Page 68 of The Outpost (Jamison Valley 4)
He chuckled. “Let’s not get crazy.”
“How long have you been doing karate? Tell me everything.” I had never met a black belt before. My gym in Seattle had a self-defense class taught by some police officers who were trained in the martial arts but I’d never made the time to sign up.
“I actually started in college. I got into it my freshman year and worked my way up to a black belt right before I graduated. I fell out of it after moving back home since there wasn’t anyone in Prescott who taught.”
“But you picked it back up?”
“Yeah. After Maisy got kidnapped and attacked, she asked me to teach her some basics and I started doing it again. Mostly, I practice in my garage but once every couple of months I try and get over to a dojo in Bozeman.”
“That’s amazing. Do you wear the white pajamas?”
He laughed. “It’s called a gi. And yes. I wear a gi when I visit the dojo.”
“Have you ever thought about starting up your own dojo in Prescott? You’re an awesome teacher.”
He shrugged. “I could probably build up a nice school, teaching one or two nights a week, but I just don’t have the time. Maybe someday when I have kids.”
“Well, I appreciate the lesson. Now if anyone tries to attack me, which seems to be happening much too frequently lately, I can take them out.” I did a series of exaggerated karate chops in the air with a shrieking, “Hiyah!”
Beau laughed and shook his head. “Shortcake, you are one of a kind.”
I smiled. “I’m taking that as a compliment.”
“You should.” He reached out and freed a lock of my ponytail that had gotten stuck in my ear.
My eyes locked with his as the mood shifted from playful to heavy. I inhaled but it hitched in my chest. Was he going to kiss me again? Please, please kiss me again. It seemed like so long ago that we’d kissed in the kitchen. It had only been a little over a week, but with the forest fire, the incident with Dylan and then him being gone in town, it felt like forever.
We hadn’t talked about our first kiss yet, but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember why we even needed the discussion. With Beau’s eyes staring right into my soul, I didn’t have one worry about where we were headed.
I’d follow him anywhere on earth.
Beau’s chin tipped down another notch as we closed the small gap between us. My hand lifted up to his chest, but before I could touch him, he caught my hand and pulled it down to our sides. Linking his fingers with mine, he took a step back. My hopes of another kiss evaporated as he pulled me away from the outpost and into the sunny meadow.
“We should probably talk about that kiss,” he said.
I frowned. “Okay.”
“I’m sorry, Sabrina.”
Sorry? Fabulous, he regretted it. Well, I didn’t and I wasn’t going to apologize. “I’m not,” I clipped.
“Hey.” He tugged on my hand. “That’s not what I mean.”
“Then can you please explain?” I was tired of trying to interpret Beau. Sometimes I thought we were on the same page, but other times, it was like we were on different sides of the library.
“I’m sorry if I’ve been sending you mixed messages. I had every intention of waiting for you to be ready but you looked so sad that morning. All I wanted was to take that away. I don’t want to be the guy that hurts you, Sabrina.”
Here he was with that “ready” crap again. During the last week, I’d replayed our conversations on loop and had come to the conclusion that he’d been talking about my ordeal with Anton. That he thought I wasn’t ready for a new man because I was still emotionally and physically fragile from Anton’s abuse.
“When you say I’m not ready, do you mean that I’m not ready to be hurt again? You think you’ll hurt me?”
He nodded.
“Why?”
“You know why.”
I really didn’t. Beau was the kindest, sweetest and most thoughtful man I’d ever met. He’d move mountains to keep me safe. How could he think he’d hurt me?
