Page 33 of Just a Heartbeat Away

Something soft and cool touched his elbow and Seb turned, looking down into Via’s dark, warm eyes. Crap. He’d told himself that he wouldn’t look at her. His entire plan was to not look at her. And here he was, staring right at her. With her hair in a ponytail and looking as young as he’d ever seen her.

Too young.

And way too hot.

Damn. She wore a tight, long-sleeve T-shirt and yoga pants that had some sort of sheer cutouts on the side, making her look a little more naked than she actually was. Lovely. That was just exactly what he needed in a moment like this. A sheer strip of skin from her calf to her thigh, looking for all the world like a roadmap to heaven.

She looked young and energetic and athletic. Sebastian felt like an old dad with creaky knees, half a second away from a beer gut. Which, he supposed, he probably was. In fifteen years, she’d be his age right now. In fifteen years, he’d be Principal Grim’s age. God. If that wasn’t a visual that would snap him out of the puppy-dog eyes he hoped he wasn’t giving her, well, nothing would.

“I brought a spare.” She held out a baby blue yoga mat. “I figured you might not have one.”

Was that guilt on her face? Did she, perhaps, feel a little remorse at subjecting Sebastian to this fresh-baked hell?

“Thanks.” He sighed. “Let’s get this over with.”

“You’re right. We should get started.” Via walked to the front of the classroom. “Thanks for coming, everybody! Let’s roll our mats out and get a jump on it!”

Sebastian repressed a groan. Of course she was leading the class. Because the universe wanted him to suffer. In fact, the universe wanted him to have to fight to repress a boner in front of his colleagues for the next hour. Because the universe was just that kind of asshole.

ASPAINFULASsome of that had been to watch, Via had to admit that the group seemed infinitely more relaxed after the yoga class was done. But maybe that was just because they were out of the danger zone.

“Call 911,” Sadie murmured from her puddle on the floor. “Better yet, just call the morgue.”

“Oh, come on.” Via laughed. “That was a beginner’s class! We laid on our backs and meditated for the last fifteen minutes!”

“Well, it was the forty-five minutes that preceded the meditation that I hope you go to hell for,” Sadie grumbled, making Via laugh again. “I need a drink. Anyone else want a drink?”

“I’m there,” Grace called across the room, nudging Shelly, who nodded in agreement.

“Me, too!” Cat, Matty’s teacher, called from the other side of the room, tying back her silvery brown hair.

“I’ll come,” Via agreed, surprising herself. She’d had tentative plans with Evan tonight, but he often canceled on her, so she didn’t think he’d care if she canceled on him.

“Sebastian?” Sadie called across the room, rolling up her yoga mat.

Via busied herself gathering up her things. She didn’t look over at him. In fact, she’d been studiously attempting to ignore his existence for the last hour. Sebastian was as bad at yoga as he’d previously advertised. But there was no ignoring his athleticism. The man had good lines. And muscles out the wazoo.

As she’d led the class, she’d looked pretty much everywhere else that she possibly could have. And even now, she felt strangely repelled from him. Like they were two magnets of the same charge.

“Well, actually,” Sebastian’s deep voice rumbled over her. “I wasn’t sure how long this was going to last this evening, so I got a babysitter for Matty.”

Via, still not looking at Sebastian, watched all the other ladies’ faces light right up.

“Perfect!” Sadie clapped her hands together like it was a done deal.

“Lemme give him a call and see if it’s all right.”

“Your babysitter is a boy?” Cat asked.

“Well, yeah. My friend Ty. But I meant that I wanted to call Matty and see if that was cool with him for me to be out longer.”

He turned and pulled out his phone, striding to the back of the library. He missed the nuclear explosion of gooey eyes that followed him.

“Oh my gawd. He’s calling his son to let him know he’ll be out longer than he thought?” Cat clutched her hands in front of her chest. “How in Jesus’s left ass cheek is that man still single?”

“Beats me,” Grace said, shaking her head. “If I were thirty years younger and forty pounds lighter...”

“Oh please.” Shelly patted her own hair and her friend’s shoulder at the same time. “You don’t need to lose weight, Grace. None at all. But I have to admit, I’d count some calories to have a crack at a man like Sebastian Dorner.”

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