The hopeful lilt to her voice had him giving her a smile of reassurance as he peeled off the suit. “Really. Tomorrow we can practice all these again, and I’ll add a few more.”
“Any chance we can try a few without the suit right now?”
Fuck. He turned to lay the padding against the wall with a silent groan. The distance it had afforded him was the only reason he’d made it this far.
“I just want to see what it’s like without the padding,” Shelby added. “So it feels more real.”
Feeling her was precisely the problem.
“Yeah. Sure.” Because of course, he’d been having trouble saying no to her since the night of the wedding.
She did great with her hammer and palm heel strikes, even if he could tell she was holding back. He didn’t argue that for tonight.
“We’re going to skip the groin kicks for now,” he advised, and she laughed.
A second later, when she turned her back, he seized the opportunity to catch her off guard and grabbed her from behind in the bear hug. It might have also been that he didn’t want to give himself a chance to over-think how close the move would bring him without the suit.
He should’ve given himself the chance to think about it.
Should’ve prepared mentally for the feel of her ass snugged up tight against his groin. The soft cushion of her full breasts against his forearms. Heat spread like wildfire until she let out a yell and bent at the waist to drop her weight. Next thing he knew, she rotated her upper body to slam her elbow up into his jaw on the right, then the left, and back to the right.
Muscle memory kicked in from hand to hand combat training, and he was able to pull back just enough to avoid a sore jaw in the morning. Her hip swivel twisted her free of his arms, and she reached up to pull his head down while lifting her knee toward his groin.
Pure instinct had him jerking back, and his weight shift at the odd angle tweaked his knee. The searing stab of pain dropped him to the mat with an involuntary grunt.
Shelby gasped and dropped to her knees to lean over him. “Oh my God. I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” he said through gritted teeth. Or he would be, as soon as she wasn’t leaning over him, her beautiful brown eyes swimming with concern as she worried the corner of her bottom lip with her teeth.
Her palms rested on his chest, and when her gaze met his from less than a foot away, she suddenly froze. A flare of heat thickened the air, and he reached to grasp her arms to set her away. Only, once his palms made contact with her bare skin, all he could think about was pulling her closer.
Her attention slid to his mouth, and his name came out on a whisper of breath. “Dev.”
When her tongue darted out to wet her lips, he was a goner.
&nbs
p; With a low groan of defeat, he dragged her in. She might have met him halfway, but the instant their lips melded, he was swept along on a tsunami of desire a decade in the making.
Her lips were silky soft, and her breathy little moan parted them just enough for him to slide his tongue in for a taste. She opened for him, and he took full advantage to stroke deeper. So sweet. Hot. And the way she met him stroke for stroke was addicting in a way that had him rolling her over, using her momentum to keep them going until he lay on top of her.
Well, partially on top—with his swelling erection pressed firmly against her thigh, right about where those pink velvet shorts kissed the curve of her ass cheek.
She slid her hands from his chest, up around his neck to rake her nails through his hair. The smile she tilted up from beneath her lashes was a contradiction of shyness and pure siren. Just like that day in her bedroom all those years ago when she’d offered him her innocence.
He stilled as desire battled with honor. Many things had changed in nine years, but his reason for saying no back then was the same reason he had to say no now.
His first duty was to protect her.
Chapter 19
Shelby felt Dev pulling away before he actually moved. She saw the regret in his eyes and tried to keep him from leaving her. But she was no match for his strength as he pushed up from the mat. Away from her.
“I can’t,” he bit out, his tone gruff and angry. “I’m sorry.”
“I don’t understand.” She lay there blinking up at him, weighed down by crushing hurt and disappointment.
“Don’t look at me like that. I have to be responsible, Shelby.”