Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73012 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73012 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Me: So…I’m bored. Beach? We can do yoga.
I don’t expect him to reply right away, but he does.
Anthony: I’m down.
My pulse jumps with a sort of excitement it shouldn’t for something so small.
Me: I’ll come get you. I know a place we can go in Orange County that’s not very busy.
Anthony agrees, and I pack a quick bag of supplies and head out. He’s waiting outside his building when I arrive, in shorts and a tank top. I love Southern California weather, love that it’s seventy degrees in winter, and while the water will freeze your balls off, we can still spend a day at the beach comfortably.
“Hey, you,” he says, climbing into the car. “You could have brought the SUV. I swear I wouldn’t give you too much of a hard time.”
“Liar.”
“Aw, I’m not that mean, am I?” he asks as I pull away.
“Not mean, but you do like to give me shit.”
“In an annoying way or a fun way?”
I look over, expecting to see him smiling, but there’s a seriousness to his questioning gaze I didn’t expect. “In a fun way. I wouldn’t keep spending time with you if it wasn’t. I have a good time with you.”
Now I get a grin from him, one that’s a little cocky but slightly unsure too. “I have a good time with you as well.”
“Hmm? I can’t hear you. Can you repeat that?”
“You’re a brat.”
“But a fun brat,” I flirt. “Maybe a sexy one?”
“I mean, come on. You’ve seen you. A person would have to have zero taste not to see that.”
“Wow. A ringing endorsement. Good to know you’ve seen me, though, and you apparently have good taste.”
“Someone is in a mood. You’re being Mr. Flirty today.”
I am and enjoying it. I’m still good with taking things slowly, of course. I know Anthony has been through a lot, but I want to make sure he understands I’m interested. “If I was Mr. Flirty, I would tell you I’ve seen you too…and I would have to have zero taste not to see how sexy you are as well.”
He fans himself. “Hmm. Not bad, Kason Maddox. Not bad at all.”
“Did I get another infinity point?”
He throws a glance my way but gives a simple shrug. “Maybe.”
All I can think is, God, he’s so much fucking fun.
CHAPTER SIX
Anthony
Kason is clearly in a fun mood today. He’s being even more playful than usual, innocently flirting with me in that way friends can get sometimes. I know it doesn’t mean anything, and I’m enjoying it. Ever since I came into my own, let myself really experience life and didn’t try to hide myself away from others, I’ve been a bit of a flirt myself. Kason has opened the door for me to be more playful too.
He’s right, and the beach he brought us to is slower than most would be. I can’t pretend I wasn’t slightly nervous about that, just because I don’t know how often he gets recognized, and honestly, I wouldn’t want the frenzy that might come along with it. I’ve had enough experience with going viral or social media famous, and while the likelihood of anyone giving a shit about me when Kason is around is small, the risk makes me uneasy.
The first thing we do is set up for our yoga session. I love feeling the stretch of my muscles, the way my body relaxes into each pose, while also testing it.
I can’t say it’s easy to keep my eyes off Kason as we move into each position. He has more muscle than me, bigger and cut in different ways. He’s flexible, not as much as me, but more than other men I’ve been with, and…why is my brain doing this to me? Kason is off-limits, only for the life of me, I can’t remember why this time. Oh, because he’s my friend and I don’t want to lose him, and that’s the best kind of reason there is.
Still, we’re allowed to flirt now, apparently, which is a bonus.
“Jesus,” Kason curses as I move into sirsasana. I keep my eyes closed but feel him watching me. I concentrate on my breathing, resting on my forearms, legs in the air in a headstand. When I lower myself again, moving into a sitting position, Kason is across from me, legs crossed, smiling. “When did you start doing yoga?” he asks, looking genuinely curious.
“When I was eighteen. I’d just moved to LA, and I was looking to connect—with people, with the area, with myself. Yoga helped me come out of my shell.”
“Your shell?”
“You wouldn’t believe it, but I wasn’t always this…loud, I guess you can say. I was shy growing up and didn’t have friends.” There was one time I thought I had friends, thought I had connection, but they’d only been using me because of my uncle’s money. “It was just me and dance. I got better in high school because I wanted to dance, but it was coming to LA that really changed things for me, and yoga was a part of that.” I shrug as if it was that simple. Clearly, I’m feeling some kind of way today to be opening up, but even from that first night at Lush, Kason has been easy to talk to. He’s so damn real, so authentic, it’s impossible not to trust him.