Fanning the Biker's Flame - Piper Davenport Page 0,4

biggest fan of kids. I, on the other hand, adored kids. I wanted six of my own, which usually made Jane break out in hives anytime I mentioned it.

She and her husband, Frederick, had been married for two years and both had decided not to have kids, so she was living her best life. Of course, I thought Frederick was a dick, but I kept that opinion to myself and tried to be as cordial as I could when I was in his presence. I’d done my best to point out the red flags when they were dating. She ignored every single one, so now that they were married, I shut my mouth and did my best to keep my opinions to myself.

Of course, when Frederick and I were alone for any amount of time, I was pretty open with my disdain and he delivered the same back to me.

“Don’t you have a kitchen to fix?” she continued.

“The guy came by to check it out and is going to get back to me with the numbers. You know how contractors are. It’ll take a while, and I need to make some money.”

“With children?” she scoffed.

“Definitely.” I glanced around the room. “Look at all of the cuteness, Janey. They’re adorable.”

“How did I let you rope me into this?” she grumbled.

“You love me, and it gets butts on mats, that’s how. It’s the perfect marketing plan.”

“At what cost?” she cried, dramatically.

I grinned. “Move your bootie, chickadee. We’ve got a class to teach.”

“I swear if one of those gremlins pukes on me, I’m going to hurl in your direction.”

“When has a kid ever puked on you?” I challenged as we made our way to the check-in desk.

“Kids puke. It’s a fact. I’m preemptively warning you.”

I rolled my eyes. “You do check-in, I’ll help herd the masses.”

“Deal.”

As Jane stood at the front desk and helped navigate new students through the check-in process, I helped everyone find mats and props.

“I’m Kinsey, and this is my bestie, Alfie,” a pretty little girl said, reaching her hand out to me.

“Well, hi there, Kinsey. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Posey.”

“Kins, how about you and Alfie help Posey?” Kinsey’s mom, Quinlan, suggested.

I knew Quinlan from high school. She was a senior as I came in as a freshman and she’d been my student mentor. She was the nicest person I’d ever met, but we’d lost touch when she’d married her first husband, so when I saw her name on the sign-up sheet, I was excited to see her again.

I grinned as the girls helped pass things out to people, and we almost ran out of mats. Luckily, one of Quin’s friends, Lyric I think her name was, had brought her own, so we squeaked by, but I made a mental note to order more to be safe.

“Welcome, everyone,” I said, doing my best not to yell too aggressively over the crowd. “Jane and I are so glad you’re here. We’re going to start the class with some stretches. I’ll come around and help your kiddos while Jane demonstrates on the dais. Ready?”

The group gave an affirmative ‘Yes,’ and Jane started her routine.

For the next hour, I got more of a workout than most of the class as I helped moms show their kids how to do the beginner poses while trying to wrangle the younger ones.

Particularly, the cutest pair of twins I’d ever seen.

“Jesus,” their mom hissed under her breath. “Chloe, Nix, come here.”

The twins squealed and ran the opposite way while I tried to bite back a smile.

“I’m so sorry. They’re terrorists,” she complained.

I chuckled, catching Phoenix as he ran past me, and lifting him high as he let out a howl of laughter. “Gotcha.”

Olivia caught Chloe and closed the distance between us. “I think we should call it a day.”

I shrugged. “I can carry him around for a bit if you want to try again.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely,” I said. “I love babies.”

“Your funeral.”

I chuckled and we worked on the next set of poses with Olivia holding Chloe. Phoenix was content being carried around the room for approximately six minutes, then he decided he was over it all. Luckily, the class was pretty much over, so I handed him back to his mom and we started cool down.

“Good job, everyone,” I called out once we were done. “Please make sure you get some water if you don’t already have some. Jane will be available for sign ups and has class schedules at the front desk.”

“Mama,” Kinsey said