Once a Marine (Those Marshall Boys) by Lough Loree

Author:Lough, Loree [Lough, Loree]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2015-01-31T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

SUMMER HADN’T SEEN it coming.

One minute Zach was at the head of the class. The next, his big arms wrapped around her, and saved her from hitting the mat, hard.

In the tangle of arms and legs, it took a few seconds to get her bearings. When she did, Summer gazed into his blue-green eyes and searched the oh-so-serious face that hovered inches from hers. Every instinct made her want to press her palms against his rugged cheeks, finger-comb the blond hair from his worry-creased forehead to assure him that she was fine, just fine.

Then, as her classmates’ voices broke through the fog, Summer remembered where she was and didn’t feel so fine anymore. She wriggled free of his grasp.

“If this was some sort of demonstration, you should have asked for volunteers. I don’t appreciate being your guinea pig.”

His left eyebrow rose high on his forehead, and his mouth slanted in a sly grin. If she lifted her head, just a little, she could kiss those perfectly shaped lips. Would she have done it if they weren’t surrounded by onlookers?

“Are you all right?” Alex asked.

“I’ll be fine,” she bit out, “when this big gorilla lets me up.”

She waited, but he didn’t move.

“Let me up,” she whispered.

“Make me,” he whispered back.

“Make you? What is this, fifth grade? Get off me before I—”

And then it hit her: this was a test, to see if she’d been paying attention, if she’d taken what Emma and Zach had said, dozens of times, to heart: “Expect the unexpected, then do the unexpected!”

Summer took stock. Her left arm was above her head, still pinned to the mat by Zach’s strong hand.

Stay calm. Breathe. Be patient...

She threw her right leg over his back, and eyes squinted tight, put everything she had into rolling over. In less than a second, she was on top of him.

Amid her classmates’ snickers and hoorays, she heard, “That’s gonna be a nice goose egg in the morning.”

She looked into Zach’s face, saw him wince as he pressed meaty fingertips to his left eye. The skin around the socket had already turned bright pink. And her elbow ached. Good thing you weren’t trying to hurt him!

Summer got up, and so did he.

“Better get some ice on that,” Alex told Zach. “Your eyebrow is all swollen.”

Zach faced his gawking students. “See, ladies, that is how you defend yourself against an attacker.”

He gave Summer a thumbs-up. “Way to go,” he said, and headed for the front of the room. With only five minutes left in the session, he dismissed the class early.

Ordinarily, she didn’t shower at Marshall Law, but tonight, Summer even washed her hair. Zach couldn’t lock up until everyone had left, and she intended to be the last student out the door. When she stepped out of the locker room, she saw him, back to her and feet propped on the credenza against the wall.

“Thought I was gonna have to come in there and fish you out of a drain,” he said without turning around.

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