She stumbled at his voice, and the V kid caught her arm, keeping her from a face plant.
Cisco growled to himself, but managed to keep the smile on his face. “Sorry,” he apologized as he walked into the open structure. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
The only thing mitigating the fact that the kid’s hand remained on Hilly’s arm a little too long was that she regarded Cisco with wide eyes and a definite flush to her skin.
As he walked toward her, he saw the pulse in her neck also beating overtime.
Hah. See if you get that reaction from her, you little cur, Cisco scoffed silently.
“You’re early,” Hilly responded breathlessly, and he didn’t think it was because of the mat she’d just been schlepping. “I thought I’d have this whole place set up for you by the time you arrived.”
“Thanks, but you didn’t need to put yourself out,” Cisco lauded her. “I normally organize things myself before I give a class.”
“But you’re still healing,” she chastised in the schoolmarm voice that Cisco already knew was her fallback when she was nervous. “And I don’t want you relapsing because of something we have or haven’t done here.” She turned to the young man who was now shuffling his feet by her side. “Vishon, maybe you can take direction from Cisco and help him place these mats where they need to go.”
Vishon. Cisco would have to commit that name to memory as the kid with the crush on Hilly, in case he ever needed to dress the guy down for being inappropriate with her. Still, the youngster recovered fast enough, and turned a fake, but wide smile toward Cisco.
“Just tell me where you want things.” He tightened his body; his chest thrust forward. “I work out, you know.”
Cisco tried not to laugh when the kid did everything short of flexing his arm muscles to showcase his still-skinny, adolescent physique.
Damn. Had Cisco ever been that shameless?
Probably.
He cut the dude some slack. “Thanks, Vishon. I’d love your help. I’m healing from a gunshot wound, and the doc says I’m not supposed to do any heavy lifting for a week or so.”
Sooo…posturing?
Yup.
But, top that, he internally dared the kid, full-well knowing it was an asshole move to be playing the “hurt warrior” card, but dick-measuring was clearly something the young guy understood, because he backed off on his bravado, knowing he couldn’t beat being capped by a bullet.
“Right. Anything you need, then,” Vishon gave in.
Glancing at Hilly, Cisco saw that none of the exchange had gotten by her, and her lips quivered with stifled laughter while she attempted to maintain her professionalism.
She coughed. “I’ll just leave you two to it, then,” she managed. “I’ll be herding the campers around to their assigned, afternoon physical challenges, which means your twenty-five victims should be headed this way, soon, Cisco.”
“Excellent,” he replied.
He hoped she’d end up watching his class, but since he wasn’t going to be an active participant today and couldn’t show off, she wouldn’t miss much.
Almost an entire hour later, Cisco was deep into it with his group—some campers, some counselors—when Hilly finally made an appearance.
Cisco grinned, anxious to have her see what her kids had learned.
“Kelli? Tori? Why don’t you two let Ms. Duncan see some of your moves.”
The two young girls who currently wore the padded suits that were lighter and smaller than Cisco’s, had been doing an admirable job of following directions, and he gave them their next instruction.
“Let’s go with heel palm-strikes, and groin-kicks.”
The pair went at it with relish, causing Hilly to gasp.
“Won’t they hurt each other?” she asked, sidling up to him.
He tried to ignore her fresh, vanilla-like scent as he answered her question.
“Nah. That’s what the suits are for, and they both know to pull their punches. We’ve already covered eyeball-jabs and nose-crunches without actually making contact.”
She nodded, satisfied, saying for his ears only, “They look good. Confident. Which is what we want.” She raised her voice. “Nice job girls. But now it’s time to wind things down. We’re five minutes away from finishing up our sports portion of the afternoon, and when you’re done, if you could head into the dining hall, that’s where we all are, next.”
“Drama classes?” Cisco questioned with an eyeroll, knowing that’s what was listed on everyone’s agenda.
Hilly beamed at him. “Yes. Followed by—”
“Swim time,” Cisco provided, and he couldn’t keep his next query inside. “Do you join the kids in the water?”
Now that was something Cisco would really like to see. Hilly in a bathing suit. His imagination was pretty good, but he’d love to have a real look at her anatomy.
“Sometimes,” she shrugged. “But not today. What about you?”
Had her eyes just dropped to his chest? Was she thinking his muscles were something she wanted to see, or was she simply concerned about his boo-boo?
Cisco gave a regretful shoulder shrug. “I’ll have to pass until I lose my bandaging. I’ve already had my fight with dressings for the day, putting on a new one after I got out of the shower this morning.”
