Page 98 of Ruthless Scoundrel
I fill up our skeins and wave farewell to Gizelle, finding Jasper next to our tent. “Will you help me with something?”
His face shifts from curious to devious in an instant. “I’ll help you with anything.”
“Ugh, no, Jasper. I want to train, but not just my magic. I’m sure you saw on the island when I escaped that those four men had me at their mercy easily.”
His jaw flexes and his eyes go opal with magic.
“Calm down. They’re dead so there’s no reason to get worked up,” I say, loving the way he gets worked up. “But I can’t just rely on burning my enemies to cinders. I need to be able to win in a fistfight if my magic is drained.”
He bobs his head. “You’re right. Let’s go.”
He grabs my hand and I stumble to follow him. The urgency in his movements has unnecessary heat flooding my system. We move through the underbrush into the forest and reach the river where Gizelle and I filled up our buckets.
He releases my hand and turns to me. “What do you know?”
My mouth gapes and I shrug. “Nothing.”
Jasper surges forward and grabs my shoulders. I struggle against him, but I’m lost in the movement of his arms and legs. He plants his foot behind me then pushes me backward, and there’s nothing I can do to stop the fall.
I yelp as he jerks me to a stop with a smile. “Guess my Man feet aren’t so unwieldy after all.”
I huff. “Yes, preen and puff. You’reso strongyou can push over a woman half your size.”
“I’m notthatmuch bigger than you,” he says, towering over me a good seven inches at least. He chuckles when I raise a skeptical eyebrow. “All right, maybe I am. But it makes me more capable of protecting you. Teaching you,” he says, his face softening.
I don’t know what to do with this softness, his tender care and his desire to protect.
“Will you show me what you just did?” I ask, pushing away to get some distance.
“Hold the shoulders,” he says, planting my hands on his tunic. “Grab hard, twist to the side, and then you’re going to step forward and around my leg.”
I twist him left and step forward.
“Good, now push me over your leg,” he says.
I push on him and, despite being much stronger than me, he gives. He bends over my leg and then stops, holding himself up by muscle alone. It’s insane. I’ve never noticed how toned he is. His biceps bulge in his loose cotton shirt. The undone buttons reveal pectorals that rival any champion’s. Gods, he really is massive.
Jasper smirks as he comes upright. “Well, don’t keep it all to yourself. What’s going through your head?”
I grab the shoulders of his shirt and step forward, pushing him in one fluid movement. He actually goes down this time and I think it was from sheer surprise. I laugh at the audacity of a tiny thing like me putting a massive creature like Jasper on the ground.
He tuts and rolls up to stand. “You caught me off guard. Good. Now do it while I’m paying attention.”
I grab him again, but before I can even think about stepping forward, his hands come down against mine in a hard chopping motion that makes me retract on instinct. I shake my hands out and glare at him.
“You won’t always get the jump on your opponent, and they won’t always be helpless,” he says, and I suppose he’s right.
But I still hate him for hurting my arms.
He lunges and I slap at his grabbing hands, but he just gets hold of my wrists. I kick his shins and try to knee him in the groin, but he’s already pulled me too close. My knee hits his thigh and he shoves his legs between mine as he holds my hands overhead in one of his. He grips my chin and tilts my face up to his as he bends down.
He’s smiling. The smug prick. “You’re pretty good for a woman.”
For a woman.
Fuck him.
I don’t even know what I’m doing as I thrust my face forward, I just know I want to hurt him. My forehead hits his nose with a crunch, and he shouts in pain. I stomp on his foot and pull on my arms, finally getting free of him. He stumbles back, cradling his face. Blood slips between his fingers and I lurch forward to help him.
