Page 16 of Bastard Prince
I stood with Lexi and a few of theEdengirls, quietly gathered outside the booth Derek had set up shop in. The space itself was relatively empty, just a twelve-by-twelve basic box painted a slate gray with great lighting above it.
But it was what Derek was doing in that space that was causing all the ladies to stop and stare.
Because all alone in that empty gray box, Derek was doing yoga.
And he was doing itverywell.
Derek stood in the center of the space, arms out to his sides, muscles bulging, as he held himself very precisely in what I had learned was a yoga pose calledWarrior II.
“Alright, everyone. Take a breath, slow and cleansing,” Derek intoned, his usually animated voice extremely subdued, the low pitch of his words resonating around the quiet warehouse around me. “Now, as you exhale, try to sink into your lunge even farther. Really feel the muscles as you work them. Slowly. Deeper.” We all watched, entranced, as Derek, wearing only a tight pair of exercise shorts, wentdeeper, the muscles of his legs flexing while his abs rippled with every breath he took, the light sheen of sweat somehow only enhancing the overall effect.
When he reached the lowest part of the move, he groaned, closing his eyes and tipping his head back, and the effect of that sound on the observing crowd was positively primal.
“Oh, fuck me sideways,” Lexi moaned quietly from beside me, her head tilted to the side as she watched Derek work. Finding myself mimicking her move without realizing it, I uprighted my head and closed my mouth, turning my back on Derek and looking around. “You know what I’m gonna do tonight?” Lexi asked me, and I was almost afraid to hear the answer. “Tonight, I’m gonna take that boy home and find out just exactly how bendy he really is.”
I startled chuckle burst out of me, and I choked it down, clapping a hand over my mouth when I received a few glares from the crowd for disrupting the show. Lexi turned to see what all the fuss was about and realized half the staff members were right behind her.
“Alright, you desperate housewives,” Lexi whisper-yelled, gesturing for everyone to move away from Derek’s booth. “Get to work. Those basement dwelling virgins aren’t going to entertain themselves.”
With much grumbling, the other Eden staff members moved away, leaving just Lexi and myself behind.
“You know, Lex,” I said with a grin, “you could have just peed on him.”
“Don’t think I won’t, Francesca.” She smiled. “But I usually save the water sports for the second date.”
There was absolutely nothing I could say in response to that.
Turning away from a very smug looking Lexi, I made my way through over to D’Andre’s booth to see what kind of hook he’d come up with. I could imagine him lifting weights, showing off his incredibly toned body the same way that Derek was, looking good for the camera and making money hand over fist.
But the sight that greeted me when I rounded the corner to D’Andre’s workspace was like nothing I could have ever imagined.
The booth he had chosen was decorated like a rich man’s office, paneled in a light-colored wood and decorated with black and white photos; it was about as cliché as it could get. I could imagine a man like my father sitting at the desk in the corner after a long day’s work, a cigar in one hand, a scotch in the other, leaning back in the big leather desk chair and contemplating how he was going to take over the world tomorrow.
D’Andre was seated in that chair now, but he had pulled it to the front of the desk instead of sitting behind it. There was a wall-mounted electric fireplace on the wall, which cast a warm glow across D’Andre’s very naked chest. Watching the huge man sit shirtless was impressive, but the activity he had chosen was what really made me stop and stare.
Because D’Andre was reading a book.
And not just any book, butPride and Prejudice.
As a rule, I tried to never judge someone before I got to know them, but I will admit, I had pegged all the guys I had met in the Athletic Center that day as typical jocks. Meatheads only interested in either chasing tail or chasing a ball. But today had proven me wrong.
Twice.
Not only was Derek—wild, off the wall Derek—proving to be very good at finding his calm center on a yoga mat, but here was D’Andre, reading a literary classic out loud with that ridiculously deep and sexy voice, shirtless, and looking like quite the snack.
There was a lot more to these guys than met the eye, and I didn’t mind being proven wrong one bit.
I listened to D’Andre read to the end of the chapter, at which point he placed the book down and picked up some papers from the desk behind him, showing off his cut abs in the process.
But it was when he placed a sexy pair of horn-rimmed glasses on his nose that D’Andre really stole the show.
Damn, I loved smart guys.
“Now, as we discussed at the end of the last chapter,” D’Andre began, his smooth voice drawing me in with every word. “One of the most obvious methods of symbolism in the book is dancing. When we look at the couples, the way they dance in any given scene really reflects their relationship status at that point in the book.” There was a soft chiming noise, and D’Andre glanced up from his notes to look at the screen in front of him, reading the comment that had just come in from one of his followers.
“Yes, SweetKitty24 makes an excellent point in suggesting that, comparing Elizabeth’s dances with Darcy and Mr. Collins, you can really see the foreshadowing of how their respective relationships will turn out at the end.” D’Andre purses his lips, looking thoughtful for a moment. “However, I might have to disagree. While her dance with Mr. Collins is indicative of that relationship, there is a distinct difference in her relationship with Darcy from beginning to end, which, of course, is the whole point.” He finished his statement with a sexy wink at the camera, and I couldn’t help but chuckle. A sexy, shirtless, god of a man discussing classic romance literature was pure lady-porn gold.
There would be librarians with wet panties all across the nation tonight, and I couldn’t be more thrilled about it.
