slowly turned to face Holden and did my best not to drown in his baby blues staring down at me or fall under the spell of his magnetism. This was the man that had ignored me for years, and even now was continuing to ignore me by not answering the door when I knew he was home. I crossed my arms defensively, trying to protect myself from his all-consuming appeal. It didn’t work.
My entire body was tingled with awareness as I cleared my throat. “I didn’t peg you for a Sunset Bay fan.”
“Sunset Bay?” His brow furrowed. “I’m not.”
“Then what were you talking to Mrs. Nelson about?”
“Her granddaughter Alexis. Before class I overheard that she’s in a coma, she just had a baby, and her husband is cheating on her with the nurse.”
He was keeping such a straight face that I couldn’t tell if he was kidding or not. When I noted the empathy and concern brimming from his aqua gaze, I knew that I had to set him straight.
I couldn’t help but smile at his naïveté. “Mrs. Nelson’s granddaughter Sasha is on the soap opera Sunset Bay. I don’t watch the show, but I’m guessing that her character Alexis Bloom had a baby, is in a coma, and her husband is cheating on her with a nurse.”
Holden stared at me for a moment before he closed his eyes and his head dropped back. I couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled up inside of me even as I noticed just how freaking sexy his Adam’s apple was. It didn’t help that it sat dead center of a wide, masculine neck that was framed by a strong stubble-covered jaw.
My palms itched to reach up and touch his face, but I forced myself to fight against the delicious temptation.
When he lifted his head, he wore a wide smile that stole the breath from my lungs. It had been so long since I’d seen him smile like that and I’d forgotten the potency of it.
“You should do that more often.”
“Make an ass of myself?”
“Yes,” I chuckled. “That too. But I was talking about smiling.”
He didn’t take my advice. In fact, he did the opposite. The corners of his lips immediately dropped and I knew that I’d put my foot in my mouth. I hadn’t meant to point it out, it was just that around Holden, I’d never had a filter. I said what was on my mind. It had always been that way.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to—”
“Don’t,” he cut me off, looking even more serious than he had before.
“Don’t what?” I was starting to feel like everything I said to Holden was wrong. Maybe that was why he’d stopped talking to me in the first place.
“Don’t apologize. You have nothing to apologize for. Not to me. Ever.”
I sensed a weight to his statement that I didn’t quite understand. What did he mean I didn’t have to apologize to him? There was something I was missing, a piece of the puzzle that I didn’t have. And I was done trying to figure out the riddle that was our relationship without it.
“What do you mean? Why would you sa—” My phone buzzed, interrupting what I was sure would have been an epic rant, and I pulled it out of my bag. It was my mom. If it was anyone else, I would’ve ignored it, but it wasn’t, so I picked up.
“Hey, Mom.”
“Hi, sweetie pie! I’m stuck in traffic and I’m not going to be back in time for Tutus and Tap. Can you cover it?”
Tutus and Tap was one of my favorite classes to teach at Simply Dance. I loved the three-to-four year old age group. But the last thing I wanted to do right now was cut my conversation with Holden short to go teach it, however, I didn’t have a choice. “Sure. I’m just finishing up yoga. I’ll head right over.”
“Thanks! Love you.”
“Love you.”
I disconnected the phone and looked back at Holden.
“That was a great class.” He grinned tightly before turning and walking toward the door.
I wanted to stop him. There were so many things I wanted to say to him, but I knew that now wasn’t the time, so I just replied, “Thanks.”
He stopped in the doorway and looked over his shoulder. “I loved seeing you in your element. You are…magic.”
Then he was gone.
I stood there, speechless. My mind was racing trying to process what had just transpired.
Had Holden Reed really just called me magic?
Magic?
What does that mean?
I had no idea…but I