Page 13 of Teach Me
He closed his eyes, leaning his head toward her shoulder to avoid Jess accidentally head butting him. It would be okay. He could get her through this—they just had to get her adrenaline out, and then everything would be okay.
He kept repeating the words, trying to make himself believe them, to make her believe them as he whispered them in her ear and held her trembling body carefully, securely against him. She fit into him perfectly. And how much of a bastard did it make him that he couldn’t ignore that fact? He’d fantasized about having her in his arms, but not like this. This shouldn’t even register with his libido. But God forgive him, he couldn’t ignore her.
Definitely a bastard.
Long moments later Jess’s sobs finally quieted. Her breath was wet, clogged with tears, but the jagged edge of panic was gone.
After the last shiver shook her body, he felt Jess take a deep breath. “I’m—”
“Don’t say you’re sorry.” There was only one person who should be sorry, and he wasn’t in this room. Con wished he was, though. It would give Con something to focus on besides the pain he’d just witnessed.
Jess relaxed into his hold. The trust she showed shook him.
Get back to work.Back to a normal footing, for both of them.
“Are you ready?”
Jess’s ribs expanded once more. He could almost feel her rebuilding her defenses, putting herself back together, readying for the next round. She nodded. “Yes.”
“Good.” He adjusted his hold to just under her breasts. Gritting his teeth, reminding himself he couldn’t grab her around the ribs for a reason, he ignored the soft mounds as best he could. “Believe it or not, panicking is an automatic response to an attack.”
Jess’s laugh cracked in the middle. “At least I did something right.”
Without thought he dropped his forehead toward her shoulder again, pulling himself back sharply at the final second.None of that!
He teased her instead. “You did. And now you get to do the fun part.”
“What’s that?”
“Beating me up.”
Her laugh was stronger this time. “Bring it on.”
“You got it.” He shifted his hips back ever so slightly, ignoring his cock’s complaint. “So, panicking is normal. If you realize that, you can clear your head sooner. You might freeze, be shocked, disoriented. The first step is to recognize what’s happening so you can move past it.”
“Got it.”
“An attacker expects you to freeze. What he doesn’t expect is for you to fight back. Now, I want you to bend your knees. Feel as if all your body weight is settling into the lower half of your body.”
Jess bent her knees, the rounded cheeks of her ass brushing his skin. His belly clenched.
Focus.“This is called dropping your weight. When someone is holding you tight, what do you need?” he asked.
Jess squirmed against him. “To be able to move?”
“Right. Now raise your elbows.” She did. Immediately, strong as he was, the movement loosened his grip around her body. “See that? If you drop your weight and raise your elbows, you get room to maneuver.” He had Jess straighten, and they practiced several times, allowing her to get the feel for the move.
“Good, Jess. Now, targets. Primary targets that are the easiest to go for—anything vulnerable, soft, anything that bends, especially if you can bend it the wrong way. Focus on the face, the ears, throat, ribs, feet, groin.”
Jess tried to get her hand up to his face. “I can’t reach you.”
“Not right now. What can you reach?”
He felt her move, felt the brush of air across his thigh though she didn’t actually touch his crotch. “Right. Vulnerability, that’s the key. Whatever you can reach, you go for. How about my fingers, bending them back? Twisting leg hair hurts. It’s distracting. Or the top of my foot? All those tiny little bones—if I’m not wearing heavy boots, that would hurt like a mother.”
Jess lifted her foot and settled her heel on his toes.
“Good girl. As for weapons, anything on your body that has a point or that you can fist is a weapon, so use it.” When she didn’t move, he bumped her back lightly with his chest. “Go on; try something.”
