This girl.
I grin but remain quiet. If I talk, I might fall, and I want to prove to her that I have what it takes. Her finger is a feather on my sole when she swipes it over my foot. “Move down into a child's pose. The one I showed you when you first got here.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell her how good of an instructor she is, but with the way my head is working, I know it’ll come out sounding way dirtier than intended.
She watches as I relax down on my mat.
“Are you going to stand there and watch the entire time?”
“I haven’t watched the entire time,” she scoffs playfully. “I’m making sure you’re listening to my directions and getting theposes correct. You never answered if you were a difficult student. I can see you causing chaos.”
“Actually,” I say, “I got decent grades and wasn’ttoomuch of a shithead.”
“So, you didn’t steal straws from the cafeteria and spit paper balls at your teachers?”
“No. Did you?”
“Of course not,” she says. “But other kids in my grade did.”
“Is that what makes you think I have?” I look up to see her palms pressed together in front of her chest, one foot against the thigh of her opposite leg, balancing like a goddamn pro.
“I don’t know. You sort of have a little bit of that bad boy vibe going. If I look really hard, I can see it.”
Not once has she judged me. Not when I was an asshole when my car broke down, and all she was doing was trying to help. Not when I showed up at her door with a bloody lip. That’s part of what makes us work so well. Part of why I love spending time with her. So even though her words sound judgmental, I know they’re not.
This is her way of getting to know me. Just like when we were at Sweet Smoothies.
I can’t help but want to poke back, so I lift to my feet and pad closer.
She maintains her pose that has her looking like a tree and breathes slowly. Her brown irises connect with my blue ones as I approach. I’m like a lion in the Savanna, circling my prey when I get close enough. The tension around us bristles from each step, and just like that, my cock grows into a semi beneath my basketball shorts.
She smells so damn good, and it reaches out to me, clasps my shirt in its hands, and drags me in close.
I should talk myself down, look away and keep my hands to myself, but I’m strung out and need affection. Mostly, I need her,and the way she doesn’t move an inch as I crowd in behind her tells me that maybe she needs it too.
My breath is a whisper against the back of her neck as I fist my hands by my sides. “Is that judgment I hear?”
“Of course not.” It comes out breathy as she squares her shoulders sharper. She won’t let herself break her pose for me. When she stumbles over her words, I know it’s taking more concentration than normal to balance. “I-It was just an observation.”
Dipping my head down, I let the tip of my nose trail across the backside of her neck up to her hairline. Fuck, I want to kiss her again. “I believe you, but no. I didn’t cause problems. I kept my head down.”
“That’s,” she clears her throat, “good.”
“It was for my teachers, but since we’re asking each other questions, I have one for you.”
My gaze drops to her ass. How one side is perched up higher than the other because of the way she’s balancing on one foot. It’d be easy to palm it and give in to the need to touch her. The problem with that is, I don’t know how she’d take it.
But also, one touch wouldn’t be enough. It’d be a crumb of a cookie I want a dozen of.
“Okay,” she breathes out. “What’s your question?”
My composure and self-control cracks. My hand moves to her side where her top doesn’t quite meet her bottoms. Inches of her skin are exposed, and it’s hot under my touch as my thumb brushes up and down, the tip sliding under the elastic. “How the hell did Webber let you go so easily?”
When her head turns slightly, I know she didn’t expect me to bring him up. I didn’t either, but it’s been on my mind, grating on my nerves whenever I see him in passing, that he was able to walk away from a girl like Violet like it was nothing.
“I…I don’t know what he was thinking.”
“He must not have a fucking brain in his head.” My words, on the brink of sudden irritation and anguish, come out strangled. “Because if I were him, I wouldn’t have let you out of my sight, not once, and especially not in leggings as tight as these.”
