Page 50 of Bumping into You

The use of my full first name snaps me out of my head, and I blink at him.

“You said you love yoga, so I thought this would be fun,” he says. His sincerity and enthusiasm make my fears ebb just a bit.

“Do you even know how to do yoga?” I ask, skeptically.

“A bit,” he says, shrugging his shoulders.

“Well, then this should be interesting,” I grumble.

“That’s the spirit!” he says, leading me to a spot on the floor.

I freeze again, and Niall almost bumps into my back at my sudden stop. There, waving to us from a spot on the floor is Greg and Holly.

OMG, what a disaster. Couples yoga with Niall, plus Holly and Greg are here. What will they think of us spending this intimate time together? This can’t end well.

Niall leans in to whisper in my ear. “Look, I can tell you’re not so sure about this, but you need to take some time for yourself. Greg mentioned he and Holly were going to be doing the class, and I thought it would be something you would enjoy, something to help you take time for yourself and relax. And you love yoga, so I thought, ‘Win-win.’”

I look over at him and his expression conveys such earnestness that I have no fight left in me.

“Alright,” I say, walking a few places past Greg to an empty space.

“Hi, Gwennie,” says Greg. “I’m glad you could join us. It’s not too early in the morning for you, is it?”

“Hush up, you,” Holly smacks him in the arm lightly. “You know perfectly well that Gwen regularly gets up around ten.”

“Gee thanks, Hols, that makes it sound better.” I huff out a laugh.

As Niall and I find a spot a little to the side of Greg and Holly, I groan as Bradley and Tammy walk in.This just got even better.

Tammy looks like she could teach the class in her yoga attire, but similar to karaoke, Bradley looks completely out of place. It dawns on me how much Bradley cares for Tammy if he is willing to put himself in these types of situations—ones he’s not comfortable with but does anyway because she likes to do them.It’s actually really sweet of him.

I think back on our relationship. When did I go out of my way to do something for him? How often did we really spend time together? True one-on-one time when I wasn’t checking in with Becca or answering emails?

The instructor starts with some basic breathing techniques, moving into a sun salutation. We repeat the sequence for a few minutes, all the while focusing on our breathing.

I try to focus on the warmup but my mind keeps returning to my relationship with Bradley. I’ve done yoga for years, and would consider myself advanced, but I’ve never done couples yoga before. I need to focus. Couples yoga is a whole different world. Couples yoga poses not only test your balance and flexibility, but also your strength and communication as a partnership. There’s a lot of trust, not to mention the amount of physical contact involved. I try to steady my breathing.You can do this, Gwen.

Once we’re warmed up, we start with some simple moves. A couple’s chair pose has us back-to-back. Niall is warm and strong against my back. We are the picture-perfect pose, holding longer than any other couple in the class. I’m surprised by his flexibility and how in sync we’ve been with our poses. I think he’s done more than “a bit” of yoga.

The next pose, temple pose, has us face-to-face and forearms-to-forearms. Niall stares into my eyes.

“Stop that,” I whisper to him.

“What?” he asks in feigned innocence.

“You know what. Your face, you’re being distracting.”

“My face distracts you?” he asks, lifting a brow.

“No,” I huff, “The faces you are making. It’s distracting. We need to concentrate and focus on our breathing, and I can’t do that with you doing . . . well, that.”

“Got it, no faces because I make you breathless,” he says, eyestwinkling.

I roll my eyes as the instructor calls for us to raise back up. I’m glad that we are a couple people away from Greg and Holly. This is already too close to Niall for my liking, and even though it’s a class, I don’t want Greg or Holly getting any funny ideas about us.

These poses have caused me to be extremely aware of Niall’s body, and I already know he deserves the nickname McHottie, with his perfect abs and perfect arms. The constant touching has me so turned on that I’m ready to bolt from this class. Especially when the instructor calls for one final pose before we start our cooldown poses.

Not a difficult pose by any means, but the couples camel pose has Niall and I facing each other while kneeling on the ground, knees touching and lower body touching up to our hips. Being fairly tall myself, Niall and I are close in height, and this pose has us leaning into each other in some intimate places. Our pelvises push into each other as we both lean backward, letting our heads fall as we hold onto each other’s arms to steady ourselves.

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