“You gotta be kidding me!” Ryan murmurs under his breath. “Why doesnothingwork on you?”
“You don’t know me, Ryan. I’m an animal lover. I had a pet rat when I was a child, so a little guy like this isn’t going to worry me. In fact, I think I’ll keep him. He can be my new pet… I might name him Hunter.”
He looks at me, raising his eyebrow. “Hunter’s my last name.”
“I know. I have to name him after you somehow ’cause you got him for me, and naming him yoga fart just doesn’t seem appropriate.”
He lets out a small chuckle. “You really are something, you know that?”
“I think it’s you who’s something, buying me pets and all. I think, deep down, you actually like me, Ryan Hunter.”
He scoffs. “Let’s just get this yoga over with, shall we?”
I smirk. “Sure. But how long was he in the glove compartment?”
Ryan shrugs. “Not long. I was only on the rooftop for about five minutes before you came and got me. I put him in there just before that. I can’t believe that didn’t work. I was so sure he would’ve scared the shit out of you.” He shakes his head but keeps his eyes on the road ahead.
He’ll have to do much better than that. I figured he was up to something, and so far, I’m beating him at this little power play we have going on.
We pull up at the gym, and Ryan grabs Hunter’s cage from the trunk so I can put him in it.At least he came prepared.I place Hunter in his cute little cage, and we walk to the room for our yoga lesson.
“Hey, Lara,” I say as I walk in.
Lara’s face turns up in disgust. “Um… Tillie, we don’t generally include pets in our yoga sessions. Especially rats.”
I giggle as Ryan smirks.
“We had an incident in the car, and we couldn’t avoid bringing Hunter. Don’t worry, he won’t get in the way. You’re safe. He won’t be coming out of his cage.”
Lara’s body sags in obvious relief.
Ryan then walks over to his yoga mat. His muscles flex and strain while he stretches, getting ready for Lara’s first yoga pose of the day. Since our last session, unless it was about the band,our interactions have been limited. Even then, it was only a fleeting question or comment, and then he would avoid me or walk off.
He’s been acting strangely ever since last week when something shifted between us. After I slipped, he moved instinctively, twisting us so he’d take the brunt of the fall, shielding my head from hitting the floor. That’s not something you do for someone you can’t stand. For a brief moment, I saw through the guarded walls he keeps so carefully in place. He’s wrestling with some deep-seated resentment for me, and I can’t quite understand why.
Well, maybe I do understand.
I took his job.
A job that he took incredibly seriously.
One he, for some reason, does not want to relinquish.
But I know there’s something more than just a general unease. His persistence to annoy me makes me think he’s overcompensating for something. It’s likely he doesn’t even know what it is. There’s an attraction between us, and I definitely don’t think it’s one-sided. It would explain why he’s been avoiding me.
Because what happened here last week wasn’t just a pair of co-workers falling on each other in a yoga class.
It was chemistry.
It was intense.
And it made him slip back into avoidance mode.
He’s scared, perhaps.
Maybe he doesn’t want to admit there’s an attraction between us.
Hell, I’m not even sure I want to admit that.
