Blaze: Underground Encounters 6

by Carlisle, Lisa

  My body did feel more relaxed. The long deep breath did something to help me slow down.

  “Bring awareness to your right leg. Squeeze it as you inhale. Relax it as you exhale. Now with the left leg.”

  She continued having us bring awareness to other parts of our body, our arms, chest, buttocks, neck, face, jaw, even the mouth and eyes. Then she guided us to release any remaining tension. We started at the tips of the toes and then went up through our feet, ankles, legs, continuing through our body all the way up to our head. We lay there for several minutes and focused on the breathing and getting rid of any tension left in our bodies.

  I actually liked this part, not realizing how much tension I had until it left my body. After stretching uncomfortably during the postures for what felt like three days, this gentle closing felt like a reward. Now relaxed, I was on the verge of sleep. Pleasant memories tugged at my subconscious, remembering how good it felt to sleep with Allana wrapped in my arms.

  Lily nudged me and I opened my eyes. People were rolling up their mats. Had I fallen asleep? Great. Just great. Not only did I make a fool out of myself in her class, I dozed off.

  Worst class participant ever.

  A few people thanked Allana before they grabbed their mats and left. Several others surrounded her, talking about who knows what.

  “Wow, she’s pretty popular here, huh?” I asked Lily.

  Lily said, “One of the most popular instructors here. They’ll be just a minute.” She rolled her mat and I copied what she did. While hers was tight, fitting neatly into the straps she ran it through, my loaner appeared to be rolled up by a two-year-old with a short attention span.

  “It’s good enough,” she said and picked it up, dropping it into a bin behind us.

  After everyone else had left, Allana approached with venom in her eyes. “You’ve never done yoga before, have you?”

  “No,” I admitted.

  “Why didn’t you say so when I asked?”

  “I wanted to impress you.”

  She shook her head as if trying to understand what I had just said. “O-kay.” She clucked her tongue. “I have one question that’s been driving me nuts the entire class.”

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “What the hell are you doing here?”

  “Hey,” I raised my hand. “That doesn’t sound like talk from a yoga instructor. What about Namaste and all that?”

  “You come into my class,” she continued pointing at my chest, “throwing me off and disrupting my professional workspace.” She spun to face Lily. “What’s going on and why didn’t you give me a heads-up?”

  “I called,” Lily said. “It went right into voice mail. He wanted to come and check out your class.”

  “Yes,” I said, stepping up. Although I enjoyed the respite from her venomous glare, I couldn’t let Lily take all the heat since it was my ridiculous idea. “I decided to try yoga as my New Year’s resolution to get more balance in my life. And I heard you’re very good.”

  Her eyes widened with such exasperation, I thought she would blow. “Out of the studio,” she commanded. “This is not the place for this discussion.”

  She strode through the gym and Lily and I followed, giving each other sheepish looks. I caught several meatheads in the free weight section track Ally and I wanted to disrupt their gawking with a dumbbell to the forehead. Ally led us outside the club and into the parking lot. Although it was January and cold enough to snow, I didn’t dare complain that we were outside in only our workout clothes.

  She tossed her blonde ponytail over her shoulder with a frustrated wave and drilled me with a penetrating look. “I don’t know what your game is, but I don’t have time for bullshit right now.”

  “I’m not playing a game,” I protested.

  “Then why are you here? Don’t give me this New Year’s resolution crap. I was with you that night and you said you didn’t give two shits about bullshit resolutions people would break before month’s end.”

  Lily interrupted. “Um, I think I should excuse myself since this is between the two of you. Talk to you later, Ally.”

  “Oh, we’ll talk about this all right.” She flashed a blazing look at Lily and then back at me.

  “I don’t know what came over me. I wanted to see you.”

  “Why didn’t you just call like a normal person?”

  “I don’t know, it just happened. We were at practice. Lily stopped by. She had a yoga mat in hand and I figured she was coming to see you.” I raised my hands by my sides and shrugged. “Why are you’re so pissed about it, though? What’s the big deal?”

  “What’s the big deal?” she repeated with incredulity. “You come into my class, completely disrupting everything.”

  “Why am I such a disruption? Because I couldn’t do the moves right?”

  “No, because we just slept together again!” She raised both hands and dropped them. “How could I concentrate on teaching my class when I had a constant reminder of what we did coming at me?”

  If this was supposed to dissuade me, it had the opposite effect. “You’ve been thinking about me?” My lips curled into a wide grin.

  “I don’t get you.” Her voice went up an octave. “You’re happy to have a one-night fling with me, but then show up at my work.”

  “I was thinking about you,” I admitted. “I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Not that again. The whole ‘I feel protective of you.’ I don’t buy that. You barely even know me!”

  Ouch. She had a point. We’d only seen each other a handful of times. “I told you. I can’t explain it.”

  We stared at each other. I searched her eyes for insight of what to do. Clearly, I’d screwed up. I needed to fix my mess, but how?

  In the tense moment, her rapid breathing echoed like a drum roll in my ears, reminding me that I’d pissed her off.

  Again.

  “Can I start over?” I said. “I have a habit of saying the wrong things, but I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  Her nostrils flared as she breathed. “Yes.” Her voice sounded terse.

