Morning Diamond

An Unpleasant, Pleasant Surprise

“My Lady,” he stated and offered a bow over his outstretched hand. She willingly placed her hand in his-the light touch sent tingles up her arm. He helped her step over her brother and pulled her closer to him. She felt mesmerized, captivated, and then very….angry. One dominating, overprotective hand took hold of her shoulder and prevented her from moving closer to this handsome stranger. Her brothers would never quit!

“Mike,” The tall stranger offered as he extended his free hand to Mark and gave a giant smile. His eyes never left Claire’s. It filled her with a giddiness she had never felt and she quickly tested his name silently on her lips. Mike grinned at her response and ignored the fact Mike had yet to accept his greeting.

“Very impressive show, I thought you were magnificent, very intriguing,” his voice caressed her senses and she gripped his hand tighter. Mark’s firm hand on her shoulder reminded her that her brothers’ ever invasive presence was among them. Hesitantly she let go of Mike’s hand which forced him to withdraw both his. “May I have your name?”

“It’s…”

“None of your damn business!” Mark stated and his grip tightened protectively on his sister and she heard the crowd’s nervous gasp. Claire rolled her eyes in exasperation and embarrassment. Her brother really needed to learn some manners!

“Mark!” Keith’s firm use of his brother’s name forced Mark to acknowledge his surroundings. Several people stood staring at them in silent shock. Claire felt relieved when Mark unexpectantly burst into laughter.

“The battle was over before the prince could arrive. Sorry old chap. The fair maiden does not need a hero this day.” The crowd’s laughter filled the air and Keith clapped a hand on Mike’s shoulder. “Better luck next time!” Mike winced and his eyes narrowed. Claire quickly noticed the whitened knuckles on Keith’s hand. Her frustration with her brothers grew even as her admiration for Mike flourished. “Next time, Friend, do not intrude on the lady’s victory. Good day to you!” He dismissed the younger man while turning to face her and Mark. He gestured that it was time to leave and Mark took Claire by the arm and led her away from the dispersing crowd.

They only moved a short distance before Claire looked over her shoulder and smiled because Mike stood in the middle of the park watching them with amusement. He blew her a kiss and winked. She giggled before turning her attention back to the stiff, highly agitated twin bullies.

The next day she stepped through the door of her required self-defense class and stopped. Mike leaned against the back wall, casually assessing the small group of young women with a mixture of annoyance and boredom. Claire couldn’t peel her eyes from him long enough to look at the one young woman he regarded with particular distaste.

The girl was firmly informing the instructor she would not do anything that might mess up her perfectly manicured fingernails. When the professor began to respond Mike lost interest and looked around the room. He found Claire almost instantly and grinned. She blushed from head to toe.

Pushing himself from the wall his eyes filled with intense interest as he made his way across the room. He paid no attention to the other girls who followed his movements, but she noticed how many of them watched him cross the floor. “Good morning,” he said, stopping in front of her.

“What are you doing here?” He lifted a brow and she thought she might swoon. She shook her head, annoyed with herself for having such a girly response. It took a moment to realize how rude her question must have seemed. “Sorry, I mean, Good morning, how are you today?”

“Getting better with every second,” He chuckled. To her embarrassment she could feel her cheeks burning. “Becoming shade,” he claimed; a sparkle of mischief in his eyes. She knew he meant the extreme redness spreading over her face and some incredibly cowardly bone somewhere in her body made her want to cover her face with her hands. She vowed to find that bone later and remove it!

“Are you one of the instructors?” She spat out the first thing she could think of to distract her from his mesmerizing grey eyes. Inwardly she scolded herself. Of course he was an instructor, why else would he be in the gym? At the same time she wanted his answer to be no. If he was her professor she would just die. His smile grew, almost on cue with her thoughts.

“When you frown you have a line here.” He softly ran a finger between her eyes. His touch felt too soft to belong to the calloused finger. Part of her knew she should reprimand him for touching her, but she couldn’t form the words.

“Mike? Shall we get started?” A man called; his voice disapproving. Claire looked towards the older gentleman standing with his arms folded and a stern look on his face. Mike stepped aside and placed his hand on the small of Claire’s back to guide her towards the group. She jerked forward and quickly put distance between them. His soft chuckle followed her and for a moment she felt tempted to turn on the bold young man with her fists, but she couldn’t summon the willpower to face him. Instead, she looked around for a place to sit among the mats.

Several hostile glances had Claire searching for a safe place away from the jealous females in the room. One sly blond patted the pad beside her- no doubt she wanted the intimate details of the Rouge’s relationship with Claire. Claire ignored the invitation and moved to sit beside the only girl that wasn’t staring at her and ducked her head. It wasn’t long before she was peeking at him through her lashes. He still stared at her.

