“No one is weaseling anything,” Beckett growled.
“Are you sure you want to put yourself in the middle of this mess, Gia?” Carter asked with a grin.
“Oh, I’m looking forward to this,” she said with an easy smile. She felt Beckett’s gaze on her and continued to ignore him. “I set you three up here next to each other. But if you can’t behave, I’ll separate you,” she warned them.
“Why’s it hot in here?” Jax asked.
“This is a hot yoga class,” Gia said innocently. “You don’t mind, do you?”
“Piece of cake,” Jax said, with a wave of his hand. His gaze darted to Beckett. “Exactly how hot does it get in here?” he whispered to his brother.
Carter stripped off his sweatshirt and smiled at her. “I thought I’d ask you if you wanted to bring the kids by again soon to ride the horses. Franklin said they were pretty excited about seeing them this weekend.”
“That’s a very sweet offer,” Gia said. “Is it bribery?”
“Yes, but you can still bring them over if I don’t win.” His drop dead gorgeous grin told Gia that Carter was used to getting his way.
“Here,” Jax said, grasping her hand. “I brought you this.” He dropped a shiny red apple into her palm.
“An apple for the teacher,” Gia laughed. “You’re a sneaky one.”
He winked at her. “You’re damn right.”
“Gianna —” Beckett tried once again to get her attention, but he was elbowed out of the way by Jax as his brother headed toward his mat.
The rest of the Gia’s Tuesday night regulars began to trickle in and prevented Beckett from getting close enough to have that conversation he seemed to so desperately want. If he was as competitive as his brothers, she could only imagine the apology he had planned. Sincere with just enough flattery to give him a leg up in the competition.
It gave her a sinful tingle of pleasure to know that his plan wasn’t working.
Bill Fitzsimmons scurried in and waved to her. He was a strange little man, but an excellent student. Although, she wouldn’t complain if he stopped wearing those tiny little shorts to class. He shook hands with each of the Pierce brothers and rolled out his mat next to Carter.
She watched Carter’s face as Fitz took off his sweatpants with a flourish. Gia had to cover her mouth and look away when the look of revulsion washed over his face. Carter slapped Jax on the shoulder and both of them stared in horror as Fitz began his warm up stretches in his tiny yoga briefs.
“Dude,” Jax hissed at Fitz. “You can’t wear that here. There are ladies present.”
“And people with eyes,” Carter added.
Fitz chuckled and ignored them. He spread his legs wide for a stretch and Jax gagged.
Gia bit her lip to keep from laughing. She glanced at Beckett and found him paying no attention to the Fitz show. He was watching her. She met his gaze and held it. The intensity in those gray eyes seared her to the bone. Want and frustration simmered between them in a silent, solid connection.
The spell was broken when the football players showed up, each giving her a fist bump as they passed.
When Gia dared spare another glance at Beckett, he had been dragged into a heated conversation with his brothers and Jax was gesturing wildly at Fitz.
Taneisha, stunning in purple capris and a filmy white tank, paused by Gia’s mat. “Beckett’s back?” she whispered, her perfectly groomed eyebrows winging up. “I thought he was going to need CPR after the last class.”
“He and his brothers are settling some kind of competition here.”
Taneisha rolled her eyes. “They do this periodically. Once in high school they battled it out to see who could eat the most tacos.”
“Who won?”
“Jax with twenty-four.”
“Impressive,” Gia laughed. “Let’s just hope they didn’t do any competitive eating before this class.”
She hid a chuckle when Taneisha set up her mat as far away from the Pierces as possible. “Splatter zone,” she mouthed to Gia.
After another few minutes, Gia got the class started with some gentle forward bends and easy rounds of sun salutation. She kept an eye on the Pierces, making sure they were keeping up and moving safely through the poses.
As she wandered past them in warrior one, she heard Jax mutter “Piece of cake.”
Gia grinned wickedly. “Okay, now that we’re warmed up let’s flow.”
She ran them through another dozen sun salutations. By the fourth one, Jax was sweating. By the sixth, all three of them had followed Fitz’s lead and shucked off their shirts. On the next salutation, she had to step in to start making adjustments.
She squared off Carter’s hips in warrior one and made Jax tremble when she made him bring his knees off the ground in the up dog flow. “Piece of cake, right?” She winked.