He worked here? We had to leave. No way could I focus on learning to defend myself with this guy around. I'd be frozen in place.
I opened my mouth to tell Ocean we had to leave when she beamed at him and walked over to the desk. "Yes, you can help us, Derek. Rose and I need to learn self-defense, pronto!"
He released my arms and waited until I too walked to the desk before he took his place behind it and pulled out a brochure. He handed it to me. "Here are our classes. We have three a week for beginners, with one for more advanced students afterward. Have you taken any kind of martial arts before?"
"No, never." I had to remind myself not to stare at his lips. Or his chest. Eyes. Focus on the eyes.
"Then you'll want the beginner classes."
Ocean pulled the brochure out of his hand and put it back in the rack. "Actually, we'd like private lessons. Do you do those?"
I groaned under my breath and glared at her. She just twinkled a mischievous grin back at me, but she was forgetting one thing.
I'd noticed the prices for the classes. Not cheap. And that was for a group. "How much are private lessons?"
"Normally, they're $100 an hour. If you and your friend want to take them together, I can give you each half off, so $50 an hour per person. Plus, you'll need to buy your uniforms."
That settled that. "I'm sorry, we're going to need to think about this. It's a bit out of our budget right now."
I tugged on Ocean to get us out of here, but she ignored me. "Do you own this place?" she asked.
He pulled his focus off of me to look at her when he answered. "No, I don't. I trained here growing up, and I've just come back into town and needed some work, so Master Kyoung offered me my job back… until I leave."
The last part seemed to be an afterthought that he had a hard time saying out loud, almost like he felt obligated to say it. My heart inexplicably sunk at the thought of him leaving town. I had no claim on anyone, let alone him. He could do what he wanted, why should I care?
I shouldn't let him stop me from getting the training I needed either. He'd be leaving soon, so that was a good thing. I wouldn't have to worry about getting distracted by some random hot guy that made all of my insides gooshy, even though he didn't feel so random when I had memories of that body, that face, from my dreams. Still, I had no time for gooshy, thank you very much.
"Is Master Kyoung here right now?" I surprised myself by asking.
"Yes, he is. One second." He left through a door into what looked like the main workout studio, with a mirrored wall and padded floors. Two voices echoed through the hall, his and a man with a thick Korean accent, presumably Master Kyoung. I couldn't tell what they were saying, but when they came back in, a short man with kind eyes bowed to me, and I bowed back. "You Rose? You interested in training? Learning to fight?"
"Yes, Sir. But I'm afraid your prices are steep. I was wondering… " I swallowed and willed myself to continue. "I was wondering if you had a website to advertise your studio, or if you needed a new one. I do web design and I can make you a really nice one if you'd be willing to trade for lessons and two uniforms?" I held my breath as he considered my proposition.
Ocean's eyebrow shot up, and she grinned. I started to feel pretty pleased with myself as well. Regardless of the outcome, I hadn't given up until I'd explored all options.
He turned the laptop on the counter to me. "Show me your work."
I typed in the site I'd developed for Mother for her kennel, then opened up new links to type in a few other sites I'd built for members of our coven. "Here are a few examples. I can customize it to exactly what you want."
He clicked through the pages, looking at the sites, then opened up a new site on the screen. "You make this better?"
I browsed through his website, impressed with the quality and ease of navigation. My heart sank. "Honestly, this site is very well made. Unless you just want a whole new look, there's not much I could do to improve on it. Whoever you hired did an excellent job."
He nodded. "Yes. I use new website. New look. And you and friend train with Derek." He slapped Derek on the back. "He teach you how to be strong. How to defend yourself. That work?"
I would have hugged him if I'd known him better, and didn't have an aversion to touching people. Instead I smiled and bowed again, thanking him for his willingness to work with me.
Then I looked at Derek, his eyes still locked with mine, and my knees shook from a sudden weakness. What had I just gotten myself into?
FOUR
My Heart
DEREK
Did my heart love 'til now? forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.