He turned her again so that they were facing each other, but he did not release her. Her arms came up to his shoulders to steady herself. Tiffany was breathing heavily from the exertion—or was it the close proximity to Ivan? She honestly didn’t know.
“Thank you for showing me that technique. You must be good at a lot of these.”
He chuckled. “I’ve had a great deal of practice over the years.”
Tiffany’s eyes met his. A warm heat spread from the lower half of her body upward. Her voice was barely above a whisper when she said, “I’ll bet.”
His eyes darkened instantly. Tiffany was too caught up in the sudden predatory gleam in his eye to move. Mortified at her own words, she blushed. “What I meant was...”
“You didn’t mean to give me a compliment?” he asked.
“No, I was...just not like that.”
Ivan lowered his arms, and she was free. Tiffany felt the rush of space between them. It was hard not to protest at the loss of warmth from his embrace.
“How about I walk you out?”
“Sure.”
He escorted her to her car and made sure she was inside and settled. He sat back on his haunches so they were eye level.
“Thanks again for coming.”
“My pleasure.”
“Good night, Tiffany. Ring me one when you get home so that I know you’re safe.”
She looked surprised. “Oh, sure.”
He stood up, tapped her door, and then moved back. Tiffany waved and drove away.
She decided to take the long way home to give herself some time to process what had happened after their exercise class. Out of the blue, their light, jovial manner had changed to something thick, tangible and most definitely sexual.
Recalling their conversation sent tingles throughout her body. She had never been that suggestive before, but being alone with Ivan after such a hands-on type of class made the nerve endings in her body go supercharged. She could feel an undercurrent. His amber eyes reminded her of a tiger’s, making her wonder if there were a few seconds before being devoured that the jungle cat’s prey stood mesmerized by the sheer hypnotic effect of its golden gaze.
The feeling was similar to observing one of her favorite paintings. The longer she stared at it, the more she wanted to stare.
When she was wrapped in Ivan’s ironclad embrace, the only thing on her mind was that she wanted him to kiss her. Not the quick peck on the lips, but the most thorough, deep, erotic kiss she’d ever had in her life.
* * *
As Ivan drove home, he thought about his evening. He had enjoyed teaching the seniors’ class—and spending time with Tiffany.
Who are you kidding? It’s the most fun you’ve had in a while.
He thought about the gleam in Tiffany’s eyes when she took him down for the first time. There was such a sense of accomplishment and confidence in her expression that he had to chuckle. Before she got back to business, she took a victory lap around the class that reminded him of Sylvester Stallone jumping up and down in triumph in the movie Rocky. She was something else.
He also recounted their playful banter and how, seconds later, it took everything in him not to grab her and claim her sexy mouth for a searing kiss. His body reacted instantly to the memory of how good she looked. Suddenly uncomfortable at the tightness below his waist, Ivan shifted a few times in his seat.
His cell phone rang. Thankful for the distraction, Ivan answered. “Hey, Cole. What’s up?”
“You done with class?”
“Yeah, why?”
“How about dinner at Giordano’s?”
“Sure. I’ll get us a table.”
Ivan arrived and ordered a beer. As he sipped it, he thought about his social life. GiGi was right. It was pretty boring. It was all work and family obligations. Not that he would ever shirk one of his responsibilities. Ivan was overzealous when it came to doing what was expected of him. The army had amplified that mantra. Still, there was more out there, and it was passing him by.
His thoughts strayed to Debra. Pain and remorse wrapped themselves around his heart like a vise grip.
“You’re scaring potential dates off,” Cole greeted him, sitting down.
Ivan pushed away the melancholy. “I’ll do my best.”
Since they already knew the menu, they ordered a deep-dish pizza with everything on it.
“So how was class?” Cole asked after their server left.
“Good. Tiffany was a fantastic assistant,” he said proudly. “You should’ve seen her.”
“Tiffany helped teach your class? As in, ‘she’s my client,’ Tiffany?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to that whole rule thing?”
“Technically, she’s not my client anymore,” Ivan pointed out.
“Great. Does that mean you’re going to ask her out?”
Ivan was silent.
“Don’t even try to convince me that you don’t want to. You should’ve seen your face when you described your evening. I thought you were going to need a towel to wipe the drool.”
Ivan grinned and took another sip of beer. “Shut up.”
“Dude, tell me I’m wrong,” Cole countered. “I don’t know why you’re trying to act like you aren’t attracted to her.”
“That’s not what I’m doing. In fact—”
Cole sat back in his chair. “Then what are you doing, Ivan?” He interrupted. “I’ve seen her. The woman is seriously working the hotness factor. Plus, she’s warm, funny and for whatever reason likes you. You scowl all the time, have no sense of humor and no love life. Why all that drives women out of their panties, I’ll never know.”
Ivan glanced over at his brother. “Wait...how do you know she likes me?”
Cole shook his head. “You’re pathetic.”
“What?”
“How is it you can hear a grenade pin being pulled from twenty clicks away, you’re a weapon unto yourself, an expert strategist, and can speak not one, but several languages in addition to English, but something as rudimentary as a woman who can’t keep her eyes off you goes poof...right over your head?”
“Okay, it’s not twenty clicks, and you have two seconds to answer the question,” Ivan warned.
Cole took a pull on the beer he had been given. “In that whole list of stuff, that’s all you got out of it?”
Ivan stared at him.
Cole shook his head. “It’s how she looks at you when she thinks nobody is looking, Ivan. She hangs on your every word, and the most telling sign was when you arrived late the other night and she thought you weren’t coming. She looked like someone had kicked her puppy.”
Ivan took a breath, then said, “Earlier this afternoon, we almost kissed.”
Cole leaned back in his chair with a shocked but satisfied grin. “Tell me everything.”
Ivan filled his brother in on his day and the connection he felt with Tiffany. Cole listened intently. When Ivan was finished, Cole said,