Page 9 of Knot Her Reality

I swing my head back around to find a pretty, petite redhead hurrying toward us. “Which one of you is Evangeline?”

“That would be me.” I lift my hand as I let go of the other women’s arms.

“It’s nice to meet you, and I’m so excited that we get to be a part of this season’s Heated for you. I’m just a beta, but it’s still one of my favorite shows. Watching how everyone falls in love. I don’t know how you make those kinds of decisions. I could never.“ She lets out a sigh before straightening up. “Oops, sorry about that. I have a tendency to ramble on. My name is Abby, and I’ll be helping you get set up for your classes today.”

“And what kind of classes would those be?” Koda asks, grinning at Abby as he shoots me a wink.

Abby opens her mouth to answer him, and I slap my hand over her mouth. “Sorry. That was rude. Koda can be patient and wait to find out what the classes are when we get there.”

Abby giggles as she glances between the two of us, nodding her head. “Of course. Of course. If the five of you will follow me. We’re going to be in the back studio. It’s the one we use for our larger classes, but Bree rented the whole place out for you, so there’s no one here but the employees. There will be two instructors at all times, though they may change throughout the time you’re here. I’ll be happy to get you anything you need—water, towels, whatever you might need.”

I lift an eyebrow as she turns on her heel, waving her hand in the air to get us to follow her. She keeps talking the entire way to the room, never really pausing for any of us to speak.

An arm wraps around my shoulders, and I jump, tensing up until Koda’s delicious scent hits my nose. I don’t know how I’m ever going to be able to smell blackberry, waffles, and maple syrup without thinking of him.

Turning my head toward him, I find him grinning. “She sure does love to talk, doesn’t she?”

“That’s okay. As long as she’s not spoiling my surprise for you guys.” I can’t help smiling as his grin stretches.

“Touché,” he murmurs as he turns his attention back to Abby but doesn’t remove his arm from me. I snuggle into his side, breathing in his scent. He really smells good.

And score one for me since I’m not immediately flooding my panties with slick. That’s a win I will take.

“And here we are.” Abby pushes open the door at the end of the hallway, gesturing with a flick of her wrist for us to enter.

“What the hell…” Koda’s eyes go wide as he takes in the room before turning his attention to me. “Are we…”

“Welcome everyone!” A beautiful dark-skinned woman steps up, clapping her hands. “Today, you’re going to get a private class on aerial arts. It’ll be up to you which you’d like to learn, but we can teach you silks, lyra, or trapeze.”

“Holy shit,” Cora squeals. “We get to learn to be circus performers!”

There’s a momentary pause before everyone bursts out laughing. Well, at least someone is excited about the date I’ve planned.

Two hours later, when we walk out of Airy Aerials, we’re all freshly showered. Luckily, they had a locker room where we could shower and change because we were all covered in sweat.

“I don’t think I ever want to do that again,” Jagger murmurs as he glances down at me with a smirk and a shake of his head. “I work out regularly, but these were muscles I don’t usually use.”

“What’s wrong?” I ask, biting back a smile. “Are you sore?”

“About as sore as your ass is going to be if you keep sassing me, brat.”

What? Oh. My eyes widen, my cheeks flushing as my perfume fills the air. Shit. They hadn’t had any scent-canceling products, so there’s no hiding how much that thought turned me on. If anyone checked my panties, there would really be no doubt.

“You like that idea, do you, omega?” Jagger’s voice somehow gets deeper as he adds more growl to his words. There’s a flash in his eyes, and for just a moment, I see his alpha shining through for all to see.

Koda chuckles as he presses against my back. “She definitely does, and so do I.”

And just like that, the scent of blackberries, cinnamon, cloves, waffles, and maple syrup fills the air around us. Thank goodness we’re outside, or we’d have scent bombed everyone. Holy shit, that’s potent as hell—and it’s half my scent. I can’t imagine what the others must be feeling as they scent it.

Someone clears their throat, saving me from having to respond. Spinning on my head, I find Ian standing there with an aerosol can in his hand. “I thought you might like some scent-canceling spray? I have multiple bottles in the trunk if we need more.”

“My savior.” I extract myself from Jagger’s and Koda’s arms, grabbing the bottle from Ian, and immediately start drenching myself in it. “Koda definitely needs some, too. Probably best if Jagger gets a bit, too.”

Turning my eyes to the other two in our party, I find Cora and Skylar standing off to the side. I shoot them a smile that Cora is quick to return, but Skylar looks away from me. I wonder what that’s all about?

I make a note to myself to see if I can get her alone either during lunch or during our next activity so I can see what’s going on.

I love that not a single one of the suitors balked at the idea of taking the aerial classes. Jagger did look unsure about whether or not the equipment would be able to hold his weight, but once the instructor assured him it would, he relaxed.

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