She stepped back and cocked a hip. “This isn’t going to work if you—”
He flicked the nunchaku at her head and hit her sternum with the heel of his palm. The wind knocked out of her, and she stumbled back.
“Jerk,” she gasped.
“You’re rusty, Liza,” he scolded, looking down at her. “I let you hit me once, and you drop your guard enough for me to take you out.”
“I can hook your artery and rip it right out of your arm.”
He bared teeth. “Try.”
Liza swiped, jabbed and lunged, but missed or was blocked every time. He was right. She was rusty, and she only had herself to blame.
“So,” he said casually. But nothing was ever casual with Parker. “Your mate is little Joey. Figures.”
She glared, readied her knife, and circled. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Sizing her up, he smirked. “All the others ran away quaking in fear, but he was the only one stupid enough to stick around.”
A growl ripped out of her throat. She stepped forward, hooked his face.
Block.
“He’s not stupid,” Liza said. “You are.”Yeah, real mature, Liza.
Jab-jab.
Block.
Then something he’d said baffled her enough that she stopped. “Wait. What did you mean by,the others ran away?”
She wasn’tthatjaded and mean.
A look crossed his expression—the cat got the mouse—and when he grinned, sharp canines made him look more beastly than man. “Think, Liza. Why would a family of genetically modified warriors, who knew how you’d feel every time you sensed sin, want horny teenagers away from their sister?”
“You warned them off me?”
He gave an evasive half shrug, but it was all she needed to see red. Thick, viscous anger surged in her veins.Assholes. Complete dickwads. Amoebas. Fleas on rats. No wonder no one ever wanted to date her. There had always been a Lazarus brother around to scare them away.
Yes, she felt sick when sensing lust, but wasn’t sending them away her choice to make?
She rotated the karambit around her hand, repositioned it for deadly striking, and said, “You made a mistake, brother. A grave one.”
