forceful. "No." He stated flatly. "What are you going to do?" He laughed. "I'm better than you." If he meant with his martial arts ability he was right. He was better than she was. "But you're not better than me." She heard the familiar voice and some of the tension eased out of her body. "Move out of her way," Kyle said and this time Tony complied. It wasn't until he moved his big mountain man body that she was able to see Kyle and Rick standing behind him. She carefully stepped past Tony. "You finish out the month, but you don't come back," Rick added. If it hadn't been for the fact that Rick still had his eyes fixed on Tony she may have assumed he was talking to her. From what she could tell, none of the other women had a problem with Tony. The two other guys in class seemed to get along with him too, which meant she was the problem factor. "There are other dojos," he shrugged. She wondered if Tony had already tried out the other dojos. He was in the beginner and intermediate class group, but he felt more advanced. Or maybe it was just that he had more confidence than most of the beginners. “Thanks," she mumbled to Kyle and Rick. Practice had been virtually uneventful until Tony kicked his foot out toward her face and stopped just short of kicking her. She hated feet. Not that she didn't appreciate the function of feet; she just didn't like to have to look at them. "Yuck," she shook her head and scooted back an inch. "You need a pedicure." The class erupted in laughter. She wasn't kidding the bottom of his foot was flaky and peeling. He put his foot down and took a seat in the back and class continued as usual. She grabbed her clothes from her locker not even stopping to take the time to change. She wanted to get out of there before she had another encounter with Tony. On her way out Kyle stopped her. "We need to talk," he ushered her into his office. "If you think you're going to blame things on me you're wrong. I have never, ever given that man any indication..." "Good Lord woman; I wasn’t blaming you." She settled down. "Oh. Well in that case I'd like to get out of here before he..." "He's already gone. He rushed out of here in his uniform like you." "Oh." she sat her stuff in an empty chair. "Well then I'm all yours." "You need more confidence." "I’m intimidated by size," she added. He looked at her for a second. "I thought you were going to..." "Deny it? No. You're right. Like back there I was scared. I kept thinking of what I could do, but for every could there was a highly negative consequence." He shook his head. "Confidence would help. I'd like to show you a few moves to counter him next time." "Wow, thanks. Next class?" "I was thinking before that." He sat down on the edge of his desk. "I'm training some officers in Marysville Saturday late afternoon. I can come by your place in the morning and work with you." "Oh that would be great. How much?'' "It's on me." She wanted to be on him, under him too. She agreed on eleven o'clock. He could shower at her place to freshen up before his next class if he needed. She could practice for the band's next rehearsal before he arrived. She had five acres of land in between two ranches; she made sure he understood she was some ways off the Interstate. "That time of morning you can hit my place in about thirty minutes from here." She got on the interstate heading north. Not only was she getting one on one instruction tomorrow, but in three weeks Tony would no longer be at the dojo and she would no longer have to worry about him. Saturday morning came and her excitement level climaxed. She pulled her dark green workout pants and black tank top on. Deciding those were not the colors she switched to black workout pants and her purple fitted t-shirt. "Perfect." The phone rang, disrupting her admiration of her behind in the perfect pair of pants. "Hello." "This is Kyle." "Oh, hey. You need direction?" "No. I uh...I have to be up to Marysville