She hit again, harder, then again, her face working.
“Gets some of the mad out, don’t it?” Mike said. “Now the other hand, alternate the two. Hard, fast and through with both. Go.”
She started hitting with both hands and then shifted around on her feet uncomfortably.
“You noticed you weren’t standing right, good,” Mike said, tapping at her ankles with his foot. “Right foot there, left foot forward. Cat stance is what it’s called, coincidentally. Hit twice, one each hand, then pause.”
When she’d finished the strikes he had her move one foot then the other, circling the bag.
“Keep your body centered,” Mike said, running his finger down an imaginary line. “Bring your butt forward a bit; you’re leaning away from the target. If you know where your center is, you can bring more power to the strikes. Don’t kick, just strike, then move. We’ll work on kicks later; most kicks are for show-offs anyway.”
“You kick in Ondah contest,” Kat said, panting. She hit twice, then moved, circling the bag.
“I was showing off,” Mike said. “And Oleg was a big SOB. Kicks have more power than hand strikes. But there are more counters, too. Keep going.”
He worked her on strikes and moving for about an hour until she was dripping with sweat.
“Go take a shower,” Mike said, when the girl was pretty much worn out. “Then meet me at the office in regular uniform.”
Mike was back at his desk, showered, when Kat turned up. She’d spent enough time to get makeup on but she wasn’t much slower than he had been.
“Have you worked with a computer?” Mike asked, pulling his laptop out of its case.
“No, Kildar,” Katya said, her eyes widening.
“This one doesn’t have anything secure on it,” Mike said, opening the computer up. “I was working on my typing, though. I’d never learned to touch type. So it’s got a teaching program on it.” He brought up the program and led her to the room he’d set up as a conference room. “This program will run you though how to touch type. It’s about the most boring thing in the world, but it’s important to learn. And it’s in English, so you’ll have twice as much to think about. It should keep you occupied,” he added with a smile.
Mike ran through his bare minimum paperwork and then headed out to the household range. As part of the whole improvements program, Meller had bermed the walls of the range and Praz had upgraded the range and included a small tactical range.
Mike ran through a program circuit with M-4 and pistol, which was his scheduled shoot for the day, taking up most of the rest of the afternoon. By the time he was done the sun was starting to set. He dropped the weapons in the armory — Latif had been trained in cleaning so he could leave it to him — and washed up for dinner.
He stopped by the conference room and found Katya still plugging away at the computer.
“Dinner time,” Mike said, walking over to look over the girl’s shoulder.
“This not hard,” Katya replied. She’d run through the first four levels of the training program, which had taken Mike most of a week of solid work. Given that it wasn’t in her native tongue, it was doubly impressive. And the program wouldn’t let you move on to the next level until you’d passed the requisite test.
“You’re doing very well,” Mike said, shaking his head. “I think you were being severely underutilized. If you keep to this rate, I’ll be using you a secretary in a week,” he added with a grin. “I won’t keep you as a secretary — you’ll get bored to tears after a while — but you’ll learn some useful skills.”
“Would like learn more about computer,” Katya said. “Am have trouble with pad,” she said, pointing to the touchpad on the laptop.
“The only way to learn is to do it,” Mike pointed out. “There are games on there, simple ones. If you play those you’ll learn to use it faster. I’ll show them to you sometime, not now. It’s time for dinner.”
“And time for Klavdiya to learn, yes?” Katya said maliciously.
“Unlike for some,” Mike pointed out, “I’m planning on having it be a good time.”
Mike had had some changes made to the rooms upstairs. He’d had the master bath opened out into one of the adjoining rooms, adding a large shower and Jacuzzi tub, used the rest of the room to make a small office and sitting area, increased the size of the closet, had a gun safe installed in it and converted one of the rooms adjoining his suite into a small dining room with attached kitchen. Effectively, he never had to leave the suite.
When he got to the sitting room, Klavdiya was sitting on the couch awaiting him nervously. She was wearing a light-blue, low-cut dress he hadn’t seen before, presumably the fruits of her purchasing. It suited her well.
“Mother Savina was supposed to bring up a light dinner,” Mike said, smiling at her. “Let’s eat.”
“Okay,” Klavdiya said, standing up.
The small table had been set with two places and candles for lighting. Mike lit the candles and turned down the lights, then lifted the covers off the plates to see what they were having for dinner. Chicken in a creamy sauce with a side of rice and mixed vegetables. Light enough.
“Wine?” he asked, lifting out a chilled bottle of a local white.
“A little,” Klavdiya replied.
“And only a little for me, too,” Mike said, pouring for her. “Shakespeare said that wine giveth the desire and taketh away the ability. Truer words were never writ.”
“Who is Shakespeare?” Klavdiya asked, picking at her food.
“An English playwright and poet,” Mike replied. “You’ll read him eventually, I hope. Very good plays. He had the human nature down. Are you reading much, yet?”
“Only a little,” Klavdiya said. “I am not so good, yet.”
“It takes practice,” Mike admitted. “You’ll get better. You can learn a lot about the world from reading. Of course, living in it helps as well.”
As they chatted the girl began to relax, which was the whole point. Dessert was a chocolate confection with coffee to wash it down. At which point, Klavdiya started tensing up again.
“Come on,” Mike said, standing up and holding out his hand. “No worries.”
Klavdiya got up uncertainly and followed him to the sitting room.
“Not there?” she asked, pointing to the bedroom.
“In a bit,” Mike said, sitting down on the couch and pulling her lightly down to sit beside him. He’d set out a bottle of mead beforehand and pulled the cork, pouring two small glasses. “This is just a bit stronger than the wine. It will relax you so I can have my way with you,” he said, smiling humorously.
“I am yours, Kildar,” the girl said, taking the small glass.
“In one gulp,” Mike said, tossing his off. The mead was strong and warming.
“That is good,” Klavdiya said, pulling her legs up onto the couch to tuck under her.
“Made from honey,” Mike said, putting his arm on her shoulders. “I don’t think you make it around here, much, which is strange. Is there anything you want to talk about?”
“No,” Klavdiya said, looking up at him from lowered eyes that were still a bit frightened.
“Then let’s try doing,” Mike said, leaning over to kiss her.
She stiffened at first but then slid into his arms with a moan. He flicked his tongue against her lips and hers parted for him to enter. He ran his tongue around her mouth, but when his hand slid onto her thigh she stiffened up again.
He kept his hand away from taboo zones, sliding it up her side and eliciting another moan, then down to her thigh again. This time when it slid up it was inside the dress sliding up her nylon covered thigh. Klavdiya wriggled around so that he could get his hand further up and he slid it up, pushing the dress up at the same time, until his hand was on her ass. He rested it there for a time, just stroking, then ran the other hand under the dress and had it up and over her head before she realized.