Chapter 13
TOBIAS' brAIN REELED THINKING over yesterday’s conversation with Chase when he walked into the gym the next morning.
It had been a long time since someone caught his interest, and he was almost one hundred percent sure Chase had been flirting with him.
Maybe ninety percent. There was a chance Chase was just a really open-minded guy who enjoyed talking to his boss about what he liked in the bedroom.
Just a typical conversation for a boss and an employee to have.
‘You’re fucking loony if you think that.’
You don’t have to be mean about it.
Vaguely, he wondered if other people had conversations with themselves like he did. It seemed normal enough to him, but he figured other people’s brains didn’t sass them all day long like his own did. So rude.
How was Tobias supposed to figure out Chase? He didn’t exactly have anyone else he could talk to about it. No one had ever talked to him like that, or had ever been so forward with him. He couldn’t help but be thrown off by it all.
Tobias had spent most of class daydreaming about Chase and determining his seriousness. Until Josh broke him out of his trance.
“Chase, is it creepy to go to the kids’ classes to watch?” Josh shouted, his voice echoing through the gym.
Chase had stood, his tight-fitted shirt clinging to all his lean muscles, ending their practice for the day, and blinked at Josh.
Josh was a sweet himbo—a word Tobias had only recently learned—and completely harmless, but the question threw Chase.
“I mean, yeah, a bit,” Chase said. “Why don’t you take the class and show the kids how even big, strong men do yoga, not just moms? So far, we’ve only gotten moms to sign up.”
Everyone started packing the equipment around them, but Josh kept talking about the class.
“Really? I can participate without a kid?”
Chase glanced at Tobias, who shrugged noncommittally.
Tobias didn’t have a problem with it. The more the merrier while they were getting the word out about the gym’s new programming.
Chase turned back to Josh, who must have been thinking the same thing.
“For the first week, sure. Although, be prepared in case some of those moms flirt with you.”
“Me? Why wouldn’t they flirt with you?” Josh asked.
He shrugged. “They might, but they’ll probably think I’m cute, whereas they’ll be drooling over you.”
Tobias couldn’t help but scoff. Imagine anyone seeing Chase and not immediately wanting his attention.
He had a welcoming personality that drew a person in, made them want to get to know him, touch him…
Tobias realized a moment too late how quiet the gym had gotten, and he froze.
His scoff had gained everyone’s attention.
“You don’t think they’ll drool over Josh, Tobias? Or are you saying Chase isn’t cute?” Riley asked, his eyebrow raised. It was like that eyebrow taunted him and analyzed all of his private thoughts.
Tobias sputtered. “I-I didn’t— Of course, he is. I mean… Urrgh.”
Flustered, he stormed off toward his office. Tobias had a lot of skills, but sounding calm when he was flustered was not one of them.
He flopped onto his desk chair and busied himself with some paperwork as everyone made their way out of the gym, the muffled voices of his members growing clearer as they neared the exit.
Apparently, Riley and Josh were being harassed by one of their clients. The two of them ran a graphic design company together and had even helped him with his own logo and branding. Hopefully, this client would leave them alone soon. Tobias could hear them clearly when Cole’s voice rang out.
“You know what you should do? Tell him about Elena and say you’ll sic her on him if he causes any more trouble,” Cole said. “That would get me in line.”
“I really don’t want to know about your mating habits, bro,” Riley said.
Tobias had no intention of hearing anything else on that subject, so he shouted, “Take Cole and his mating habits out of my gym.”
“Aye-aye, coach!” Cole shouted, the echo of the front door closing the only sound in the gym.
A moment later, Chase appeared in his doorway, and Tobias begged the universe to keep Chase from bringing up the debate over his cuteness.
Obviously, there was no debate. Chase was one of the cutest guys he’d ever seen in his life, but he couldn’t explain those feelings. Not yet, anyway. Maybe not ever.
“Hey, I wanted to check in with you about the acroyoga seminar,” Chase said, and Tobias tensed for an entirely different reason.
