“You are not actually considering going over there,” I muttered to myself as I picked up a bucket of ribs.

Of course, the comment was moot, because the restaurant I’d decided to grab some food at was several blocks out of the way when compared to my place. But it was just down the street from the address Kane had given me.

As I checked the bag to make sure plastic ware and the sides hadn’t been forgotten, I tried once more to have a rational conversation – with myself – about what I was doing.

I was going over to a total stranger’s place because he’d offered to show me some self-defense moves.

The self-defense moves weren’t a bad idea, and in retrospect, maybe it was something I should have done a long time ago.

But going over to a total stranger’s place to learn them?

Was that a good idea?

He’s Jake’s friend, one half of me argued. That automatically gives him points.

The logical part of me pointed out, you barely know Jake. So why does that count for anything?

Okay, so I didn’t really know my brother. I barely knew Michelle. But I was a decent judge of character, and I sensed both were good people, the kind of people you could trust. And they weren’t the kind of people who’d be friends with sleazebags.

That automatically made Kane okay, by that rule.

But what if they didn’t really know Kane?

I’d been going back and forth this way for nearly twenty minutes, ever since I’d left my apartment to get some food. It was almost six-thirty when I started down the block – away from the subway entrance.

Right toward the address Kane had given me.

“I really am doing this,” I muttered.

Yes. Yes, I was.

I finally reached the address and had to draw the napkin from my pocket to double check – yep, this was the right place.

It was a garage. The open sign was off, and the hours of the place showed that it had closed at five-thirty.

“Okay,” I mumbled, stepping back and wondering how I was supposed to get inside. That was when I noticed the bell by the door. Shrugging, I reached out to punch it.

It didn’t even take a minute before I heard noise coming from the back of the garage. A tall form, lined in light, appeared in a doorway somewhere inside and my heart fluttered a little as I recognized Kane.

Tightening my grip on the bag of food, I held my breath as he drew closer.

He eyed me through the glass and a slow smile curled up the corners of his mouth. The smile softened everything about him. I couldn’t help but notice that. He looked less…aggressive. Even the scar bisecting his left eyebrow seemed less intimidating. My heart kicked up a few more beats as he unlocked the door.

I thought about how he’d kissed me.

Then I remembered slapping him, and I blushed.

“You came,” he said, pushing the door open and stepping aside so I could enter.

“Yes.” I moved in past him, feeling the heat of his skin reaching out to mine as I brushed by him. I shivered a little, wondering a bit at the enticing sensation. “I…um…I brought food. I figured we could…eat. I don’t know if you’ve had dinner.”

“I haven’t,” he told me. “But even if I had, I’m always hungry.” He smiled as he said it, taking the bag from me. He gestured to a row of hooks on the far wall. “You can hang your coat up there if you want. We’ll do this in the bay area.”

I had no idea what that meant, but I figured I’d find out. Hanging up my coat, I turned just as he relocked the doors. He shot me a grin. “If I don’t lock up, people will try to come in, no matter if the sign’s off and the hours are posted.”

Nodding, I stood there, feeling awkward and out of place. I was glad when he gestured for me to follow him.

The bay, it turned out, was the area used for repairing the cars.

“Is this your garage?” I asked, eying the space that looked to have been cleared out just for us.

“Yes.”

A heavy mat was spread on the floor, and I glanced at him. “You do this sort of thing a lot?”

“I’ve got sisters,” he replied.

Did some small part of me deflate a little at that answer? Was that why he was doing this?

Why did you want him to be doing it? That logical part of me wouldn’t shut up.

Biting my lip, I decided to just ignore it.

“So…” I folded my arms over my chest. “How do we start?”

* * *

My arms hurt.

My upper body hurt.

My legs hurt.

“You should start doing push-ups,” Kane said, dropping down next to me where I sprawled on the mat, trying to decide if I was ever going to move again.

I heard plastic rustle and lifted my head.

Okay, crap. Even my neck hurt.

It wasn’t like a strain or anything, just a deep sort of muscle ache that let me know I’d been working parts of me that weren’t used to being worked.

But none of that stopped me from dragging myself into an upright position as he peeled the top of the ribs off and the smell wafted out. My belly rumbled demandingly.

“I hate push-ups,” I told Kane, taking one of the plates he offered me. They were plain, simple, and white. I wondered where they’d come from.

