Page 9 of Love In The Air

“Anytime partner.”

Ugh, another word she never expected him to direct at her, but here they were. She really needed to make the best of it.

Stretching out her arms, she reached for his hands. The moment his large, warm palms clasped hers, a spark of awareness shot up her arm and ricocheted all throughout her body. She gasped at the sensation, jerking slightly in his hold.

“Iz?” He glanced at her. Concern furrowing his brow. “You okay?”

“Huh?” She shook her head, trying to figure out what the heck that was. “Oh, um, yeah, just…”

“Shit, are my hands too cold?”

He pulled them back, cupping them to his mouth and blowing before vigorously rubbing them together.

“Sorry, I get poor circulation sometimes. Some of my client even call me Frosty the snow hands,” he chuckled, reaching out again. “Here. Should be good now.”

She hesitated for a moment, then placed her hands back in his. Another zing shot through her, not as strong this time, but still there. Her body warmed at his touch, not froze. Her heartbeat sped up and her blood raced. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say she was attracted to Chance.

But she did know better.

There was no way she would ever have the hots for him.

“Okay, I’m going to pull you into the stretch. You tell me when it’s good.” His face hardened into a mask of concentration; tone slightly stern as he tossed commands at her. “Don’t try to save face either. I can’t have you injuring yourself before we even get up in the hoop.”

She arched a brow at his demand. To his credit he winced slightly, understanding of how his words may have sounded to her entering his eyes.

Clearing his throat, he grinned, giving her a wink and saying with a hint of humor, “I need you to make me look good in there.”

She snorted out a chuckle but allowed him to gently pull her into the stretch. Okay, if he was willing to bend so was she. Maybe they could pull off this “fake friend” thing. But she would not be hopping into bed with him, she told her body sternly.

No matter how delicious his arms looked as he flexed, holding her in the stretch. Nope, Chance was off limits. Maybe she needed to get laid. It had been a while. She should take up Tori on her offer to hit the town this weekend. Denver had quite a few LGBTQ+ bars in the city. Tori didn’t like crowds, but her bestie enjoyed the bar scene and had been begging Iz to play wingwoman. Maybe they could wingwoman for each other.

Yeah, that was all she needed. A night with her friend blowing off steam and maybe finding a willing partner to hook up with. Nothing serious, seeing as how she’d be leaving on tour soon and needed to end her dry spell before the next one started. Everyone knew that hooking up with someone in your tour was a bad idea—they did it anyway, but it was still not smart.

She smiled as they reversed the stretch. She leveled back up and pulled Chance down for his turn. Her body had calmed, the weird sensations quieting as she planned out her night in her mind. See, it wasn’t the man she touched who was setting off all her fuck me hormones. It was simply the fact that she needed some action. And she was going to get it, from someone else, because Iz might have done a lot of stupid things in her life but sleeping with Chance O’Brien would never be one of them.

4

“Hey, you want a beer?”

Chance shook his head, raising his voice so his friend Darnell could hear him about the loud music and din of the bar’s patrons. “Naw, I’m good. Water is fine.”

Darnell nodded and turned to the bartender to order their drinks. Chance glanced around the crowded bar. Tables and stools lined the outside of the circular room, save for this side which housed a ten-foot-long bar with three people scurrying back and forth, filling orders for the thirsty patrons. In the middle of the room was a large dance floor filled with an array of people moving and dancing to the thumping bass coming from the DJ’s speakers. Pride flags and posters littered the wall, letting everyone know this was a safe space.

Bars weren’t really his scene, but this place seemed alright and his buddy had been after him for a week now to get out and enjoy the city before he left for his tour. Chance had been lucky that his old college roommate lived in Denver and had been willing to let Chance crash on his couch for the few weeks he’d be in town during the show’s rehearsal. Boulder wasn’t that far away but making that drive in the Denver traffic every day sounded like a nightmare.

Besides, the lease on his apartment back in Boulder was up so he’d locked up most of his stuff in storage for the next year and taken a sabbatical from his yoga studio. He had no reason to stay in Boulder.

Not after what happened with Ryan.

Shoving off the morose feeling brought up by the thought of his ex, he accepted the water from Darnell when his buddy handed it over.

“So, what do you think?” Darnell asked.

“Kind of loud,” he said, raising his voice so his friend could hear him above the music.

Darnell laughed, his locks swaying slightly as he shook his head. “You are such an old man, dude.”

“It’s not old to want to protect your hearing from eardrum bursting levels of damage.”

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