He’d completely forgotten about agreeing to do it.
“A little bit of good news, bad news about it. The bad news is part of the roof caved in at the studio they were set to use for the seminar, so they don’t have a place to hold it.
The good news is they’ve decided to make it an online thing, a webinar.
So now we don’t have to drive anywhere and we can do it here. ”
Racing thoughts attacked Tobias. It was one thing having to touch and hold Chase in front of a room full of yogis focused on the work, but to be alone in a room with Chase and having no one there as a buffer would make it so much more… intimate.
“Does that mean we don’t actually do the practice? Since they won’t be here to help, I mean,” Tobias asked.
“They’re encouraging us to still try the movements if we’re comfortable, and if we can set up cameras on both sides of our mats so they can shout out advice to people.”
What could possibly go wrong?
A whole fucking lot.
————————
A few days later, Chase and Tobias were sitting on yoga mats in the otherwise empty gym and listening to a presentation on acroyoga.
The presenters, Kylee and Miranda, were a pair of deceptively strong women.
They were lean but muscular, and easily held each other’s weight in various poses.
The first part of the webinar took the attendees through the ins and outs of acroyoga and important things to remember before asking them to give it a try.
Since there was an eight-inch height difference and a fifty-pound weight difference between Tobias and Chase, it would affect the types of poses they could do.
They also didn’t have a spotter to support them, so the presenters suggested only trying poses they were comfortable with. As an extra precaution, they’d taken the cushions off the couches from the gym’s lounge and placed them around their mats.
They started with a simple pose Tobias had done with Madison tons of times. They usually called it airplane, but in the acroyoga world it was called bird pose.
Tobias had his back on the mat, legs lifted in the air, while Chase stood on the other side of his raised legs.
Tobias then had to bend his legs and plant his feet on Chase’s hips, Chase’s muscles tensing underneath his feet.
Chase leaned forward, Tobias supporting most of his weight, and both of them straightened their arms toward each other.
As they locked onto each other’s hands, a shiver ran through Tobias, making him forget about airplanes and bird poses.
With their hands joined, Tobias straightened his legs until Chase’s body hovered parallel above his own, their hands gripped between them as Chase held a plank pose.
It took all of Tobias’ focus to avoid eye contact, until Chase asked if he was okay.
His breath whooshed out of him and his legs bent under Chase’s weight, Chase’s body slipping between Tobias’ legs until he lay flat on top of him, their eyes both wide as Chase hovered inches above him.
Tobias tried, but he couldn’t remember how to breathe, too lost in Chase’s brown irises to remember how to do anything. Too busy counting the slightly lighter brown lines running through them.
“Great try, Tobias and Chase,” a voice broke out from the computer screen Tobias had completely forgotten about. “You guys okay?”
Chase hurried off of Tobias like he was on fire, and Tobias immediately missed his weight, like a warm blanket someone ripped away.
“Yeah, all good. Just slipped,” Chase said, his face growing redder.
The next pose involved Chase facing the other direction but still balancing on Tobias’ feet, and Tobias thanked the yoga gods he wouldn’t be distracted by those soulful eyes of his.
They worked harder to maintain their balance since they couldn’t hold each other’s hands in this pose.
The fact his heels were now digging into Chase’s perky ass as he lifted Chase above him made it worse.
Chase gripped Tobias’ ankles for stability and Tobias swore he could feel every centimeter of skin Chase touched.
The rest of the webinar went smoother, as the remaining poses involved Chase facing in directions that didn’t involve him staring directly into the depths of Tobias’ being.
By the time they’d finished, Tobias fidgeted like Madison after a pack of Fun Dip. Only the reminder they were on camera kept him from reaching out to Chase in a completely inappropriate way. It also did a hell of a job keeping him from sporting an erection he’d have no chance at hiding.
Chase, apparently, wasn’t ready to quit for the day.
“Do you think we could try bird pose again but with me as the base?”
“You think you can lift me?” Tobias asked, and winced at the glare turned on him.
