“I could help distract you,” he teased, flashing a charming smile I didn’t trust one bit.
“Oh?” I turned into him, my legs hanging off the chair as I ran my fingers over his jaw. “How’s that?”
His smile turned wicked. “Probably not nearly as fun as what you are imagining. I was actually thinking that I could teach you some basic self-defense.” His confidence faltered slightly as he offered me a more meaningful look. “Only if you want to, angel.”
“I love that idea,” I assured him, feeling my chest squeeze at the fact that his desire was to take time from his day to teach me to protect myself. I mean… What did I even say to that besides yes? It was incredibly thoughtful.
Stratton let out a satisfied hum before scooping me up and walking across the pool deck, setting me down in the grass. Unfortunately, King’s phone and our coffee mugs were abandoned back there, but considering I was so close to Stratton, I figured it was a good trade-off for my lack of caffeine.
The man towered over me, his smile affectionate, as I wondered how we had ever managed to stay away from one another. Well, that had actually been mostly him. I just hoped we would never return back to that. I hoped that he was as much in this as I was. I felt like he was… but you couldn’t blame me completely for wanting to wait to make a declaration of love until I had a bit more assurance from him.
Of course there were things outside of our relationship that we still had to work out, from what had been going on with his family to the gangs that were hanging around the fight rings, but I continued to tell myself we had time for that. Time to figure it out. Right now, I was just thankful and happy that he was allowing himself to enjoy this connection between us, one that had always existed from the time that we were young and playing outside all summer. Even though we would argue, it wouldn’t stop us from playing from morning until night. It was just the way we worked.
“So how do we start?” I asked curiously, stepping into him as he looked over me, seeming to get caught up on something. He ran a hand over his jaw and let out a small groan of frustration.
“Honestly, I may have made a mistake with this idea. I don’t think I’m the right person to try to teach you self-defense,” he admitted and shook his head. “Part of me wants to carry your sexy ass back inside and insist you don’t need this, and the other part of me wants to pin you to ground until you learn how to fight back.”
The pinning to the ground part sounded enjoyable. I voted for that.
I nibbled my lip, getting caught up in my own head as my consciousness snagged on a worrisome thought. “I should learn the basics… I don’t want what happened with Ian to happen again. It can’t happen again, Stratton. That was far too close.”
Talk about admitting my very real fears.
Stratton’s eyes darkened as he motioned me forward, his hands coming up to cup my jaw. “You sure? We can wait a bit. I don’t want to bring those memories back up.”
“I’m fine,” I promised. “I will tell you if it’s too much.”
Before he had a chance to respond, the back door opened and Dermot strode out wearing a fresh pair of jeans and a dark green shirt. He looked absolutely way too good dressed in that color. His eyes filled with interest as he rounded the pool.
“I like that color on you,” I chirped, leaning into Stratton. Dermot’s eyes lit up with pleasure and his ears heated just a small amount, an endearing reaction that had me falling for the man just a little bit more.
“Thanks, baby girl,” he rumbled and then looked at where my sandals were off to the side. “How did the call go?”
“Good.” I nodded and added happily, “They are staying there, and now Stratton is going to teach me self-defense. Want to watch?”
Dermot arched his brow and looked at the man over my shoulder. “You think she should learn how to fight?”
He didn’t seem opposed to the concept, but it wasn’t one that had occurred to him, clearly.
Stratton nodded, his fingers tightening on my waist. “I mean, I’ll probably regret it later when she learns how to kick my sorry ass, but she should learn. I don’t want another fucker like Ian bothering her.”
I couldn’t help but smile at the concept of me kicking Stratton’s butt. That wasn’t even a possibility, but it was sweet that he believed in me that much. I wondered if the man realized just how small I was compared to him?
“Ian shouldn’t be a problem anymore,” Dermot said vaguely before tilting his head and looking down at me. “I don’t disagree, though. Maybe she should learn how to shoot as well.”
My eyes widened as I considered what he was saying.
Me? With a firearm?Oh lord.
“You want me to learn how to shoot a gun?” I let out the strangled question as Dermot examined my expression, warmth entering his eyes as he offered me what was no doubt supposed to be a comforting look.
“It’s not as scary as it sounds, I promise.” Dermot stepped closer so that I was captured between the two of them.
“What is the chance of her using that here, though?” Stratton countered as I looked back and forth between the two large men talking above my head. Literally.
You know, it actually didn’t surprise me that they got along. I think in some ways they were the most alike out of all my boys. They both tended to stray from the mold of those around them and seemed to purposefully set themselves apart. How they did so was different, and Dermot’s was partly because he literally was from a different culture, but it still made an impact.
Then again, I felt like all my men stood out pretty vibrantly against the fairly ordinary background of our small, wealthy, Southern town.