“How’d you enjoy the American experience of wakeboarding, Quinn?” He asks as he strokes his thumb softly against my skin, distracting me.
I let out a nonchalant shrug, smirking up at him. “Not bad, actually, Carter. I’d say I did pretty well. It seems like I’m good at just about everything.”
A disbelieving laugh bursts out of him as he presses himself harder against me. “If I’m not wrong, I believe I’m the one who kept you upright, baby.”
I bring my hand up to pinch his chin, drawing his head down to my level.
“Baby, huh? That’s cute.” He rolls his eyes, shrugging me off trying to create distance. I have a feeling this is uncharted territory for Levi. But he should already know I won’t let him off that easily.
“You misheard me.” He mutters, avoiding my eyes.
“I don’t think I did, baby.” I smirk, pressing him lightly away from me. “Now be a good boy and go shower. I expect you to be in the Pilates room for a session in twenty minutes.”
Levi’s mouth opens, but I’m already walking off before he can respond, feeling his gaze track me as I go upstairs.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
LEVI
I’m in the Pilates room waiting for Scarlett. I never thought I’d say this, but I am really looking forward to stretching everything out. I’m so pent up with tension right now, in so many ways. I need a release.
Scarlett enters, the soft scent of her vanilla soap immediately taking over the space. I take a deep breath, allowing it to ground me. Her hair darker, still damp from her shower, dressed in her typical pink active set. She smiles at me as she grabs a couple of mats, setting them on the floor.
“Levi.” She looks at me pointedly.
“Scarlett.”
“We both know that you shouldn’t have been wakesurfing today.” My head drops. Here we go with the lecture. She continues, “I want you to stretch out any tension it may have caused.”
I sigh, though it’s mostly for show – of course I’ll take the alone time with her.
“Let’s get it over and done with, Quinn.”
She nods before taking her place on the mat, coming down onto all fours. My mind immediately flashes to a different way of seeing her on all fours –preferably without any clothes on.
I snap out of it, getting down onto my own mat and mimicking Scarlett’s position.
“Alright, Carter, we’re starting with our thread the needle.” I stare at her blankly, waiting for her to continue. Surely she doesn’t expect me to know what that is? After a couple of moments, she continues. “Wrists stacked under your shoulders, and knees stacked under your hips. Stay soft on your injured shoulder, though.”
I adjust my position and Scarlett looks over to me contemplating my position for a moment before she shuffles over, moving my knee into what I assume is the appropriate position before she gets back into her own.
“Good. Now, spine long and neutral. Gaze straight down on the mat.” I do as she says. “Inhale, Levi.” I take a deep breath through my nose. “As you exhale, take your right arm and slide it across the mat but keep your palm facing up as you slide it across the floor.” I look toward Scarlett, mimicking her movement as I attempt to keep my shoulder soft and relaxed. “Perfect, Levi. We want to stop when there’s a mild stretch through the shoulder, yeah? Don’t overextend it. Let your torso rotate naturally.”
I listen to my body as I go through the movement stopping once I hit that slight stretch through the back of my shoulder. I hear Scarlett shuffle behind me. “Good, Levi.” She praises, softly running her hand across my shoulder, sending goosebumps across my skin. “Breathe in.” I inhale. “Breathe out.” I exhale. I repeat another two times before I come out into the starting position.
“How do we feel, Levi?” Even more tense than when we started due to your touch.
But, of course, I can’t admit to that, so instead I say, “Good.”
“Alright. Let’s go again.”
I inhale before exhaling as I slide my right arm under my body, rotating softly through my torso to the point where I feel that soft stretch through the back of my shoulder and I hold. “And release.” I slide my arm back out the way it came, placing it softly back on the mat.
We continue to work through the movements, and I feel my body starting to slowly relax. I’m not sure how long we’ve been working for at this point. I’ve lost track of time and I ‘ve been enjoying this alone time with Scarlett more than I care to admit.
Scarlett softly runs her hand over my shoulder, using featherlight pressure causing me to suck in a breath. Neither of us even considers moving or speaking for a second. Slowly, I sit back on my heels rolling out my shoulder softly, feeling the tension slightly looser than it was before. She slides her hand from my shoulder up my neck to cup my jaw and opens her mouth to speak before the door slams open causing us to both snap away from each other.
I grit my teeth as I glance toward the door to see none other than Hudson Moore. I could kill him right now.
