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“Franco seems like a decent enough kid to me.” Thatch sauntered to the bench. It was hard to imagine he could look even better in a pair of sweats and a fitted tattered T-shirt than he looked in his typical cowboy jeans, but here they were.
Lyric tore her gaze away from the man while he removed his shoes.
“I mean, I didn’t get any red flags during the interview.” Thatch came back to the mats.
She couldn’t remember ever seeing him barefoot. It was almost too intimate.
“Nice guys know how to pretend,” she told him, fighting to keep her focus on the conversation. Thatch had some serious sex appeal, but she had to treat him like any other client. At least when they were alone together. Now,when they were in front of other people, she’d have to treat him like her boyfriend.
She shook away the thought. “Trust me. I know how men can pretend. If you and I are supposedly dating, then maybe we’ll have an excuse to hang out with Franco and Elina sometimes.”
“Why is this so important to you?” Thatch asked quietly.
He looked at her differently than most people. Maybe that was why her heart started to pound harder. An open curiosity defined his gaze. But there was something else in his eyes too. Tenderness.
A breathless yearning to share her burden with someone else gripped her, but she couldn’t. She’d never been able to tell anyone about the worst moments. The moments that still haunted her.
The abrupt change in energy between them threw her off. It was like he truly saw her, but she couldn’t let him in. No one knew except for Kyra, and her friend wouldn’t have betrayed her confidence. “I just have this feeling something’s not right.” Her throat tightened, but she managed to grin at him. “I know you don’t work from feelings, but I do.” Thatch was all plans and logic.
He still stood on his mat, facing off with her, studying her closely. “So how’s this going to go?” he finally asked. “What about Kyra and Tess and Silas and Aiden? They know we’re not together.”
“We’ll tell them we’ve been secretly dating for a while. Everyone in town will have to believe we’re together, or this won’t work.” Lyric traipsed to the Bluetooth speaker and started the music again. Mostly to drown out her inner panic. “And then we’ll break up in a few months after we spend some time with Franco and Elina.” Whenshe got back to the mat, Thatch met her with a skeptical expression.
“You really want to go through with this?”
She couldn’t tell if a warning or amusement hid in his tone.
“You’ll be taking quite the risk. Because we’ll have to spend a lot of time together. And I’m pretty hard to resist, Valenza.”
Okay, definitely amusement. “I think I can manage.” Maybe. Hopefully. Normally, she didn’t like to play with fire, but this time she refused to get burned. “A fake relationship between us doesn’t have to be a big deal,” she lied. “And it’s for a good cause.”
“So you’re completely fine with acting like a couple in front of our friends?” This time, the amusement made it all the way to his eyes.
“Thankfully, you haven’t been hanging out with us much lately anyway,” she said curtly. Ever since she’d told him she didn’t want to date him, Thatch had made himself scarce. “I’m busy at the clinic. You’re busy at work and with your riding thing. It’s totally believable that neither one of us can go out much.”
“Okay.” He delivered the word with a singsongy cadence and might as well have added,We’ll see.
Yes, they would see. She would show him she could resist him, cowboy charm and all. “All right, Hearst. Let’s get down to why you’re really here.” She lowered herself to her mat and sat cross-legged. “We’ll start with some breath and focus work.”
“I don’t need to work on breathing—”
“Breath and focus are the foundation for flexibility and strength,” she informed him. “So that’s where we startevery session.” She smiled up at him sweetly until he sat his butt down.
“Now hands on your knees,” she instructed, closing her eyes. “Pull your heart forward, chin up, and inhale deeply.” Lyric demonstrated, lifting her head, drawing her chest forward. “And then round the back when you exhale.” When she opened her eyes, Thatch was staring at her. “What?”
“Nothing.” He quickly looked away. “Okay, so heart forward.” He jutted out his chest.
“Careful. Try to make smooth, flowing movements.” Or he’d pull a muscle.
“And inhale,” he murmured, his muscled chest expanding even more while he lifted his chin. “Exhale and round the back.” Thatch hunched forward with a sigh. “How was that?” He sat upright, gazing at her expectantly.
“Um. Well. We’ll keep working on it. The biggest thing is you want to feel the connection between your body and your breath. You want to feel how your breath moves your body.” She demonstrated again, feeling a calm settle over her. This time, she kept her eyes open to make sure he was watching. Yes, he was watching all right. Especially as she pushed her chest forward.
Okay, maybe this wasn’t the best exercise to start with, especially when she was wearing a skintight sports bra. “Now you try.”
Thatch seemed to refocus himself and went through the breath pattern—somewhat clumsily—but they would keep working on that too.
Next, Lyric walked him through some side bends.
