Page 23 of Knight’s Dominion

His head jerked back slightly.

She swallowed hard. “You afraid I’ll kick your ass?”

He grinned again, that shark smile. “Oh, I think I can handle it.”

She shrugged, her belly a riot of nerves. “Well, then, what are you waiting for?”

To her surprise, he moved to the center of the room and crooked his finger at her like she’d done to him earlier. "Come here."

A throb started between her thighs. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea after all. She hesitated.

“Now, Grace.”

Heat flooded her body at that low, rumbled demand, and desire, hot and hungry, hit her with force.

As much as she wanted to run the other way, she couldn’t. This was her bright idea. She couldn't back out now. Tightening her ponytail, she shook out her arms and legs to stop them from goddamn quivering and stepped onto the mat with him.

"Watch me, then I’ll come at you, yes?"

"Sounds good." Sounds terrible.

He ran through the moves and she barely saw what he was doing, too mesmerized by the play of all those bulky muscles, the incredible strength of his body, the graceful, brutal way he moved.

When he finished, he looked up at her. “Got it?”

“Yep.” Nope.

She should get him to run through it again, but the idea of showing any weakness to this male had her grinding her teeth. Then it was too late, and he was moving in behind her. Close. So close. Too damn close.

“For this exercise, I’m going to take you from behind,” he said, voice impossibly rough and deep.

Take her from behind? Seriously? He had to know how that sounded, the images it conjured.

“Right.” Her nipples tightened. Shit. Shit. Shit.

He cleared his throat. “And you're going to try to stop me."

Grace braced, waiting for the attack, and even though she knew it was coming she could barely control the explosion of nerves erupting in her belly.

He waited, several seconds ticking by. His breath brushed the side of her throat, his breathing deep and even. He wasn’t touching her, but she could feel every inch of his body. The immense heat radiating off his skin was like a physical touch, and it lifted goose bumps all over her.

When he finally attacked, she knew it was coming. His breath hitched, a tiny tell, but enough to give her a split second of warning, enough time to loosen her body and execute her defense.

She did as he'd instructed, somehow it had gotten through to her, and she grabbed his forearm, twisting away, running through the sequence of moves, fighting back.

He switched things up suddenly, coming at her from another angle. Grace spun and deflected his strike with her right arm, then swung back, her body spinning away, leg high. Her kick made contact with his side, but he didn’t slow.

He kept at her, relentless, fully on the offensive. Not going easy on her, not even close. Not that she’d expected him to. She countered every move as best she could, adrenaline racing through her veins. He didn’t let up, kept coming at her over and over again. Her lungs were screaming when he finally made a move to take her down to the floor. She hooked her leg behind his knee in retaliation, locking on, refusing to go down without a fight, and he went down with her.

She was about to spring back to her feet, but he moved quickly, one solid arm banding around her, keeping her down. How could he move so fast? It should be impossible.

He rolled and pinned her to the mat. Her legs tangled with his, his body a heavy, unrelenting weight on top of her. She hissed and he grunted as they wrestled, as she fought him.

It was no use, she gritted her teeth and looked up at him. His gaze locked with hers, but there was nothing cold in their depths this time, no, they blazed. He’d loved every minute.

Her breath stuck in her throat.

Oh shit.