“You think I can’t? I’m stronger than I look, boss,” he said as he got on his mat and settled on his back, his legs in the air. “C’mon, I’ll prove it.”
Tobias shook his head as he moved to stand at the base of his hips. Chase settled his feet on Tobias’ hips and Tobias began to lean forward. Chase’s pose was strong, not buckling under Tobias’ weight… yet.
When Tobias pushed forward enough they could grip their hands together, a fire lit in Chase’s stare, filled with determination to nail the move.
With their hands connected, Chase straightened his legs, and Tobias hovered over Chase. It wasn’t often people lifted Tobias in the air like this, and he couldn’t help but chuckle.
The sound had Chase’s gaze snapping to Tobias’, his brows furrowing, and they did nothing but stare at each other for a long moment.
A smug grin took over Chase’s face. “I told you I’m stronger than I look.”
Tobias’ gaze dipped, taking in Chase’s solid body before meeting his gaze again.
“I never said you weren’t. You look plenty strong to me.”
Chase’s eyes widened and his knees started to bend, but he continued to pull Tobias forward. As Tobias’ body lowered, Chase slid his feet wider, and Tobias slid between his legs, landing softly on top of him. No one watched them anymore and no interruptions were coming this time.
Should I kiss him?
‘I mean, I would.’
What if he doesn’t want to?
‘He’s looking into your eyes like he wants it.’
But it could ruin everything.
‘Do it anyway.’
Tobias couldn’t think of a counterargument, and he closed the space between them, his lips meeting Chase’s softly, his whole body warming at the touch.
Their hands were still gripping each other, as if they both knew the moment would end if they dared let go. Chase inhaled deeply against Tobias, who had just parted his lips when Tobias’ phone began to blare, echoing in the empty gym.
Tobias flinched and pulled away from Chase, leaving Chase gobsmacked on the mat as Tobias ran for his phone. It was sitting on the ledge with his computer, the screen showing his mom calling.
Answering felt like a bucket of ice water was dumped over his head.
“Mom? Is everything okay?”
“Of course,” Grace answered. “Madison and I took a trip to the store together and I wanted to check if you needed anything while we were out.”
His heart would have settled at the relief in confirming Madison’s well-being if it wasn’t still racing from his kiss with Chase.
Holy shit. I kissed Chase.
Tobias spun back around. Chase sat upright on his mat, staring off into space and gently touching his fingers to his lips.
Fuck. What if Chase freaked out and quit on him?
His stomach dropped as he turned over all of the possible consequences in his head.
“Tobias? Are you there?”
“Yeah, I’m—” Tobias cleared his throat before he could continue, and Chase’s gaze sprung to him, worry written all over his face. “I’m good. I don’t need anything.”
Except maybe a diagram to figure out what the hell he should do now.
Tobias ended the call with Grace and pocketed his phone.
He’d never been more afraid to hear someone’s thoughts, so he decided to play it off like nothing.
“Uh, listen,” he started, but didn’t get to finish because Chase shot off the floor in a rush and talked a mile a minute.
“Don’t worry about it, boss. It was just a slip. We don’t have to make it a big thing. It’s probably the adrenaline of the seminar, so we can totally forget all about it.”
Tobias was torn. He didn’t want to forget. The kiss had ignited something in him that had long been dormant. But this was his employee, and this business was where he felt the most in control of his life, so he couldn’t risk that either.
Still, he spoke before his brain could stop him.
“Are you sure that’s what you want?”
Chase peered at him, searching for who knew what, and gave him a firm nod.
“Yeah, I think it’s best,” Chase said, his typical confidence nowhere in sight, and that was a knife to Tobias’ gut.
“We’ve got the kids’ classes starting up and I’m sure you have to train for the alumni game.
We don’t have time for anything else so we should focus on the business. Keep this professional.”
“Okay, then that’s what we’ll do.”
Tobias swallowed his regret and tried to mentally rebuild the wall he used to keep people at arm’s length.
But brick by brick, Chase continued to knock it down.