The Summer Games: Out of Bounds (18 page)

I inhaled a breath and blinked my eyes open. My gaze immediately found Erik’s in the mirror. He stood at the top of his mat beside me. I watched a drop of sweat as it rolled over his pecs, down across his tight abs. He held my gaze as his chest rose and fell with his breaths. His eyes were narrowed, watching me as Kira told us to breathe and settle into our sight again. The only thing I cared to settle into was Erik. His dark hair was damp and a few strands stuck to his forehead. I wanted to brush them away and kiss the spot, taste the salty moisture coating his skin.

I wasn’t ready to look away by the time Kira told us to fold back over and hug our knees, but I followed her instructions anyway. We worked through the same sequence of poses we’d done with our eyes closed. She walked around us, adjusting as she saw fit: tilting our feet wider or twisting our arms into the correct positions, but with Erik, her hands always lingered a moment too long. She glided her hands down his back, using her palms to help twist his chest open more during warrior two.

“Good,” she soothed, pushing him another inch toward the mirror. Her hands looked so comfortable on his skin that my stomach started to twist as if someone was reaching in and wringing out my insides.

As we continued working through the rest of the practice, I tried to focus on my own movements, but the temperature in the room kept growing hotter and hotter. My yoga pants stuck to me like a second skin, my sports bra was drenched, and my breathing was heavy and loud.

Kira came to stand behind me as we finished our final pose. Her hands glided across my skin, stretching my arms out so I had to sink lower, my thighs shaking with effort.

“Good Brie,” she whispered. Her breath skimmed across the back of my neck, sending a shiver across my shoulders. Her hands tightened around my arms. I met her eyes in the mirror and she offered me a small, knowing smile. Did she know I hated her hands on Erik? Was she aware of the goose bumps her touch elicited?

“Do you feel how strong you are?” she asked, moving back to assess us both. “Your bodies never failed you. Even without sight, they knew what to do. They carried you through your practice and I want you to take that knowledge with you when you leave this studio.

“Now fold down and take a seat on your mat.”

It felt good to sit, to rest and let the heat consume me even more. I glanced back up to Erik in time to see him reach for a towel and drag it across his forehead. It didn’t help much; we were both drenched.

“Keep falling, using your core to slowly guide you down until you’re lying on your back. We’re going to do a simple spinal twist before we’re done.”

She instructed us to bend our right knee and let it fall gently over the left side of our body.

“Stretch your arms out in a T and let your right ear rest against the mat. You should feel a gentle stretch in your spine.”

Erik was on the other side of me and my hand hit his forearm as I adjusted into the pose. He tensed but didn’t move it away, and I inhaled a shaky breath, hyperaware of the skin-to-skin contact. Though I was facing away from him, I swore he was watching me in the pose, staring at the rise of my chest as another bead of sweat dripped down my sports bra. My skin was on fire. I wanted to turn over my shoulder and find out if he was watching me, but I resisted the urge.

Kira walked behind me and bent low.

“Inhale,” she said, dropping one hand to my hip and one hand on my knee. As I exhaled, she pushed down, slowly, pushing me farther into the pose. My exhale sounded more like a soft moan, forcing a new layer of flames to spread across my skin.

“Good,” she said. “Now switch sides.”

I adjusted back to center and then lifted my left leg to let it drape over to the right side of my body. My head twisted to the left to take in the sight of Erik. Just like I’d been, he was facing away from me, gracing me with an unhindered view of his body. His bare chest was so close I could have leaned over and dragged the pads of my fingers down across him. Would he flinch if I tried? If I leaned over and licked away a bead of sweat before it hit his shorts? I was contemplating the thought when Kira moved over him, telling him to exhale and adjusting him in the pose the same way she’d adjusted me. Her hands were on his hips as he let out a heavy exhale.

Jealousy burned through me again at the sight of them so close together. Every fiber of my being knew the two of them had slept together before. Was this the whole point of yoga? Did he want to bring me here to show me his former conquests? Or how far I came from comparing to someone like Kira? Anything I was, she was
more
. Her body was tempting and sensual. Her hair was long and dark. Her breasts were full and perky. Her hips were just curvy enough to drive any man insane.

“Good, Erik,” she said with a husky tone before hovering over him an inch lower.

My eyes narrowed in anger. I felt like a voyeur watching them there on the mat. Her touch on him looked intimate, practiced,
familiar,
and by the time she moved away from him, I saw red.

The song on the playlist switched and a darker, more seductive sound filled the quiet studio.

“Erik, lie flat on your back now. We’re going to try something between you two.”

Between us?

Her soft gaze turned to me. “Brie, come bend down behind Erik.”

He sat up in protest, but Kira shook her head as she walked to turn the music up higher.

“Lie back and close your eyes, Erik.”

My gaze flicked from Kira to Erik, waiting for him to put an end to this. He didn’t want me touching him—he’d made that perfectly clear over the last few days—but he didn’t stand up to leave. He lay back down just like Kira had requested.
Is he too intrigued to defy her? Or is he just so accustomed to following her commands throughout the session?
I felt a searing in my chest when I saw how sweet and compliant he could be with this other woman, though he was so volatile with me.

Jealousy ate away at me as I stood and walked behind him. I took him in slowly, keeping my guard in place. At any moment he would push me away, hold me back out at arm’s length—but for now, he lay before me with his eyes closed. His arms were by his sides and his legs were stretched out on the mat. His features, though relaxed, were as sharp as ever. His lips were slightly open as he inhaled and exhaled slowly. I wanted to lean down and cover his mouth with mine, wanted to remind myself what it tasted like to kiss danger.

“Erik, keep your eyes closed.”

I glanced up, realizing Kira had seen me eyeing Erik like I wanted to devour him.

