She laughed again, dancing away from him lightly.
‘First rule of combat. Never underestimate y
our opponent,’ she advised, clearly delighted in her small victory.
Feeling alive and invigorated, Logan pulled a few light moves on her, impressed with her technique and her agility. Not that he seriously thought he was at risk of being defeated when she was so light he could lift her up with one hand tied behind his back.
‘How is it you know taekwondo?’ he asked, as he blocked another lethal combination of moves.
‘My father insisted that my sister and I take self-defence lessons when we were younger, and I became hooked.’ She threw in a high kick that he dodged. ‘They offered lessons at our local YMCA and I used it as a break from reading.’
‘Bookworm, were you?’
He used the question to distract her, and it worked because she wasn’t ready as he forced her back on the mat and rolled her over his arm and sent her to the floor.
Pink with exertion, she jumped gracefully to her feet, scowling at him. ‘You deliberately distracted me. And, yes, I’m boring if that’s what you were getting at.’
‘Boring?’ With that mouth, and those eyes? ‘You’re turning out to be the least boring woman I know.’
His comment was followed by a serious of twists and kicks that had him roll off to the side rather than find himself face planting on the mat. She arched a brow, a smug grin curving her lips. ‘You won’t get me with fake compliments.’
Fake?
‘I don’t do fake.’
She gave him an uncertain glance and he used the momentum of her being on the back foot to use a series of kicking moves that were a combination of two different forms of martial arts, taking her by surprise as she tumbled again.
‘That was illegal,’ she complained, facing him.
‘No, it wasn’t. I practise Krav Maga as well.’
Cassidy rolled her eyes. ‘Naturally you would know the most aggressive forms of martial arts.’
‘Of course.’ Logan shrugged. ‘Basic Prince Training.’
‘Really? I would have thought that basic prince training would involve how to be demanding and get what you want.’
Logan grinned at the playful dig. ‘That’s Basic Prince Training Part Two.’
Laughing, she threw in an illegal move of her own, but Logan was primed for it, flipping her onto her back and straddling her waist with his strong thighs.
They stared at each other, both panting hard. Logan wanted to lean down and take her soft mouth with his own and almost did, but she pushed him back and he rolled to his feet.
‘Why don’t you want to be King?’
Not sure if she was trying to distract him again, he dismissed her question. ‘Too much responsibility.’
‘Meaning that you don’t want to talk about it.’
He should have known she was too smart not to see through his flippant answer. ‘Correct. Water?’
She took the bottle he offered and twisted the top, guzzling down a healthy amount. ‘It always seems so glamorous,’ she mused. ‘You live in a fancy palace, you have servants at your beck and call, you can go whereever you want, people want to meet you and be with you, and you get to raise awareness on important issues.’
Logan drank deeply from his own bottle. ‘Apart from raising awareness on important issues, the reality is very different. It’s a life that is rarely your own. You’re at the mercy of the press waiting for you to step out of line, you attract people who are interested in power and diamonds and not necessarily in that order, and you have no privacy. You don’t have any secrets. It’s frustrating.’
Cassidy’s brow shot up. ‘You like having secrets?’
‘No.’ His teeth ground together. I like having a life that’s not built on a house of cards.’