You probably wouldn’t worry so much about what you ate if you exercised more, that snide little voice in her head reminded her.
“Please,” she thought to herself, as she cut up the fried dogs and stirred them into the mac and cheese. “I go for a walk every day during my lunch hour and I eat healthy. What more can you ask for?” She was an accountant for a small firm and spent the majority of her time with her butt in the chair.
You could always take up Mr. Buff on his offer. Karate would go a long way to get you into shape.
An image of Jace flashed in her mind, and she blushed.
“Not happening. No way is that happening.”
“What’s not happening?” Dawson piped up from behind her, causing her to drop the spoon she was stirring with. It landed in the pot with a loud plop.
“Nothing, honey.” She turned and smiled at him. “Just thinking out loud. Dinner’s ready.”
They settled in, had dinner, watched TV, and went to bed… and yet she couldn’t quite stop thinking about it.
****
Jace sat in his little office at the dojo, tapping the bottom of his pen restlessly against a document he was supposed to be reviewing. People thought that being a martial arts instructor only involved being out on the floor correcting punches and kicks and practicing kata, but there was a fair share of paperwork he needed to take care of too. There was always a behind the scenes to everything.
Unfortunately he wasn’t thinking about the paperwork, but about Dawson’s aunt… the lovely Ms. Shelby Janson. Ever since she’d walked into his dojo yesterday, looking curious and a little out of place at the same time, he couldn’t quite stop thinking about her. He’d taken one look at her, standing near the doorway, and his own curiosity had been piqued because he’d never seen her around before.
Up close she’d been a stunner—clouds of silky black hair and a curvy body shown off by a form fitting top and jeans. Her green eyes had shimmered with a mixture of fear and hope when he’d mentioned the private lessons, and the blush that had spread across her pale cheeks as he’d looked her over had been very endearing.
Something about her called to him in a way that no woman had since his ex-wife. His heart clenched a little at the reminder, and he winced. Cara was the last thing he needed on his mind right now. The bell on the door jangled as someone pushed it open, and he looked up to see Dawson and Shelby walk in. Little Dawson looked as enthusiastic as ever, and Shelby looked a little more comfortable than she had the other day.
“Hello there.” He walked out to greet them, exchanged bows with Dawson and shook Shelby’s hand in his. In contrast to her incredibly full figure, her hands were small and fine-boned, yet she didn’t give the dead mouse handshake. He hated it when he shook a woman’s hand and felt like he was flapping a wet rag around, so it was a welcome change. “And how are you today, Ms. Janson?”
She smiled, the expression softening the features of her heart shaped face.
“Please, call me Shelby. We’re doing just fine today.”
Class was about to start, so he took Dawson out onto the floor and started class with everyone. But this time he could feel her eyes on him as he led the class through their warm up routines. He partnered them up and had them practice self-defense moves on each other, and as he was walking around every so often he caught a glimpse of her watching him. Every time their eyes met she would look away, that very becoming blush spreading across her cheeks again.
Oh yeah. She was definitely interested in him. But shy, it seemed, and that didn’t make sense because she was gorgeous. Those green eyes and black curls gave her a gypsy look, and though he’d never really been attracted to full figured women on her it only looked more exotic, more enticing. And it helped that physically she was nothing like the tall, slender blonde his ex-wife had been.
After class was over he headed back to his office to finish up his paperwork. A shadow darkened the doorway and he looked up to see her standing there, biting down on her full lower lip hesitantly. Did she have any idea how sexy that looked?
“Shelby.” He gave her a smile to try and put her at ease. “What can I do for you?”
“I…” she paused, a glimmer of doubt in those green eyes. “I was thinking about your offer and I decided I want to give it a shot.”
“My offer?” he frowned. He didn’t remember asking her out on a date.
Her face fell. “Well you had offered to give me private lessons. But if you’ve changed your mind…”
“No!” Her eyes widened and he immediately softened his tone. “No, no, of course I haven’t. I’ve just been… preoccupied.” Jesus. He could barely talk straight around her! “I would love to give you private lessons.”
She gave him a relieved smile. “Oh, good. How much do you charge?”
“Oh the first lesson is a freebie so you can decide whether or not it’s something you want to do,” he said, waving his hand. “If you want to continue then I just charge a flat monthly fee. But we don’t need to get into all that now. We’ll just set a time for the first lesson and go from there.”
“That sounds fine.” Shelby paused a moment. “Would… six o’clock tomorrow night work for you?”
“That should be fine. I don’t have any group lessons scheduled for that time so I’ll be able to give you my full attention.”
She blushed lightly. “I will see you then.”
“It’s a date.”
****
It’s a date.