“Brie, listen as I guide you. I want you to sit so your knees settle on either side of his head.”

I did as I was told, trying not to notice the heat emanating from him.

“Wrap your hands behind his neck and slowly massage him there, pulling away from his shoulders so he feels a gentle stretch.”

“Umm…” I glanced down, trying to find a solid protest. Surely this was inappropriate. Surely Erik didn’t want this. My hands squeezed my knees as I glanced back up to Kira with a question in my gaze.

“You can’t do anything wrong,” she assured me, casting a spell with a soft smile. “Just try it.”

On a shaky inhale, I reached down and wrapped my fingers behind Erik’s neck, edging closer to put my knees on either side of his head. His skin was warm and slick with sweat. His neck was strong and stiff; clearly he wasn’t as relaxed as Kira wanted him to be.

“Erik,” she continued. “Take a deep breath and exhale slowly.”

I moved my fingers, slowly gliding them along his muscles, loosening the tension there. I wanted to make him feel good. I wanted him to relax in my arms.

“Good Brie. Now slowly guide your hands to the tops of his shoulders. With the heels of your palms, you’re going to run your hands down his arms, digging into his biceps until you reach his elbows.”

It seemed easy enough. I pushed up onto my knees and positioned my hands, looking to her for guidance. She nodded for me to continue, so I dug the heels of my palms into his biceps and tried to ease the tension in his muscles. They were massive and coiled tight.

I could hear Erik’s sharp inhale of breath as I reached his elbows. When I glanced down, I realized I was nearly crawling on top of him. My bare stomach was just a few inches away from his mouth.

“Beautiful, Brie,” Kira said with a soft tone. “Do this a few more times until Erik is ready to switch. He’ll do the same to you and then I urge you both to take some time and find a resting pose that serves you.” I could hear her moving toward the studio door, but I didn’t glance up. “I’ll come back in after a few minutes and let you know when you can come out of the pose.”

Wait.
My head snapped up.
She’s leaving us in here? Alone?

She walked out of the room, closed the door, and I jerked my palms away from his arms like they were on fire. I leaned back on my heels and glanced down at him.

“We can just do the final resting pose if you want. I know you probably don’t—”

His eyes flickered open and met mine. “Do it again. Harder this time.”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Of course I hadn’t done it hard enough the first time. No setting was free of his critiques. I leaned forward again and dug my heels into the tops of his biceps, using my full body weight to help me push down even harder, as if trying cause pain.
Maybe I am
. I reached his elbows again, prepared to sit back on my heels, when his arm slipped out from beneath my palm and curled around my stomach. He was holding me there, my body hovering over his.

A second later he lifted his head to kiss the patch of skin between my belly button and the top of my yoga pants. His lips were soft and sensual and the heat of his breath on my skin made my back arch in need. He tightened his hold around my waist and my arms nearly gave out.

“You are so unbelievably sexy,” he said, his lips moving across my skin with every syllable. He dipped his finger between the top of my yoga pants and my skin, dragging it across my stomach slowly. My stomach muscles quivered, my back arched even more, and my head fell back, giving him better access to me.

“These hips.” He let out a groan that nearly sounded like a growl. “I want these hips hovering over my mouth while I taste you.”

I squeezed my eyes closed, letting his dark words spiral around me. I already knew I’d touch myself later, replaying that sentence in my head over and over again.

I opened my mouth to beg him for more, but he was sitting up, gripping my shoulders in his hands and flipping me on my back so we could switch positions. He hovered over me like a demon, casting me in shadow with his broad shoulders.

My mouth went dry.

“We don’t have to do this,” I said, looking up at him staring down at me. Suddenly, I wanted out. He was there, hovering over me with shadowed eyes, and I wasn’t so sure I wanted to be at his mercy.

“Close your eyes, Brie.”

At any moment Kira was going to walk in and find Erik touching me, but instead of turning me off, the idea swelled over me like a dark cloud. She’d had her hands on him for the last hour, but his hands were on
me
now. His mouth was inches above mine as he massaged my neck. The heels of his palms ground into my arms as he dragged his hands down to my elbows. Like a chain reaction, thousands of tiny fireworks spread through my body from where he touched me. The sensation was nearly too much to contain. I wet my bottom lip and dug my nails into the heels of my palms.

Any second he would pull away, the door would open, and Kira would compliment us on our practice and tell us to drop our mats by the door. She’d usher us back through the front door and I’d settle into another silent car ride home with Erik, turned on and more frustrated than ever.

No.

I wasn’t going to let that happen.
Erik
wouldn’t let that happen.

He skimmed his hands up over my bare stomach, brushing across my breasts so gently it could have been an accident—but then he was there again, brushing his fingertips back and forth across my nipples. I squeezed my eyes closed, trying to savor the sensation as long as possible.

“Erik.”

He dipped his fingers beneath the bottom of my sports bra and tugged it higher, just barely exposing the bottom curve of my breasts. He waited there until I arched my back, showing him I wanted him to continue. He pushed the sports bra higher, up over my breasts, freeing them so he could bend down and brush his tongue across each one. I cried out and gripped the back of his neck to keep his mouth on me. Back and forth he went, palming and sucking my breasts into his mouth until I was withering on the floor.

“She’s beautiful.”

My eyes opened with a jerk.

Kira
.

She stood against the mirrors in the front of the room, eyes glued on us. On
me
. Her sensual gaze slid down my body and my heart sputtered to a stop, then sped up, pounding so hard I could feel it in my stomach.

Erik leaned forward and slid his hand between my legs, stroking me back and forth over my yoga pants. The friction was intense and the soft material made his fingers even harder to resist as he brushed against my bundle of nerves.