Chapter 34 Savannah
THIRTY-FOUR
SAVANNAH
“This is really what your friends do on couples’ nights?” I ask as we approach the entrance to the studio.
Camden smirks. “Getting cold feet?”
I glance down at the sneakers he insisted I wear. “Nope. They’re perfectly warm. Just didn’t expect your friends to use group workouts as an excuse to socialize. What’s wrong with grabbing dinner and drinks at a bar?”
He drapes an arm over my shoulders and pulls me into his side. “I appreciate you coming. They do different things once a month, and I never come because, well, it’s more of a couple activity, and I’ve never been part of a couple until now.”
The vulnerability bleeding from his tone makes my heart squeeze.
Dammit. Why am I being so judgmental? The girls and I plan random activities too.
Like pole dancing and ice skating. Last week we even went to an improv comedy class, Sutton’s choice, of course, and it was a blast. So if this is what his friends like to do, who am I to judge?
“I’m excited.” I pop up on my toes and press a kiss to his cheek. “Thanks for including me.”
He pulls the door open and with a hand at the small of my back guides me inside.
The studio is empty except for a lone woman, and when she turns, I suck in a breath and smile.
“Angel.” That may not be her real name, but it’s the name she used when I met her.
She beams at me. “Savvy? I didn’t know you’d be here.”
Camden steps up beside me, brows furrowed as he looks from me to Angel and back again.
She’s got more fabric covering her body than she did the last time I saw her, in a pole dancing class, but not much more. She’s in a pair of red spandex shorts with a matching crop top, and her dark hair is pulled back in a sleek ponytail.
“My boyfriend’s friends planned it,” I explain to her.
“Oh, cool! I’m teaching the class.”
“The class,” I repeat. Huh. I didn’t know she was a fitness instructor as well as a stripper, though with flexibility like she has, I guess it makes sense. Could this be a Pilates class?
And if so, isn’t that a strange couples’ night activity?
I curse myself and shake my head. There I go, being judgmental again.
Angel claps, practically bouncing on her toes.
“Yes. This is going to be so fun. I have to get the playlist sorted before the rest of the class arrives, but I’m so glad you’re here.
” With a squeeze to my arm, she scurries to the wall of mirrors at the front of the studio and digs a phone out of a bag.
While she scrolls, head down and back turned, Camden turns so he’s facing me directly. “How do you know Angel?”
“She’s a friend of Kacie’s.”
His eyes narrow. “And where did you say you met Kacie again?”
I frown. “Pole dancing class.”
He raises his brow. “So she’s a dancer?”
“Not everyone who takes pole dancing classes strips for a living,” I point out.
He cocks a brow but he doesn’t respond.
Finally I sigh. “But yeah, she’s a dancer. Do you have a problem with that?”
“I’d be a fucking hypocrite if I did, wouldn’t I?”
I shrug.
“So you’ve danced before?” he asks, his tone uncertain, his gaze hot on my face.
“Not professionally.” I snort. “But she’s tried to talk me into it plenty of times. She makes a killing.”
“I’m sure she does,” he grumbles.
“Camden.”
“I’m sorry.” He squeezes the back of his neck. “I just don’t like the idea of you dancing for anyone else. Especially like that.”
“Well, I don’t plan on it.” I plaster on a smile. It’s time to lighten the mood. “Not sure if you heard, but I have a hot boyfriend, and he’s more than enough for me.”
“And money-wise, you’re—”
My stomach lurches. “Oh my god, Camden. Don’t you dare offer me money.”
His eyes fall shut. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to come out like that. I just…” He shakes his head. “When you move in, you should get rid of your place. Save that money.”
I grit my teeth. It’s been two weeks since Christmas, and we haven’t talked about moving in together again.
We spent the week after Christmas in a sex haze, choosing to ring in the New Year alone, in his house, naked, much to my friends’ disappointment.
I don’t regret a second of it, but he didn’t once bring up the potential move.
I don’t want to rush things, but it’s unnerving that he hasn’t mentioned it again.
I’m starting to think he’s realized how outrageous the idea is.
Regardless of whether we live together, I won’t mooch off him. “I figured I could help with the mortgage.”
He gapes at me, as if the suggestion is ludicrous. “I don’t have a mortgage.”
“Okay.” I wince. “So I’ll pay you rent.”
“Not happening.” He brushes an imaginary hair from my face and swipes his thumb along my cheek. “I like taking care of you, baby girl. You know that’s my thing.”
I roll my eyes, but I can’t fight the smile creeping up my face. “As much as I love that in the bedroom, outside of it, I need to feel like I’m contributing. I don’t want to be like my mom.”
He rears back a little, searching my face.
Chest tightening, I curse my stupid mouth. Why did I mention my mother? “I don’t really want to talk about it,” I say before he can ask questions.
He nods, eyes locked on mine. “Okay.”
“Just know that I want to contribute.”
He presses his lips to mine in a sweet, comforting kiss. “We’ll figure it out.”
“Are we ready to get this party started?”
At the boisterous voice, I peer over Camden’s shoulder.
Daniel has stepped inside, and he’s wearing an outfit that literally leaves me blinking in disbelief.
Camden drops his forehead to mine. “I apologize in advance.”
I giggle, because he hasn’t even seen what I’m seeing, and he’s going to die.
When he turns, he staggers back a step. “Holy fuck.”
“I tried to tell him that he looked absurd,” Hannah calls as she appears beside him. Like me, she’s in a pair of tights and a T-shirt.
“I don’t even get it,” Camden says.
Daniel tugs on the fabric of his tight tank top. “I’ve been working out.”
Hannah snorts. “Oh, Baby Hall, don’t ever change.”
His shorts are bright orange and so tight that the outline of his package is on full display. It’s…something, to say the least.
