Fall Into Temptation (Blue Moon #2) (6 page)

It would have been even better now that Jax was home again. But neither of his brothers seemed to be interested in the threat Franklin posed to their family. In fact, they probably weren’t even aware that it was their father’s birthday and he wasn’t going to be the one to remind them.

It was up to him to carry on his father’s memory and that’s just what he would do.

Their mother had never joined them on the bluff and Beckett wondered what she had done in years past to remember the husband she had loved so fiercely. He always made it a point to call her or take her to lunch on his father’s birthday. Every year except this one.

He allowed that thought to eat at him until he closed the office down. He took off his tie and pulled on a lightweight sweater over his button down.

In his refrigerator he grabbed a six-pack and avoided looking into the backyard from any of the windows.

Beckett took his time driving out to the family farm. As often as he visited, the drive today always held a special solemnity. It was a somber tradition cloaked in stubbornness. It was Beckett’s way of refusing to forget, to let time mellow and dull his memories.

Tonight, he would drink a toast to his father, very likely alone. But with or without his brothers, he would remember. He would carry on. Great men didn’t just vanish from the world. They lived on in memory and tradition.

Beckett passed the farm’s drive and instead turned onto the lane that wound around to the stables. It wasn’t any faster this way, but at least he could avoid the farmhouse and its occupants. He followed the trail behind the barn and hung a right at the fork, bumping along the trail flanked by fence posts and fields.

When he rounded a copse of trees, he stopped, surprised to find three figures in his headlights.

Beckett turned off the ignition and slid out of the driver seat.

“About damn time,” Jax called out.

His brothers were kicked back, beers in hand, in two of the four lawn chairs set up on the ridge facing west.

The third figure wandered toward him. Phoebe smiled sadly and opened her arms to him. What had been a dull throb in his chest bloomed into full-blown pain.

Beckett walked into his mother’s arms, tucking her under his chin and holding her close. “Mom.” It was all he could think to say. In all of his years observing this sunset ritual, his mother had never joined him.

“This is the first year I’ve been strong enough, happy enough to come out here to remember him this way.” She sighed into Beckett’s chest.

“Where’s Franklin? And Summer?” he asked.

“They’re back at the house. They wanted to give us Pierces some privacy,” she said, looking up at him, her eyes misty behind her glasses.

He was an asshole. An overgrown, immature, pathetic asshole,
Beckett decided
.

Maybe, just maybe, the man he’d been blaming for fading his father’s memory was actually somehow making it more vibrant for his mother.

And the brothers he’d thought had forgotten had beaten him to it.

He draped an arm over his mother’s shoulders and walked her back to the chairs.

Wordlessly, Carter handed him a beer. Beckett took a seat between his brothers and they all sat in silence, lost in their own memories as the sky went pink and orange.

“Remember that time Dad brought home the three-legged cat he found on the side of the road?” Jax asked, breaking the silence as the sun slipped behind the trees.

“Good old Tripod. He always did have a soft spot for strays.” Carter grinned.

The sound of his mother’s laugh was balm to Beckett’s heart.

G
ia was feeling decidedly
un-yoga-like. She’d considered pawning off her Pierce brother yoga competition judging to Destiny. But that was too cowardly.

Beckett’s blow-up at the gym the previous morning had taken her by surprise. And, if she was being honest with herself, hurt. The last time they’d seen each other, he’d almost kissed her.

But it was a completely different Beckett Pierce that had coldly accused her — and her father — of essentially trespassing in his home, his town, his family. The volatility had seemed wildly out of character. Granted, she didn’t know him very well and he could very well be a closet temper-tantrum-thrower, but somehow she didn’t think so.

Beckett was beloved in this town and one didn’t earn that esteem by lashing out and throwing hissy fits. She sighed. She didn’t have time to crack the enigma that was Beckett Pierce.

It was just the universe’s way of reminding her to stay focused on her kids and her new business,
Gia decided.

She padded across the studio to roll out three mats for the Pierces. She’d put them in the middle row so they could follow what the front row was doing without hiding in the back.

She placed yoga blocks next to each mat and then inventoried the water in the little cooler against the wall. If Beckett’s reaction to his first class was any indication, his brothers would need some serious rehydration, too.

She felt a wicked little smile play on her lips. It might be a little fun to torture the Pierces.

Gia checked that the heaters were cranked and the temperature in the studio was steadily rising. A glance at the clock told her she still had a few minutes before her early birds would show up, which meant Beckett wouldn’t be far behind.

The nerves in her belly fluttered to life.

She, Gianna Rose Decker, was nervous about seeing a man. And not a sexy, intimidating Hollywood star-type man. Just a regular ol’ normal hot guy next-door type. A regular ol’ unpredictable hot guy next-door type.

Ugh.

A nice headstand sequence would calm her she decided, bringing her hand to her unsettled stomach. She returned to her mat at the front of the room. Distributing her weight between her forearms and the top of her head, Gia let her legs slowly float up one at a time stretching toward the ceiling.

It was a graceful move that gave no hint at the core strength it took to achieve.

It had taken her a full year of relentless practice to nail this level of headstand. It was a solid reminder of what hard work and focus could bring to life. And that’s exactly what she would do here in Blue Moon. Work hard and focus.

