Out of Bounds (The Summer Games #2)(57)
“Too often, we rely on our sight to lead us through life. If we close our eyes and cut off that sense, we have an urge to reach our hands out and feel for our surroundings, but you two know where you are. Feel your body as it roots down through the ground for mountain pose. Lift your arms overhead, inhale, and then fold down again.”
We worked through a few more flows, moving in time with our breaths. I focused on Kira’s voice, lost in the way it mixed with the music. I was starting to sweat even more, heavy drops rolling across my neck and chest. I was breathing hard, holding each pose until I thought my muscles would give out. The heat was killing me, but it felt good. Invigorating.
“Good, hop or step back to the front of your mat. Root down. Inhale. Rise, and now, finally, open your eyes.”
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.