Spring Secrets - Allie Boniface Page 0,18
short days.
Because of one person.
One person who was most certainly not reliable or predictable. Probably not good or gracious either. But oh, how she couldn’t stop thinking about him.
“Max? I know it’s late there. And I’ve got to go and get some dinner.” If she sat here any longer, she’d spiral down into self-pity, thinking and re-thinking about the afternoon’s conversation. Dissecting every word. Analyzing every expression. Max was right. Being friends with Dash Springer didn’t sound like very much fun at all.
Chapter Nine
“Are we doing the wrist grab thing again?” Sienna asked the following afternoon. “I practiced on a couple friends at work.” She held up an arm and made a muscle, hoping it was impressive and knowing it probably wasn’t.
“Good for you. But no.” Today Dash wore a black tank top and black and gold workout pants. He looked like some kind of Greek god, and it took all her effort to keep a few safe feet between them. “We’re movin’ on to something else.”
“Are Mac and Damian helping out?”
“Nah, they’re working late today. Mac texted me.” He grinned. “So it’s just you and me.”
“Perfect.” She raised her chin and narrowed her eyes. Friends. We’re just friends. That’s what he wanted, so that’s what she’d give him. “This is my game face. What do you think?”
He framed the air around it with his hands. “I think you need to work on it.”
“I don’t look tough?”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re the opposite of tough.”
She dropped her chin. “Really?”
“In a good way. You’re nice and soft and pretty and...” He trailed off as his cheeks turned red. “An’ now I’m done talking.” He struck a wide-legged stance. “Now watch. This is what you do if someone comes up from behind and puts an arm around your neck...”
“Try it again,” he said a half-hour later. But Sienna struggled to get a grip on his arms, not just because they were twice as big around as her hands, but because he weighed about eighty pounds more than she did. He was right. She wasn’t tough or anything close to it.
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. It doesn’t matter how big or strong your attacker is.”
“You keep saying that. But obviously it does!” She wiped her face and threw down the towel. “I can’t get a grip. I can’t do anything you showed me.”
“It’s the first day you’ve tried this. It’s harder than the wrist grab.” He paused. “Why does it bother you so much that you can’t get it right away?”
“Because I should be able to figure it out. It’s just physics. And you’ve shown me a dozen times.”
His expression changed. “Ah. That’s your problem. You’re trying to be academic about it.”
“Well, yeah.” That’s what she was, what she had been her entire life. An academic. No wonder he looked at her like she was crazy. And no wonder he’d put on the brakes. She was a prude, plain and simple. She over-thought every situation. She didn’t react or jump into the moment. She never had. It was ridiculous to think that she could sweep Dash Springer off his feet and into her bed and not spend the next week analyzing every last minute of it. He probably knew that, too.
“Just do it,” he said. “Don’t think about it.”
“I’m trying.”
“No, you’re not.” He took a few steps away. “Tell you what. Let’s take a five-minute break and then try it again.” He pulled out his phone and began typing.
“Fine.” She scrubbed the sides of her hair back into her ponytail. Put her hands on her hips. Closed her eyes and visualized the move again, securing his arm, ducking beneath his shoulder, dropping to—
Out of nowhere, he grabbed her from behind.
Hey, that wasn’t five minutes, she almost said, but then something happened. A ball of heat solidified in the middle of her chest, and she ducked under his arm and kneed him in the back of one leg before she realized what she’d done.
He looked up at her from the ground. “Now that is how you do it. I knew you could.” He jumped up and gave her a fist bump. “Nice job.”
“Thanks.” I did it. I did it without thinking about it.
“Want to try again?”
“Can I bask in the glory of doing it right and maybe try again next week?”
He chuckled. “Sure. You should practice if you can, though, between now and then. Get some muscle memory, so you do it without thinking too much. So it’s just an instinctive reaction.”
“It