Chapter 17 #2
“No. I don’t want Brock to think… He’ll think you’re there because he is, and then he’ll think he won.”
“Fine. I’ll co-teach with you.”
That startled a laugh out of her. “Right, co-teach.”
He nodded, deadpan. “Yeah. I’m certified.”
She narrowed her eyes, still ninety percent sure he was messing with her. “You’re a yoga instructor?”
“Technically, yes.” He didn’t elaborate.
She stared at him, searching for a tell, but his face was as blank as a poker player’s.
“Yeah, I’m going to need more information.”
He grinned, that lopsided, troublemaker smile she was already powerless against. “Senior year of college, I had a back injury and started practicing yoga as part of my PT. I got really into it, and after graduation, I got certified through the Soma Institute. And then four years ago, I had the opportunity to go to an eight-week immersive program as a student under a yoga master in Bali. If you want to fact-check me, I have a bunch of pictures on my phone.”
She did want to see those pictures, but she’d be damned if she admitted it. “Are you serious?”
“I’m dead serious.”
The image of Niko in Bali, doing downward dog against some impossibly blue sky, was almost too much to process.
She tried to picture him in front of a roomful of people, teaching them to breathe and surrender, to trust their bodies and each other.
It was, she had to admit, more plausible than she wanted it to be.
“Have you ever actually taught a class?” she challenged, but it came out breathy, more awestruck than skeptical.
“I have, yeah.”
She believed him, but she just couldn’t imagine him doing it. “Where?”
“For my team several times and at a retreat once when the group X instructor got ill.”
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
Was she sure she wanted him to do this?
“Yes,” he confirmed confidently.
“Okay,” she agreed, with much less enthusiasm.
Within five minutes, Niko had completed his transformation from rumpled bedmate to showered and dressed co-instructor, and she had to admit, he looked good. He’d already made her a chai tea to go when she was in the shower, so he handed that to her as they made their way out the door.
He was really spoiling her.
On the drive over, Tiana explained the class format and tried to put the fact that her ex was going to be polluting her safe space out of her mind.
She’d done everything she could to maintain a wall between her old life and the one she was painstakingly building in Hope Falls.
The thought of Brock, with his dumb, swaggering confidence and politician’s smile, polluting the only place she’d ever managed to feel competent made her skin crawl.
But today, she had backup. Today, she had Niko.
When they arrived, Tiana took a deep breath.
She started to get out, but he put his hand on her leg.
He looked at her. Tiana’s body was humming with a kind of anticipatory focus.
She knew Niko could sense it. Without saying a word, she knew he was telling her to wait, to breathe, and that he was there so it would be okay.
She gave him a nod and stayed seated as he got out and came around and opened the door for her. He also got her tote bag. It was strange not carrying anything when Niko was around. Even small bags, he didn’t want her carrying anything.
Inside, the studio was dim and quiet, the only sound the low hum of the heater. As she went about her typical routine of opening up, Niko left her to it, and she tried to keep herself centered and calm.
When students began to trickle in, Tiana and the butterflies in her stomach welcomed them with smiles. Every time the bell sounded and the door opened, her body tensed, expecting it to be Brock walking in. She still had no clue what his endgame was.
Was it just to mess with her? Why was he in this town? He was planning something, she was sure of it.
As much as her independent self hated to admit it, she was happy to be staying with Niko. Even if lines were blurred last night.
She was visiting with Emma Dorsey five minutes before class was scheduled to begin when she heard Brock’s voice behind her.
He was speaking to Gianna, telling her where they would be putting their mats.
Hearing the tone of his voice made her body tense.
She forgot how on edge he made her feel all the time.
For years she’d walked on emotional eggshells without being aware of it.
A large palm landed on her lower back, and Niko’s lips grazed the outer cusp of her ear. “Are you good?”
She glanced up at him and nodded.
One look in his eye, one touch of his hand, his support, his presence did the exact opposite of Brock. It grounded her. It gave her an anchor, a place of security and safety.