  “How have you been?”

  “Busy,” she snapped.

  “With the studio?”

  “Yes.”

  “How’s it going?”

  She ran a hand over her forehead. “Between my regular classes and setting up the business, I barely know my name.” Her voice didn’t have the edge anymore, like she was ready to explode.

  “Can I help?” I offered.

  She knitted her brows. “With yoga? No offense, but I saw you in there.”

  “That’s not what I mean,” I said. “Surely, there’s something I can do to help you out.” I kept my mouth shut and thought before I spoke because all my ideas tonight had been disastrous so far. “How about I take you for a bite to eat tomorrow? And you can show me the studio.”

  “I appreciate the gesture, but—”

  “But, what? I know I’ve screwed up today. I’m sorry I came to your class without checking with you first.” I flashed a sheepish grin. “But you need to eat. I shouldn’t be able to screw that up too much.”

  “It’s okay. You meant well.” The furrowed lines disappeared from between her eyes and her expression softened. “I may be overreacting due to stress and all.”

  Before I lost the opportunity, I pushed for an answer. “So, we’re on for dinner tomorrow?”

  “Let me think about it.”

  “What’s to think about? Your body needs food for energy.”

  “I can’t talk about this now. I have another class to teach.”

  When she turned to go inside, I stopped her. “Then at least give me your number and the address of the studio, so we can talk about it tomorrow.” I grinned. “Plus, it will keep me from going to asinine lengths to see you.”

  She shook her head, but smiled. “I can’t believe I’m doing this. But fine.”

  As she gave me the info, I punched it into my phone. He
ll, I’d already memorized it, but no need to mention that to her. She already thought I was a nutter after that awkward yoga situation.

  I stared as she walked away, her fine ass moving in perfection in her tight yoga pants. That was the best part of yoga, right—the pants? Whoever invented those had my eternal gratitude.

  Despite my screw up with the yoga class, the situation ended up better than I could have planned. I scored her number and had a plan to call her tomorrow. Next plan, convince her to meet me for a date.

  Ally

  After my classes at the gym were over, I headed out. When I checked my phone, I read the notifications. Lily had left a message on my voice mail.

  “Ally, I’m trying to give you a heads-up. Mike is following me to your class right now. Somehow he convinced me to bring him, and I know you’re going to freak out. I’m sorry.”

  Damn straight I freaked out.

  I called her back as I walked to my car. On the fourth ring, I was pretty sure Lily was going to avoid answering my call.

  When she answered, I blurted, “I’m going to kill you, Lily!”

  “I know, I know. I’m so sorry.”

  “Do you know how caught off guard I was?”

  “I tried to warn you,” she said in a sheepish tone.

  “Yes, I just heard your message.”

  “Are you mad?”

  “Hmm, let’s see. I was horrified. Baffled. And then the bizarreness of the situation almost made me break into laughter.”

  “I know.” She giggled. “The awkward moves he was doing with his limbs were killing me.”

  “You were killing me.” I laughed. “I saw you trying to hold back from laughing and that set me off. It took every ounce of control to get past that.”

  “Your most challenging client to date?”

  “Yes.” I reached my car and climbed in. “As well as an utterly confusing one.”

  “Why?”

  I put the key in the ignition, but didn’t start it. “After you left last night, he asked me to get something to eat with him tomorrow and check out the studio.”

  Lily uttered a sound of acknowledgment. “What happened to the one-night thing you both agreed to, technically now two nights?”

  “Exactly. What’s his game?” I raised my hand in question and dropped it on the steering wheel. “He didn’t make any play to get to know me after we hooked up this summer, why the sudden interest now?”

  “You are asking the wrong person about how men think or why they act like they do. They behave in mysterious ways.”

  “And they say we’re the crazy ones.”

  Chapter 8

  Mike

  Nico and I were both in our shared office the next day, which had been rare as of late.

  I twirled around in my swivel chair to face him at his desk. “Look what you’ve done to me.”

  Nico squinted at his monitors and I threw a stress ball at the back of his head.

  “What the fuck, man?” he said.

  “It’s all your fault I’m like this. A total fuckin’ mess.”

  “Oh, you mean being an asshole while someone’s trying to work?” Nico hurled the red and blue ball back and I caught it.

  “Look at me, Nico.” I lifted my hands for emphasis. “I can’t pay attention to what the hell it is I’m doing because I’m thinking about her. Where she is, what she’s doing, and who she’s doing it with. It’s making me fucking mental.”

  “I assume you meant Ally.”

  “Who else would I mean?”

  “Hard to keep track.” Nico smirked. “And what does this have to do with me?” he asked with unmasked skepticism.

  “You were just as bad when you got all hung up on Lily. No, worse. Moping around this office, instigating a fight in New York…”

  “Ha, good one,” Nico said. “Instead of obsessing, pick up the phone and call her.”

  Spinning back and forth in my chair, I pictured it. Sure, I wanted to do that exact thing. “I can’t. She’ll think I’m stalking her. I already said I’d call her later. I’m trying to convince her to get something to eat.”

  Nico arched his brows. “You’re toeing that line.”

