Operation: Endeavor (When The Mission Ends) (3 page)

Colton gave a short nod. “Okay, you have fifteen minutes to do what you want.”

She gave him a flirtatious smile and a long, lingering look up and down his hard body. “Hmm, what I want? Now that has possibilities, but unfortunately not what I had in mind when I dragged you in here. That’s a relaxation technique of a different sort. Besides, I don’t think fifteen minutes would be long enough.” She shook her head to dispel the notion, but already the ideas tumbling through her head sent tingles throughout her body.

His eyes had darkened as she rambled and now he looked at her like she was going to be his next meal. Okay, so no flirting with the dark, moody guy especially when he was in this kind of mood. Normally, she would be all over that with a guy who looked like this, but she knew enough about Colton to know that wasn’t a good idea. Dark and moody were not her idea of a good time. She needed to refocus. Penelope turned on the sound system to slow methodical instrumental music before joining him on the mats.

“First, we need to regulate your breathing. Breathing methodically is just as important as the physical movements. As you breathe in and out, center yourself. Use the movements and the air moving in and out to calm your soul and your body.” He gave a short nod, watching her closely.

They faced one another on their mats. “All yoga starts at what is called the Mountain Pose. Stand with your legs and feet together, shoulders back, abs tight, head facing straight forward. The goal here is to get your spine in complete alignment and concentrate on your breathing.”

As Colton stood, Penelope stepped  closer to him. “Good,” she said and adjusted his body slightly with a gentle nudge against his ass, and at the same time she pushed his abs. A spark of electricity arced up her fingertips through her arm. His muscles contracted under her fingertips like he’d felt the same jolt. She glanced up sharply at his face. His eyes were dark and intense and his breathing had grown more erratic. She ignored her own pounding pulse and continued to instruct him.

“You need to concentrate on your breathing.” She concentrated on his lips which were firm and enticing. They were parted slightly as he breathed. She’d love nothing more than to take a little bite from them before she worked her way around his neck, lapping at the sweat that beckoned there. The spice of Colton wafted toward her, a scent that drew her in. She wanted more. “Breathe in slowly through your nose. Good. Now release just as slowly through your mouth. Good.” As she focused in on those gorgeous lips, Penelope fell down a dark hole of desire. “That’s good. Just continue doing that for a count of five breaths.” Penelope realized that her own breathing was out of synch at the same time she also realized her palm still rested on his hard abs, where she could feel his muscles bunching and clenching. Penelope snatched her hand away and fled back to the safety of her own mat.

She gave herself a mental shake as the vibrations of desire worked their way through her body. What was she thinking? Oh my God, this was Colton, Cassie’s uptight older brother. A man who was about as far away from her type as you could get.

It was time to find her own center. She concentrated on breathing through the yoga pose with him, closing her eyes as she did so. Three breaths later she was more in control.

“Good. Now we’re going to move through some of the other poses. I’ll do them for you first and then I’ll help you as you get your form correct.” He gave another quick nod, all his focus on her and what she told him.

“First, place your palms together at your chest, breathe in and circle your arms out until they are stretched out above you. Reach over and touch your toes, keeping your back as flat as possible, exhaling as you go down. Hold this pose for the count of five and then walk your hands out until you are in Downward Facing Dog position. Hold and breathe, feeling the pull through the backs of your thighs and buttocks.”

As Colton watched her move through the slow poses, he groaned internally. He was definitely feeling something pull, but he it wasn’t his thigh muscles. For the first time since he’d gotten to the gym, he was glad that he was wearing jeans because the thick denim helped hide his growing erection. With her bent over like that, her toned ass up in the air, he could think of several things he’d like to do with these yoga poses.

Maybe yoga wasn’t so bad after all.

“Now lower down into plank position, being sure to keep your body as straight as possible as you hover. Hold the position and then lower into Chaturanga, as you transition into Cobra. Remember to breathe slowly the entire time as you move through the poses. Move back into Plank, back into Downward Facing Dog. Walk your hands back and end with a Sun Salutation.”

