Free SOLID GROUND: GODS OF CHAOS MC (BOOK TWO) by Honey Palomino Page B

myself.  
    “Um, okay, sure.”  She sounded sad, and it was all my fault.  Only moments ago she had been looking up at a beautiful force of nature, looking happier than I had seen her so far, and I had gone and ruined the whole fucking thing.
    I grabbed her hand, and led her back the way we came.  She stopped behind me, and I turned.
    “What’s that?” she asked, gesturing through the trees.
    I followed her gaze and saw my boxing bag hanging from the tree.
    “That’s mine.  Like I said, I spend a lot of time here.”
    “You’re a boxer?”
    “Nah, not anymore.  I used to be, though.”
    “Oh. I see.  Why don’t you box anymore?”
    Good question. Because I killed a man. But I couldn’t say that to her - not here, not now.  
    “Come here,” I said, an idea forming in my head.  I led her over to the clearing where I had spent many hours alone and pounding my frustrations into this bag.  It surprised me sometimes that it hadn’t broken off, as much as I had punched the fucking thing.
    “You ever punched a bag before?” I asked.
    She laughed, shaking her head.  
    “No, never.”
    “Wanna try?”  I asked.  This was better.  Instead of kissing her, I needed to be teaching her to protect herself.  I needed to focus on the situation at hand, and ignore the way my body was reacting to her.  I was a man, for fuck’s sake, not a hormonal teenaged boy.  
    “Uh…really?  Okay, sure.”
    I put the flashlight on the ground, pointed it at the bag and reached up to pull my gloves from the top of the bag.  I slipped them over her hands, securing them tightly around her wrists.
    “They might be a little big,” I said.  
    “A little big?” she giggled. “Your hands are huge!”
    “Yeah, well, I’m a big guy, I guess.”
    “So, what do I do? Just punch?” she asked.
    “Well, first let’s work on your stance.”  I stood with one front in front of the other, slightly turned, my fists raised up and covering the front of my face. 
    “Stand like this.”
    She tried to copy me but it was all wrong.  Her hips were going in the wrong direction.
    “No, no…here, let me help you.”  I walked around behind her, my hands landing on her hips, my cock swelling once more, a stark reminder of exactly what I was supposed to be ignoring.  I pushed her hips, the curve of them sliding under my palms.  I positioned her correctly, then reluctantly pulled my hands away.  I reached up, raising her gloved fists up higher.
    “That’s it, good. Now, remember that. You gotta keep your hands up to protect your face, okay? You start like that every time.”
    “Okay,” she whispered.  
    “Now, practice shifting your weight from one foot to the other.  Kind of like you’re dancing.  Like this,” I shifted back and forth a few times to show her.
    She imitated me, and I smiled at her awkwardness.
    “A little lighter on your feet.  Drop your shoulders, relax a little,” I said, pushing her shoulders down.  “Good, that’s it.”
    “Now what? I just punch?”
    “No, there’s a certain finesse to it.”  I ran my hand along her arm as I extended it, her skin feeling like velvet under the roughness of my fingertips.  “Keep one hand up to protect your face, and punch with the other.  Let your fist turn down as you approach the bag.  When you make contact, your arm should be extended straight out.”
    She landed a few punches on the bag, trying to dance around at the same time.  She looked at me, confusion filling her eyes.
    “It takes some practice,” I said, smiling at her encouragingly. “You’ll get it.”
    “I like it, though,” she asked, holding her hands out as I unwrapped the ties and pulled the gloves off of her.  “Will you teach me more?”
    “Hell yeah, I will!” I exclaimed, a little too enthusiastically. “We’ve got lots of time to kill, so I’ll give you lessons every day, if you want.”
    Her eyes shined up at me, the easiness returning between us.  I breathed a