Chapter Five

Missy

Mason was so hot—I couldn’t even try to deny that in any way. His charm and smile were almost like a damn drug. Not to mention the fact that he had the dreamiest blue eyes to match his California blond hair. I tried my best yesterday to not flirt with him, stare at him, or give in to his adorable personality, but it was damn hard. When he asked me out for a drink, my stomach did flip-flops inside, and telling him no was the hardest thing I had done in a while. I mean, it probably wouldn’t have hurt anything, but on the other hand, I did not want him to think I was that stereotypical yoga instructor that was easily swayed by money and looks. In reality, though, I felt like that girl when I was standing next to him.

“Hey, girly,” Eliza said, hip checking me right in the side and knocking my head from my hands. “Whatcha daydreaming about?”

I cleared my throat. “Nothing, just thinking about a book I read last night.”

“I don’t know,” Eliza teased. “Looks more like you’re daydreaming about a man than a book. But we all know that’s—”

I couldn’t even control the shock and embarrassment on my face when Eliza looked over and saw my hot cheeks and small smirk. She’d been joking, but there was no denying it—Mason was very much on my mind. Eliza squinted at me and grabbed my attention.

“It is a boy,” Eliza gasped. “Oh. My. God. Seriously, you need to freakin’ spill it right now.”

“Okay, okay.” I put my hands up. “I will tell you, but you cannot make a big deal.”

“Okay,” Eliza said, taking in a deep breath.

“So I had that private yoga lesson yesterday with the owner of the record company,” I explained. “And it was so hot, I didn’t think I was going to be able to control myself.”

“Wait,” Eliza said, squinting her eyes. “How old is the owner of a record company?”

“Oh, God.” I laughed hysterically. “He’s only thirty.”

“Whew.” Eliza giggled. “I was totally picturing a bald, fat man trying to stretch in front of you. I won’t lie—I considered an intervention.”

“I don’t need one for that, but I might need one for Mason,” I sighed. “He is charming and sexy, and he asked me out for drinks last night.”

“Did you go?” Eliza got excited and leaned on the counter, staring at me.

“No,” I said abruptly. “Of course not! I am the owner of the business. I can’t just go strutting off with my students. I want people to take me seriously.”

“Trust me,” Eliza said, rolling her eyes. “They do. The problem is, your body is going to stop taking you seriously if you don’t open up a bit and start dating.”

“Well, dating my clients is not the way to get ahead in the game.” I shook my head. “No matter how sexy he is.”

I looked down at my phone and realized it was almost time for Mason’s class. Part of me wanted to go throw on some makeup, but the other part of me wanted him to know I was serious about not being seduced by him. Eliza chuckled and was about to say something else when the door behind her opened and in walked Mason.

“You can go on break now,” I said, interrupting Eliza and glancing over at Mason. “I have this class, but I’ll let it go to voice mail.”

“Mhmm,” she said, gawking at Mason as she turned and walked out of the building. I shook my head and looked up, smiling at Mason.

“You ready?”

He nodded and went back to the changing area. I scrunched my eyebrows together, noticing a strain on his face as he walked past. He wasn’t the same upbeat charming guy as yesterday. I shrugged, thinking nobody could be that charming all the time, and headed back to wait for him on the mats. I sat cross-legged on the floor and rolled my neck and shoulders, which were sore from so many classes yesterday. I was working muscles I didn’t even know existed, and I got an A in anatomy. I heard the door open and Mason walk across the floor.

“Don’t start without me,” he said with a half smile.

We took our time going through the meditation, and I took it a little easier on him today since he seemed so quiet and contemplative. I wanted him to really feel the mental relaxation of our session this time instead of working him to the core. When we finished, we both took in a deep breath for final prayer and opened our eyes, looking right at each other. He smiled shortly and cracked his neck, then put his hands down on both sides in order to push himself to his feet. There was definitely something wrong, but I was unsure of whether or not to ask. Ultimately I figured I should since I was a meditative source in his life now.

“You okay?”

“Yeah.” He sighed, sitting back down and putting his hands on his knees. “I’m just having a really stressful day at work.”

“Hmm,” I said, getting up to grab two bottles of water and then sitting down next to him. “Well, let me give you some coping mechanisms you can use outside of the studio.”

“All right, guru.” He chuckled. “Lay ’em on me.”

“What’s your biggest stressor?”

“It’s all pretty stressful,” he replied. “It doesn’t help that this is the only time I take for myself, and I just started. I haven’t taken a vacation in years. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever taken a vacation with my company. If I think I did, it’s because it was a business trip that I tried to trick my mind into thinking was a vacation.”

