Katana by Gibsen Cole

Author:Gibsen, Cole [Gibsen, Cole]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance Speculative Fiction
ISBN: 9780738732671
Publisher: Flux
Published: 2012-01-01T07:00:00+00:00

24

I pulled into the dojo parking lot a little before eight, surprised at how hard it was to find a parking space. Before I could exit my car, my phone buzzed from its perch in the cup holder. I picked it up and opened the text message from Whitley.

Great time last night. Call me.

With a groan I put the phone back in its place. It wasn’t fair that I’d finally won Whitley’s attention only to have to put my love life on pause. It wasn’t like I could call Whitley and tell him, “Hey, sorry I can’t go out tonight. I’m trying to figure out how to exorcise a fifteenth-century samurai spirit from my body. Oh, and did I mention that by hanging around me there’s a good chance you’ll get something sharp and pointy thrown at your head?” Yeah, that’d go over well.

I grabbed my gym bag and pushed through a swarm of children and parents exiting the building. Michelle was in the lobby and gave me an encouraging wave forward when she saw my struggle.

“What’s going on?” I asked, carefully maneuvering around a child sitting on the floor pulling on dirty tennis shoes.

“Pretty wild, huh?” Michelle said. “Kim is the best instructor around. Most of his children’s classes are full.” She gave me a sly wink.

“That’s nice,” I said, feigning interest.

“Don’t worry, they’ll be gone soon, and we can get started.” She jutted her chin toward me. “Cute outfit, by the way.”

“Thanks,” I answered automatically. I didn’t really see what was so “cute” about it. I was wearing black cropped yoga pants with a plain purple tank top. I didn’t look all that much different from Michelle, who wore a yellow tank with tight spandex workout pants.

“Come on,” she said. “The guys are in the dojo.”

I followed her in to find Kim instructing several middle school kids on the proper stance for delivering a spinning back kick. Beads of sweat glittered like tiny diamonds across his chest and neck. I wondered if his muscles would feel as tight under my fingertips as they looked.

A grunt from behind me snapped me from my thoughts. I turned to find Sumi, the receptionist from the other night, glaring at me with her hands on her hips. She wore the same traditional white martial arts outfit as the other kids in the dojo, but her belt was brown unlike the kids’ blues and reds. Her eyes blazed.

“What’s she doing here?” I whispered to Michelle.

“Sumi? Oh, she helps teach the kids’ classes,” she answered. “I think she’s got a little hero-worship thing going with Kim.” She giggled.

“You don’t say,” I mumbled to myself, rolling my eyes.

“What’s she doing here?” Sumi echoed my question to Kim when the last of the children had left.

“Hmm?” Kim turned toward the direction of her stare, his mouth curving in a slight smile when he spotted me.

My stomach fluttered. Stupid Rileigh, get a grip! I had to shake my head several times to snap out of the trance.

“How nice of you to join us, Rileigh.

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