3. Jay

CHAPTER 3

JAY

The only reason I'd teased Ash in the beginning was because I thought his little crush on me had stayed long in the past. It'd been years since we'd last seen each other, so it made no sense for him to hold on to his puppy love for that long.

Oh, how wrong I'd been.

He'd always had a shit poker face, at least whenever he was around me. Regardless of how cute I thought it was whenever the tips of his ears turned that blushing red, I needed to keep my professionalism. He was my student now, and while I did place my hands on my students—all for the sake of their safety when doing poses—that was all there was to it. I didn't plan it to be any different for Ash.

Like every other class, I started everyone off with a five-minute meditation to clear our minds. The lights dimmed and soft, calming music played from the stereo.

Through years of practice, I had the art of emptying all thoughts down to pat, but it was harder today. I found myself peeking my eyes open every few seconds to watch my newest student. His legs were crossed over each other in the classic meditative pose. I was surprised that he was flexible enough to sit comfortably like that on his first try.

Jay didn't have what I considered the "typical yogi body." He was broad and brimming with muscles, built like a football player, which made sense considering he was one. I knew not to judge a book by its cover, but this was the first time I'd heard of a football player doing yoga, so it had taken me by surprise. Although, that wasn't anything new. Ash always had a way of surprising me.

He had his eyes closed, but his brows were knitted together like he was deep in thought. He quickly relaxed them, but not even a second later, they furrowed again. I watched as this repeated.

Relax. Furrow. Relax. Furrow.

I smiled as I observed his cute expressions, and before I knew it, the timer I'd set vibrated to announce the end of five minutes. I'd tried not to linger on the fact that I'd spend the entire meditation time watching Ash. Instead, I instructed the students through today's yoga sequence.

"We'll start in Downward Dog," I said as I positioned myself in the pose. The more experienced students followed directly, while the two new students looked confused, Ash being one of them.

"We'll take five deep breaths here," I said and walked over to Emily to help her into the position. Her body wasn't used to the move just yet, so I had her do the modified pose with her heels slightly raised, her knees slightly bent, and her hands a little closer to the center.

Next, I walked over to Ash, who'd tried copying the others in the room. Both his hands and feet were on the floor, but it looked like he was just lifting his butt in the air instead of doing the actual pose. It took all my willpower to not stare at his deliciously firm ass and focused on my job instead.

"Here, you want to make sure your hands and feet are shoulder width apart and spread your fingers out wide. Then take a deep breath in." I placed a hand on his lower back. He tensed at my touch, and I couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Relax. As you exhale, press your hands into the mat, roll your shoulders back, and draw your belly button toward your spine. Good, that's it."

Just before I removed my hand from him, I felt a tiny shiver go through his spine as his pose loosened. He quickly corrected himself, and I pretended not to notice how red the tips of his ears were.

I straightened away from Ash, clapped my hands together, and announced, "One more deep breath in, and raise your right leg on the exhale."

The rest of the class flew by with me quickly demonstrating our next poses before helping Ash and Emily correct their form. I tried my best not to show preferential treatment, but it was hard when Ash made the cutest reactions whenever I helped him .

The end of the session drew near as everyone positioned themselves in the last pose for the class—Savasana, otherwise known as the Corpse Pose. They all stretched out on their backs, closed their eyes, and played dead.

I walked to each person's mat, starting from the right, hovered over their body, and gently used my hands to push down on their shoulders. It was something my old yoga instructor had done for us at the end of each practice to help release the tension in our upper body. Plus, it felt good, so I'd implemented it as a little reward at the end of each of my classes.

When I got to Ash, his eyes jerked open as soon as my hands landed on him. I smiled from above him and proceeded with my action. He looked tense, but soon relaxed into the mat. The shoulder press never failed at its job.

Ash was still watching me when I released him, when he should have been acting like a vampire in his coffin. I leaned back down, close to his ear so that I didn't disturb the others and whispered, "Close your eyes, Ash."

His lids immediately squeezed tightly shut, like he'd been caught misbehaving. I had to suppress my laugh as I returned to my mat. The class officially ended a few minutes later. I left the room but kept the lights dimmed for those who wanted to stay in their Savasana for a bit longer.

It didn't take long for most of the students to file out, looking relaxed and glowing from the workout. This was my favorite part of the job. Seeing the effects of the practice so clearly evident on my students. I knew some people believed that yoga was "just stretching" and not a real workout, but the results showed otherwise. It was the same reason why people kept coming back.

Bodhi had only been open for a couple months, but we'd already had our fair share of regulars. Some who even practiced every day.

A couple students came up to thank me for the class or ask questions about today's practice and the poses they struggled with. I took my time answering them, but I kept watch of the classroom door out of the corner of my eye, looking for a particular person.

Ash came out a few minutes later with his yoga mat tucked under his arm. He waited until I'd finished my conversation before walking up to me.

"Good work today. What did you think of it?" I asked him.

"It was…different from what I'd expected. But in a good way," he quickly added. "Honestly, it was a lot harder than I thought it would be."

I laughed. "I hear that a lot from first-timers, but don't worry, it gets easier. You did pretty good for your first class. Sure, you had trouble holding some of the poses, but if you keep up with your practice, then we'll make a fine yogi out of you soon enough," I said with a wink.

I quickly regretted that when I saw Ash fall silent. His dark eyes watched me, making me chuckle with nervousness. I needed to cut it out on unintentional flirting, but it was a habit I'd developed with people I felt comfortable with. And maybe it was due to knowing Ash as teens, but the comfortable feeling around him had carried into our adulthood.

"So, I can come back again?" he finally said, shuffling his feet as he waited for an answer.

"Yeah, of course! Everyone is welcome here," I replied automatically. It was a weird question to ask, but I wasn't going to turn away anyone who was committed to the practice. "Howie sent you the scheduling app, right? Classes tend to fill up pretty quick, but let me know if there's a specific one you want to join and I'll squeeze you in as a perk of being friends with the owner," I teased, hoping to ease the awkward atmosphere. It worked, and Ash chuckled and relaxed a bit more.

"You're not afraid of me abusing this friends perk?"

I laughed. "Abuse away. Anything for our Ashy." The old nickname slipped out before I'd even realized.

"Then what about tomorrow, same time?"

"Tomorrow?" That caught me off guard. Our regulars came every day, and sometimes even took more than one class a day, but I hadn't expected Ash to want to come back so soon. My words had left me, so I nodded.

"Great! I'll see you tomorrow then," he threw over his shoulder, then left the studio before I could even tell him he could have left his yoga mat here.

"‘ Anything for our Ashy ,'" a voice behind me mocked .

I turned around to find Sam leaning over the counter with a smug smirk on his face. "Hush, you. We may be best friends, but I'm still your boss," I bluffed. Though Sam knew that neither me nor this place would survive without him.

"Aw, but what if our Ashy is sad if he doesn't see me tomorrow?"

"I hate you," I grumbled, then turned to head back into the classroom to prepare for my next class.

"Love you, too, bestie." Sam's laughter followed behind me, and it wasn't until I shut the classroom door that I finally had the silence needed to regroup my thoughts.

If Ash was going to be a regular here, then I needed to tone it back on the flirting. No matter how innocent I thought my words to be, I couldn't leave room for any misinterpretation with him. Ash was my little brother's best friend. It didn't matter how sexy I thought grown-up Ash was, with his bulging muscles and shy demeanor. He was the definition of Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome, and god would his short beard feel amazing kissing down my body.

I quickly shook those thoughts out of my naughty head. He was strictly off-limits. Practically family from how tight he and Howie were.

Now I just needed to learn where to draw the line. And I had till tomorrow to do it.