The Reckoning by Christie Ridgway

from just above the knee all the way to the groin, the fold of skin between the upper lip and nose, and the male genitals.”
    She grimaced. Her hair was slipping from the rubber band, and she reached up to secure it more tightly. “I don’t think I want to practice pinching you…anywhere.”
    But he thought it was time for her to practice something else. Without giving her a word of warning, he lunged at her for a football tackle, his arms reaching out to grab her around the thighs.
    She made a little blurp of surprise, then grabbed his waist with both hands. If he had been wearing a belt it would have been easier for her, but still she followed what they’d practiced and shifted her feet and body back, loosening his grip on her thighs. Now leverage favored her, and she bore down across the top of his back, forcing his body down and slamming his face into the mat.
    He lay there, arms out to his sides, Linda draped over him, her head in the small of his back.
    â€œMove up,” he ordered her, his voice thick. “Move up and away.”
    She leapt to her feet. “Oh my God. I’ve hurt you! Are you all right? Should I call a doctor?”
    â€œNo, I’m fine.” Clearing his throat, he sat up. “Once you’ve got the attacker down, you need to get as far away from him as possible. Slam his face to the floor, then run, okay?”
    She hunkered down to study him. “Are you sure you’re all right?” Her hands patted at his shoulders and chest. “I didn’t hurt something?”
    â€œNot even my ego. I want you to get good at this, remember?” Okay, so his ears were ringing a little and his ego might be slightly dented, but she didn’t need to know that. “You did great, Linda.”
    She dropped to the mat beside him and gave him a grin that was brighter than summer sunshine. “I did, didn’t I? I bested you.” Her hand came up and gave him a little playful shove to the shoulder. He let it take him over, flat onto his back.
    He managed to take her with him. “You’re not the only one with smooth moves,” he said, looking into her surprised eyes. She was half lying on his chest, her blond hair a curtain around her face. She was flushed and her eyes were still sparkling; he knew that he’d improved her mood and upped her level of confidence.
    He’d helped her. There was no longer a reason to want to hold her, comfort her, kiss her.
    But she was in his arms, and the comfort he was feeling seemed to be his, and the urge to kiss her was stronger than before. Once again, it was her fortitude that fascinated him. Instead of curling into a fetal position when life wasn’t easy, she’d actually straightened out of such a position to reclaim her life.
    She was tough.
    â€œWhat did you say about those warning bells going off in my head?” she murmured, her gaze trained on his face. “That they’re not paranoia?”
    He had to smile at that. “You think I’m dangerous to you?”
    â€œNot in the way that you mean.”
    Emmett refused to let his fingers tighten on her shoulders. Instead, he kept his grasp light, feeling the damp warmth of her skin through the T-shirt. “I won’t hurt you, Linda.”
    She nodded. “You certainly won’t mean to.”
    â€œThen I should let you go.” Despite the knowledge that he should do just that, neither one of them moved a muscle.
    â€œI’ve been an orphan since I first left for college at sixteen.” It was a statement of fact.
    â€œThat must have been rough.” He thought her confidencerequired that he share one of his own. “I’ve been pretty much estranged from my own family since I left home. The events of the past nine months have put us in contact again, but we’re not any closer than before.”
    â€œI think I was pretty lonely, which was why I joined the Treasury Department after