Deadly Testimony (Safeguard #2)(42)
A hint of a smile played around her lips, much more than previously. “Generally, I don’t practice with anyone outside of Centurion Corporation.”
“It would seem a limited practice.” He tossed his suit pants back onto the bed behind him. The topic had been dropped and he didn’t want to put them back on until he’d had a shower.
“You’d have a point there, but I also prefer to let a potential opponent guess about what I can and can’t do.” She paused. “I was itching for a fight the night we met. I’ll admit it. It’d been a long workday and it’s frustrating to be irritated at people all day. The men hounding you gave me the perfect excuse to let off some steam.”
“You have my sympathies.” And he meant it. “Letting off steam is exactly what I was trying to do when you returned.”
Too much thought. Too much worry. Too far out of the structure of the comfortable life he’d decided to leave behind.
After a moment, she eased her backpack off her back and set it on the floor against the wall. “You asked about sparring. What experience do you have with martial arts?”
He grinned, tension inside him giving way to anticipation. Yes. This was good. “I practice Gongkwon Yusul, a sort of Korean hybrid martial arts form.”
Her right eyebrow rose as she regarded him with more interest than he’d seen yet. “Unusual.”
“It’s a more modern martial arts system,” he admitted. “Comparisons could be drawn to Western mixed martial arts in the way it combines traditional techniques. My instructors have repeatedly stated that it emphasizes the application of striking, locking and throwing. A practical, free-flowing response in unexpected fighting situations. Good for self-defense.”
Practical as it was, it also maintained traditional philosophies such as respect for others and personal development. It’d given him a constructive outlet for the rage he’d nursed in his younger days.
He hadn’t appreciated tradition as much as the variety when he’d first started. “I started in my youth and continued practicing the drills when I came to the US. No instructors were available as I was completing high school and college. Besides which, my uncle couldn’t have afforded paying for it. Practice alone was all I could do. I find it to be a learning opportunity when I can spar with someone else.”
Lizzy pushed away from the door and took a step toward him. “I haven’t studied this Korean martial art.”
“You, I imagine, have mastered many arts though.” He held his hands out, away from his sides, palms up. “I could learn all sorts of things from you.”
She snorted. “Timing drills. Fine. Not full-contact sparring. We don’t have protective gear and it’s too easy to do too much damage.”
He raised his eyebrows but nodded. Timing drills took better control in any case. It was more about speed, precision and, of course, how well timed a move could be. Besides, you could learn quite a bit about a person working with them in this way, like dancing. And he was finding with every minute spent in Lizzy’s company, he wanted to learn more about her.
“First, pants.”
*
How did the man make baggy sweatpants look sexy?
It was both better and worse than the sight of him in snug-fitting boxer briefs. She’d always been a fan of boxer briefs in general. Much better than tighty-whities. Occasionally she’d enjoyed the sight of a man in loose boxers but too often, the freedom of boxers let way too much hang loose to peek out at the world at inappropriate times.
Kyle stood before her now, with pants on, his posture loose and relaxed. She put her hands up to guard. “We’ll start slow, see where this takes us.”
He gave her a nod and a sign of respect, then got his guard up.
A big part of timing drills or sparring was to know your partner well enough and eventually trust them to be able to block the strike or kick you were putting out there. Otherwise they ended up hurt and you ended up with too short a workout.
So she started out easy. Light jab, slow cross. Soft hook to the body, followed by another slow cross. He blocked each with ease and responded to the combination in kind.
Nice. Maybe one of the easiest ways to start out a drill. He moved smoothly and echoed her combination with the confidence of someone who recognized it for what it was.
She added in some footwork, leading them in a dance within the confined space of the hotel room as they traded light strikes back and forth. Her blood started flowing and her muscles warmed up. It felt good.
As she threw another cross, Kyle changed up the game by trapping her wrist in a move she hadn’t seen before.
“Not bad.” She recovered and caught his own follow-up strike in a move of her own, twisting as she did to throw him off balance.
Warm-ups were over and it looked like they were both ready to have some fun.
“You have been going easy on me.” Kyle’s words came smoothly, with no sign of overexertion.
She wasn’t surprised though. He’d been keeping himself in good shape. Conversation during a workout was one way to monitor your partner’s status. If they were breathing too hard, overheating and out of breath, then it was time to slow down and cool off.
But Kyle’s breathing was good. Even though a healthy, fine sheen of sweat was starting to show across his brow, he was most definitely ready to up the intensity.