Easy

couldn’t tear my eyes from his. “I know you don’t believe it would work. I want to show you it will.”
    “What do you mean, show me?”
    His hands tightened on mine. “I want to teach you exactly how to execute it. Here. With no one else watching.”
    It was the replication of the position itself, but also the thought of him watching that had been so unnerving this morning, but he couldn’t know that.
    “Trust me, Jacqueline. It works. Will you let me show you?”
    I nodded.
    He led me to the center of the floor space, pulled me down to my knees next to him. “Lie flat. On your stomach.” Heart pounding, I obeyed. “The majority of men have no martial arts training whatsoever, so they won’t be able to counter the moves correctly. And even those who do won’t be expecting what you’re going to do. Remember what Ralph said—the key is to get away.”
    I nodded, my cheek on the carpet, my heart slamming against the floor.
    “Do you remember the moves?”
    I shook my head, shutting my eyes.
    “It’s okay. I could tell you were freaking out in class. Your friend did the right thing, not forcing you. I don’t want to force you, either. I just want to help you feel more in control.”
    I took a deep breath. “Okay.”
    “If you find yourself in this position, you want to do these moves automatically, without wasting time or energy trying to buck him off.”
    I stiffened as his inadvertent use of Buck’s name.
    “What?”
    “That’s his name. Buck.”
    I heard him inhale through his nose, like he was trying to maintain control. “I will remember that.” He was silent for a moment. “The first move seems counterproductive because it provides no leverage. But that’s the thing—you’re taking his leverage away. Choose the side you want to roll onto, and put that arm straight up and out, like you’re standing and reaching for the ceiling.”
    I put my left arm up as he described.
    “Good. Now, with your opposite arm, you give yourself leverage, and you remove his already precarious balance. Palm flat on the ground, elbow up. Shove down and roll to your side, throwing him off.”
    I followed his instructions—easy to do, with no weight on top of me.
    “Can we try it? I’m going to push your shoulders down and use my weight to hold you there. If you have a problem, just say so and I’m off. Okay?”
    I fought my panic. “Okay.”
    His gentleness as he knelt over me, holding my shoulders to the floor, was so contrary to Buck’s violence that I almost cried. He lay over me, his breath in my ear. “Arm straight up.” I obeyed. “Palm flat, and push off, hard, and roll onto your side.”
    I did as he said, and he tumbled off. “Perfect. Let’s try it again.”
    We went through the moves again, and again, and again, and each time he was more forceful and harder to displace, but still, I threw him off, every time. Until I mistakenly pushed up with my hips, trying to rise.
    He exhaled harshly. “That won’t work, Jacqueline—though it’s the natural response to something unwanted on top of you. The only sure way to dislodge a man in this position is rolling to the side. I’m too strong for you to move me by pressing up. You have to fight that inclination.”
    Finally, we tried it more for real than any other time. He shoved me down, and my arm shot up and out, but I had a difficult time getting my hand free for leverage. Finally, I switched arms and got the opposite palm to the floor, shoved and rolled, throwing him off and to the side. “Shit!” he laughed, facing me as we lay on the floor. “You swapped sides on me!”
    I smiled at his praise, and his gaze flicked to my lips.
    “This is the part where you’d get up and run like hell.” His voice was gravelly.
    “But won’t he chase me?” We lay on our sides, two feet of carpet between us, neither making a move to sit up.
    He nodded. “He might. But most of these guys don’t want challenging prey. Only a handful will go after you, if you run away screaming.”
    “Ah.”
    He reached out, took my hand. “I was supposed to show you your portrait, I think.”
    “So it won’t seem like you brought me here under completely false pretenses?”
    His eyes flared and my breath caught. “I do want you to see the charcoal, but I admit that was secondary to what we just did. Do you feel more confident now, that it’ll work?”
    “Yes.”
    He leaned up on his elbow, closing the distance between us, pushing his hand into my hair