35. Mind-blowing Planks

Briar

It's hard to focus on the update my brother is showing me when I know the three guys are coming back to the cottage in an hour.

I really should give Griffin all my attention. He popped by today since he was driving through on his way into the city. But even as he shows me the new content he's added to my app, my mind drifts. What do I wear tonight? Is it even a date? And the big question is—what's going on with Gavin?

Griffin points to the drop-down menu for classes on the prototype. "This is where I grouped together the new videos you uploaded. For the fourteen-day core-work class," Griffin says, then shudders.

That snaps my attention fully back to my brother. Donut's sitting with us, and she tilts her head his way too, ears perked.

"What's that for?" I point at him, indicating his reaction.

"Core work. AKA the devil's work."

"Core work feels so good," I insist.

"Keep telling yourself that."

"But it does," I say.

"You know what feels good? Resting at the end of a long day," he says, then kicks his feet up on the coffee table, like he's making his point.

I slump deeper onto the couch and turn to Donut. "There's no hope if I can't get my brother to do yoga."

"Well, what's in it for me if I don't want better core muscles?" Griffin challenges as he adjusts his black glasses.

I marinate on that for a second, flipping back to my conversation with Rhys this morning. We didn't want to use boyfriend tips as a way to lure men to get more sex. But yoga tips? That's a different kettle of fish. "Yoga can improve your sex life."

Griffin sits up like a jack-in-the-box. "What is this voodoo of which you speak?"

Ha! I've caught the fish. Time to reel him in. "A strong core means you can last longer in certain positions. Think about it. Missionary is like one long plank."

He stares at me with the biggest brown eyes I've ever seen. Mouth agape. "Mind. Blown."

"Now, go blow your next girlfriend's mind with that."

He makes a show of looking at his watch. "And I'm outta here to do some planks."

But he's one of the hardest workers I know so he stays thirty more minutes, till we've hammered out the details of the app menu. "This is going to be a beautiful, battle-tested app when you finally launch it," he says, understandably proud of his work.

"It is and you're awesome," I say, patting his shoulder affectionately.

"Now all you have to do is keep making a ton of videos. Oh, and you know, market it," he says, so dryly I have to laugh.

None of that's easy. Nothing worth having is. But if I win the contest on Steven's website, I'll have a head start on the marketing for Flow and Flex Fitness—a nice cash infusion. Right away, my mind swirls with all the things I need to do. The new video series I need to shoot. The coursework I want to develop for Nova and the Sea Dogs. The classes at Peak Performance in the city. The apartment I need to find. Then Rhys and Hollis and all they have going on. Good thing we set a time limit for this tryst, so I won't be their distraction.

I have enough distractions of my own. My brain's a depot, and too many trains are rolling through the station at once.

I try to let them all go as I walk Griffin to the door with my faithful girl trotting by my side. As he hoists his messenger bag onto his shoulder, he glances around the cottage one more time, checking it out. "So you're really staying here with three guys from the other team?"

A flush rises up my chest. I hope he doesn't notice. "Yes," I say in my calmest voice.

"Three guys," he says, shaking his head. "Must be a zoo. I bet it's loud."

I cough. I was the noisy one last night. "So loud," I say with a laugh.

"Good luck keeping them in line," he says, then waves goodbye to Donut.

Even after he leaves, my heart is still beating too fast. I shut the door, alone with my thoughts, only this time I'm thinking of the guys.

Last night was wild. Hot. I felt freer than I ever have before. But I'm a practical girl. I'm not a day dreamer. It'd be silly to think I'm suddenly "cured" of my…

Is it sex anxiety?

Yes, I think it must be sex anxiety. I've always felt a little tension, a little tightness in my belly before I'm intimate with a guy. I worry if I'll like it. If I'll let go. If I'll feel good. But also if I'll be any good at receiving pleasure. That's why I've tried so hard to focus on the guy I'm with. To learn how to make sex good for him. In the way I move, the way I use my body, how I use, well, my mouth and my hands. Just like I taught myself yoga, I researched how to make a man happy in bed.

It's been easier for me that way. But these hockey guys? They want to make me feel like the star of the show, and that's just uncharted terrain.

