“Great! And you can borrow a mat. We have extras in the front left corner.” She hands me back my card.
I turn to Sophie and smile. “Want to be my yoga partner?” I wink and walk toward the mats.
“In your dreams, Harper.” She laughs but she follows me to the front of the room where I can remain incognito. “So how did you know I’d be here?” She casts a sideways glance at me, putting her mat on the floor. I can’t help but think how presumptuous that sounds. Like Sophie believes I would stalk her out on a Friday night. I mean I definitely wondered what she was up to, but this here is serendipity.
I chuckle. “What are you talking about? I am here because Doc says I need to eliminate stress. But I’ve never taken a yoga class.” I put my mat down next to hers.
She gives me a curious look with a playful smirk like she doesn’t believe a word I say, “Okay, Liam.” She gets down on her mat and starts to stretch. “This is called child’s pose. Try it.”
I follow her lead and attempt to get in the same position. “Oh mygod,” I say, as my lower back muscles fire. I catch the ladies on either side of me giving me a side-eye, and I realize I’m probably speaking too loudly.
“Welcome to hot yoga, everyone. My name is Rachel and I’ll be your guide for the next sixty minutes.” She smiles in my direction when I audibly gasp.
Sophie looks at me with a “What is wrong with you?” expression and I mouth “Hotyoga?” at her. I thought this was just a regular yoga class. I am in no way prepared for the amount of sweat that is going to pour out of me in the next hour.
“Remember, no matter what level you are, this is your practice, so do what feels right for you. You can modify or increase the intensity if you need to.” Then Rachel is at my side, placing a hand on my shoulder. “If you are a beginner, I will be paying close attention to you to help you in any way I can.”
Feeling the attention on me, I raise my arm. “That’s me, beginner,” and people around me chuckle. I am in way over my head.
An hour later, I survive yoga class, but as I expected, I was so not prepared for how inflexible I am—or how much sweat I would be leaving in my place. No one recognized me, though, so that’s a plus. “Gross, Liam,” Sophie looks at my mat when I stand up. “You need this more than I do.” She chucks her gym towel at me.
I give her an embarrassed laugh. “Thanks, I really wasn’t prepared for a hot yoga class,” I say, wiping down my face and shoulders. I wipe off the mat as best I can and put it back on the rack. Then I head toward the front door with Sophie once most people have started clearing out.
When we get outside I beeline for the bench in front of the building. Sophie follows and plops down next to me, a class schedule in her hands. “So, what did you think of hot yoga?” She asks teasingly, a glimmer in her pretty green eyes.
“I wanted to take a yoga class to relieve some stress, but I’ll be honest, that was pretty stressful for me,” I admit with a growl.
“I think you need to try a yoga flow. Sunday nights they have an evening flow class you might like. It’s much easier.” Sophie pats my knee and it sends a jolt right between my legs. She doesn’t move her hand away and our eyes lock as if she’s daring me to pull away.
“I don’t know…” I hesitate but I don’t move.
“Come on,” she urges. “We’ll do it together. It’ll be fun.” She doesn’t take her eyes off me when she says this. I am feeling that familiar buzz behind my neck that Sophie seems to invoke any time she shows me one of her genuine smiles. I tear my eyes away from her and force myself to stand up before I have a full-blown erection.Cool it, bud. You’re not in a good place right now to be this into someone.I give myself a pep talk. But I am into her. I’msointo her and I want to spend every free second I have getting to know her. I haven’t felt like this in almost too long to remember.
“It’s a date then,” I say. I look down at her and offer her my hand to pull her off the bench. As much as I want to keep holding hands, I let go and start walking.
“It’snota date. It’s a yoga class.” She rolls her eyes but she’s smiling as she falls in step beside me.
“Hey, you know I had to try.” I grin, playfully bumping into her.
Sophie eyes me carefully, she looks like she wants to say something but holds back, biting her lip instead. “Let’s start with yoga,” she murmurs but she lets her knuckles graze mine as we walk.
I bite back a grin. “Did you drive here?”
“No.” She shakes her head. “I walked. It’s such a nice night.”
“Walk home with me?” I raise my eyebrows, feeling hopeful.
“I think I already am.” She grins.
Then we’re walking side by side on the main street in comfortable silence. It’s growing darker out but stores and restaurants are still open. A decent amount of people are milling around, and everyone seems to be feeling the excitement of the first May weekend. Sophie looks wistful as she walks and watches people.
Then we’re in front of a new smoothie bar called Sunset Smoothie. We both stop and look up at the sign. The store still has its Grand Opening banner hanging in the window from a few weeks back.
Sophie’s closeness makes me nervous. She is flushed from the heat and her lips have a pink tint to them. I can’t stop staring at her. She catches me and covers her face. “What? Do I have something on my face?”
I cough. “No. No, not at all.” I want to tell her she is gorgeous in this golden hour light, but it’s been years since I’ve flirted with a girl I’m interested in and I can’t work up the nerve. Instead, I say, “I was just wondering if you wanted to get a smoothie for our walk back?”
She smiles. “I would love to.”