“We all need a little mental health time,” I said. “But I understand that owning your own business, whether small like Zen or big like yours, can be all consuming. You’re afraid to walk away for two seconds because you put so much into it.”

“Yep,” he said, nodding. “I’m terrified that everything I did will come crumbling down if I don’t stay in control. When we first expanded, I panicked about not being the person in charge of everything. It was hard for me to hand over the reins.”

“You and I have more in common than you think.” I smiled, looking down. “But let’s talk about the day to day or even the hour to hour. You have to keep yourself mentally strong and healthy in order to continue to be the powerhouse that you are.”

We sat on the floor of the studio for quite a while talking about the things that he dealt with on a day-to-day basis. I thought my job was hard running this studio, but I was completely humbled by the amount of effort and time he had to put into his label. It was pretty impressive. After that, I went straight into what he could do to help himself. Being a health professional and someone obsessed with natural health due to its positive effect on my life, I wrote down a list of essential oils that he could use just to help take the edge off. I told him about the vital nutritional needs he had to pay attention to. People never really understand how much nutrition and food affects your mental health. When we were done with all of that, I taught him two simple relaxation techniques he could do anywhere at any time, even right in the middle of a meeting.

“Thank you,” he said, smiling with relaxed shoulders. “I feel better already, and I haven’t even started. I’ll give these lists to my secretary and have her order them for me.”

“Good,” I said. I looked at my watch. “I have another class in fifteen, but I’m glad that I was able to give you some good tips.”

“Yeah,” he sighed, standing up. “I gotta get to a meeting. I’ll change and get out of your hair.”

While he was inside the dressing area, I sat at the desk and smiled at my clients coming in for the next class. It was really refreshing talking to Mason in that capacity. He was well-spoken, kindhearted, and really showed how much of a human he really was. No matter the company or the billions in his bank account, at the end of the day he wasn’t much different than me. Instantly I knew I wanted to spend more time with him and considered asking to take him up on his drink offer, but then my wheels started going without control. Is that smart? Should I be careful not to get too close to my clients, right? But how often is it that I find someone I can just talk to like normal, not to mention the fact that he is super hot. Ugh, I just don’t know what to do. I watched as he emerged and walked through the crowd, making his way to the door. It was now or never.

“Mason,” I yelled out, walking over to him. “You still interested in getting that drink?”

“Of course,” he said, smiling. “I would love to. How about I meet you tomorrow night at the pub across the street?”

“Sounds perfect,” I replied, feeling the blush creep onto my cheeks. “Eight sound good?”

“Perfect,” he replied. “I’ll see you then.”

To say I had a hard time finding my calm inner spirit would be an understatement. Anytime I wasn’t talking or helping a client with a position, I was thinking about Mason. His bright blue eyes and amazing smile drifted back and forth in my mind, and the closer to the next day I got, the more nervous I was becoming. I had made the choice to go against my intuition and stay blocked off from him, so I had to get over that. Now I was more freaking out about the fact that it had been years since I had been on a date and had no idea what I was supposed to do. I thought about telling Eliza when she came back in, but I didn’t want to get her all excited over something that could literally be nothing more than a glass of whiskey and a good conversation.

At the end of the night, I sent Eliza home early and finished cleaning up the studio. I had slacked all day, so it took me a little extra time to get everything straight. I flipped off the main studio lights and breathed in the fresh lemon scent from the cleaning products I used and walked up to the front desk. I closed the laptop, deciding that I needed to not sit up all night answering people back on the Facebook group, and instead take a little mental health break, even if it was just a few hours.

I locked up the doors and walked back over to where my bag was, collecting my things and double-checking the appointments for the next day. My stomach flipped when I ran my fingers over Mason’s name scribbled on the calendar but was drawn from the thought by the phone. I considered letting it go to voice mail but picked up anyway, obsessed with not missing a client.

“Hey there,” a deep voice said on the other line. “I can see you.”

“Uh, who is this?” That’s kind of creepy.

“It’s Mason,” he said, laughing. “I’m standing outside.”

I looked out the door and saw him standing in his suit, waving at me. I laughed to myself and took a deep breath. What was he doing here so late?

“Hey,” I replied. “You kind of freaked me out.”

“Ha, sorry,” he said. “I figured since your tactics for relaxation worked so well today, I’d see if we could have that drink now.”

“Well,” I said contemplating that decision. “Okay. Why not?”

I had gone and done it without even the slightest thought.