My heart was going way too fast, and it had nothing to do with the workout.
I shrugged, attempting to remain cool and collected. “Better safe than sorry. Better an assault charge than being shot or stabbed or something you can’t recover from.”
He pushed up on his elbows. “You’re very cynical.”
“Lots of observations about me today. I thought you did your research. Thought you knew everything about me.”
“I don’t need to know everything about you when you shout your emotions with every surly remark and sarcastic statement. You use your words like armor. I bet it’s hard for you to make friends.”
I crouched down to stare at him on his level. “Are you just mad you got your ass beat by a girl?”
He pushed up to sit. “It may surprise you, but I’ve been beat by many women. My mother was the one who started my combat training when I was a child.”
Oh... I kinda liked that. Strong women were fantastic.
I tried again. “Are you just mad you got beat by a human?”
He cocked his head and gave me a pointed look. “Fae are faster and stronger than humans. I wasn’t using my full strength because I didn’t want to harm you. I only wanted to test your skills to be sure it was safe to arm you. That you wouldn’t hurt yourself.”
Ouch. I stood and crossed my arms under my breasts.
He gestured at me while he got to his feet. “See I’ve offended you with facts.”
“Well, just because they are facts doesn’t mean you have to say them out loud. Inside thoughts stay inside, remember.”
“Sage advice we should both remember.”
A water fountain sat in the corner and I headed toward it to put some distance between us. The imprint of his hard body stuck in my mind. His words, while unkind, were true.
I took a sip of water and turned back to face him. He stared at me until I had to duck my gaze to avoid his.
“Go again?”
He shrugged and waved at the mat. “Want to start on our knees.”
I smiled. “I never say no to that proposition. Although I always hated when training they made us start on our knees. As if we’d meet a bad guy in a dark alley and say, excuse me please get on your knees so I can wallop you properly. It’s how I trained.”
That got me a short laugh, and I felt like I’d earned it. I hated the knowledge I wanted to coax another laugh from him. Not the short soft chuckle he gave me when I said something amusing, but a full laugh that started in the belly.
I got down on my knees in front him. He fell forward from a crouch onto his knees.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Ready to whoop your ass again, sure.”
In one quick lunge, he took me down to the mat, flat on my back.
His beautiful face hovered over mine and I wriggled to get my legs out and wrap them up around his waist, but he didn’t move while I took the position.
“Already tired, grandpa?”
“Of course not. I was just thinking.”
That’s an opening if I ever heard one. “About what?”
I expected him to say something important, mind-blowing about our target, or our plan.
Instead, he asked me, “Do you have a mate?”