She let her body and breath lead her brain to quiet.

She could do this. She would do this.

The studio door opened and Gia’s eyes fluttered open. Even upside down Beckett was a heartbreaker. She took her time lowering her toes to the floor and coming out of the pose, hoping the longer she stalled, the less time they’d be alone.

She came to her feet. Even though their height difference was comical, she didn’t want to face him sitting down.

“I hope you don’t mind that I came a little early,” Beckett said, his hands shoved in the pocket of his hoodie. His dark hair was perfectly tousled; black gym shorts accented his long, muscular legs. Energy-wise, he was the opposite of the angry man in the gym yesterday. Calm and a little cautious today. He let his gym bag slide to the floor, nudged it with his foot.

Gia turned away from him and busied herself with rearranging the foam blocks on the shelving unit. “It’s no problem. You can start warming up,” she told him, pointing toward the empty mats.

“Actually, I was hoping I could talk to you for a —”

The studio door opened again and Jax and Carter entered.

“I told you he’d weasel in here early and try to earn brownie points,” Jax said to Carter.

“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.

“Oh dear God,” he whimpered as a bead of sweat dripped off his nose.

Beckett seemed to be faring a little better, so on the last sun salutation she had the class hold chair pose. The groans were music to her ears. “That’s right. Sink lower into your hips,” she said, placing her hands on Beckett’s hips guiding him to lower.

“Good,” she smiled when she felt his legs begin to shake. “Now straighten your arms.” She skimmed her hands up his arms until they reached straight for the ceiling. “Engage here,” she said, dancing her fingers over his trapezius muscles.

His breath was coming in short gasps now. “Keep your arms reaching up but lower your shoulders.” She tried to keep the smile out of her tone, but knew she failed when he shot her a glare around his shaky arm.

She heard a couple of groans echo around the room and knew they’d all had enough torture. “Great job. Let’s fold forward and shake it out.”

The groans of agony turned to sighs of relief, at least until she announced that hip openers were next.

* * *

C
lass ended
with the Pierce brothers in sweaty heaps on their mats.

“I feel like I got hit by a meteor,” Jax whispered into his mat. “A really hot one.”

“I feel like a rubber band that was stretched until it tore in half and now it’s completely useless,” Carter sighed.

Beckett, still sprawled across his mat with his eyes closed, grinned. “I feel like a wet washcloth that was wrung out and thrown on the floor.”

“I’m so glad we didn’t let the girls come tonight.” Carter rolled onto his side.

“Summer and Joey wanted to come?” Gia asked, as she picked up the mat sanitizer.

“They would never let us live this down. They’d be looming over us taking pictures for Blue Moon Gossip or
The Monthly Moon
,” Beckett guessed.

Gia thought it wise not to mention the fact that she’d seen both Fitz and Taneisha whip out their phones after class.

“How do people just get up and walk out of here?” Jax asked, opening an eye to watch the football players bounce out with as much energy as when they arrived.

Gia dropped a cold water bottle in front of each of their mats. “It gets easier,” she promised.

Beckett dragged himself into a seated position and swiped the bottle over his sweaty forehead. “Thank you,” he said, before guzzling the contents.

“That Fitz is one flexible freak,” Carter groaned, trying to work his way into a seated position.

“The image of him in that yoga diaper is going to haunt me for the rest of my life,” Jax said, covering his eyes.

“Gia, I swear, next poker night we’re going to talk to him about his yoga wardrobe,” Carter promised. “I had no idea he was inflicting this kind of visual abuse on your class.”

“And, Gia, I promise you that I’m going to clean this up, but I have to do this. I can’t stop smelling myself.” Jax promptly dumped the bottle of water over his head.

“Jesus, Hollywood,” Beckett said, slapping his brother on the back of the head.

“He needed to do it,” Carter argued. “I wouldn’t have let him in the truck smelling like that.”

“Get a freaking towel at least.” Beckett threw his sopping wet sweat towel in Jax’s face.

“That’s disgusting. You smell worse than me!” Jax threatened to dump the rest of his water over Beckett until Carter punched him in the ribs.

“Get a fucking towel,” he ordered.

Jax crawled over to the towel bin. “Do you have anything in a body-size?” he asked.

“Gianna, maybe now we could have that talk,” Beckett suggested.

“Right. The contest,” she said, purposely misunderstanding Beckett’s overture. “I’m surprised none of you asked who won. So who feels like a winner?”

When none of them said anything, she smiled. “Good.”

Jax paused his floor and mat scrubbing to look at her. “It was a three-way losers tie, wasn’t it? Man, I had no idea yoga would be so …”

“Horrible?” Carter supplied.

“Painful?” Beckett offered.

“Amazing?” Gia interjected.

“Most of the above,” Jax decided.

“Yoga has a way of highlighting both your strengths and weaknesses,” Gia told them. “For instance, Jax, your flexibility is great.”

“Thanks,” he brightened. “I took a bunch of Pilates classes with this actress I dated a few years ago.”

“The one with the …” Carter held his hands to his chest like he was clutching a pair of watermelons.

“No, that was Didi. I think those would have hindered her in any actual physical activity.”

Gia rolled her eyes, but continued. “Carter, you have incredible upper body strength. Those arm balances you did today aren’t beginner’s poses.”