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“You don’t think I can cut you?”
An eyebrow lifted. Still smiling. Still circling. Arrogant ass.
“I can,” I gritted out, widening and squaring my stance.
Sparks of gold glittered in his eyes, a predator honing in on its prey. He stalked closer, then stopped two feet from me, speaking in a husky tone. “Prove it.”
My heart jumped, hearing my own challenge thrown back at me. Last night. Scorching kisses, whispered words, rough hands, soft sighs.
My gaze strayed to his lips. One corner quirked up into a knowing smile. He was taunting me right there in front of Kat.
What kind of game was he playing? Anger flared in my gut. I lunged, swiping out at his chest.
Grabbing one of my wrists, then the other, he twisted me around, pulling me tight against his body, my arms crossed and bound in front of me. Completely immobile in less than a second.
Okay, that was embarrassing.
“Too predictable.” Warm breath close to my ear. I shivered. A short rumble of laughter in his chest. “Again?”
I struggled. He released me at once. This time, I was the one doing the circling. Leaping left, then dodging right, I ducked under his outstretched arm, slicing as I went. I popped up behind him.
Jude glanced down at the tear along the side of his white T-shirt. A small drop of blood seeped through the fabric. He laughed, stripping off the T-shirt and tossing it to the side.
“Better. Again.”
My concentration scattered to the winds at the sight of his bare chest. Cords of muscle and tight, sinewy limbs flexed in preparation for the next attack. Black swirls and barbs of Celtic interlacing ink traced over tight pectorals and down his chiseled abdomen. My mouth went bone dry. A shift of his upper body gave me a glance of a feathered wing inked across a powerful shoulder blade.
Concentrate, Genevieve.
I fought the urge to shake my head as if dizzy from intoxication. For that’s truly what I was, imagining what it would feel like to have his beautiful body against mine, skin on skin. Tryingnotto imagine what it would feel like.
“Anytime you’re ready,” he said, smirking.
Damn him.
“You know,” I said, thinking to take a different approach, “a demon will attack me, not the other way around. Why don’t you attack first?”
“As you wish.”
Oh, shit.
He lunged low. I twisted out of reach, leaping right. He changed position, shot out his leg, tripping me to the floor. I landed on my stomach and pushed up an inch before being summarily pinned by two hundred plus pounds of hard muscle.Oh.Very hard.
A whisper against the shell of my ear: “Mmm. Close, but not quite. Again?”
“Get. Off!”
He obliged. Another haughty laugh. “The key is to not become distracted or let your anger control you. You must find a way to get the better of your opponent, no matter if you’re outmatched in size.”
Before I’d even rolled completely over, I clipped him behind the knees. He buckled to the floor as I leapt, swinging my body over his. I straddled his chest, pulling his head to the floor with my left hand knotted in that pretty hair of his, exposing his throat and thrusting the point of the dagger beneath his chin.
“Like this?” I hissed.
A genuine broad smile lightened his face, making me more breathless than I already was. Amber and gold shimmered in his irises, nearly cutting out all the black. Nearly. His hands were on my hips.
“Exactly like this.” He squeezed my hips.
“Whoo-hoo!” Kat cheered, reminding me of the girlfriend present.
