“What tooth?” I asked with a grin, feeling my cock wake up in the face of a flirty August Stiel.
“Never mind.”
“Nope. Too late. The redneck twisty one?”
More red blotches appeared on his neck. And his discomfort only made my dick harder.
“It’s cute,” he said in a soft voice. “I like it.”
My stomach tumbled, and part of me wished Lanny could have been there to see how none of this was really my fault. Augie was irresistible, and it was taking every shred of self-control I had not to throw him down on the mat and lay my body on top of his. I couldn’t do that. I was on the clock, and Lanny was still somewhere in the building.
I was completely fucked by this guy. Royally fucked.
“Augie,” I murmured. “Let me protect you. It’s important to me. More important than anything else right now.”
There was an awkward moment where his eyes darted away from me. The skin of his neck turned blotchy, and his cheeks flushed more than before. He was so expressive and reactive. I decided no matter what he said to my suggestion of protection, I would do whatever it took to keep him safe.
He cleared his throat and stood up before looking down at me with a completely neutral expression. “I’ll um… I’ll think about it. In the meantime, what moves are you teaching me today?”
If he only knew all the ways in which I wanted to answer that question.
Chapter 21
Augie
“Let’s talk about what to do if there’s more than one attacker,” Saint said, switching back into professional mode. When he’d said my name in that tone of voice, I’d known he was about to shut me down. I’d made the mistake of flirting with him, and he’d rightly put a stop to it. It wasn’t fair of me to put him in that position after he’d already told me he’d get in trouble with his boss if anything happened between us.
He stepped close to me and positioned me by putting his hands on my hips. “Okay, stand here.”
I felt my entire body come alive and all the blood shift south. There was no way I’d be able to hide the massive hard-on I had for him if we couldn’t find a way to get back to client and trainer only.
I was beginning to realize the inevitability of my feelings for him, and I’d caught myself spending way too much time going back and forth about whether those feelings were acceptable or not. I wasn’t a child for god’s sake. Why couldn’t I be sexually attracted to whomever I wanted without feeling a rush of guilt and humiliation?
Because I knew that if I ever actually pursued a same-sex relationship, the media would have a field day with it and my mother would lose her ever-loving shit. I hated the knowledge that the suffocating environment of my childhood had created those feelings of guilt inside of me. Logically, I knew I should be able to be myself, but I still harbored the feeling of obligation to my family for supporting me with everything I’d ever needed, including the extended education that helped me pursue my dream job. I’d always thought that “ruining” their reputation by coming out would be a shitty way to show my appreciation for all they’d done.
We spent the next hour going through the basics of throwing one attacker into the other, targeting the man in charge first, and other tactics for escaping from a multipronged attack. During our next water break, Saint told me the only thing left to learn was defending against the use of weapons.
Having to fight my physical response to him throughout an entire other session was untenable. I just couldn’t do it—couldn’t take it anymore. Being near him and not able to run my hands over him the way I wanted to or kiss him when his face was close to mine was just… excruciating.
He looked at me with clear blue-gray eyes. “So we can stop for the day or—”
“No. Let’s keep going,” I said before he had a chance to finish. “Now that I know there might be more going on here than I thought, I want to be prepared.”
He looked at me for a beat before nodding. “Okay. Let me go get some props. Why don’t we take five?”
I made my way to the men’s room and then stopped to grab another couple of bottles of water. When I returned to the training room, Saint was running his hands through his hair. He looked stressed.
“Water?” I asked, holding out a bottle to him. His face cleared and he smiled his thanks while reaching out to take the offered drink. “Ah, I didn’t ask if you were okay to stay. Do you need to go?”
“What? No, not at all. I’m fine. Just got a text from my sister while you were gone, that’s all. Sorry.” He took a sip of water and then put both of our bottles on the floor by the wall before returning to where I stood.