I sigh, because there’s no winning. “Alright. One pose. But I’m sitting after that.”
“Deal,” she says, grinning like she’s just recruited me to a cult.
I step onto the mat beside her. Immediately, she starts adjusting my feet like she’s a professional instructor. Hands on my thighs. Then my lower back.
Not thinking dirty thoughts. Not thinking dirty thoughts.
“Okay,” she says brightly. “Now we’re going into Warrior Two.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“Just follow me.”
She steps forward, arms extended, legs wide apart in some kind of powerful stance. I do my best to mimic her, which feels a bit like attempting ballet after leg day.
She peeks at me from the corner of her eye. “You’re totally shaking.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
“Stop looking at me.”
“I’m literally your yoga instructor right now.”
“Oh my God.”
“Now breathe into it,” she says, her voice all calm and serene while I’m basically dying.
I glance at her again. She’s not even trying to be hot. She justis. There’s sweat glistening at her collarbone, and she’s smiling like she doesn’t have a care in the world.
This is torture.
“Okay,” I say, dropping out of the pose. “I’m officially good. My hips are open. My soul is clean. I need to sit down before I pull something I can’t afford to ice.”
Cassie throws back her head and really laughs.
It’s the kind of laugh that makes you forget why you were trying so hard to be careful in the first place.
Somehow, the part that gets me the most isn’t the sports bra or the glistening skin. It’s the laugh.
And that means I’m in even more trouble than I thought.
“Alright, Yoda,” I mutter, pushing off the mat and heading for the door. “I’m gonna take a nap.”
“A nap?” she teases. “It’s not even noon.”
“Well, I just had a spiritual experience. I need to recover.”
“From one yoga pose?”
“Fromyou,” I say before I can stop myself.
She blinks. Her smile falters for half a second, then returns, slower this time. Softer.
But she doesn’t say anything, and neither do I.
I just slip inside, pretending I didn’t mean it like that, and pretend I’m still in control.