She stopped moving and looked over at him, completely oblivious to the way he’d been ogling her body as she sensuously moved through the poses. “Now let’s have you try it.”

“Okay.” Colton’s voice sounded gruff as he worked to follow the positions she’d just showed him. As he moved, she gently corrected him with a nudge here and a touch there. The feathery guiding touches were driving him insane as lust pounded through his system. As he moved to fold down to touch his toes, his jeans were suddenly even more of a constricting issue. Not only was he sporting a hard-on which would make this position difficult, but the tightness of the jeans made it next to impossible.

Penelope noticed his difficulty although, because of his folded position, she missed the real issue that Colton had. She laughed lightly. “Sorry, yoga isn’t meant to be done in jeans.”

Colton just frowned and concentrated on the moves. “Don’t worry about it. Obviously, I wasn’t thinking ahead when I came over here today.” He continued working through the poses, surprised at how heavy he was breathing and how much effort they really took. Penelope made them look effortless, but they were much harder to do than they looked.

They flowed together through the sequence several more times before Penelope finally stopped them. “I think you’ve had enough for today. What do you think about yoga now?”

Colton thought through the muscles of his body and was surprised to realize that he was much looser and more relaxed than he’d been before… with one glaring exception. “You’re right. That helped.”

Penelope laughed. It was a light melodious sound that reverberated all the way through his gut. “You don’t have to sound so shocked about it. Every once in a while, someone else is right, even me.” She rolled up the mats and turned off the radio.

Colton watched her as she moved and was suddenly aware of the graceful flow to her body he’d never noticed before. In fact there was a lot about her he’d never noticed before. Normally she wore her naturally wavy honey blond hair down, but today she had it in two braids. With the sprinkling of freckles across her nose, it made her look very young. He didn’t even know exactly how old she was although he’d guess her to be close to Cassie’s age since they were friends.

He rubbed the back of his neck. He needed to get laid if he was becoming tempted by Cassie’s flighty friend. Normally people like her simply annoyed him. He couldn’t respect a person who moved through life like it was one big party and Penelope was definitely all about the fun in life.

Honestly, that was probably his problem. He hadn’t had any
fun
since divorcing his ex-wife Dianna, two years before.

Since then, he’d simply been too busy with work and finding a bedmate had required too much effort. His body was telling him that it was probably time to make that effort again. He could agree, but that person needed to be someone besides Penelope.

They walked out of the fitness center together, but when they stepped out the door, Penelope cursed, “Damn.”

Colton looked across the sheets of rain coming down. It didn’t rain often in West Texas, but when it did, it came in torrents. It was a good thing he was driving Chris’s truck and not his motorcycle.

Penelope shrugged and pulled the hood up on her sweatshirt. “I guess I won’t melt.” She gave him a quick wave. “See you later, Colton.”

She started off into the rain away from the parking lot before he grabbed her arm and pulled her back under the eave of the building. “Wait, don’t you have a car?”

She shook her head. “No, it was a nice morning, so I walked.”

“Let me give you a ride home.”

Her eyes brightened at the offer. “Thanks, I’d appreciate that. It’s not far. I live in those new lofts they built on the other side of campus.” Colton nodded that he knew where she was talking about.

As they approached the big black truck, she said, “This is Chris’s isn’t it?”

Colton nodded. “I usually drive a motorcycle, so I’ve been using his truck to get him to his appointments.”

As he drove, he could feel her eyes on him periodically. He knew she was thinking something through, but she didn’t say anything more until they arrived at her building. That was fine with him. He didn’t want to talk about the situation with his siblings.

“Colton, do you want to come up for some coffee or tea, or maybe even a beer? I know things are stressful at Cassie’s. I get the idea you still aren’t as de-stressed as you need to be. Why don’t you come up and relax for a while? We can just hang out and relax, I promise.”