Setting a hand on my chest, I take the temperature of how I'm feeling. I still feel anxious tonight, but I feel something else too.

Something entirely new.

Hope.

Dirty, delicious hope.

"C'mon, girl. Let's get ready," I say to Donut, and she bounces down the hall with me.

I head to my room and as Donut watches, I change into something cute but casual. A distressed jean skirt and a pink crew-neck cropped sweatshirt. "What do you think?" I ask her.

I don't love shopping. It's never been my thing. I'd rather be outdoors. But Ivy picked these clothes for me at one of her favorite thrift shops and said pink was my color. Here's hoping she was right.

Donut yawns.

"What do you know? You're naked all the time," I tell her, then I touch up my makeup and hair and brush my teeth. I showered earlier.

We return to the living room and since the guys aren't home yet, I jump back onto my phone, texting Ivy. She mentioned she might have a lead on an apartment so I check in with her, and she tells me she thinks she'll have good news soon. Keep your fingers crossed, she adds.

And my toes, I reply.

Maybe I can let go of that worry for tonight. I try to since that chat with Griffin has me thinking.

Maybe I should move forward on the yoga for better sex idea. I'm not the first instructor to hit on the connection between the two. But I could incorporate yoga and sex into my videos and give it my particular…flare. I jot down some ideas for videos with cheeky titles, starting with Sex is a Plank.

A few minutes later, tires crunch on the gravel driveway. My chest flutters. I might as well jump at the door. Putting down my phone I try to get a grip on my excitement as Hollis and Rhys head up the porch, then step inside the cottage, greeted by my pogo pup.

They say hi to Donut first, which makes my heart feel a little fizzy, then they walk in, with Rhys carrying a bag from a men's shop.

Oh.

Oh.

"A good boyfriend listens," Hollis says, gesturing to the bag as he comes over to me on the couch. He drops a kiss to my cheek that's not chaste at all. That lingers. That makes my breath hitch. I turn my face and catch his lips. He murmurs as he gives me an intoxicating slow kiss, one that spreads like liquid down my body.

He breaks the kiss and I'm blinking up at Rhys.

"Yes, they do," Rhys seconds, then grabs my face and crushes my mouth in a hot, possessive kiss that makes me shiver.

When he lets go a few seconds later, I can barely breathe. "Are you guys competing with each other in the kissing Olympics?"

"I won the gold, right?" Hollis asks, then brushes a strand of hair from my face and devastates me with another kiss that makes me feel like I'm floating.

When Hollis lets go, Rhys comes in one more time. I'm swooning by the time he stops a few seconds later. "New gold medalist?" Rhys asks.

"You both win the tag team kissing event," I say, my voice feathery from their attention.

"Good. Because when it comes to you, we're definitely into teamwork," Rhys says as he removes a silky blue necktie from the bag, then dangles it in front of me. "Hollis told me you might want to try this tonight. Think this will work?"

What works is them talking about me. Them teaming up to make this night amazing. Them sharing me in more ways than one.

An image of them at the shop, picking out ties for me, Hollis telling him about our conversation earlier, sends a hot shiver to my core. I run my thumb across the soft fabric. "I do."

Gavin arrives a minute later. He looks freshly showered, his dark hair neatly combed. He wears a snug burgundy polo and jeans. Maybe he was here earlier before I returned home? He has a board game tucked under his arm. On the cover of it is a cartoonish man in a hospital bed. It's Operation. A better choice than Twister given my skirt. "Well, it is game night," he says, like he needs to make light of his contribution.

I hide my smile since Gavin clearly doesn't want his gift to seem like a big deal.

But Hollis isn't so subtle. He shoots Gavin the most I told you so smile I've ever seen. Gavin waves a dismissive hand, then sets the game on the table with a rough, "Here you go."

"Nice of you to join us for game night," Rhys remarks, then turns to me, strategy flickering in his brown eyes. He's entered playmaker mode, I suspect. Then, I'm certain of it when he asks, "Can we take Donut for a quick walk?"

Last night Hollis joined me for some alone time on a walk. Now it's Rhys's turn.

They're tag-teaming me here too. I never answered Hollis earlier when he asked whether I wanted another man in the bedroom or not.

I'm ready to answer Rhys now.