Tarian Alpha (New Tarian Pride #1)(19)

Emerald clenched her hands at her sides. She did this. She got embarrassed around men like Ronin. Strong, to-the-point, dominant, confident men. Sometimes they swallowed up everything that made Emerald…Emerald.

“You’re blushing. Why? Anger?” he asked.

“No.” She clenched her teeth and held up her fists. “I get shy. And I don’t like making mistakes.”

“Tuck your thumb, and hold that hand a little closer to your face. Cassius is right-handed. Protect that left side a little more.”

“How do you know he’s right-handed?” she asked making the adjustments.

He reached forward and tucked her thumbs around her fists better. “The left side of your face looked like hamburger until an hour ago. That’s his dominant hand.”

“Oh.” Emerald frowned. “I should’ve known that.”

Ronin threw a fake jab. “Good. You dodged it.”

“It’s not very gentlemanly to throw punches at a girl who just got hurt less than a day ago.”

“This life moves on, Em. Learn that fast. What happened yesterday is the past. Learn from it but don’t let it stunt you.” When he took another jab, she blocked him. “Good. Now punch my hands. Put force behind each hit. I want you confident before you see any of the Old Tarian Pride again.”

She swung, and her knuckles made contact with his open palm. The sound of it reminded her of last night when Ronin had been beating that man who’d hurt Rose. “You don’t like when men hurt women, do you?” she asked, hitting him again.

“No. It feeds a fire in me.” He showed her how to put her weight behind a swing and told her, “Harder.”

She pelted him for a few minutes, careful to mind his instructions because he was giving her a gift. If he couldn’t be around to make her safe, he was giving her a little weapon. A way to defend herself when her lioness wouldn’t. Good man.

He spun her and wrapped his hand around her throat. “If anyone grabs you from behind,” he rattled into her ear, “you throw an elbow straight back.” He drew her arm straight back, showing her. “If your lioness won’t help you in a fight, don’t Change, find a weapon, fight dirty. I don’t give a fuck about honor if you’re being attacked.” He spun her back and gripped the back of her hair, easing her face back gently. “Protect your throat at all costs.”

Those words echoed over and over in her head. Protect your throat at all costs. She wasn’t invisible to Ronin. He cared. Even when she wasn’t around, she had a feeling he would still care.

She lifted up on her toes suddenly and pressed her lips against his. It happened fast. Just a little smack, and she lowered back down, just as shocked as Ronin looked.

“Why did you do that?” Ronin looked so stunned. Powerful legs splayed, eyes fierce, hair mussed, a foreground for the snowy winter woods. He took up so much more space than a man should. He was everywhere.

“I…I’m sorry.”

He shook his head slowly. “Don’t ever apologize unless you do something wrong.”

“But I thought—”

Ronin closed the two feet of space between them and gripped the back of her neck as his lips crashed onto hers. She should’ve felt trapped, but she didn’t. Instead, she felt enveloped, warm, and steady. The slight pressure of his mouth on hers erased the rest of the world. In this moment, only she and Ronin existed. There was no fear, no problems to solve, nothing. There was just the taste and the feel of his body. Getting lost in him, she slid her hands up his stomach, over the mounds of his abs, to his stone-hard chest. Every part of his body was tense except for his lips. Those moved against hers smoothly. Up, up she slid her hands, memorizing his body through the material of his sweater. Ronin grabbed her hand suddenly and dragged it to the hem of his pants, under his shirt, and then pressed her palm against his stomach. He moaned against her lips as she drew a small circle with her thumb on his warm skin, right over his belt buckle.

As she ghosted her fingertips right along the edge of his underwear, Ronin dragged her closer. She parted her lips for him. God, it had been so long since she’d kissed anyone. But this wasn’t nerve-racking. It wasn’t something she’d had time to overthink, and he was in such control, she was just along for the ride. He slanted his head to the other side and pressed his tongue into her mouth. Oh, the taste of him. Her head was swimming with happiness. She’d never been more turned on so quickly. Carefully, she pushed her fingertips into his jeans and felt the head of his swollen cock. There was a bead of moisture at the tip, and she felt like she was losing her mind with lust. Maybe her lioness was going into heat or something. Or maybe Ronin was just that sexy. So enthralling and all-encompassing that her body couldn’t resist him.

His fingers dug into her hip, and his thumb stroked her cheek as he kissed her. When she brushed the head of his dick again, he groaned and rocked his hips toward her. Ronin scooped her up suddenly and sat on the merry-go-round, settling her on his lap. He cupped her cheeks and slowed the kiss. His tongue went shallow into her mouth as if he was tasting her. His affections turned to fingertips in her hair and then knuckles dragging down the arm of her jacket. His lips stayed on her, breaking only to change angles. She got to know the exact way he liked to make-out because he took his time. He didn’t rush, didn’t push, but slowed them down instead. He dropped them right in the moment and allowed them to stay there instead of seeing how far they could go.