That had him straightening. "What do you mean?"
It was so hard for me to say things like this and risk what he might think of me, so I stood nervously from the couch and went back to the window. The coffee table creaked when he stood and followed.
"I found myself worrying about how this process, this move, this change was affecting you. Affecting your game, your mood, your frame of mind."
Noah breathed deeply behind me, and I felt his exhale ruffle the hair on the back of my neck. In my mind, I imagined the string connecting us, wound tight around my hips when I turned slowly to face him.
"Is that why you pulled away this week?" he asked.
My eyes stayed focused on the line of his throat and jaw, sharp as a knife’s edge. He swallowed roughly at my unwavering attention. "Yes. Because I need to worry about how this is affecting me too."
"H-how was it affecting you?"
Had he moved closer? Or was that me?
I didn't answer, probably because my mouth went tumbleweed dry at his nearness. My eyes fell shut; my head spun dizzily. No alcohol in the world could've affected me like Noah Griffin's body next to mine.
"Because I can tell you what it did to me," he continued.
Opening my eyes, I had to tilt my chin up to see his face. "What?" I whispered.
"You became the most unreadable offense I’d faced, and you knew something like that would drive me insane. All I could think about was what I'd done wrong or how I'd upset you to make you shut me out like that."
The protestation was on my lips instantly. "You didn't do anything wrong."
"So quick to defend me," he said, his mouth curving in a smile. "And I've done nothing to deserve that from you."
My hands lifted, like an invisible puppet master raised them into the air, and I forced them back down. Touching him wouldn't help. None of this was helping him or me but neither of us seemed motivated to move.
"Why did you invite me here?" I asked.
Maybe Noah had a string wound under his skin too because his hand lifted, and he watched it like he had no control over where it was going, his shaky exhale hitting my forehead in a sharp burst.
"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."