Page 39 of When She Tempts (The Fallen)
The implicit trust between us right now sends my stomach soaring. It’s a cocktail of nerves, fear, anxiety, and something far more tender.
Our eyes clash, his dark and stormy, mine wide and aroused.Shit. Can he tell? Does he know?
His gaze falls to my lips. “Let’s go, Martina.”
We practice a few times. Each time he puts his hands back on my throat, my clit pulsates. Nervous sweat rolls down my back despite the fact we’re hardly moving. I’m afraid he’ll notice and wonder why, but then I realize his own forehead has a sheen to it. He’s sweating too.
As if he’s able to see that observation in my eyes, the next time I do the move, he steps back and lifts the hem of his shirt to wipe at his damp brow.
My eyes blow wide, and I think I stop breathing. His flat, chiseled abs move with each breath, their shape even more defined after the earlier crunches he did beside me. I let out a slow breath through my lips.
My God.
I shake my head, trying to focus on the task at hand. I’m supposed to be training, not ogling his body, but it’s hard to ignore the way his abs glisten with sweat in the light of the gym. My gaze catches on a thin scar just above his belly button, a line of slightly raised skin that’s a shade lighter than the rest.
“Where did you get that?” I ask before I think better of it.
He lets his shirt fall back down his body and looks at me. “What?”
“That scar above your belly button.”
The moment the words leave my mouth, I realize I just admitted I was checking him out. I wonder if that’s what injects that extra dose of intensity in his gaze, or if it’s the memory of how he got the scar.
He drags an absentminded hand over his abdomen and saves me from marinating in my embarrassment by answering.
“I got it the year I got made.”
Curiosity stirs beneath my skin. “How old were you?”
“Fifteen.”
Wow. He’s been made for as long as I’ve been alive. “Did you know how to fight back then?”
A hint of amusement flickers inside his eyes. “No. I got my ass kicked a lot in the beginning because I never had to deal on the streets. The others resented the fact that I got to sit behind computer screens all day. The first year was the worst. One night, I was coming back to my apartment, and three guys ambushed me. It was payday, so they wanted my envelope of cash, but they also wanted to prove a point. I fought them, badly. They had the upper hand within seconds. Things could have ended up way worse if it wasn’t for my old boss putting a tail on me.”
“Sal?”
“No, this was when I was still part of the Secondigliano Alliance. The area capo valued me, and he knew I had a target on my back, so he got one of his guys to keep an eye out. That’s what saved me that night. I started learning martial arts soon after.”
It amazes me that Giorgio knows what it’s like to be overpowered. These days, I can’t imagine him on the losing side of a fight.
“Let’s go again,” he says, but I shake my head.
“It’s too easy. A bit contrived, don’t you think? In a real attack, the person wouldn’t patiently wait while I try to do all the steps.”
He crosses his arms over his chest. “What are you saying?”
I blink a few times as I try to gather the courage to say my next sentence. “Do it like it’s real. Move faster. Use more force.”
I can tell the moment he decides it’s a bad idea. There’s a shuttering in his gaze. “This is only our second class.”
“I just want to try it once. If you really want this to be helpful to me, the intensity needs to be on par with a real attack. Otherwise, I’ll freeze.”
A puff of air escapes past his lips, but he doesn’t refuse once more like I’m half-expecting. He considers it, and then he drops his arms back to his sides and says, “Just once.”
A shiver runs up my spine. I don’t know why I want this, or what I’m hoping to get out of it, but this is the first time since New York that I’ve felt something that might qualify as real excitement.
Giorgio moves into position before me. “I’ll count until three. Do whatever you need to get away, all right? Remember what I taught you.”
