Total pages in book: 14
Estimated words: 12956 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 65(@200wpm)___ 52(@250wpm)___ 43(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 12956 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 65(@200wpm)___ 52(@250wpm)___ 43(@300wpm)
He’d helped me limp into the kitchen and perch on a stool at the counter with my leg propped on the stool next to mine. Thankfully, I felt noticeably better today and like I could get by on over-the-counter pain meds instead of the heavier stuff.
“I don’t want to put you out,” I said. “But, um, yeah? I mean, if you want? I’d rather hang out with you than be alone.” The last thing I wanted to do was dwell on my own foolishness this past week, never mind face the looming reality about my job situation.
Besides which, Dallas’s presence was simply… comforting. He was a great listener. He had an amazing sense of humor. And he watched me in a way that wasn’t quite “I wanna dick you down” but wasn’t “I want to assess your vital signs” either. It made me feel protected and cosseted and cared for. Noticed.
Despite my resolution to swear off men and begin focusing on other things, I couldn’t help but want more.
Dallas looked up at me with a big smile. “Great. Same. I wanted to ask you more about your yoga classes, too.”
He grabbed a whisk and beat the eggs with quiet competence. My gaze locked on his big, strong fingers, and I shivered, remembering the night before and how he’d clasped my hand in his before he’d pressed it to his lips.
I couldn’t help wanting more of that either.
I cleared my throat. “Yes. Sure. Yoga classes. How can I help?”
“I haven’t been able to find a place here in Aster Valley that has what I want, and I thought maybe you knew of some online classes I could check out.”
My heartbeat ramped up. “I teach online classes.”
Dallas’s eyes widened. “No way. You’ll have to share a link so I can check them out.”
As he cooked breakfast, I told him about SocialAdrenaline and the content creation I did outside of my day job. He asked a ton of questions, and as soon as he moved us to the table to eat, he pulled out his phone to look it up.
“This looks amazing. I’ve heard of the app, but I didn’t realize it had yoga content.”
I told him about meeting Rocco in the content creator forum and how the forum had been invaluable for helping me launch my SocialAdrenaline platform.
“You have a bunch of followers, BJ. Could you do it full-time?” he asked. “Replace your income from the resort, I mean?”
I admitted that I’d been thinking about it but would need to run the numbers and make an actual business plan. Dallas’s eyes lit up. “Can I help? We can do it today if you want. I helped my friend Jamie do the same for his freelance writing business a few months ago. I have a finance degree with a minor in entrepreneurship from CSU. I think I’d go crazy stuck inside every day at a corporate job, but I love tackling this kind of thing for fun.”
I looked at him like he was crazy. “For fun? That side of things intimidates the hell out of me. I never went to college or anything. For me, it’s all about the yoga. Helping people feel better.”
Dallas reached over and squeezed my arm. “That’s why it’s better doing it with friends. I don’t have the creative, social side of things. So if you bring that to the table and I bring the analytic money stuff… we’ll make a good team.” His cheeks turned pink as if the thought of us partnering together for this business planning was somehow intimate.
Over the course of the day, though, I quickly learned it was intimate.
Sharing my personal financial details with him—like income, expenses, debt, and retirement plans—was nerve-racking, not to mention sharing my goals for the future, but he was supersweet during the whole thing and helped enter the information into a massive spreadsheet on his laptop.
The day before, I’d teased him about acting like he knew me well, but it almost felt like he did. He asked insightful questions, and we brainstormed ideas. I showed him through the app itself and the process of creating a content segment from start to finish. As soon as I mentioned some of the other ways SocialAdrenaline content creators monetized their content, he got even more excited and added tabs to his master spreadsheet.
Time passed quickly. We alternated periods of laughter and teasing with focus and determination. When I noticed him massaging his traps, I showed him some stretches I’d found helpful and corrected his form. Whenever I got uncomfortable sitting in one spot, he quickly noticed and helped me move somewhere else for a while.
Which was how we ended up both sitting on my bed in the late afternoon. The sun slanted in through the bedroom window and laid golden stripes across his face and hair. I’d already acknowledged to myself he was a beautiful bear of a man, someone I’d love to have a crush on if I hadn’t given up men in a huff before yesterday’s accident.