Page 9 of Impossible Bachelor (Bachelor Tower 2)
She tosses her braid over her shoulder. I raise my eyes to hers. She glares at me. I grin back and shrug. I’m only human. My cock begins to surge back to attention, and I remind it harshly that we are here to relax—so relax.
“I’m sure it’ll get easier as we get used to it.” My voice is hushed as the few other people in the room shoot us a look. Since I can’t share where my thoughts had taken me, I say, “You can feel the good energy.”
She looks me over and I can barely breathe—only this time it’s from an internal rush of heat. I know she feels it. She has that look in her eyes again.
“I bet they have to mop gallons of sweat off this floor every night.” She looks away. “How can anyone enjoy being this sweaty?”
“If you have to ask that, your pilot doesn’t know what he’s doing.”
Her eyes fly back to mine. Oh, if we weren’t in public I might have to duck, but I’m confident she’ll contain herself in public. The idea shouldn’t make me smile like it does, but I like the passion in her. I can’t wait to sample it up close. “What happened to the nice guy routine?”
“Just calling it as I see it.” I lie flat on my back on the mat, stretching my body and closing my eyes. I should use this time to empty my mind, but I’m way too aware of the woman next to me. I turn to see if she is bothered at all.
She is lying down, but she’s fidgeting with her eyes open. “You don’t know anything about me or my sex life.”
The woman on her other side says, “I don’t either, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
Kylie tenses, looks as if she might turn to say something to the woman, but doesn’t. She closes her eyes instead.
“Are you okay?” I feel bad. This isn’t going the way I imagined it would.
“Stop talking.”
Is she embarrassed? I don’t give a shit about the woman next to her or what Opal will think. I don’t want Kylie uncomfortable. “Do you want to leave? Say the word and we’re out of here.”
She opens her eyes and turns her head toward me. “I don’t care what anyone thinks of me.”
“I wouldn’t be here if I believed that, and you wouldn’t be here if that was true.”
She closes her eyes again, but she still looks tense. A moment later she asks, “I can’t turn off my thoughts. All I see when I close my eyes is everything I left undone at the office.”
I glance around. Everyone is resting. I roll up onto one hand and in possibly the smoothest move of my life, I kiss her then roll back down.
She sits straight up. “Stop that,” she whispers.
“Just trying to give you something better to think about.” I smile at Kylie then briefly meet the eyes of the woman behind Kylie. I’m a good-natured man in general, but I send her a silent message to mind her own business. She gets up and moves to the other side of the room. I would feel bad about it if Kylie wasn’t looking at me with such a confused, turned on expression.
One corner of Kylie’s mouth turns up in a smile. “You’re going to get us thrown out. Then what will your Opal think of you?”
“News flash,” I say in a low tone. “You’re the only one here who matters.”
She rolls back onto the mat and, hang onto your hat, she’s smiling.
“Now how am I supposed to empty my mind?” I give her another of my irresistible smiles. She doesn’t roll her eyes. I’m making progress.
She sighs. “My mind doesn’t shut off.”
“Mine doesn’t usually either.”
“Then why do you come here?”
“I didn’t get these abs from sitting on the couch.” I don’t check to see if my comment made her smile. I know it did.
“I’m mentally reviewing my calendar for the week. What are you thinking about?”
“Besides imagining you naked?”
She sucks in an audible breath. “Stop.”
For now. “Navigation systems for autonomous cars. That’s what my thoughts default to lately.”
“Why? Someone already invented them.”
“Every invention can be improved upon. I’m good at rethinking what is accepted as possible.”
“Well, if you can keep them from ending up in cautionary stories in the news, their stockholders would love you.”
“Exactly.” I hear a rumbling from a woman on my other side. “We should probably talk about this after yoga.”
“It hasn’t even started yet,” she groans. “How long is this going to take?”
A woman who is making small meditating humming noises and clearly trying to center herself opens one eye to glare at us.
“She’s pretty tense for someone who probably does this a lot,” Kylie whispers as she nudges me with her foot.
“We should leave.” I make a motion toward the door. “This is the time before class when people try to be mindful.”
“What an oxymoron that is. Mindful. They should say they’re mind-dumping. Or mind numbing. Penny says she concentrates on one thing—or one word. You know how many balls I would drop if I did that?”
“Relax,” I say, resting a hand on her leg as it bounces up and down. I don’t mean it to be intimate but it is. I squeeze gently on her thigh, and she draws in a quick sexy breath. “If we’re staying, we should at least try. Close your eyes.”
“Get your hand off my leg,” she whispers.
I pull it back. Really, of the two of us, she’s behaving better than I am. I can’t behave. She’s too tempting.
Opal is at the front of the room, and her hushed voice echoes all around us. “I invite you all to find the center of your soul, the place you store your energy and go there. Get into whatever position is comfortable for you to start out.”
“I know where you store your energy,” Kylie whispers and waggles her brows at me as she gestures with her chin toward my pants.
I can’t help it—a laugh bursts out of me. Does she have to pick this moment to be funny? There’s no way to deny her accusation since ever
ything she says has my dick tenting in my shorts, waving and begging, “Pick me. Pick me.”
Opal clears her throat again. “Completely clear your mind and live in the quiet space you’ve created.”
I glance at Kylie. She rolls onto her stomach and has tucked her phone halfway under her yoga mat. She’s reading emails? I’m a little insulted.
“Put that away,” I warn. We really are going to get tossed. Opal begins moving through the room and is just a few feet away.
“Ben, if you can’t be quiet I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” I see only Opal’s bare foot tapping impatiently beside me. I smile apologetically at her, but her attention has already moved to Kylie.
“Sorry,” Kylie says sheepishly, shoving her phone all the way under the mat as though she’s been caught cheating on a test.
Opal shakes her head as if dealing with two naughty children. “Just close your eyes and relax. Take deep breaths. In and out. Visualize something that makes you feel calm. In your mind’s eye I want you to see the image of it. What makes you feel at peace? What makes you feel tranquil? Visualize it now.”
Kylie closes her eyes and says, “Okay. I’m there. What now?”
“Seriously?” a woman from the corner says in a snarky voice.
Opal moves over to speak to that woman and asks her to be patient because Kylie clearly has never been to yoga before.
Kylie quietly gets up, rolls up her mat, and tucks her phone in her pocket.
“Looks like we’re going.” I grab my own mat.
“Ben,” Opal returns. “I hate to be like this, but people are trying to find peace here.”
“Don’t worry, I’m leaving.”
“We’re leaving,” I correct but she’s already walking away.
“Sorry, Opal.” I bolt after Kyle who is already out the front door.
I stop long enough to grab our bags before breaking into a near run to catch her. “Kylie, stop.”
“I don’t do yoga,” she says with her back to me.
“Apparently I don’t either.” My joke fails to make her laugh. I shift so I can see her face, but she turns away again.
“I started off not liking you, Ben, but now I think I hate you.”
