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“Sorry,” Alicia grimaces but I wave her off. It’s totally fine. We’re all used to Xena’s less than princessly behavior. She truly has the ass of a warrior. I slip her a treat as I pass, hoping the herbal remedies Jasmine helped me concoct will soothe her gut.
Cassie immediately spies the snacks and races over to me, almost knocking her owner and several others over in the process. Standard scent hound behavior to sniff out a treat ten miles away. Standard Cassie behavior to want what everyone else has.
“Ah!” I chide and she stops in her tracks. “Back to your mat or you don’t get any.” The smart girl listens to me because she knows I mean business, heading back to her owner, Samantha, with her head bowed.
I continue to move around the room, trying my hardest to focus on the students and their dogs, firmly not allowing my greedy eyes to wander over to the sexy newcomer. It’s going quite well until I don’t look where I’m going and I trip over JoJo, Tami’s American Bulldog, who likes to lie upside down with all four paws stuck in the air like a fainting goat. I go arse over tit and end up in a crumpled heap at Whit’s sexy feet.
No really, I never found feet sexy before because, eww feet, but the bare skin and neatly trimmed nails poking out from under his jeans makes my cheeks warm for some reason.
“Are you okay?” he asks, his face mere inches away from mine in his Downward Dog position. Shit! I was so distracted that I forgot to call the next move.
“Cow!” I yell, right in his face, and he gives me a strange look. Only, it’s me being strange, not him. As the rest of the class follows my instructions, Whit realizes that it’s a pose and not an insult, even though I practically screamed it at him. He glances at Tami on his left and then copies the move smoothly. How is he able to do that in jeans?!
Finally, I remember to get my ass up off the floor, but not before my mind conjures up visions of Whit taking me from behind in that exact potion. I turn away from him, cheeks blazing now, and hurry back to the front of the room and the safety of my mat. I drop down gracelessly into Cow pose and instruct the room to follow me into Cat. I enjoy the stretch for a moment and try to get my breathing back under control, before moving down onto the mat to complete the next sequence which will involve the dogs.
“Okay, so we’re going to move into Sphinx for a moment, and from there you can either come up into Cobra like so,” I demonstrate before continuing. “Or if you’d like a challenge, push further into the stretch of Upward-facing Dog.”
I hold the new position, catching Ade’s eye. She’s grinning like a loon, still stroking Poppy curled up at her feet. She winks at me.
“Okay, so now if you can get into Chaturanga, the dogs can get involved if they want to.”
“Yay!” Ade yells, clapping her hands excitedly as we both get to our feet. She loves this part of the class, using the treats to coax the dogs onto their owner’s backs.
Monte and Luna love it, hopping onto their owner’s ankles and trotting up their backs as they move into plank position. Luna curls up in the small of Rachel’s back, while Monte snuggles into Tina’s neck. Gizmo and Max also climb onto their owner’s backs with enthusiasm, making Cydney and Jennifer grunt under their weight. A few others take up the position with their dogs too, and the rest get into plank position while their dogs pointedly ignore them and do their own thing.
I give them all treats anyway.
Ade’s giggles draw my attention to the back corner of the room where Whit has shed his sweater and is looking drool-worthy in his plank pose, his tight gray tee straining over his biceps. That’s not what has Ade giggling though. Wee Peewee is laid out on Whit’s back. It’s an impressive display of strength on his part not to be crushed under the dog’s weight, but it’s also alarming. I can’t afford to get my ass sued because he let that beast climb on him.
“How do you do this?” Whit grunts at Ade. “It’s so hard.”
She giggles. “Yoga is easy. It’s just really slow karate.”
“This move is more for the smaller dogs,” I say, hurrying over to help before I have to dial for an ambulance.
“I’m...fine…” Whit grinds out from between clenched teeth. His arms are starting to tremble under the effort of holding himself and the massive dog up.
“Okay, and relax,” I call to the class, knowing that the stubborn set of Whit’s brow would mean he’d hold that damn pose all day long just to prove a point. “We’re going to do some back work now, so you all get to have a nice lie down.”
A few of the women groan at my joke. Just because they’ll be lying on their backs, they know from experience that there’s nothing nice about the moves I have planned.
“If your dog is under sixty-five pounds, they can join in on this one, if you like a challenge,” I say pointedly. “Big boys, you need to sit this one out I’m afraid.”
Whit throws me a withering glare as I turn away and pick my way back to my mat. I’m damn well going to stay glued to it for the rest of the class, even if I have to nail my feet to the floor.
And I manage it. My feet stay put and the rest of the class goes without a hitch. If only my gaze would do as I told it. I spend the rest of the lesson constantly being drawn back to stare at the blond god in the back corner. I’m pretty sure everyone notices me staring, but if challenged, I’ll claim I was keeping an eye on Ade, who decided to curl up on the floor against Peewee like he’s her own personal beanbag. Thankfully though, the ladies are all too polite to say anything. Although they do give me a few knowing looks and smirks on their way out.
“Hey, a few of us are going to grab coffee and head over to the park to let the dogs stretch their legs,” Tami calls to Whit. “Would you and...Peewee like to join us?”
“That sounds good,” Whit replies. “I’ll join you in a minute.” He glances at me, and Tami smirks knowingly.
“Sure. Catch us up.”
“So, can I—” he starts to speak but I quickly cut him off, bolting for the door.
“Ade, baby. Can you tidy up while I make coffee?”
I race off before she can reply, my heart thundering in my chest. I don’t care if it’s cowardly. Running away is safe.
