Focused: A hate to love sports romance(38)

"Because you …" He stopped and swallowed, and so very, very carefully, he slid his hand along the line of my throat until he was cupping the back of my neck. My entire body vibrated dangerously at his touch, like the tines of a tuning fork struck with too much force. "You were the first person I thought of to share this with."

He dipped his head, and I sucked in a quick breath. We both froze when my breasts brushed the front of his chest. Noah's eyes searched mine, and I lifted my hands, laying them lightly on his chest. In the span of a heartbeat, I thought about pushing him away, but my fingers curled into the soft fabric instead.

With a tug and a lean, his lips were a mere inch from mine.

Suddenly, Noah shoved away from me, and I swayed forward dangerously. It took me a second to realize why over the roaring pulse in my ears.

"Hey, Molly," Marty said, ascending the stairs with light steps, camera perched on his shoulder like it always was. "Nice place, huh?"

"Hey. Umm, yeah. I l-love it."

Noah rubbed the back of his neck, a safe distance separating us now.

If Marty suspected anything, he didn't show it. "Ready for some yoga?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," I said weakly.





Chapter Seventeen





Noah





It was rare for me to think to myself, this was a terrible idea, but in the first three minutes of starting our yoga lesson, I thought it at least seven times. The first was when Molly rolled out her yoga mat and started stretching forward, brushing her fingers along the ground. Marty was getting his main camera settled on a tripod, his small handheld on his shoulder so he could catch more than one angle at once, and I fought to keep my eyes off the rounded curve of her ass. The way her eyes closed as she breathed deeply. The way her chest lifted on an inhale and the way her waist curved up from her hips.

Muscles I'd never noticed on her before popped in her arms as she moved through her warm-up. When she noticed I wasn't moving, she straightened carefully and gave me a curious look.

"Are you going to join or just watch?"

I swallowed. "Sorry. I'm joining."

This was a terrible idea, I thought again when she laid her hand on my back and guided me to drop my hands to the ground.

"We're just going to doing a basic series here before I start the video I found, then she can guide us through. It's specifically for football players, so I don't think anything will be too challenging for your first time."

I didn't answer. Mainly because I didn't trust my voice not to betray the thoughts tumbling through my head.

I almost kissed her.

I almost kissed her.

If Marty hadn't walked up the stairs when he did, I would've had Molly Ward pressed against the windows and my mouth on hers. I tried to focus on what she was saying, but I couldn't mute the mental images flashing, one after another, after another. My hands on her. Her hands on me. How soft her lips would've been. The way she tasted.

So easily, I’d slipped from a desire to understand her into just plain old desire. Except there was nothing plain or old about it.

"Noah?"

I blinked. "Yeah. Sorry."

"Tuck your chin and push your weight into your heels."

Once I followed her direction, Molly moved to the mat next to mine. Her toenails were purple, and it pissed me off that I noticed. She exhaled slowly and mirrored my pose.

"Set your hands on the mat and move your legs back into downward dog."

"This is what got me into trouble in the first place," I mumbled but did as she asked.

She laughed. "You probably tried to shift your hands around if it felt uncomfortable, but you should keep your butt in the air and move your feet. Hands stay planted."

Huh.

"Better," she said.

Following her lead and the patient instructions she gave me, we spent about five minutes doing some basic stretches. A few things were clear in those five minutes, and only got clearer as she cued up the video on her iPad that she set up in front of us.

Molly was much better at yoga than I was.

Molly was much more flexible than I was.

And Molly looked like sex on legs as she moved through each position.

Every time she moved, I found myself cataloging a new part of her body, something I'd never noticed before.

Her ears, for example. Even though her hair was almost always pulled back, I'd never noticed Molly's ears. They were dainty and stuck out just a little bit, which I found oddly endearing.

Her second toe was just a hair longer than her big toe.

When she arched her back, she let out a breathy exhale every time. I wanted to hear it in surround sound while she dug her fingernails into my back.

I had to pinch my eyes shut when that one crossed my mind because I hadn't allowed myself to enter that headspace in so long, and it felt like I was doing something wrong.

When she laughed at me because I couldn't stretch as far as she could, the skin around her eyes crinkled up. It was adorable.

Her neck, long and graceful and as I know, as soft as satin, made me want to drag my teeth along the edge when she tilted her chin up to the ceiling when we were in Upward Dog.

"Fuck," I whispered.

She sat up and gave me a concerned look. "What? Did you hurt yourself?"