I think I can see a piercing. I squeeze my eyes shut and try to erase the image from my memory.
Camden steps in front of me, his back to my front, and I grasp his sides, laughing silently. “Please tell me you have actual clothes to put on.”
Daniel rolls his hips suggestively. “But why? We’re having sex lessons.”
“We’re having what?” I screech.
“You didn’t tell her?” a blond woman says. She’s just stepped in behind them, wearing a big smile.
Ah, Sara Langfield. I saw her at the Christmas party a few weeks ago with her husband.
I’ve met her a few times, and the woman is loud.
I might have a girl crush on her. She’s got an incredible career as the CEO of the Boston Bolts, and her husband is absolutely obsessed with her.
They’ve got four kids, I think. The oldest is a girl, and I think they have three sons.
Even as a mom of four, she’s full of inappropriate jokes.
She told at least a handful during the five minutes I spent with her on Christmas Eve, and by the time our conversation was over, my cheeks hurt from laughing.
“Cam probably figured she wouldn’t come if she knew,” Brooks, her husband, says as he strolls in behind her, his long hair pulled back in a loose bun.
I poke Cam in the side. “Is this true?”
He glances over his shoulder and winks. “I told you it was a couples’ activity.”
“Not sex class with your friends.”
“Us old people have to put in the work to keep up with people your age,” he teases.
“Speak for yourself.” Lennox Langfield steps in next, her husband Aiden at her side, his hand wrapped around hers. Lennox is probably the most recognizable Langfield because her hair is a beautiful faded pink color. “She’ll have to figure out how to keep up with us.”
I step around Camden and point at her. “I can get on board with that.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll go slow for your first time. I’ll talk you through it.” She gives me a salacious wink, and a shiver works its way down my spine. Shit. Do I have a crush on her too? I think I might.
Hannah cackles and Sara squeals. “Ah, I love this.”
“All right, everyone, thank you for coming to my tantric sex class.”
All the air leaves my lungs when Angel’s words register.
Beside me, Camden is covering his mouth, shoulders shaking, trying but failing to hide his quiet laughter.
“Tantric sex,” I mouth.
He grins. “Have I told you that Hannah used to write a sex column? Have you heard of Calliope? She’s the original. She always loved teaching her readers about the wide variety of sexual positions.”
My throat goes dry. Calliope?
Thankfully Camden is looking at Hannah, so he doesn’t notice my reaction.
“Yup.” She holds a finger to her lips. “But don’t tell anyone. Calliope’s identity is a well-kept secret. Don’t want people to discover that those old articles were about Daniel and me.”
Daniel shrugs, a cocky smile in place. “I wouldn’t mind if the entire population knew how I rocked your world back then and now.”
Sara throws her head back and laughs. “You mean the article about the bad sex you had on night one?”
I look from one person to another, unable to keep up with the banter. I’m too in my head. What are the fucking chances that Camden’s best friend’s wife is the original author of my column? The column where I write about all my dates with Camden.
Shit.
“Let’s get into position.” Angel lies on her mat, demonstrating the correct position. She spreads her legs and tilts her pelvis up. “We’re going to start with pelvic thrusts.”
Daniel drops to an empty mat. “Oh, I’ve got this down, baby.”
Brooks glares at him, then his wife. “Why the fuck are we here?”
Sara pushes him toward a mat. “Be a good boy for me, okay?”
When he gives her a look that’s both heated and annoyed, like he’s obsessed and he wishes he could hide it, I have to look away.
“We all know you’ve still got those goalie thighs,” she teases, plopping down in front of him. Even after four kids, the woman has an incredible body. And she flaunts it, sticking her ass up and thrusting her pelvis down like Angel is.
“You really want me to do this?” I mumble to Camden.
He’s already in position, grinning up at me. “You heard her, baby girl. Ass up. Give me a show.”
“Okay, Daddy,” I breathe out so only he can hear me. “You’ve been warned.”
For the next forty-five minutes, Angel walks us through each movement. The girls tease their men relentlessly. Aiden and Daniel are all about it too, their movements pure sex.
Brooks is bright red the majority of the time. Mostly because every few seconds, Sara yells out obscenities like “Yeah, Brookie, just like that. Make Mama proud!” and “Shit, girls, can we get them to take it off?”
Hannah laughs so hard she has tears rolling down her face while she does every move with precision.
Angel wanders the room, encouraging the class and correcting posture. When she comes up behind me, she presses her hand to my back. “Right there. Push down with your pelvis and up with your ass. Yes, you’re doing so well.”
“I’m going to come. This is so hot!” Sara yells.
I hang my head, cackling.
Beside me, Camden groans. “Remind me why I thought it would be a good idea to bring you around my friends.”
I’m eyeing him, grinning, when Angel presses her hips against mine, demonstrating how she wants me to move. She’s basically humping my back. If I had any fucks left to give, I might be embarrassed by the show I’m suddenly part of in front of his friends, but I don’t, and Camden asked for this.
Angel smacks my ass and backs away. “Your girlfriend is hot,” she says to Camden as she saunters to the front of the room. “All right, let’s put on some slower music and practice our thrusts.”
The music cuts out, and the room is filled with a buzzing sound. Huh. One that sounds very much like—
“What the fuck is that buzzing noise?” Brooks hisses.
From the front of the room, Daniel groans.
Hannah is still crying, but her laughter has turned to cackling.
“Oh my god,” Aiden giggles, collapsing to the ground.
“Again!” Lennox squeals, ass still in the air.
“Again what?” I ask. This is the hard part about being the newcomer. Not getting the inside jokes.
Sara collapses too, wheezing and clutching her stomach. “He’s wearing a cock ring.”
“Jesus Christ.” Camden falls to the floor with a thump.
Wide-eyed, I turn to him. “Okay, I take it back. Old people are weird.”