Those words continued to run through her mind as Shelby agonized over what to wear to her first lesson. She knew it was stupid since she was hardly expected to dress nice when by the end of the lesson she’d be sweaty and exhausted, but she couldn’t help it. Jace was a hunky guy and she was… well… an inferior model.
She looked at herself in the mirror and checked out the black leggings and purple tank top she’d chosen and sighed. They fit her like a second skin and made it clear she had love handles, but they didn’t look as awful as the baggy sweatpants she’d nearly convinced herself into wearing earlier. If she knew anything, it was that trying to hide your body with overly large clothes made you look even worse than if you just wore clothes that fit you.
“It’s not really a date,” she muttered, wondering if she should scrape off the makeup she’d applied earlier in the day. She didn’t want to look like she was trying too hard. But a glance at the clock told her she didn’t have the time—she was going to be late if she didn’t leave now.
Pulling her glossy black curls into a high ponytail, she grabbed her keys and purse, locked up, then drove her Jetta to the dojo. She’d left Dawson with the next door neighbor, who had a son his age. Kyle and Dawson loved playing with each other and Emily, his mom, had told her it was alright for him to stay a few hours. So, she was covered.
When she arrived at the dojo Jake was waiting for her just inside the door, dressed in his gi with that crooked smile on his face that made her heart skip a beat. His eyes traveled down the length of her body and she fought not to blush, feeling very self-conscious about the skintight, yoga-like attire, but the derision she’d expected never entered his expression. In fact, if she didn’t know better she’d have said his deep brown eyes lit with admiration.
“I’m really glad you came,” he told her.
“Thanks. I appreciate you taking the time.”
“Not a problem. Let’s get started.”
He led her over to the wooden gate that separated the training floor from the observation area. “This is called a torii,” he told her. “Basically it’s a gate, an entrance. When you step beyond the torii, you leave any concerns, fears, problems about the outside world behind you. Out on the floor the only thing we focus on is the improvement of ourselves. When we enter the training floor, we always make sure to bow in, facing the floor.” He demonstrated for her, then stepped through the gate. “Now you try it.”
She did as he asked, feeling only slightly foolish.
“When we’re on the floor, you may refer to me as sensei, sir, or Mr. Wilson,” he told her. “We make sure always to show respect to each other. You might’ve noticed that all of my students refer to each other by last name. I’ll be referring to you as Ms. Janson. Any questions?”
“No.” When he arched a brow and simply smiled, she blushed. “No, sir.”
“Very good. Let’s begin.”
He took her through some very basic stances, then added in two punches and two turns. He was very patient, very gentle and took it slow, correcting her by making minute adjustments to the positioning of her fist against her hip, pushing her knee to bend just a little bit deeper. Every time he touched her a little tingle went through her body, which made it incredibly hard to focus but she did her best.
“You’re a quick study,” he told her about half an hour into it, when she’d worked up a decent sweat and her skin was flushed. “We’re going to add two kicks now.”
The first one was relatively easy—a front snap kick. Raise the knee, snap out the leg, retract it, bring it down. But she floundered horribly on the round kick, which required bringing her back leg up, swinging it around, and then snapping the leg out.
“I don’t think I can do this,” she said after nearly falling on her rear for the fifth time.”
He just smiled and shook his head. “Don’t say things like that. If you don’t think you can, then you won’t be able to. Let me help you out.”
He moved to the side of her, then gave her signal to begin. When she raised her right leg this time he placed his hand on her left hip to steady her. It would have worked out splendidly except his fingers grazed her butt, which distracted her horribly and sent her careening straight into him. Rather than sending them both to the ground he pulled her straight up against him. She was immediately aware of just how rock-solid his body was, and that there wasn’t really very much separating her cheek from his bare chest, which she could see a slice of from where his gi gaped. The warmth of his body wrapped around her, along with the very subtle, spicy scent of cologne mixed with his natural essence.
And when she raised her head to look up at him, her breath caught as she realized his lips were a scant inch from hers. Their eyes locked, his dark and swirling with an emotion she couldn’t quite place. She wondered what it would be like if he lowered his head, if he crossed that tiny distance and laid his lips against hers…
He blinked then, breaking the spell, and released her. “You okay?”
“Yes.” She tugged her ponytail in a nervous habit and blushed. “Umm, sorry about that. I don’t know what happened.” A blatant lie—he’d accidentally touched her ass and she’d freaked out. Smooth move, Shel.
“It’s alright,” he told her, rubbing a hand against the back of his neck. “Karate is a very physical sport. Accidents happen. I’ll try to be more careful.” He glanced at the clock. “Looks like our hour is up.”