Page 82 of Degrees of Control

He turned and strode away, the winged logo on the back of his T-shirt stretched thin between his broad shoulders.

She began wiping down the mats slowly, trying to process everything, when Holly came rushing into the empty classroom. “That blond cowboy god, that’s your man, isn’t it?”

“What?”

“Vegan lunch guy. The dude you’ve been pouting over for weeks? He’s the one who just did your class.”

“I haven’t beenpouting…”

Holly gaped at her. “So it is true? Howdareyou?”

Charlie raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”

“He’s fucking, goddamn, fucking gorgeous.”

“You said fucking twice.”

Holly’s eyes narrowed. “That guy has all the stay-at-home moms in a fucking frenzy.”

“So?”

“So you need to go out there and fuck him right now, Charlie. For all of us.”

“I can’t, I’m cleaning the mats.”

“Fuck the mats!” Holly shouted, kicking one. “Fuck the mats and fuck you for not sitting on his face right now.”

“It’s complicated!”

“No,you’recompletely insane.” Holly stomped away.

Charlie went back to work.

That week, James came to another two of her classes. His Adonis-like form became a source of growing intrigue to the studio’s female population. There were even whispers of installing a secret camera in the men’s change room. When she warned James about it, he laughed. “As long as the footage finds its way into a certain yoga teacher’s hands, I don’t mind.”

After his fourth class, they went to Ruby’s for coffee. They talked about work and yoga and his niece and nephew. Charlie told him about her roommate’s escapades and how excited her family was that she was finally coming home. They didn’t talk about that night in his room and she didn’t push him about it. She had the sense he was biding his time, trying to show her a side of himself she hadn’t seen when they were sleeping together.

Eventually their coffees became lunches. Once they went for a walk through the park together. He never pushed her for sex, or even a kiss, although on their last meeting, he had taken her hand and brought it to his mouth like a prince in a fairytale. Charlie soaked everything up like a sunflower, hoping at the very least she and James could part on good terms.

Not that his gentlemanly behavior stopped her from touching herself. Almost every night she put on the lingerie he’d bought her and rubbed her pussy until the material was soaking wet. The man in her fantasies was always him, always. She resigned herself that it might be that way for a long, long time.

Chapter 23

Three weeks from Sophia’s wedding, Charlie caught the bus to her friend’s house. Sophia had planned an all-day picnic, insisting the two of them needed to make the most of their time together, which for her always meant activities. As Sophia, Jordan and Hayley were planning to visit Melbourne next summer, Charlie was already nervous about the amount of day trips she would be forced to endure. Still, you had to admire her enthusiasm. She rapped on Sophia’s silver and white door, and when she discovered it was unlocked, opened it and stepped inside. “Soph, I’m here! Let’s make like a tree and branch out a bit—oh.”

Both Sophia and James were standing in the hallway, side by side.

“Uh, hey, James…what’s going on here?”

Sophia flashed her an apologetic smile. “Forgive me, darlin’, but my cousin will be accompanying you to the lake. I’m sorry for the ruse, but he has something he wants to talk to you about and he’s too much of a pussy to ask you himself.”

Charlie blinked at the pair of them. “Don’t say pussy like it’s a bad thing. Also, what?”

James shot Sophia a dirty look. “You don’t have to come with me if you don’t want to, Charlotte.”

He tucked his hands into his pockets and rocked backward and forward like a teenager trying to ask a girl to the movies.

“Uh—sure, I’d love to go on a surprise picnic with you, James.”

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