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“When can I see you again?” Luca asked, as if he weren’t dying to dig into the details I wasn’t freely sharing. “I always have Tuesday nights off, but the rest of my schedule is pretty variable.”
I stared down at my soda and swirled the ice with my straw. The nagging little voice in my head was not shutting up. I should’ve ordered a shot of ouzo to quiet it down.
“I can do part of Tuesday nights, unless you want to start coming to yoga. Then you can have me the whole time.”
His eyes widened and a flash of heat flickered across his gaze.
I giggled. “Luca Marino, were you imagining me in yoga poses?”
He coughed discreetly and sucked back some of his sweet tea. “That depends on how much you’d like it if I said yes.”
“Baby, if you’re with me, you’ll get to experience any pose you can think of. I’m very bendy.”
Luca sucked in a sharp breath. “I’m gonna have to stay sitting for a while.”
“Dork.” I kicked him playfully under the table and fell silent as our food arrived. I shoveled a few bites into my mouth so I could fuel my brain for this absolutely ridiculous idea.
“I don’t think I have the flexibility for yoga,” said Luca, sparing me from thinking too hard. “I’d like to see you teach a class, though, and I’m not going to say no to more time with you.”
“We can work on your flexibility. There are props to help if you can’t get all the way into the postures. Plus you can enjoy my butt in tight pants.”
He choked on his food and I helpfully handed him his drink.
“You’re going to kill me.”
“I hope not,” I said. “There’s a whole lot of you I still have to experience.”
Why was it so much fun making him blush? I liked that I could affect him so easily.
“Any other rules?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Be chill if we see each other in public. People know we know each other so it’s not like we have to pretend we’ve never met, but I’m just your sister-in-law’s friend. And no posting on social media. I think you follow me on most platforms already, but any pictures we end up taking do not go online.”
“Fair and reasonable.”
“You’re being very relaxed about all of this,” I pointed out. “You’re not going to change your mind?”
“I won the lottery with you even considering this, so I’m going to do whatever I need to in order to not fuck it all up.”
The parade of failed relationships and ticked off fuckbuddies pushing for more marched through my mind, strengthened by the reminder of my parents’ viciously bitter divorce and my sister’s ongoing one that had seriously soured my views on romance. I wasn’t meant to have the storybook life, wasn’t sure that it was even possible. I was content with how things were.
“So what time is yoga on Tuesday?”
“Seven-thirty. Tuesday is a hip mobility class. My other classes are aerial silks.”
“That sounds terrifying,” Luca said with a laugh. “Could you show me some?”
“Sure, if no one’s using it on Tuesday, we can pop over to that part of the studio. The basics aren’t hard to learn; it more so depends on your strength and coordination to get really good, and your dedication to putting up with pain.”
He chatted with me about which classes were my favorite, what else I liked to do in my spare time—dancing, reading, and scouring restaurants for the perfect food—and questions about my family, which I answered without giving names, not because I didn’t trust him, but because I was wildly protective of my sisters.
“You’re a middle baby, right?”
“Mhmm. Both my sisters are betas. One is twelve years older than me and going through a rough divorce, and the other is four years younger.”
“That sucks about the divorce.”
“It’s a fucking nightmare, to be honest. Her soon-to-be ex is extremely petty and making everything difficult just because he can.”
