I released a breath in the least meditative way possible. God, did I envy him. And I wanted to know more about this guy, like do a deep dive or maybe a background check. Learn about whether he’d paid all his taxes. Or had a criminal record. I had to steal my phone back from Ren.
Wait. No. I wasn’t going to do that.
Autumn clenched her jaw in concentration as she maintained her position.
“Don’t forget to breathe,” I whispered.
She looked at me and smiled, letting out a slow exhale and inhaling again until we were breathing in tandem.
We continued without incident for twenty more minutes. For the most part, Autumn did well. She even appeared to be enjoying it. But it had me wondering why she was here in the first place. I hoped it was because she knew I would be here. But that was ridiculous. She was probably trying new things. She clearly had been doing that since I’d last seen her.
So many new things.
So far, I’d noticed her love of wood sports, her penchant for tattoos, the loose way she moved, almost as if the stress she’d been carrying in her shoulders back when we were together had completely dissipated. She was no longer a perfectionist—at least when it came to painting last night. She was always jokingwith someone, and she seemed more open. She used to just be like that with me.
Yeah, it was jealousy I was feeling.
I was also proud of her. I had told her for years that she should have more fun, but she’d been so focused on grades and extracurriculars with the goal of getting into a reputable school that she’d seemed drained most days. Clearly, this had been deep inside her all along.
We changed positions again, and her side and back came into view. I could see her sports bra underneath her loose-fitting tank top and forced myself to look away before it had a real effect on me. The last thing I needed was for her to see me with a hard-on in sweats that would leave nothing to the imagination once they grew tighter.
Jack pursed his lips as Autumn struggled through yet another difficult move, but she nailed it and threw her hands up in victory.
And that was when I knew. Watching her have fun with this dude all week was going to be awful as hell.
