Page 11 of Cruz

“I was thinking about shutting down the café for the next few days,” she admits, head bowed.

It churns my gut to see how sad that makes her, but at the same time, it’s a good solution to worrying about how I can be in two places at once. I’ve been thinking all day that it would be better if Sloane closed up shop to ensure that no one else becomes collateral damage if the worst happens.

I’m not into taking chances, and I know that Sloane is ten times a better person than I’ll ever be. She cares about more than just the café as her livelihood. She cares about the people who come to it, and about the community that she’s a part of. It would destroy her if someone got hurt, even if it wasn’t her fault.

“I can say something about renovations. There are a few things I want to do, so it wouldn’t be a total loss of time. I know I won’t lose customers over it. Everyone is very kind. They’ll understand.” Her frown lines get frown lines, and she doubles down on her scowl. “Thinking about starting over though… that’s tough. I don’t want to have to go somewhere and disappear. I don’t want to have to lose myself. I’m a part of this community, and I’ve worked hard to carve out that place.”

“You won’t lose that.”

Her head snaps up. We’re both stunned by the sound of my voice.

“You can’t make that promise. No one knows how this is going to go. That’s the worst part.”

“No. I do know. I know that you and Liam will be safe. Trust in the club.”

She snorts, not rudely, but I get it. That was a stupid thing to say. As per usual, when words finally make it out. I can’t ever find the right ones to forge the shape of my thoughts into a form that someone else can understand.

“I need to go for a walk,” Sloane mutters. Her eyes fly to my face. “Yeah. Not going to do that. Obviously. I don’t need you to have a coronary. So… yoga it is.”

She doesn’t wait for me to answer any of her questions or offer more platitudes. Sloane is a woman used to taking charge and taking care of herself. Not just herself, but Liam too. It couldn’t have been easy, having him as young as she was. Liam told me that she was seventeen when she became a mom. She was working at the coffee shop already, and the owners were good to her. They let her stay in the apartment and charged her reduced rent, worked around her having a newborn, until Liam was a year old and she could find daycare. The owners made her manager of the shop just so that she could afford childcare. Liam swore the owners never had a better shop manager. As generous as they were to his mom, she worked doubly hard to repay their kindness.

From everything that Liam’s told me over the past months that we’ve known each other, Sloane’s an incredible woman. She’s determined, hardworking, a deep thinker, and kind. Liam never used any of those terms exactly, but it’s easy to gather it from all his stories.

And… she’s gorgeous.

Liam did tell me that Sloane never dated anyone. Ever. She didn’t want a relationship, and even after Liam left for Seattle, he said there was no way she was hooking up with anyone after she had the apartment to herself.

Was she ever lonely?

Liam calls his biological father a sperm donor. Did that asshole hurt Sloane? Did he treat her so badly that he turned her off all men for good? He clearly abandoned her and refused to take any sort of responsibility for his child. Liam said he doesn’t even know what the guy looks like or where he lives. He never once heard from him, and he doesn’t want to.

Even though I’m lost in thought, I’m staring at Sloane.

I didn’t even realize what that looked like until she snatches the remote and pauses her video. “Jesus Christ, can you go to bed, please? I can’t do this with you watching me like you’re about to pop a camera or binoculars out of your pocket and indulge in some professional voyeurism.

I stay in hulking statue mode, or whatever it was she accused me of being earlier.

She switches her gaze back to the TV. “Well… if you’re not going to bed, then come join me.” She points over her shoulder to the large chunk of floor space between her and the wall. “Although, this is pretty hard. They’re going to get vertical right away.”

An image of us doing the exact opposite and getting horizontal flashes through my mind. Clothes off, a tangle of limbs and lips and longing. Just like earlier today, I physically startle, a shiver rolling up my spine followed by an unexpected rush of heat. My cock hardens. Thankfully, with some minor adjustment, my jeans will hide the issue.

My brain is starting to get the memo. My body finds Sloane attractive, obviously against my will. I’m good at shutting my brain off and locking down. I imagine this as a complicated situation with a set of orders that I have to follow specifically. I tone my breathing down and focus on counting. That helps. I duck my face to hide any lingering emotion, just in case.

Until I step into my little designated corner and get behind Sloane. She’s in tight leggings and a loose fitting t-shirt, but she has it rucked around her hips, so I get a good view of her shapely ass. With the leggings cupping it tight. Riding between her cheeks a little.

Fuck.

I think that she’s the kind of person who would laugh and accuse herself of not being hot and call herself old, but it doesn’t matter what age she is. She’s the kind of woman who will always be unflaggingly lovely, on the inside and the outside.

It’s clear after she’s done warming up, that she does a lot of yoga. For starters, I haven’t seen her do a basic pose, and warmups are supposed to be easy. Secondly… her ass. It’s very… firm. Defined. Those leggings ride up with every pose, giving each cheek that much more definition. And her legs…

Jesus fucking Christ.

I go back to counting my breaths while Sloane resumes the video. There are three instructors on the screen. A lead woman in the middle wearing tight, sporty leggings and a sports bra, a woman beside her in pretty much the same outfit, and a man on the other side in a t-shirt with the sleeves cut off and a pair of tight shorts.

The lead does the hard stuff and the other two are modifying the poses. One is doing very basic, the other woman intermediate, and the lead is doing the hardest stuff. Sloane is right there in the thick of it, trying everything that the lead instructor does. She wasn’t joking about getting vertical. Within five minutes, all three people are up in some version of handstands.

Beside me, Sloane braces herself and kicks off, controlling and holding the pose and slowly straightening her legs. Her upper body shakes and her legs waver.