Amy nudged me. “It’s your vibe. People love the dark, moody type. They want to find what makes you tick.”
“Coffee and a good lemon-poppy-seed muffin in the morning. Gets me going every time.”
“Idiot.” She slapped my shoulder.
Strains of low music started playing, and we all straightened in our lines. The door opened, and two men, one fair and one dark-haired, ran into the room, breathing heavily. My heart sank. Was I going to be tortured everywhere I turned now?
“Sorry we’re late, Michel.” The dark-haired, ponytailed man apologized. “Traffic was insane.”
“Not to worry, Sunny. Ezra, good to see you again. Glad you could make it. Take a mat and find a space.” Without missing a beat, Michel started the class. Unfortunately, my attention was now drawn to Ezra, who hadn’t yet seen me. I watched as he stripped off his sweats, revealing a toned, lean body that showed years of exercise. He wasn’t here to play, and oddly, that reassured me that he’d leave me alone. Before I could drag my lingering gaze from admiring his torso, Ezra’s eyes met mine. Once the initial shock drained from his face, a humorous light flared in his eyes. I ducked my head.
“Who’sthat?” Amy hissed in my ear. “He looks like he wants to take a bite out of you.”
“Shh, the class is starting,” I said, dodging her question.
The next hour was one of the most difficult of my life. Not only did I have to maneuver my protesting muscles into unnatural positions while I dripped with sweat from the hundred-degree heat, but Ezra placed himself directly in front of me. I couldn’t help but notice the gleam of sweat on his golden skin and how the thin yoga leggings clung to his muscular legs and outlined the bulge of a healthy package while he easily contorted himself into the challenging yoga positions.
An hour later, I was drenched, light-headed, and wobbly with fatigue. Nothing tasted as good as that first bottle of cold water I gulped down after we’d finished the class. When I’d drained that one, I grabbed a second and leaned against the wall with my eyes closed.
“I didn’t know you were into yoga.”
That smooth voice touched by a hint of laughter broke into my exhausted state, and I needed to draw in a deep breath to calm the lurch of my heart against my chest before answering. I opened my eyes, and the view of a sweaty Ezra sent a curl of lust through me. “I’m not. It’s the first class I’ve taken in a year or so.”
“And you came to a master class? You must like pain.”
“No. I’ve actually experienced enough of that to last me a lifetime, thanks.”
Lines of strain fanned out from Ezra’s surprisingly troubled eyes. What could cause anguish to a man who’d sailed so easily through life? I knew his parents were both still alive, and from the stories I read about their glamorous parties, their life looked to be pretty damn fine. Maybe it was about that man who died, the one Ezra claimed had been a friend. Presley, from my group, had mourned his lover for years before coming to grips with the loss. Ironically, if that was the case, Ezra could most likely benefit from my support group.
“I’m Amy, a friend of Roe’s,” Amy piped in. “Do you know each other?”
Ezra’s gaze roamed over me, and my breath caught. “We did. A long time ago.”
The man he came with stood by his side. He was dark and toned and very beautiful, and I could see him and Ezra together.
“Ready to go, Ez? I promised Angie I’d call her.”
“Yeah.” His now impersonal gaze touched me. “Nice to see you again. You’re looking good. Keep up the yoga.” Then he left.
Amy peppered me with questions, but I remained silent, wondering about the darkness I’d seen behind Ezra’s facade.
Chapter Five
Enough of pining after Roe. If he was done with the past, then so was I. It took that yoga class to realize there wasn’t much left of our childhood crush. For whatever reason, he’d chosen to shut me out and leave me behind. He had a new life with friends, and I was fine with it. I had to be since every time we saw each other, the scars grew a bit deeper and sharper.
The rest of the week found me burying myself in work, going over contracts with my legal team, and setting up lunches and dinners. See and be seen. Always be on the lookout for the next hot trend and breakout star. It was what my parents demanded from me, and I always followed their wishes. The job came first.
I sat through more plays in a week than most of New York saw in a decade, but after a while, the faces became indistinguishable. The words all read the same.
I’d even called my on-and-off lover, Pasco, hoping the touch of another person would wake me up. He was happy to do whatever I wanted, but it was nothing more than a temporary fix. I had no idea what it would take to make me feel alive again.
Life, on overdrive, had become a blur.
“You’re heading for a burnout,” Sunny said, entering my office. He’d made the move with me from California, and knowing how much he missed his life back home, I thanked him every day. I needed his anal-retentive organizational skills and uncanny ability to know what I was looking for before even I knew. He’d been a waiter at the Greens in LA, and I loved his sassy attitude and Zen way of looking at the world.
I’d hired him when he was fired for refusing to apologize to a customer, a dick of a man who’d made millions off a start-up. He’d called one of the busboys a “dumb queer” for dripping ice water on his suit. The young man did everything but lick the millionaire’s Hermès boots, but he insisted on making a scene. When Sunny, who’d come to the busboy’s defense, had told him,“Chill out, dude, it’s only H2O,”he became even more enraged and insisted that if they both didn’t get fired, he’d make sure no one he did business with would ever eat there again. I watched the scene unfold and the busboy crumple to a table when he was let go. Sunny took his firing more matter-of-factly.
I hired both of them on the spot and never returned to the Greens. Drey, the former busboy, was six feet four, with arresting smoky-gray eyes and a beautiful mouth. His muscular legs went on for days, and Andrew Christian snapped him up immediately as his exclusive new face.
