Parker took a deep breath and let it out slowly, choosing to focus on the yoga instructor as he obstinately ignored the sexy woman at his side.
He’d deal with any remaining hard-on when he got home. Right now, he’d stick to the mission. All he was hired to do was organize a fucking dream date, nothing more, nothing less. It was up to the people involved to make the rest of the decisions. Their life, their choices.
But hell if he didn’t want to make some choices that involved putting a smile on Lynn’s face and seeing those gorgeous eyes light up with passion.
“Sweet mother of pearl, that was the best yoga sesh on the planet,” Suz raved as the two women strode toward Lynn’s car. “Did you see those biceps? And the totally lickable tattoo on his shoulder? And those washboard abs? Holy moly, if I were a pioneer woman I would have washed my clothes on those abs, and I might not even have taken them off first.”
Suz gave an exaggerated shiver, which brought a grin to Lynn’s lips. Truth was, she couldn’t argue with a single thing her friend had said. And…well, maybe her body was experiencing a few shivers of its own.
Because damn. Today’s hot yoga class gave new meaning to the words hot yoga. It was a miracle she’d managed to execute each move without falling on her butt, what with her peripheral vision being glued to the sexy newcomer for the entire hour-long workout.
Lynn had seen plenty of attractive men walk through the doors of the Serenity Studio, but she could honestly say she’d never ogled a single one of them—until today.
Lord, the man had been delicious. Long, hard body rippling with muscles that looked to be carved out of stone. His scruffy dark-blond hair made her fingers tingle with the urge to stroke it, and those eyes…the most vivid shade of green she’d ever seen, like dark moss growing in a lush rainforest. His position had given her tons of time to admire the tattoo on his rock-solid right biceps. The banner at the top was so real every time he flexed it looked as if he were waving Rangers in the wind. Below was a lion head with bared teeth, ready to take a bite out of her.
She shivered at the decadent thought of exactly where she’d like to be bitten.
“And a soldier, to boot.” Suz was still gushing. “You know what a big supporter of the military I am.”
“You should have gotten his number.” Lynn clicked the car remote to unlock the trunk. “Actually, I’m kind of surprised you didn’t.”
She leaned in to stow her workout duffel and waited for her friend to follow suit, but Suz stayed rooted in place, still gripping the strap of her bag.
It took a second to realize the blonde was staring. Gaping, as if Lynn had shaved her head and grown a mustache in the past ten seconds.
“What?”
Suz burst out laughing. “Oh, man. You’re so clueless it’s almost kinda cute.”
Lynn narrowed her eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“Hon, the reason I didn’t get his number is because he wasn’t interested in me. He was interested in you.”
Lynn froze. Forced a hasty laugh of her own. “No, he wasn’t. He was being friendly.”
“Uh-huh, sure, if your definition of friendly involves undressing someone with their eyes while trying to hide a very impressive boner. At the beginning I worried he might be gay—I mean, what straight guy literally stops in his tracks to smell the roses?—but once I saw that hard-on, I knew exactly what team he played for. And who he wanted to play with.” Grinning, Suz tossed her yoga bag in the trunk and headed for the passenger side.
After a beat, Lynn shut the trunk and hopped into the driver’s seat, doing her best to ignore her friend’s evident amusement.
“By the way? He was totally waiting for you to ask him out,” Suz said as Lynn started the car. “I think he would have made the first move if you hadn’t been sending out taken vibes.”
“I wasn’t sending out any vibes,” Lynn protested.
And certainly not taken ones, she decided not to add. No, because she didn’t feel taken at the moment. She felt betrayed.
But she wasn’t ready to tell Suz what she’d overheard in Dana’s office earlier. Her best friend had made her opinion of Phil more than clear. Suz wouldn’t stop at launching into another Phil Sucks speech if she knew what Lynn suspected—she’d go to physical violence.
Girls who grew up in the midst of lots of brothers leaned heavily toward bursts of rage, or so Suz had professed.
Nope. Lynn had enough doubts about Phil that she was ready to call things off. But Dana Hastings had a reputation for spreading lies around the office. For all Lynn knew, Dana hadn’t even been on the phone with Phil. Maybe she’d been aware all along that Lynn was under the table and had simply been trying to mess with her the way she messed with everybody.