Page 79 of 1 Last Shot

I'm just about to ask one of the handlers to lift him off me, when he takes a flying leap off my shoulder and trots into the crowd.

"Thank God," I grumble. When the instructor calls for a seated pose, I turn over and settle onto the mat with my legs crossed. I automatically start in on the deep breathing that Isabella always calls for in this position, even though the instructor hasn't called for it yet—she’s too busy smiling at one of the goats that fell asleep on another girl's back.

"Calling this yoga seems like a bit of a stretch," I tell Isabella. "This seems more like a petting zoo with mats and—"

My words are cut off when the white goat appears out of thin air and plops down in my lap. I glare at it as his eyes start to drift shut.

"Don't you dare," I hiss. I shift my legs a little, but the goat only settles deeper into my lap.

Sure enough, the sound of snores fills the area.

I look helplessly at Isabella, but she's too busy clutching her side from laughter.

I turn my glare on her. "You're not going to help me here?"

She stands when the instructor finally calls for a new pose. "I would, but I don't think you actuallywant me to help you," she says with a giggle. She raises her hands above her head. "Am I wrong?"

I open my mouth to sayyes, of course I want you to get this thing off me, when suddenly I feel a new weight on my shoulders. Turning my head, I spot a second goat standing behind me with his tiny hooves on my shoulders.

"You havegotto be kidding me."

Isabella dissolves in another fit of giggles.

"You should see if you can adopt one of them," she says as she returns to her pose. "I bet Oscar would love a baby brother."

"I don't know how you were planning to make this worth it for me, but it better be something big," I growl. “At this rate, that blow job was just the appetizer.”

Thatmakes her cheeks heat. She gives me a sidelong glance and says in a quiet purr, "By the time I'm done with you, you'll be offering to make this an every-weekend thing."

And looking over Isabella's long, lean legs and the stretch of her body, I believe her.

I make it through the rest of the class with Goat #1 snoring in my lap, and Goat #2 bouncing around the yard, occasionally popping up onto my shoulders. I can't move to do any of the poses, obviously—not that they actually do any more. By the time the instructor calls for the end, no one's done a stretch in twenty minutes, and everyone is distracted by one or more goats.

It takes one very determined handler to peel the sleeping goat out of my lap. And even still, she gets several angry bleats to the face for her efforts.

Isabella still has a huge smile on her face when we exit the fenced in area. It's been there since I knocked on her door at 8 a.m. this morning.

Somewhere along the way, it became my favorite sight in the world.

Isabella slides her hand through the crook of my arm as we start to walk toward where I parked my bike. Even her steps are happy, and whether it's because of her close proximity, or just the fact that my attention is so focused on her, but her happiness becomes contagious. I find my own lips wanting to lift in a smile.

I don’t know if this feeling is sustainable. I don’t even know what it would feel like if itwas.

My life has never looked like this. Before Isabella and Oscar, my life has been only loneliness, anger, manipulation, and confusion. It's been work, and fist fights. It's been a bomb in the shape of my mother dropped into my life, and then immediate relocation and the setting up of a new life.

It's never been… simple. It's never been happy. Even though I'm in the middle of it right now, I can't even picture a normal day where thereisn'trage or responsibilities.

And yet, when I look over at Isabella, I feel… peace. I feel peace in a way that I've never experienced before. We're not talking about my fucked up life, not dancing around a game of seduction that's solely focused on sex, we're just… existing.

"What do we do now?" I ask before I even realize I've spoken out loud.

Isabella turns her face up toward me with a smile that immediately hits me in the chest.

I can't lose this.

Before the thought can take over and make me spiral in panic, Isabella is moving closer to me and gripping my arm tighter. "We should do what you want to do now. We did enough of what I wanted."

How do I tell her the only thing I want is to be with her?

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