Yeah, this ‘relationship’ had definitely gone too far.
Niko had been in more locker rooms than yoga studios, but as he moved up the rows of students in the serene, heated space, he noticed the similarities.
The pre-class posturing, the little competitive twitches and gestures as everyone claimed their preferred mat spots, and the way everyone stole glances at the newcomers to assess and strategize, even if the objective here was enlightenment and not a win-loss record.
“Good morning! I’m Tiana, and I’m so happy to see everyone here,” she said. Her voice was warm but carried, easily filling the space without pretense. “Today is all about tuning into your own body and letting go of anything that’s not serving you.”
Niko watched as a ripple of relaxation washed through the group.
Despite the asshole reason he was there, he loved watching Tiana in her element, her presence in the space was magnetic, even electrifying, more than he could have predicted.
When she looked over the group of students, she didn’t just scan, she saw everyone: the nervous woman fidgeting with her water bottle, the older man breathing measuredly, the two moms who'd walked in together but immediately rolled their mats apart so they could focus.
“Before we begin, I want to introduce someone special.” Tiana looked right at him, and Niko felt a jolt move through his chest. Hmm, unexpected. “You are all in for a very special treat. We’re lucky to have a guest co-instructor today. Niko Costas, everyone.”
There was a burst of applause and some whooping and whistling. He lifted his hand in a wave and moved up front with Tiana, and they exchanged a subtle glance. She gave him the tiniest, crooked smile, grateful, embarrassed, and trusting.
He scanned the faces in the studio, and his eyes immediately snagged on Bartlett.
The ex was front row, dead center, clad in a form-fitted Lululemon tee that made it look like his muscled arms were imported directly from a bad pharmaceutical ad.
Next to him, G stretched like a bored housecat, her hair perfect, her nails tapping on her phone as subtle as a foghorn.
The moment the class began, Niko felt the polarity in the room shift.
Bartlett was watching Tiana with a look Niko recognized instantly, the hungry, possessive gaze of a man who thought he still owned someone.
Had probably never considered that he didn’t.
Niko’s jaw clenched, and he forced his focus to the practice, but he kept Bartlett at the edge of his vision.
They moved the class through sun salutations, then deeper into balance poses and slow vinyasa.
Tiana’s cues were gentle and precise, never showy.
Niko called out modifications, and Tiana moved through the room and adjusted a student’s hip here and a shoulder blade there.
He knew his own body so well that he forgot sometimes what it was like to be tentative, but he could see the trust the students had in Tiana.
When she stopped by a student’s mat, they relaxed.
Bartlett, on the other hand, was a different story.
Every time Tiana neared him, he stiffened subtly, like a predator noting the approach of his prey.
As they’d preplanned, at the halfway point, Niko and Tiana switched places, and Niko took the lead.
He brought the class into a long warrior sequence, calling out breath cues and alignment.
He saw Brock’s eyes flick to him, glaring at him, challenging him as if Niko was supposed to do something about it.
The man radiated a kind of entitlement that Niko found both ridiculous and infuriating, like he’d shown up just to remind Tiana of his existence, to force his presence into her new life.
To be there now that he no longer had a signature at the bottom of a legal contract.
Niko countered his energy with the only tactic he could, ignore Bartlett and focus on Tiana.
Every time he gave the class a rest in child’s pose, he looked over at her and made sure she was okay and that she wasn’t getting rattled by her ex’s looming attention.
She wasn’t, at least not on the surface.
She was the essence of composure, but he could tell from the way her hands twitched against her thighs after each pose, or the tight smile she flashed at every student, that she was feeling the pressure.
Still, she crushed it. When she took the class through a final round of spinal twists and invited everyone to settle into savasana, the relief in the room was palpable. Even Bartlett let out a deep sigh, as if he’d finally tired himself out.
Niko looked at Tiana, saw her take a breath, and watched the way her shoulders loosened just a notch. He moved to the back of the room and watched her lead the closing meditation, her voice low and calm, guiding everyone back into their bodies.