Disclaimer: The standards apply.
A/N: Things aren't always as they seem. This is part one of four.
What Does NAVY Mean?
By Alfonsina
Wiping my brow with my sleeve, I reached for a bottle of tepid water. I was parched and stalling for time.
Come on Steph. You volunteered to do this. You knew who you were going to be with and what you'd be doing.
I tried to take a drink, wishing it would be cooling me, but so far things were going shitty for me and there was no backing out.
Lovely.
"Stephanie," came the bass voice behind me.
"What?" I whined.
"Again. This time concentrate. At this rate we are going to be here the rest of the afternoon and all night. And IF we are going to be together that much I have other things I'd rather be doing with you," he said.
Perfect. I hadn't had a cookie or any pastry in two days and it was sounding like a pretty decent offer to me. Right now a social orgasm sounded like a very good idea.
"Don't you think this place is kind of pretentious? Don't you think it's kind of dim? I'd really rather go home." I was grasping at straws and nothing I could do was going to change his mind.
"It's for your own good. You need to learn to do this," he said walking behind me and snugging his body into mine. His torso was draped over my back, his arms were over mine and he put his head down on top of mine trying to get me into a position he was happy with. "It's better when you relax and let your body go with it."
God he felt good, maybe a little too warm but oh so very nice. Did I mention that he smelled incredibly male? I mean, he always smelled good but he had my hormones in a frenzy.
"Can't we talk about this some more?" I asked him as he moved from behind me to stand next to me.
"Nope. You volunteered. You never learned what NAVY meant, did you?"
I tried to turn around but couldn't I was trapped, my feet felt glued to the ground. I shook my head.
"Never Again Volunteer Yourself. Navy," he said.
Smart ass man. OK so I didn't know what I volunteered for when I was offered an evening of dim light, close quarters and something I'd never done before. How the hell was I supposed to know that the gym had been altered for low light hand to hand combat?
"Deer in headlights, Steph? It really isn't that bad."
"I'm not paralyzed. I'm struck by you and how close you are."
"I want to make you move, movement is key to getting this to work. If your body matches what your eyes can do, you can take down any perp you want."
"What exactly are you saying?" I asked.
"If you can take kizushi on me from this position, I'll let you go home," he said with a smile.
"What are you talking about?"
"Kizushi, my balance. If you can off center me, take my balance away from me, you will get the upper hand and have a better chance to win your fight."
Just what I always wanted to do, off balance someone.
"For the record, no one has ever successfully taken my balance. Let's try again," he said with a smile and a wink.
Bastard. Fine. If he wants to play it that way, we'll play.
"Am I restricted in what I can do to take away your balance?"
"Nope. Do what you want, just know that I can counter whatever you do. If you shove, I'll probably shove back. Ready now, staller?"
"Ready," I said as he watched me whip my shirt off over my head to display my hot pink sports bra. He gasped while he was getting a good eyefull of my limited assets. I grabbed his beltloops and pulled him in front of me and then I kissed him long and hard.
"Nobody's ever done that to me before, Steph," he said breathing heavily. "Congratulations, you win. You are the first."
"Can I go home now, Ranger? I'm smelly and tired."
Damn if it wasn't one amazing kiss. All I'd really wanted to say was "your place or my place or can you just scramble the cameras for the rest of the afternoon?"
"Sure thing Steph. But we still need to work on your technique because I don't think you'll be able to use that on most of your skips."
"When and where?" I asked with a sigh.
"Seven. We can work on other forms of 'hand to hand'," Ranger said.
Oh boy.