Page 16 of Igniting Her

“He didn’t complain.”

“Your back will.”

Ellie straightened. Cassie stood at the edge of the mat, one hand resting on her hip. Her breathing had returned to normal already. “Do you critique everyone who works out after midnight,” Ellie asked, “or am I receiving specialized instruction?”

“You keep presenting specialized problems.”

There it was, that rare, dry edge that almost qualified as humor. Ellie felt her own mouth begin to curve and stopped it out of self-respect. “My legs are doing their share.”

“Not from that position.”

“Show me.” The words left before Ellie had decided how much of a challenge to put in them.

Cassie went still. For a second, neither moved, and the quiet between them stopped being neutral. Then Cassie stepped onto the mat. “Sit.”

Ellie’s body obeyed before her pride could file an objection. She sat with her legs extended, palms braced behind her. Cassie moved around her and crouched at her back. The air shifted. Ellie caught the clean scent of soap beneath sweat, then the warmth of Cassie’s forearms sliding under her arms. “A conscious patient can help you,” Cassie said. Her voice was close to Ellie’s right ear. “An unconscious one gives you weight and nothing else. You bring the torso against your center before you move.”

She drew Ellie back. Ellie’s shoulders met Cassie’s chest. One of Cassie’s forearms crossed beneath her collarbones; the other secured it at the wrist. The hold was functional. Secure. Intimate only if a person was determined to make trouble. Ellie was in real danger of being determined.

“Feet wider,” Cassie said.

“Mine or yours?”

The grip tightened by a degree. “You’re the patient.”

“I like to understand the whole operation,” Ellie said.

“That hasn’t escaped my attention.” Cassie planted her feet outside Ellie’s hips and rose through her legs. Ellie came with her, her back fitted to Cassie’s front for one suspended second before her heels skimmed the mat. Cassie took three controlled steps backward and lowered her without a jolt.

Neither moved away.

Ellie could feel Cassie’s breath against the loose hair behind her ear. Her own pulse struck hard beneath the forearm still lying across her upper chest. “That,” Cassie said, quieter now, “is a stable base.”

“I noticed.”

Cassie released her. The absence of contact felt immediate and unreasonably empty.

Ellie got to her feet. “My turn.”

“You understood the correction.”

“You’re always saying understanding isn’t the same as execution.” Ellie tipped her chin in challenge.

Cassie’s eyes narrowed and Ellie waited for dismissal. Instead, the captain sat down. This was a bad idea. It became worse when Ellie knelt behind her. Up close, the gray at Cassie’s temples threaded farther into the dark than it appeared across a room. Her twist had loosened enough to expose the fine hair at the base of her neck. Ellie put her arms beneath Cassie’s and stopped with her hands hovering. “Here?”

Cassie took Ellie’s left wrist and moved it two inches. “Lower. You’re controlling the shoulders, not the throat.” Her fingers stayed around Ellie’s wrist after the correction was complete. Ellie looked down at them. Cassie let go. “Your feet,” Cassie said.

Ellie glanced down. “Still attached.”

Cassie rose and turned inside the circle of Ellie’s arms. Suddenly they were facing each other, close enough that Ellie had to tip her chin to hold her gaze.

“Your stance is narrow again,” Cassie corrected her.

“It wasn’t narrow when you were in it.”

“You compensated with your back.” Cassie put one hand at Ellie’s waist. It was not a caress. Her palm landed with purpose, thumb braced just above Ellie’s hip, while one foot nudged Ellie’s shoe farther out on the mat. Then she put her other hand on Ellie’s opposite side and adjusted her square to the load. “Here,” Cassie said. “Knees loose. Center behind the patient.”

Ellie heard the instruction; she also heard Cassie’s breathing change. “You can let go now,” Ellie said, though she made no move to step back.