  “Shut the fuck up, man. That’s bullshit. I’ve kept my distance.”

  He let out a skeptical laugh. “You bugged Lily to bring you to Ally’s yoga class.”

  With a grimace, I rolled my shoulders back. Perhaps that was a tad foolish, but it had ended on a good note. “I wanted to try yoga to loosen the joints.”

  “And Ally’s the only yoga instructor in Massachusetts?”

  Aye. Why did I bring this up? Now he wasn’t going to let it go. “No, but Lily goes to her classes, and they always say to work out with a friend.”

  “You and Lily are not friends.” Nico shook his head a deadpan expression.

  I ignored him, “Why would I go elsewhere when I know Allana is a yoga instructor?”

  Nico coughed and muttered, “stalker.”

  “Cut the shit with that.” I threw the stress ball back at him. “I know she is, uh, wait—how do I say this politely? Hmm…”

  Nico interrupted, “Damn, you must really be into her. I’ve never heard you say anything polite about a woman before.”

  I adopted a regal expression. “As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, I know how limber she is.” Then I rolled forward and added in a high-pitch tone. “And I gots to stay limber for my sick stage moves.”

  “Yeah, I’ve seen them.” Nico groaned. “Mad. Sick. Out of this goddamn galaxy.”

  “You’re just jealous you don’t got the moves like ol’ Chee Keydood has on stage. Stick to whatever the hell it is you do humping the mic stand and I’ll make the chicks go wild with my sexy grinds and insane hip thrusts.”

  Nico threw his head back and laughed. “Insane,” he repeated. “You said it, not me.”

  “Funny.”

  “I try.”

  “And usually fail.” I spun around three-hundred-sixty degrees and stared at the generic drop ceiling. “I’m serious, dude. What do I do about her? I’ve never felt like this over a chick before. I mean, woman.”

  “Do you blame her for not wanting to get involved with someone like you? Your reputation is—you know. One woman after another. You probably start half the rumors yourself.”

  “No publicity is bad publicity, my friend. Especially for this cheeky dude down here.” I pointed at my crotch.

  “Do you want her just because she hasn’t thrown herself at your feet? And now you want a challenge? The hunt?”

  “That’s your style dude, not mine.” I pointed at him and then me. “Lily all but tells you to fuck off after you buy her champagne, and the next thing you know, you’re a dog panting at her feet.”

  Nico scowled. “It was nothing like that.”

  I considered what Nico said. Was I this into Allana because she kept me at a distance? My gut said no. “I don’t just want to bang her—well, I do want to bang her—but it’s more than that. I want to be near her all the time.”

  Nico put his hand up as if holding an imaginary mic, dropped his head back, and belted out in a high tone, “Rock bal-lad—I want to be near you all the ti-i-i-ime.” Lowering his hand, he said, “Okay, time to be serious. Let her know you’re interested. If she doesn’t return it, back off.”

  “How do I show I’m interested? Go to yoga again?”

  “No, you sick freak. For a smart guy…” His voice trailed off. “Do something normal. Take her out to dinner, the movies, something like that.”

  “Is that what you did with Lily?”

  Nico gazed off into the distance. “We—um—yeah, we ate sometimes.”

  “Oh jeez, you two just banged every time you saw each other, didn’t you?”

  “We did more than that. We’re in what’s known as a healthy loving relationship. I know it’s foreign to you, but you should try it sometime.”

  “Healthy. Loving. Dinner. Got it.” I thought for a moment about how the he
ll I’d approach my next move. “And if I try this and she’s not into it, then what?”

  “You’re fucked. Get over her.”

  I groaned. “Thanks, man. You’re a real help.”

  Ally

  I drove to the studio to get some work done before I had to head back to the gym to teach a couple of classes. This would be my routine until the grand opening.

  When I opened the door, I sucked in a breath. The open space that had last looked like a construction site looked more finished. The mirrors and floors had been installed, and it looked closer to a studio than an empty building space. I took my shoes off and walked over the new flooring, feeling the cool wood beneath my feet.

  It was all coming along.

  I entered the space in back that I’d use as an office. With a desk and file cabinet, it looked like one. I placed my laptop on the desk and declared, “We’re in business!”

  I could sit at a desk and get work done rather than sit on the floor in the main space. I still had a zillion items on my To Do list, but this studio was coming together. When I glanced at my list, I was pleased to see how many tasks I’d crossed off. Apply for a business license with town. Check. Set up a business checking account. Check. Sign up with a company that accepts credit cards. Check. Order yoga mats and equipment. Check. Utilities set up. Check. Order a sign to hang out front. Check.

  My phone rang with an unfamiliar number. My breath hitched as a flutter of excitement bubbled through me. Was it Mike?

  Then again, I could be getting my hopes up for what was actually an annoying telemarketer. I should probably let it go to voice mail.

  But if it was Mike, I’d miss the chance to talk to him. Despite all my reservations and how busy I was, I wanted to hear his voice.

  “Hello?”

  “Is this the beautiful Allana, owner of the soon to be hottest yoga studio on the planet?”

  Mike’s deep voice elicited goose bumps all over my body.