“They’ll build your upper body strength,” he said with a shrug. He had a healthy serving of ribs on his own plate and watched me as he selected one. “The stronger you are, the better you’ll be able to hurt somebody if you ever need to use any of this stuff I’m teaching you.”

He couldn’t have said anything more likely to convince me.

* * *

I was back over at the garage for the third time in as many days. School started back up the following week, and I wouldn’t be able to come over as much – I’d already told Kane that, and he said we’d work around my schedule as needed. I was nowhere confident enough that I could use any of the moves he’d shown me yet.

Of course, sometimes I had trouble concentrating on what he was showing me. It wasn’t that he was hard to follow, but…well…sometimes he did make it hard. Hard to pay attention. Hard to think. Hard to do anything but wish I could be normal, wish I knew how to do something about the heat he caused inside me.

I wished I knew what to do when our hands accidentally touched, and sparks erupted between us.

I wished I knew how to close the distance between us and kiss him, or how to handle the lulls in the conversation when we were eating.

If they bothered him, he didn’t let on, but for me, those lulls were emotionally charged, and I wanted, more than anything, to be the kind of girl who could take the bull by the horns and lean over toward him during one of those silences, press my lips to his mouth and just…see what happened.

Last night, he’d ordered pizza for us, and those silences had happened several times.

Tonight, I had Chinese, and I had no doubt those silences would happen a couple more times.

If I wasn’t so awkward, so bad at the man/woman shit, I could handle this.

But even the few dates I’d been on had been disasters, and the attempts at sex had been nothing but a study in awkwardness and pain, at least from my point of view.

“Stop worrying about it, or you’ll make it worse,” I told myself as I rang the doorbell, my arms laden with Chinese food.

Since I didn’t know what he liked, I’d ordered three different entrees and had a mess of egg rolls and crab Rangoon. One thing I’d noticed – the man could put food away like nothing I’d ever seen.

My arms ached a little as I went to ring the doorbell. I’d taken him at his word and started doing push-ups.

I could manage maybe ten. When I told him that last night, I’d expected him to laugh, but Kane just nodded. “Next week, do fifteen. Then go for twenty. You’ll get up there.”

I couldn’t imagine doing twenty push-ups. The pitiful ten I was doing now took all the strength I possessed.

The door opened, and Kane stepped aside to let me in. I smiled a little easier today, not as nervous as I’d been the first night.

“That smells good,” he said, locking the door behind me. He took the bags as I hung up my coat.

“I didn’t know what you liked so I got a couple of things.” When I turned to face him, I tensed, finding him standing closer than I’d expected. “Ah…” I licked my lips.

His gaze dropped to my mouth, then moved back to meet my eyes.

A rush of heat exploded through my chest. What was that?

A grin crooked his lips. “I’m easy, Raye. I like a little bit of everything. I’m sure whatever you have is fine.”

I nodded, feeling like an idiot.

I also felt more than a little hopeless, because another one of those moments had just slid through my fingertips, and I didn’t know how to do jack about it.

* * *

“Relax,” Kane said, his voice rough in my ear.

It was almost impossible to relax, considering the position we were in.

He held in what could almost be called a lover’s embrace, with my back tucked up against his front, both of his arms around me. He didn’t hold me too tight, but his arms weren’t loose enough for me to escape either. I was supposed to be using some of the techniques he’d shown me to break free.

A crazed mix of fear and want slithered through me, though, which was making it almost impossible to think. And he wanted me to relax?

“Remember what I told you,” he said, speaking in a tone that was almost soothing despite the rough, raw grittiness of his tone. “A man’s gotta be able to see and breathe to do much of anything, so what are you going to do?”

His words jarred loose the proper action, and I jerked back with my head.

He moved his just in time, but he’d told me he knew to move because he was expecting it. Anybody who came up and grabbed me out of the blue wasn’t likely to be prepared for a fight – most predators weren’t.

“Good. Now…next?”

I was supposed to stun him enough that he let me go.

I brought up my tennis-clad foot and slammed it down on his instep. He was wearing work boots and had told me not to pull the hit – you’re little, and you need to prepare for this. Give it all you got.

He grunted, a sound of pain in his voice. “Good one. Next?”

I drove back with my elbow and hit a torso that felt as hard as a tree trunk, but he let me go. I rushed to get away before he could grab me again, which would start the process all over.

“Good job.”

As I turned, I found him grinning at me, the grin that turned his dark, brooding face into one that was good-looking enough to take my breath away.

I could pretend that it was adrenaline, though.