Wren is a hardworking archaeologist on his first vacation in years. While he’s tempted to look for ancient artifacts, this is Maui and he needs to focus on taking it easy. So it’s off to the beach to relax. There Wren dives into trouble, literally. Luckily, the backward roll and breathing techniques he learned studying Ninjutsu saves his life, because the shore break called Satan’s Washing Machine grinds him up and spits him out, temporarily blinded and badly battered. A karate dojo owner named Steven takes him to a doctor, a pharmacy, and then back to the beach, only to find Wren’s car and all his belongings have been stolen. So Steven invites him home instead. Will their mutual love of martial arts lead to other a deeper relationship? Or will their shared desire for humbleness and respect for others keep them from falling in love?

Beyond Black Belt

“I’m sure dancing didn’t help my bruises any either. I sure hope I had a good time.”


“Well,” Steven said slowly, cutting his eyes at me, “It was the back-flip off the table that got me. Where did you learn that?”


For some reason, I didn’t want to tell him more about the karate I’d studied. I don’t know if I thought it would sound stupid, or if it was just because of the backstory and how it brought back all theold, awful memories. Maybe it was because you never found other people outside of a dojo who got it. Here, it was all surfing and swimming, and I sure couldn’t match anyone with my skills in the water.


“Dancing on bar tables, of course,” I joked.


Chapter 7