this because he liked it.
“Line up in two lines of five each,” he said loudly. “Give yourselves plenty of room, at least two arm lengths in each direction.”
The ladies lined up. Most of them were out of shape businesswomen. There was one mother-daughter pair and one older woman of about sixty. Donna placed herself in front row center and smiled. She exercised every day and knew her body was every guy’s fantasy. She wore black leotards cut low enough to show good cleavage. Her goal today: land a date with the rich dude.
“Ladies, welcome and good morning. My name is Mike Valentine and I will be your instructor today. I am a fourth degree black belt, a boxer, and a retired policeman. I am going to teach you simple but effective techniques to protect yourself against anyone trying to hurt you. Now, may I have a volunteer?”
Before anyone else could move, Donna stepped forward. “I will,” she said, smiling. Every woman in class knew Donna was trying to hook up with the teacher and also knew the guy was clueless of her intentions.
“Excellent, thank you. Now, statistics show that 94% of the time an attacker will grab you in one of four ways.” Mike quickly demonstrated on Donna with little or no actual contact. He then asked Donna to attack him using the first technique. When she did, he demonstrated how to counter and gain control of the attacker. It was simple but effective. Even Donna, who didn’t really care, was impressed.
Then he had one line be the attackers and one line the defenders. He made corrections, gave explanations, and offered encouragement. Then they switched sides. The attackers were now the defenders and the defenders the attackers.
As Mike conducted the class, he could tell the attractive dark-haired lady named Donna liked him. She was obviously in excellent physical condition and seemed like a nice lady. He spent a little more time with her than he would have had he not found her appealing and hoped the others didn’t notice. About an hour into the training he saw a look from a woman that told him they did notice, and it bothered them. He immediately pulled back and spent less time with Donna and more with the others. He was surprised when she confronted him on it.
“What’s the matter? You don’t like me anymore or what?”
“People were starting to talk,” he said.
“Screw them,” she answered.
“Easy for you to say. I need to teach all of you.”
“OK. Teach all of us and let me buy you a cup of coffee afterwards. Deal?”
Mike thought for a second and decided coffee couldn’t hurt anything. “Deal. I’ll meet you out by the front desk.”
She smiled and said, “You won’t be sorry.”
The remainder of the class was going over the techniques again and again at an ever-increasing speed. When the class ended, each woman felt she could protect herself against would-be attackers. Donna felt confident she had accomplished her initial goal with Operation Twenty-Six Million Dollars.
When he dismissed the class, Donna could see she would have to wait. All of the women continued to ask questions and tell him how much they liked the class and wondered if he taught any advanced classes. He told them to sign up at the front desk and when there were enough women interested the club would schedule the class and contact them. When he finally worked his way through the questions and comments, and the last woman left, Mike packed his bag and walked over to Donna.
“Sorry to keep you waiting.”
“It’s not the waiting,” she said, “It’s who you’re waiting for.” Then she smiled and took his arm. “Come on. There’s a restaurant next door.”
Mike still had four hours of workout to do but that could wait an hour or so. “Let me put my bag in my truck.”
Donna watched him open the door to his Tundra and thought, twenty-six million bucks and he drives a truck. This guy needs my help.
“OK,” he said. “Ready.”
It began raining as they entered the restaurant and were seated at a booth overlooking the parking lot. The rain pattered against the large window as the waitress came and poured two cups of coffee.
“So. You were a cop.” She wanted to get him talking about himself. She had learned that most men liked talking about themselves and what they had done.
“Yeah. I was hurt so I’m medically retired.”
“What happened?”
“I was on the SWAT team. Some Asian gang members were robbing a jewelry store. They had automatic weapons and a couple of grenades. There was a silent alarm they didn’t know about so two squad cars arrived while the perps were still inside.”
“Perps?”
“Perpetrators. Bad guys.”
“Oh. I’m glad you clarified that. I was getting all kinds of visuals on what a perp is.” Then she smiled and he smiled, too. She sensed he was starting to feel comfortable so put her hand over his. “Go on.” She let her hand linger a second longer than was necessary and looked into his eyes. She wanted him to feel that she was really interested.
“Anyway. We were called and our lieutenant worked up a plan. I was to enter with my partner from the rear. We got the signal and I was the first one in. The perps saw us and threw a grenade down the hallway we were in. I backed up around a corner and saw the grenade bounce off the wall in front of me. Luckily, it bounced back around the corner and exploded. We didn’t catch any shrapnel but it was loud enough to take out my right eardrum. I didn’t have any hearing protection in because I was listening for the perps. I couldn’t go on being a cop with only one ear. So, now I just train.”
“Train. You mean karate?”
“Martial arts and boxing. I like to stay in shape.”
“I can see that. You’re a very attractive man. That’s why I came on to you. I hope you don’t mind my aggressiveness.” She was reasonably sure he didn’t. She had a great deal of experience with men.
“No. Not at all. I like it. It takes the guess work out of everything.”
The more he talked, the more she knew how to proceed. She would just tell him what to do; he was ready for that. As long as it wasn’t difficult and he had no real objections, he would do whatever she wanted. Men always did.
“Mr. Valentine, that’s good to hear.”
“Call me Mike.”
“I will. I’m just establishing your superiority.”
He laughed. “If you start telling me crap like that, how will I know when you’re telling me the truth?”
“OK, OK,” she laughed. “No more crap. I’ll just tell you straight up. I think you’re a very good-looking man and a nice guy and I want you to take me out.”
He took a sip of coffee and thought for a second.
“Come on,” she said, “I won’t bite. At least not until I know you better.” She cocked her head and raised her eyebrows at him as if to say, “What do you think?”
He smiled and said, “OK. Deal. When?”
“Tonight.”
He again thought for a second and she asked, “Hot date tonight already?”
“No. No date. I haven’t had a date since my wife died.”
She feigned surprise. “Oh, Mike. I’m so sorry. I had no idea.” She took a chance. “If you’d rather not, I understand.”
“No. I want to. It’s just been a while since I’ve even talked to a woman other than my mother and sister-in-law. To tell the truth, I’m a little nervous.”
She reached out and took his hand. “I understand. You’re safe with me. You don’t