“Mike, call the roll!” The elderly gentleman commanded. Claire watched Mike step forward and accept the clipboard. He began reading off unfamiliar names and she tried desperately to concentrate, but his voice distracted her. The deep baritone seemed to draw her into deep magical worlds where he belonged to her alone.

“Claire Malinister.” The call of her name pulled her from her daydream. “Claire?” Mike called again. She looked up to see both him and her classmates searching the group, trying to discover the owner of the name. It took a full thirty seconds for her to realize he needed a response.

“Present,” she called and blushed deeply at the giggles surrounding her. Why had she said present when a simple raise of the hand would have sufficed. Mike made eye contact with her and knowingly grinned before continuing on. Claire listened to him call out the remaining names on his list. She felt an odd twist in her gut when he spoke each name with his deep voice. She only wanted him to say her name.

Frustrated with herself she attempted to ignore her own jealous response and tried to concentrate on the class ahead, she needed to have her wits about her if she were to show her new instructors she was a skilled fighter and her talents would be better used to aide her classmates rather than sitting idle while she was forced to receive instructions at a level far below her knowledge.

Unfortunately, when class moved forward her skills took a disgusting hit from her lack of attention. Several times she stumbled over her words when answering a question and she found herself extremely clumsy whenever Mike came within five feet of her. Not good! How would she prove her superior skills if she couldn’t manage to walk across the room without tripping over invisible rocks? She glared at Mike knowing he was the cause of her distraction.

Mike appeared to be amused by her lack of coordination and she found him chuckling many times while he watched her. Seriously, they were teaching basic, beginner stances, what was wrong with her! “Okay class, you all did well. We will see you tomorrow.” With a hoot many grabbed their bags and disappeared through the door. Others lingered to flirt with Mike. Claire rolled her eyes, but an unfamiliar heat spread through her again when she watched one beach blonde hussy run her hand down mikes arm. She grabbed her backpack and congratulated herself for coolly making her way towards the exit without making a scene.

“C,” She heard Mike call. “Hey Claire.” She looked over her shoulder, but continued forward. Mike grabbed his own bag and made his way quickly across the floor- much to his assemblage of fan’s dismay. “Wait up!” She picked up her pace and kept walking, even though she watched him make his way towards her. Suddenly he quickened his steps. Her eyes widened, her first instinct told her to take a defensive pose, but she didn’t want to embarrass herself further by overreacting to his nearness.

Mike darted to her side, and in one quick movement had his arm wrapped tightly across her middle and she found herself crushed against chest. Maybe it wouldn’t have been an overreaction! “Careful there, C.” She stared up at him in disbelief. If she thought him bold before she didn’t know what to think now that he held her in his arms. How dare he? Then again- she breathed deeply- he smelled wonderful. She found herself fighting the urge to bury her nose in his shirt. The mischievous light in his eyes made her think he knew the wicked thoughts in her head.

She looked, pointedly, at his arm then then back at him. Needing a way to distract her from his presence she attempted to find an emotion to hold onto that didn’t involve infatuation. Anger. Anger would work.

“Excuse me? How dare you assume you can put your hands on me?” She kept her voice low and menacing, not wanting to attract any additional attention to this public display. He arched a brow.

“Only the fact that had you continued but a few steps more you would have walked straight into that wall!” She felt him chuckle as she turned large violet eyes towards the wall before her. Somehow her straight path to the exit had dramatically curved. She now stood several feet from her destination and, sure enough, the large forbidding wall seemed to rise menacingly before her, mocking her. She closed her eyes, humiliated beyond comprehension.

“Thank you.” The words felt sour in her mouth. How could she be so stupid? Mortification was a coat she had never worn well. She pushed his arm away, turned and ran from the room as quickly as she could. He called for her to wait, but she couldn’t bear letting him see her shameful tears. She hated this intense reaction to embarrassment! Ever since childhood her tears had joined forces with the forbidding emotion to humiliate her beyond reason.

She hit the main doors with such force they slammed against the outside of the building. She could feel the eyes of several students follow her quick descent down the stairway, but she didn’t care. She ran to the blue four door sedan and threw herself into the back seat. Once in the safety of the vehicle she cursed herself for being such a fool. “How was class?” Keith asked kindly.

“Did you kick the instructors butt?” Mark added.

“NO!” The finality in that one word sent a clear message that she did not want to continue any sort of conversation. Graciously her brothers got the message and didn’t push for the embarrassing details of her day.

She turned to look broodingly out the window. As they pulled away from the curb she spotted Mike standing by the university door, staring at her. He smiled when their eyes met and nodded his head to say goodbye. Her head snapped forward and she refused to look out the window for the remainder of the ride home. When she stepped into the gym the next day, she was determined to rise above the previous day and ignore Mike.