Colton looked at her for a moment contemplating her offer. She was right. He wasn’t ready to head back to Cassie’s yet. “I’d like that. Thanks Penelope.”

Entering her loft, Colton whistled low and looked around the spacious apartment. “This is nice.”

“Thanks. Make yourself at home. There’s beer in the fridge. Help yourself to whatever you want.” She waved her hand toward the kitchen as she continued walking through the apartment. “I’m gonna go change out of my sweaty clothes. I’ll be right back.”

Colton grabbed a beer and looked around the loft more seriously. Based upon Penelope’s personality, he would have expected her place to be filled with lots of thrift shop castoffs, but that’s not what he saw at all. Throughout the loft, the floors were a rich worn mahogany and Penelope had done her best to set them off. A mix of antiques flanked warm traditional pieces. The couches were slipcovered in white canvas, but touches of Penelope were there with a startling bouquet of vibrant throw pillows. The art on the walls ranged from modern to impressionistic and all of it was colorful and full of life.

Not surprisingly, since Penelope ran a bookstore, there was an entire exposed brick wall with bookshelves overflowing with books. Colton stepped over to those to peruse the titles. She had all the expected bestsellers and popular authors. There was also a section of larger paperbacks that looked more worn than the others, which made him curious. He picked up one to thumb through it and was surprised to find some heavy-duty erotica. He was so caught up reading it he didn’t hear Penelope come back into the room.

Penelope leaned down in front of Colton, tilting the book so she could see the title. “Hmm, Shayla Black’s
Surrender to Me
.” Colton could feel his cheeks heat in embarrassment. She quirked an eyebrow at him, enjoying his discomfort. “I could see you as a Dom.” She nodded as she walked into the kitchen area to grab her own beer. Suddenly the blood that had been suffusing Colton’s cheeks rushed to other areas as he had a flash of Penelope tied up, naked, and doing his bidding.

Colton hastily re-shelved the book, cleared his throat, and moved to change the subject. “I really like your place. You’ve done a nice job with it.”

Penelope gave him a soft smile. “Thanks. This is my oasis and I love it. I was lucky to sign a lease while they were still constructing the building. The risk turned out to be worth it.”

Colton nodded as he looked around again. “Do you know if there are any units open?”

Penelope shook her head. “No, and I’ve heard the waiting list is really long to get one. Like I said, I was lucky.” She looked at him seriously as if pondering something, and became distracted by the swelling on the side of his face. “Does that hurt?” She gently reached up and placed her fingers, cold from grasping the beer bottle, against the bruise.

Colton sucked in a breath at the shock of her touch on his throbbing face. “No,” he said in a low voice as he looked into her eyes, “I’d actually forgotten about it.”

Penelope looked at him with concern in her eyes, which was nice. He started to reach toward her simply wanting to touch her, feel her, but then she said, “Was it Chris?”

That was enough to break the pull Colton felt toward her and he stepped away. “Yeah. He’s having some issues controlling his temper and me being in his space all the time isn’t helping.” Colton shook his head and walked over to the windows. He looked out over the campus, watching the rivulets of rain drip down the tall window panes. “I need to move out. It’s not working having all three of us living together.”

“I know things have been tense. Cassie’s mentioned it.” Penelope hesitated as she watched him. “Colton, you could move in here.”

He swung around and looked at her with his eyes wide. “What? Why?”

He glanced back over at her erotica section of her bookshelf, which caused Penelope to give a nervous chuckle.

“Jeebers! Seriously? You’re such a guy. I’m not asking you to move in for sex games. You’re so not my type.” She gave an exasperated shake of her head. “Get your mind out of the gutter. My last roommate just moved out without any notice. The loft is a two bedroom. It was never supposed to be just me living here. Honestly, you’d be helping me out because the rent is too much for me to be able to afford by myself if I plan to eat too.”