Under Threat by B.J. Daniels (reading the story of the .TXT) 📕

push-ups sharply and clearly reminded her what was so great about it, and even though it was stupid, she had a feeling Vaughn would be better at it than Casey had been. Vaughn was so much bigger and stronger and gruffer and...

And then he’d started talking about cases and her sister, and on top of the achy, longing feeling, he brought up all her vulnerabilities. Talking about Gabby’s case made her sad and lonely. She was a little too close to suggesting that there were a lot of ways to get rid of sad and lonely, and hand-to-hand combat wasn’t one of them.

Instead, she needed to focus on feeling like... Like she had some kind of power. Like she could be strong enough to fight off any threat leveled at her. Because she knew they could only stay here for so long. If no one figured out who The Stallion was, or who’d burned down her house, she’d be in danger when they had to go back.

That scared her, but not as much as it should. She had the sneaking suspicion that even if she had to go back to Austin, Vaughn would keep her safe no matter what.

And you know that is a stupid thought.

“All right.” Vaughn looked around the living room that he’d cleared. He did a quick tour of the space as if measuring it. Then he fisted his hands on his hips and looked at her.

His gaze did a cursory up-and-down as though he were measuring her up. It didn’t feel sexual in the least, at least until his eyes lingered on her chest. She was wearing one of his sister’s shirts, which was unerringly far too tight for her in that area. She didn’t think he minded that. If he did mind, it was for a completely different reason than not liking it.

“So.” He cleared his throat. “The most dangerous attacks are the ones you don’t see coming. There’s a certain mindfulness that you have to employ when you know you’re walking into a dangerous situation. And—”

“And unfortunately my life is currently a dangerous situation 24/7?”

“Natalie.” He crossed to her and rested his hands on her shoulders. “You are safe with me,” he said, those gray-blue eyes nearly mesmerizing and the calm certainty in his voice even more reassuring. “Know that. My job is to protect you, and you can ask my ex-wife, I take my job far too seriously.”

“You have an ex-wife?”

His gaze left hers and his hands did too. “Yes,” he muttered as though he hadn’t meant to share that piece of information about himself.

She hated the idea of him being married before, which was stupid, but she liked that he had given her the information against his will. That meant that maybe he had these same feelings irritating the crap out of him. All this conflicted energy. All this longing she knew she couldn’t indulge in.

“Come stand in the middle of the room,” he ordered.

She’d gotten to the point where she knew that when he was ordering her around, it was because he was a little off-kilter himself.

She definitely liked that too. But she obeyed and came to stand in the center of the room.

“I’m going to come from behind. I’ll wrap my arms around your upper body. And then I’ll talk you through getting out of the hold.”

“All right.”

She stood there, bracing herself for his touch. He did just as he said he was going to do, his muscled arm coming around over her shoulders and keeping her arms almost completely immobile. Though his grip was tight, it wasn’t at all harsh. It was gentle. And because she was all too antsy, and all too eager to lean into that grip, she sighed.

“You know I don’t think a bad guy is going to hold me nicely.”

“I’m not going to hurt you while I’m trying to demonstrate how to get out of a hold.”

“How can I learn if there isn’t some sort of reality to it?”

“First, you’re going to learn the strategy. Then, we’ll try with a little more reality to it. You need to learn some patience.”

“You’ll be shocked to know you’re not the first person to tell me that.”

He chuckled, and his mouth was so close to her ear that his breath tickled over the sides of her neck. They really needed to find out who The Stallion was, because she wasn’t sure how much longer she was going to keep herself from throwing herself at Vaughn. She knew she shouldn’t, hell, couldn’t, and yet it was bubbling inside her like something beyond her ability to control.

“Okay, so the first step when someone has you in a hold like this is to catch them off guard. If they’ve left your legs mobile, then that’s what you use. If you can get your elbow free, that’s what you use. You’re always going to want to use the sharpest part of your body and hit the most vulnerable part of theirs.”

“So what you’re saying is, I should kick him in the crotch?”

“Yes, actually, that is exactly what I’m saying.”

It was her turn to laugh. “That’s not exactly the type of thing I would expect you to suggest I do.”

“When it comes to keeping yourself safe, you do whatever it takes. Keep in mind that I have a sister. I’ve taught her how to do this. I’m taking the same approach as when I taught her.”

“You’re taking the same approach with me that you took with your sister?”

It was too leading of a question, and she wished it back in her mouth the minute it had come out. But she didn’t know how to sidestep the silence that surrounded them. She didn’t know how to make it go away. Some silly part of her wanted to know, though. Did he think of her as a sister? As someone he would never think of sexually?

“The same approach...” He seemed to consider this carefully, and she had no business thinking that meant something. Of course