Page 26 of Fake Dating Adrian Hunter
“Hey,” he taunts, “you look like less of a bitch from this angle.”
“Too bad, you still look like a jerk. Got an erection this time?”
“You wish.”
“Bases,” Kathy says, “as you get comfortable with this position, experiment with lowering your arms.”
Adrian and I look at the other couples for an example. The majority of bases have lowered their arms, bringing the flyer’s face closer to their own. Some are even kissing. Of course Jake and Jannah are one of them.
Adrian taunts me by lowering his arms. I growl, which only makes him laugh. “Careful. If you don’t start being nice to me, I might drop you.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
His arms lower farther, bringing me closer to him. “Or maybe punish you with a kiss.”
I wriggle, trying to push myself higher. Trying to free myself from his grip and lean back so I can slide down from his legs, but he holds tight.
“Or you can come plummeting down all on your own,” he says with tension creasing his brows. “Hold still, I’m not joking. I’m losing grip of you.”
His arms lower again—whether to stabilize or taunt me, I’m unsure.
“Adrian, stop!”
“You’re the one wriggling—ouch!” His arm buckles beneath me and I go tumbling down, my body landing on top of his and our foreheads bumping.
I suck in a hiss of air through clenched teeth, wincing at the throbbing pain in my head. It’s only when I open my eyes that I notice how close my face is to Adrian’s. My lips are hovering right above his. I can feel his breath on my face, and oh, his scent issointoxicating.
We share a moment of eye contact that has me growing warm for different reasons than when Kathy made us look at each other during the mindfulness exercise. The sharp-witted Adrian I’ve come to know has disappeared behind those warm eyes and is replaced with the Adrian I once called my best friend.
He sits up, keeping me fastened in his lap, and runs light fingers over my forehead. “You okay?” he whispers.
I’m too caught off guard by the tenderness in his eyes to form an answer. He hasn’t looked at me like this since we were children, and maybe not even then. This is something entirely different.
“Verena, are you all right?” he repeats.
“Oh, dear.” Kathy comes running to us, breaking the moment. “That looked like a nasty fall. Is anyone hurt?”
I cough a few times, shaking some sense back into myself as I return from my Adrian daze. He’s still holding me, so I slip out of his arms and adjust my hair, turning away from him.
“I’m fine,” I tell Kathy.
“I think that’s enough excitement for one lesson,” Kathy says to everyone. “Let’s cool down with one last stretch. This one is impossible to hurt yourself with. Here we go—wide-legged forward fold. Sit on the mat, face your partner, and spread your legs wide like you’re doing the straddle splits.”
Without speaking a word to each other, Adrian and I get into position. I can’t bring myself to meet his eyes, unsure of how to act if the tenderness is still present in them. Or worse, if he’s returned to his old ways and is all snark. Words cannot describe how desperate I am for this class to end.
“The fun in this pose is that the farther apart your legs spread, the closer you and your partner can be,” Kathy says. “I’ve had couples do the full splits and their chests end up flush against each other.”
My legs are at a ninety-degree angle. At Kathy’s story, I close them a little farther.
“Oh, come on, baby doll. Don’t be like that,” Adrian teases.
I guess that answers my question of his attitude. Something inside me aches that we’ve lost that brief moment of a connection.
“I’ve seen you dance on your show and know how flexible you are. Open up for me, won’t you?” Adrian takes hold of my thighs and pulls me closer, my legs spreading wider in the process.
His strength is undeniably hot, the way he can effortlessly move my body. Again, I have flashbacks of my dream—him moving above me, sweating from how hard he is exerting himself during sex. This time, though, the visions are more intimate and have more weight to them, because he’s gazing down at me with the same affection I saw in his eyes a moment ago.
Adrian’s mouth tips up on one side. “It doesn’t take much to make you blush, does it?”
