Page 373 of On A Manhunt: Complete Series

ASPEN

I was in the corner of the studio at the speaker system, picking the music for my afternoon Vinyasa class on my synced cell when Mallory tugged on my arm and stepped right up in my space.

“Psst.”

I turned my head. She was so close her blonde ponytail brushed my cheek. She wasn’t looking at me, but across the room.

“What?”

“Shep Barnes is in your class,” she whispered, still holding my bicep and now squeezing like she was testing my muscle tone. “He’s such a good actor.”

“Who?”

“Who?” she hissed.

“Shep–” Oh. My head whipped in that direction and there was Luke rolling out a yoga mat on the floor. He must’ve grabbed one from the selection in the supply corner.

Holy hell, was he hot. It was downright cruel.

He wore sleeveless t-shirt and shorts, with the snug, black compression shorts beneath that peeked out from the bottom hem highlighting his muscular thighs.

They were exactly what guys should wear doing yoga, keeping anyone from seeing glimpses of their junk when shorts crept up in various poses.

It happened in the past and it was startling.

Luke must’ve felt the strength of our stares because he looked our way and winked.

Mallory spun away and faced my speaker. “He winked at me!”

I bit back my smile because she ran a hand over her hair as if trying to look good for Luke when Theo–who really was a doctor and not one played on TV–sat on his mat not fifteen feet away.

Oh my God, she was being a total idiot over a celebrity.

It wasn’t because he was a star that had my heart beating out of my chest. I felt like I was a fifteen-year-old crushing over the attention of the star quarterback. It was my reaction that surprised me, although I should have some reaction to the man that railed me in his bed the other night.

After our unsuccessful hunt for the bulldog rock and ring, we’d taken the kids to ice cream as promised.

They’d talked non-stop about hockey camp; the itinerary, what they heard about the cafeteria and how many hamburgers they can eat at one time, the dorm rooms they were staying in, whose parents were chaperoning and even mentioned Dex James.

I wasn’t sure how many tweens he’d been around, but Luke had been a good sport, giving them his full attention.

Except when two giggling women came over to him and asked him for his autograph.

After returning home, he’d fist bumped the kids and told them to have an awesome time at camp.

Then he’d turned to me, with that smoldering stare and wicked smile, and told me he’d see me later.

No kiss, because kids, but a wink which was, I discovered with him, equally sexy, although not as fulfilling.

When he said later, I figured sometime this week, perhaps, but not the next afternoon and in my yoga class.

This morning, Sierra and I had breakfast with Granny Waddle and then did the last bits of packing before I drove her to the winter sports complex for camp drop-off.

I only cried after the buses had pulled out and I was back in the car.

I’d been mopey since then and was glad for afternoon class to distract me.

“Wait, why would he wink at me?” Mallory eyed me. “Why did Shep Barnes, the sexiest bachelor alive, wink this way and why is he taking your class?”

“The sexiest bachelor alive?”

“Yeah, there’s a whole spread on him in that magazine.”

We turned our heads in sync back to eye Luke who was now standing on his mat, barefoot and reaching down and touching his toes to stretch. It was very much like the pose he’d put me in the other night when he’d eaten me out from behind.

Suddenly, it was hot in here. Shit. Yoga pants did little to hide a wet pussy, so I had to really hope my thong was sturdy and my thoughts didn’t veer back to what we’d done the other night.

“Aspen,” Mallory hissed, pulling my thoughts back to her. “He’s not winking at me, is he?”

“That’s Luke,” I said.

She frowned. “Who?”

“Shep Barnes.”

“Right,” she said. “So who’s Luke?”

“Shep Barnes,” I repeated.

“Shep Barnes is Luke?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t get it. He… Wait. No, he’s–HOLY SHIT!”

It was my turn to grab Mallory’s arm and tug her back around to face away from the class where she just shouted an obscenity. Not the right mood for my lavender-scented, zen-filled space.

“Cut it out,” I whisper-hissed.

“That’s the guy you slept with the other night? You said his name was Luke. You slept with Shep Barnes?”

I shook my head. “I slept with Luke.”

Her eyes were wide, and her mouth opened and closed like a fish. “But–”

I held up my hand. She was going to make a scene if I didn’t shut her down. “Look, I have to start class. Can we talk about this later?”

She nodded vigorously. “Yes, we can absolutely talk about this later. In complete detail. With diagrams. In fact, we’re supposed to go downstairs for pizza anyway, right, since Sierra left for camp?”

I nodded and pouted.

She patted my arm. “Good. We’re having wine. Lots of wine and you’ll tell me all about it.”

“Lots of wine,” I confirmed with an eye roll as she returned to her mat, not so surreptitiously eyeing Luke. She even gave him a weird finger wave. Total dork.

There were about fifteen people in the class and while a few gave Luke not-so-subtle peeks, meaning they recognized him, they weren’t behaving like a teenager in front of her favorite boy band like Mallory.

I quickly finished adjusting the volume of the soothing music and headed to the front of the class.

Mallory had returned to her mat. Sitting cross legged, she leaned sideways and whispered to Theo beside her.

He’d been coming to yoga with her once a week since they met back in the fall.

His flexibility had gone from zero to a little better than zero in all these months.

But he loved Mallory and I figured he loved seeing her in tight yoga pants doing various poses that showed off her ass so he kept at it.

She was totally telling him about Luke.

“Okay, everyone,” I began, tempering my voice to the soft, soothing tone I used for class. “Today we’re going to begin on our backs.”

I settled onto my mat at the front, legs crossed, and my butt propped up on a folded blanket as everyone settled. Before Luke lay back, he gave me another wink.

Oh my.