4. Jay

CHAPTER 4

JAY

Ash returned every day for the next four days. And with each class, it became blatantly clear that he was not family. It was like the man was oozing sex pheromones that were specifically directed at me. I knew yoga worked up a sweat, but fuck if the room temperature didn't rise a few degrees whenever he was in one of my classes.

"So, what's the deal between you and Mr. BFFP?" Sam asked, nudging his head to Ash, who'd arrived early to class and had gone into the room to set up. Thankfully, nobody had recognized Ash in any of his classes, so he was able to remain low key, which I knew he was glad for. I couldn't imagine how hard it must be to have to look over your shoulder wherever you went. Fame was not for me. I liked the anonymity of being a nobody way too much.

"Knock it off with that nickname. His name is Ash, and you know he's my brother's best friend," I huffed under my breath .

We were standing by the front desk, but I didn't need Ash accidentally overhearing us talking about him. Things had finally returned to normal between us, or at least as normal as they could get with Ash trying to hide his crush, and me trying to push down this irrational attraction I felt toward him.

"Yeah, but what's the deal with you guys? The sexual tension between you two is strong enough to make even me blush. If I were you, I would move on from this little flirting dance you two got going on and just get straight to the action." Sam smirked, his eyes narrowing as he studied me.

"Hush!" I gritted out and glanced toward the classroom to make sure Ash hadn't come out. Sam chuckled beside me and flung an arm around my shoulder.

"I know you, Jay. And you're not keeping your interest in him as secret as you think you are. And I never knew you to not go after what you wanted, so what's the holdup?"

I pushed him off of me. "Hello? My little brother's best friend, remember? Wouldn't that be violating some kind of bro code?"

He shrugged. "You're both consenting adults, and he doesn't seem to be worried about breaking this so-called bro code, so why are you? It's so obvious you two have the hots for each other. Better to bang some of that steam off out of the classroom than stink up the entire place with your horniness."

"Hey, I am nothing but professional around here, thank you very much," I grumbled and crossed my arms.

"Uh-huh," he hummed, clearly not agreeing with me. He turned to the computer screen and read something, before turning back to me. "While you insist on depriving yourself, I refuse to do that. All the admin work is done, and this is the last class for the day. Think you'll survive without me so I can head home and get ready for my date?"

"Same dude as last time? Jack or something?" I perked up, happy to gossip about his love life to distract me from my lack of one. It wasn't that I was against dating, or hell even going on an app for a one-night stand, but things had been hectic with the move back to Austin and opening up the studio. It had only recently started to calm down enough to where I wasn't going home and passing right the fuck out.

Sam and I were college roommates and had quickly become best friends. He was really one of the best people I knew and had even moved to Austin with me to help make my dream of owning my own studio come true. He'd been with me every step of the way, working all the gruesome hours alongside me, yet somehow still had the energy to sprinkle dates in between those hours. I didn't know how he did it, but hearing about those dates of his was a good way to unwind.

"Nah, Jack was a bust. He was so controlling and wanted to know where I was every second of the day. He was even jealous of how much time I spent with you! Can you believe that? Like anything could ever happen between us," he said with an eye roll.

"Hey, something could still happen between us. Who knows where the future will take us?" I joked and shot him a flirtatious wink.

Sam shot me a look of disgust that had me cackling. "Now that would be violating this so-called bro code. Something along the lines of an incestuous foul clause?"

"Aw, baby, you wound me." I hugged him from behind, rested my head on his shoulder, and gave him a pout. He glanced down at me and rolled his eyes again.

"Yeah, yeah. That's me, going around and breaking hearts. Now let me go before I'm late for my date."

Chuckling, I released him. He quickly gathered his things, then turned around to point a finger in my face. "Think about what I said. It's not good for your health to be so pent up, you know?"

"When did you start being so concerned about my health?" I crossed my arms.

He smirked, turned toward the door, and threw over his shoulder, "Happy and healthy boss equals happy me. Anyway, I'll let you know how tonight goes. Bye!"

I watched him practically skip out of the studio and shook my head with a smile on my face. Sam might not be my romantic soulmate, but he was definitely my platonic one.

"Are y'all dating? "

"Jesus!" I jumped at the sound of the deep rumble coming from beside me.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you." Ash shuffled to my side, looking like a kicked puppy.

"No worries. Was just surprised, is all," I said with an awkward chuckle.

"So are you?" Ash asked. My heart was still calming down from the jump scare that I wasn't really processing his words.

"Am I what?"

"With Sam. Are y'all dating?"

In my state of fight of flight, Ash's words were the funniest things I'd heard and had me snorting out a laughter. Like Sam had said earlier, our dating would be like incest. "Me and Sam are like brothers. He's my best friend."

Ash's lips hooked up in a smile. "So as long as it isn't Sam, would you date a man?"

The question had me cooling down faster than having ice cold water thrown on me. "Ash…" I didn't know how to reply to that 'cause it felt like opening a whole can of worms that I wasn't ready to open.

Ash spoke again before I could gather my thoughts. "I mean, you only dated girls in high school, so I was curious if you were, you know, bi like me. So are you?"

While his ramblings were very adorable, that didn't mean I could just jump into bed with the man. Sleeping with him would complicate a hell lot of things. He was now one of my students, and he was close with my family. Not to mention the whole "him being famous" thing. If the media found out that he was sleeping with me, a man, who knew what chaos would ensue.

Jumping in bed with him would be such a bad idea—the worst idea ever—but then Sam's voice popped into my head. I never was one to back down from what I'd wanted, and holy hell did I want Ashley Sanders. Just a night would do. If he was willing to agree to an uncomplicated, no-strings attached one-night stand, then I was all for it.

Plus, this might help him get over his little crush as well. We'd fall into bed and realize that we were terrible together. It was all in our heads.

The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like the perfect idea. Now I just had to pitch it to him.

Before I could speak, the bell above the door jingled as another student arrived for class. I greeted and signed them in before turning back to Ash. We didn't have time to chat as more people were due to arrive soon.

"Are you busy after class? Let's grab some dinner and talk?" I leaned into him and whispered. His scent filled my nose, all heat, total man, and a hint of spice that had me wishing class was already over. It took everything in me to pull back out of his personal space.

Ash didn't look unaffected by my closeness, either. His breaths came out short and choppy as his eyes lingered on me .

"Ash?" I called out, shocking him out of whatever stupor he was in.

He cleared his throat, then said, "Yeah, I'd love to. Then I guess I'll see you in there?" He gestured toward the room we were having class in tonight.

"See you in a bit," I said, then turned to sign in the person who'd just walked in. There were still a few minutes before class started, so I stayed up front to check in the last minute students. How I was ever going to focus on teaching a class, I didn't know. But when the last student arrived, I knew I needed to get a grip.

Class first, then chat with Ash, and have totally disappointing sex to get it out of our system so that we could go back to acting like normal friends with each other.

What could go wrong?