Page 106 of The Love Playbook

Chris stares, the darks of his eyes expanding as they flicker over me. “Forget everything I just said. Hot yoga is my new favorite.”

I snicker, pulling the hair tie off my wrist and yanking the front half of my hair up, so it’s out of my face. “Can I help you?” I ask, my tone more than a little smug.

“Huh? What?” Chris blinks, his expression dazed.

“You’re staring,” I point out.

Chris scrubs a hand over his face before he huffs out another breath and stands, removing his tank top in one swift movement, followed by his sweats, leaving him in nothing but a pair of compression shorts.

My jaw drops, gaze raking down his body and drinking him in like a cool glass of water, only instead of cooling my insides, he incinerates them. I already knew Chris had an amazing body but seeing him?almost all of him?in the flesh is far different from the picture of him in my mind. It’s so much better.

Broad, muscular shoulders lead to massive biceps, a trim waist, defined pecs and abdominals, and an Adonis belt earned from hours of working in the gym. Not to mention his muscularthighs. There’s not a body part on Chris that isn’t cut and carved to perfection. Everything about him is impressive.

I swallow, shoving down the urge to fan my face when Vi interrupts our moment. “Okay, then! I’m going to lead you through a couple of exercises to get the blood flowing and awaken the body . . .”

“My blood’s flowing alright,” Chris mutters, and I choke out a laugh.

Both of us follow Vi’s instruction, bending and twisting and stretching on our own, and I have to admit, Chris isn’t half bad. I expected him to be clumsy, but his athleticism shines through his movements, especially when she guides us into poses together, where we link our arms and use our weight to hold each other up, moving together into positions not unlike a game of Twister.

Vi guides Chris into a position similar to downward dog while helping me place my feet on his hip bones in some kind of weird move that reminds me of something the cheerleaders at my high school did once.

“Just breathe through the movement,” Vi says. “Find your calm. Let your thoughts go,” Vi’s voice soothes even as my muscles burn. “Feel the stress melt away as you focus on nothing but harnessing your inner spirit while you meditate.”

I squint my eyes open, and I’m rewarded with a fabulous view of Chris’s muscular arms. Sweat beads off his brow and down his back, and all I can think isthank god for hot yogawhen he catches me staring and winks.

I pinch my mouth together, focusing back on the pose until Vi instructs us to release our position and come back to our mats. Chris sits cross-legged directly opposite me when Vi tells me to sit in his lap with my legs wrapped around his lower back.

A smirk curves the corners of his mouth as I stare at her, blinking as if I heard her wrong.

Chris clears his throat in the silence, and when I glance at him, his smirk tells me he can sense my nerves. With a tip of the chin, he beckons me. “Come over here, Lettie girl.”

Exhaling, I stand and do as I’m told, straddling Chris’ waist. “Don’t even say it,” I mumble, feeling my cheeks heat.

“Don’t say what?” He smirks. “That I knew you’d mount me by the end of the night?”

I grunt and settle in, ignoring the feel of him beneath me, far too aware he’s practically naked.

“Now, you’re going to stare into each other’s eyes,” Vi says, her voice soothing. “This move is about deep intimacy.”

I take a deep breath, trying to shake my nerves as I sink into the cool waters of Chris’s gaze. The room falls silent; the only sound is our breath mingling and my pulse drumming in my ears.

The dark blue flecks around Chris’s eyes deepen with the intensity of his gaze while I melt into his hold on me. His arms tighten, one hand coming up to brush a lock of hair from my eyes as my gaze drops to his mouth.

“Work on your breathing,” Vi says, her tone soft. “You’re going to inhale through your nose,” she says, loudly inhaling, “holding your breath at the end just for a beat before you exhale.” She blows out a breath.

I do as she says, releasing my breath as Chris’s hand skims down the side of my face and over the curve of my jaw, brushing over the fluttering of my pulse.

The longer we hold the pose and Chris continues his exploration down my arms, the more an entirely different kind of heat consumes me.

“Just keep holding this pose and the eye contact, all while breathing, and I’ll quietly step out of the room. Let your bodies talk. Let your mind talk to you or be quiet. Whatever you’re feeling,” she says, her tone even. “If there’s something on yourmind, now is the time. This is about being comfortable with each other. True intimacy . . .” Vi trails off, followed by the soft sound of the door closing.

An undercurrent of something intangible hums between us in the following silence. Everything on my mind, all my reasons for avoiding him, evaporate. My anxiety is gone, replaced by the sensation of touch and the insistent tug of desire.

My skin tingles as Chris strokes a hand up and down my back, turning my skin to gooseflesh, while I focus on the masculine lines of his face, the sexy stubble coating his jaw. I can’t help but wonder what it would feel like scraping over my neck, my chest, my . . .

I zero in on his mouth once more, and my breathing grows shallow. We’re both sticky with sweat, the tension palpable. It’s a physical thing, and I tighten my grip around his shoulders, feeling the muscles bunch. I want him to kiss me so badly I ache. I want him to roll me onto my back and press his sweat-dampened skin to mine.

“Tell me something real,” he murmurs.

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