Page 11 of Brighter than the Boss
"Look, I know he can seem a bit tough, but he's really not. You have nothing to worry about, he's actually a really fair boss, I promise." Esa gave me an encouraging thumbs-up.
I went back to raking, wishing it was as simple as me being worried about him as my boss. I mean, I was worried about him being my boss, but not because he was acerbic or mean or unfair. If only our situation was that simple.
"Oh, by the way, Shasta asked if she could use you and Cain as her examples during her self-defense demo. You okay with that?" Esa tossed over her shoulder while she raked.
I froze, picturing how delicious, no, how horrible, it would be to lie underneath Cain on the mats in front of everyone.
"Um, well, isn't there someone else more suited?" I tried to keep the tremor out of my voice, but only succeeded in sounding like a whiny little kid.
"If you think about it, it's really the perfect pairing." Esa kept raking, like she wasn't exploding my personal life with a simple request. "You're so short and Cain's so tall and big. It really is the perfect example of Jiu Jitsu. You know? It doesn't matter how big and strong your assailant is, you always have moves that can get you to safety. Perfect, right?"
Could she use the word “perfect” any more in one breath? Her positivity was what drew me to her when I met her, and yet it was that same personality trait that was annoying the crap out of me now. Jeez, I was grumpy.
She spun around to smile at me, all proud of herself for her stellar reasoning. Never mind the fact that I'd have to straddle Cain to show how to use the lower body for power, or that he'd have to lie on top of me to show the girls how to push a guy off. This was the opposite of perfect; this was a bloody nightmare.
* * *
"Let's go over a classic move when you're already on the ground. Sunny, would you lie down on your back, please?"
Shasta had Cain and me in the middle of the mats doing the demonstrations for each move she was teaching the teenage girls. We'd already gone over easy things, like getting out of a wrist hold, or a hand on the throat while standing. My face was beet red from the unrelenting humiliation. Cain didn't look that far behind me on the humiliation scale, having abandoned looking me in the eye since he was first told what his new job was.
He didn't have to act like it was such a hardship to touch me. He certainly hadn't had a problem touching me back in the locker room. I held no illusions that I was as pretty as the women he supposedly went out with, but I knew I wasn't hideous. His whoring ways were legendary, and a sweet girl from Indiana just couldn't compete on that level, but he didn't have to act like I was sludge that drifted up onto the beach after a wind storm.
I lay down, knowing where Shasta was going with this. If God still listened to anyone these days, I prayed he'd hear me now. If California was ripe for The Big One, I wished for it to hit at this exact moment. If there really was a hole that could be dug all the way to China, I begged for it (even though it wasn't Australia) to swallow me up before I had to demonstrate this move with Cain.
As my luck would have it, God was busy, the tectonic plates remained still, and China closed up all the holes into their country. Shasta kept barking out orders and Cain followed, crouching down between my legs and then coming closer.
Apparently, I was being given one last opportunity to smell that hair gel of his. The memory of when I first smelled it flashed through my head right as Cain lay down on top of me, his body both heavy and hot.
And delicious.
My face flamed brighter and he finally made eye contact with me, the two of us having a bonding moment in our mortification. With my knees spread and hands out to the side, Cain pressed his pelvis into mine, his chest rubbing against my breasts with each breath. I tried to take small gasps instead to ward off the zings of awareness that traveled down my body every time he brushed against me, but I couldn't do it. I gulped greedily and closed my eyes to ward off the situation. Maybe if I didn't see it happen, it would be over quicker.
"Look at me," Cain whispered.
My eyes flashed open, locking with his hard gaze.
"I won't do this if you're not okay with it. I'll tell Shasta I don't feel well or something." His voice was low, like the words had been wrenched from his chest with difficulty. A peace offering he didn't want to extend.
"Why?" I wanted to know why he was being nice to me after days of ignoring me, giving me crap jobs, and arguing with me. Why now?
He paused for a few beats, just staring at me. Then he shook his head.
"We started off on the wrong foot, but a woman doesn't deserve to be humiliated publicly, no matter what. You shouldn't have to squeeze your eyes shut and pretend this isn't happening. Say the word."
I blinked, trying to process his code of ethics. He could humiliate me in private, make me feel like I was the one in the wrong, but not publicly? He flirted out of habit, but when it was pointed out, he acquiesced that flirting with teenage girls was wrong.
This guy didn't make any sense. My brain was so busy trying to figure him out that my body took control of the situation, enjoying our pelvis placement just a bit too much.
I shook my head. "I'm fine. Let's finish."
He nodded, then placed his hands on my throat, pretending to choke me, like Shasta had described. His gaze never left me, his eyes looking almost black staring at me like I was a stranger. Which I was. Yet I wasn't.
"Okay, so now the woman bucks her hips and when he pitches forward, she'll shrimp her body out from under him. Sunny, if you would please." Shasta was back to barking orders at us and while escape sounded lovely, the means to getting there would be rough (according to my head) or delicious (according to my body).
I quirked an eyebrow, the only warning I was willing to give. Then I thrusted my hips as hard as I could, my pelvis grinding up into his for a split second, the momentum knocking him forward. His hands went on instinct, leaving my throat to catch his fall above my head. My escape route was open, so I pitched my hips to the right and pushed away from his body, getting out from under him before standing and moving away.
Obviously bested, he rolled over to his back, pinning me above him with a small smile and head nod. He may hate me, but at least I had a sliver of his respect. My body rejoiced, thinking good times would commence, and my head was happy that we'd notched our way back into his good graces, securing our shaky job status just a smidgen.
