“I can show you a couple of adjustments that would help you switch over,” he offered. “If you want.”
He may not have been expressive, but I caught the undercurrent of interest in his voice now. He was impressed. Maybe only as if I were a toy he could play with to see what it could do, but I’d caught his attention enough for him to give some kind of a damn.
Was that a good thing or a bad thing?
Having seen him in action, I could tell he might have a few tips that would actually be useful. That was why I was still here, right? To use these men however I could?
I gave Talon a single nod. As he kneeled in front of me, I forced myself to hold still. He nudged one of my feet and then the other, adjusting their placement and angle just an inch here and there. His fingers brushed my calf before he straightened up, and even with the fabric of my sweatpants between his skin and mine, a quiver of heat shot up my leg.
When he stood, I lifted my fists and tested a punch. I felt the way my body moved in line, allowing just a little more power to fall behind the blow. I smiled and met his eyes. “Thanks.”
“Can I join you?” he asked, and I froze in place, not prepared for that question. He went on into my startled silence. “I have some punching mitts for practice. We can use those.”
I opened my mouth, closed it again, and shrugged. It’d be a welcome change from the punching bag—a new challenge. “Sure, why not?”
He grabbed the punching mitts out of a trunk against the wall near the punching bag and tugged them over his hands. Before he was fully prepared, I threw a punch, testing my form. The strike hit the padding over his hand with a loud thud.
Talon let out a grunt that might have been approving. “Good one,” he said, holding both mitts up between us.
I gave him a satisfied smile. “It should be.”
The breath that escaped his mouth could have almost been mistaken for a laugh. Almost. “You’re very sure of yourself when it comes to certain things, aren’t you?”
Right, I couldn’t forget that I was playing the role of Dess the abused daughter and girlfriend. But that Dess had still trained her ass off; she’d escaped the villains in her life.
I let my lips curve slyly. “This is the whole reason I’m still alive.” He had no idea how true that was.
Then I struck.
Talon was ready. He met my left-handed strikes with the gloves, and when I lifted my knee in an attempt to get an advantage, he whipped his hand down to stop the blow before it made contact with his gut.
He did leave a small opening with the gesture, though. With my free right elbow, I twisted and caught him in the ribs. A woosh of air left him as he bowed at the waist slightly.
I tried to press my advantage by getting in a jab to his jaw, but Talon had already recovered. He fended off each of my strikes with a precision I’d only seen before from people with a military background. That only strengthened my suspicion that he and Julius might have that background in common. I guessed it wasn’t so unusual for former soldiers to end up joining the police force. Similar lines of work, just different in scale.
Abruptly, Talon shook off the mitts and took a swing at me. My reflexes were well-honed enough that even in my surprise, I jerked out of the way. His fist narrowly avoided colliding with my face.
I sucked in a breath and took a step back, raising my arms defensively. Adrenaline thrummed through my veins, much more pleasant than the frustration that’d gripped me before.
“Oh, you think you can take me?” I taunted, wiping a bead of sweat from my brow and jumping from foot to foot.
“I know I can,” Talon said.
He lashed out again, so fast I had to duck beneath his arm, my ribs groaning in protest at the maneuver. He might not have been quite as bulky with muscle as Julius was, but that allowed him more speed—and he was fucking fast.
While squatting, I jabbed him in the stomach with a fist and then stood, aiming for his face. Talon batted my hand aside. He came at me with his full body weight and flying punches, and the only option I had was to run away—which wasn’t an option I was interested in taking—or to meet them head-on.
I blocked with my uninjured arm and kicked out at his thigh to create distance between us. It’d have been easier with two fully functional arms, but I’d make do with what I had.
I hadn’t gotten to spar like this in years. Even Noelle hadn’t been this much of a challenge recently. It was amazing. I could feel myself stretching, pushing harder to match my opponent, like I hadn’t since I was a teenager.
When I aimed another kick, Talon grabbed my ankle, twisting so viciously that I nearly lost my balance. He yanked me toward him and whipped me around before I could recover. One of his arms wrapped across my waist, pinning both arms to my side like he’d done when he’d caught me trying to break the window, and the other rested against my collarbone, too close to my throat for comfort.
My breathing shallowed as I recognized the danger. What did I know about Talon, really? He was in law enforcement and insistent on keeping me “safe,” but who knew how much of that was just a front? Maybe that was all Julius’s idea, and he’d rather get me out of the way so they could focus on their real work.
I jerked my body to break his hold, but his grip tightened. “Dess,” he said, my name a faint whisper of breath against my ear, “you might be more skilled than most, but you’re not better than me.”
It should have been fear that froze me to the spot, but I felt something else much more unexpected. The feel of his body pressed against mine sent a sudden flare of heat to my core.