Page 71 of Cross Check Hearts

Declan turns away from the stove again, looking at me with a compassionate expression. “I don’t believe that for a second. You’re perfect. You can do anything you put your mind to.”

“Is that one of the lines from your speech?” I tease, and Declan smirks.

“No, but it’s a pretty good one. Maybe I should write that down for later,” he says, his smile widening as he crosses the kitchen to stop at my chair. “But seriously, I mean it. I’ve seen how many people sign up for your classes, so if you really wanted to start your own business, I bet it would do well.”

My insides feel like they’re turning to mush at his words, but I try my best not to let it get to me too much or show on my face. “You know, I could say the same thing about you. You’re just convincing yourself you can’t do something.”

Declan taps my nose with his finger. “Well, would you look at that? Seems like we have yet another thing in common,” he says and leans closer to me, his face hovering just above mine. My heart starts racing in my chest, and when he puts his arms around me to kiss me, I feel the rest of my body catch fire.

The tomatoes sizzle on the stove, almost as loud as the desire sizzling inside me, but even Declan doesn’t seem to care about the food. He spins my chair around until my legs are straddling him, and even though he’s wearing pants again, I can feel how hard he is through them.

And when he abruptly lifts me off the chair into his arms and sets me down on the counter with his cock pressed against my pussy, I realize there’s only one thing that’s going to satisfy my appetite.

Him.

Chapter31

Declan

Muscles I didn’t even know I had are screaming at me as I try to match Hannah’s impeccable form. But no amount of weightlifting or resistance training in hockey could’ve prepared me for the absolute exhaustion that a strenuous yoga session with her brings.

It’s been a little more challenging than usual to find gaps in our schedules to get together and keep the sessions going, but we’ve been able to slot in a couple over the last week or two.

Partly because of that, and partly because we’re only about halfway through our session, I’m determined not to let Hannah see that I’m wearing down so quickly. So even though my arms are starting to tremble from this plank pose I’ve been holding for what feels like an eternity, I take several deep breaths and engage my core muscles to try to redistribute the strain.

“You’re doing really well,” Hannah says from the mat next to mine.

Her body is straight as a board, and as far as I can tell, there isn’t a single muscle on her amazing body that isn’t effortlessly locked in. It’s kind of hard to believe that she’s having an easier time with this than I am—I’m the professional athlete, after all—but that only makes me admire her more.

She’s so good at this that she doesn’t even see it, and she doesn’t have to think about it. It comes that naturally for her.

“Doesn’t feel like it,” I wheeze, and she smiles at me. The look alone is almost enough to make me collapse, and I really feel like I’m about to give out—so to cover it up, I lean over and steal a kiss from her.

She laughs and pulls away. “Nice try, but we need to stay focused. We’re almost done.”

“And what happens when we’re done? Do I get a reward?”

“The only way to find out is to finish. Come on, I’ll give you a break,” she says and lowers herself down into cobra pose, her back arched away from the mat.

I have to put my knees down to get my body to lower into the pose without falling, but I manage it. My reflection in the mirrors around us shows that I’m nowhere near as flexible as Hannah is and my arch isn’t anywhere close to as sharp as hers is, but I feel like I’m definitely seeing an improvement.

Still, she’s so close and the muscles are so tightly engaged that I can’t help myself from reaching over to run my hand across her ass. She laughs and swats me away with her free hand, but I can tell from the way she’s looking at me, from the heat flashing in her eyes, that her mind is probably just as full of the same thoughts.

“You’re making progress, that’s for sure,” Hannah says, looking at my lower back to judge the quality of the stretch and so she doesn’t have to look me in the eye. “But let’s see how you handle your favorite pose.”

“Oh, come on, hummingbird. Do we have to?”

“Do you want your reward or no?”

“Alright, fine. I’ll give it my best,” I grumble and push myself up off the mat to get into downward-facing dog.

My arms and core muscles are already angry with me from the plank we were doing before, but the break into cobra pose helped so they at least aren’t trembling like they were before. I turn my head to check my posture in the mirror, and I’m actually shocked to see that my feet are flat on the ground and my body is much more A-shaped than it’s ever been.

“See? I told you. You’re gonna put me out of a job at this rate,” Hannah says, watching me in the mirror as she gets into the pose herself.

“I wouldn’t hold my breath for that if I were you. And I don’t think your students would approve.”

“Probably not. But all kidding aside, this is a night and day difference from the first day.”

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