Chapter 13 - Feeling A Lot Overheated

Nathan stepped into the yoga studio. His military physical therapist was pleased with his progress so far and encouraged him to do more physical activity on his own as his shoulder and his knee continued to heal. The therapist had said he was more than ready, but for some reason, Nathan had held back. He simply didn't want to reinjure himself. There couldn't be any other reason he was hesitant to push his joints, was there? No reason he was hoping his return to active duty would be put off as long as possible, was there? It couldn't be the home he felt with the Scorpion team in a way that he simply didn't with the Navy, despite how deeply he felt the call of duty there and it certainly couldn't have anything to do with … Paige.

Nathan had chosen a hot yoga class as his first foray into physical activity without medical supervision, thinking that the heat would make moving his still-healing joints easier. He had carefully chosen a studio that was far out of his way, a good distance from the Garage as well as Paige's condo, though he knew she enjoyed Vinyasa Yoga. He had thought he could attend class unnoticed and remain anonymous at this unknown studio.

Nathan opened the door at the back of the studio intending to slip in and take a spot at the back of the class, once he realized that he had misread the start time for the session and the class had begun a few minutes before. Nathan quickly scanned the room looking for a place to set up his mat. The class was almost completely full. The only empty spot left for him was near the front, right under the watchful eye of the instructor. Keeping his gaze down, Nathan moved to the available space and unrolled his mat.

"If I may continue uninterrupted now," the man glared at Nathan. The Ensign was generally confident and felt at ease in most situations, but being the center of attention under these circumstances had Nathan breaking out in a sweat that had nothing to do with the heat of the room and everything to do with the nineteen pairs of eyes still trained on him. "Bring your attention back to your center," the instructor commanded the room and Nathan felt the room's attention shift away from him.

Paige had turned along with the rest of the participants to observe the late arrival to class and locked eyes with Nathan. Her eyes widened in surprise and she gave him a brief smile as she brushed a non-existent hair nervously off her forehead and then immediately turned her attention back to the instructor.

Nathan moved into his first pose with an outer calm that his inner self did not feel. He was directly behind Paige! Paige, whose skin was already covered in a light sheen of sweat from the 105-degree Fahrenheit heat of the studio, as well as exertion of the first few poses of the class. This was a most unexpected turn of events.

The instructor's words faded into the background as Nathan continued to follow his movements. He couldn't tear his attention away from the curve of Paige's clavicle showing beneath her sports bra and the expanse of her midriff showing between her cropped, body-hugging tank top and the bike shorts she wore that cupped her flawless backside smoothly. His gaze continued to travel down her shapely calves and he felt his mouth go dry at the sight of her dainty feet, her fire engine red toenails shining under the yoga studio lights in stark contrast to the muted lavender of the yoga mat where she stood. She twisted, drawing Nathan's eyes up once again and giving him a glimpse of the swell of her breasts that looked like nothing short of perfection to the Homeland intern as she breathed slowly, her chest rising and falling. Nathan was never more grateful for the slightly obscuring extra fabric of the running shorts he was wearing over his more form-fitting underclothes as he felt his groin swell and tighten at the sight of her exquisite body. Her lightly muscled upper back and delicate neck were exposed as her long hair, usually worn down, was pulled up into a messy bun with tendrils escaping and curling slightly in the heat of the room moistened by the sweat from her scalp.

Nathan barely felt the heat of the studio but felt overheated nonetheless. He had never seen Paige look more beautiful or more desirable than she did as she moved effortlessly through each pose. He wondered if he would be able to keep the promise he had made to himself not make his feelings for Paige known to her. Happy's advice danced through his head as he moved through the next pose. He thought of Ray's words and his own response to them, that Walter was a grown man who was more than capable of letting Paige know of his interest in her and so far he had chosen not to. Nathan contemplated his own interest in Paige. Why was he holding back?

The woman who was occupying the mat next to Paige kept glancing back at him and more than once he saw her whisper something to the team liaison. The woman looked vaguely familiar. He had seen a couple of snapshots of her and Paige stuck to Paige's refrigerator with magnets when he had visited the condo. The two women must be friends, and that explained why Paige was taking a class at this studio so far from home. Perhaps this was the woman's preferred studio, that she lived somewhere nearby.

When the class ended, Nathan realized that he remembered nothing from the actual session. His mind was full of images of Paige and her stunning physique and Paige and the woman… Amy, he finally remembered, ...a singer? he thought he remembered Paige mentioning her best friend once or twice… watching them nudging each other and whispering, giggling, pretending not to notice his eyes on Paige. Nathan stretched his limbs carefully before gathering up his belongings. His shoulder and knee felt worked in a good way and the rest of his body was grateful for the physical exertion that it had missed during his recuperation time. He supposed he would be taking another yoga class soon, though likely at a different studio. He doubted the instructor would ever let him back after the looks of irritation he received from being late to the session and being the cause of such disturbance in the class thanks to Paige and Amy's constant whispering that was obviously about him.

His belongings tucked under his arm, Nathan hurried out of the building and into the chill of the evening before the instructor, or anyone else, could speak to him. Nathan hadn't expected to see Paige there and he certainly hadn't expected to have that kind of physical reaction to her proximity once he'd seen her.

He needed to take a cold shower… or ten.

Nathan couldn't imagine heading to the Garage and facing Walter at the moment.

He couldn't go to Cabe's. He would have to explain his sudden appearance as well as his… appearance and he didn't feel ready for that either.

His only other option was the barracks where he would get no end of ribbing for such a visceral reaction and a cowardly response. No doubt the others there would tell him to just kiss her and not waste his time worrying about what anyone else thought. Especially since it seemed as if she was interested as well.

He had seen heat rise on her face at his arrival that didn't have to do with the heat in the studio and heard the hitch in her breath when they faced the back of the room and she had had a broad view of his physique. They'd had enough moments since that night in her apartment after he'd spent the day watching Ralph, enough stolen glances when she thought he wasn't looking, to know she was interested too.

But he just wasn't sure if it was enough.

Paige ignored Nathan practically running out of the studio. She may very well have acted as if the whole encounter hadn't happened if Amy hadn't been standing right next to her, tapping her foot expectantly, arms folded across her chest and that look on her face. Paige knew her best friend wouldn't let her off the hook without a full explanation.

"So that was Nathan, Ensign Easy on the Eyes himself, huh? I see what you've been going on about all this time. He practically started a riot and it wasn't for being late to class."

Paige blushed furiously at Amy's not-so-veiled reference to Nathan's physique. "He is very good-looking, I'll give you that, but it's more than that. He really cares about the people we're helping at Scorpion. He believes in what we're trying to do. He's kind and thoughtful. And he's so good with Ralph."

"So, looking like a Greek god is just a bonus?" Amy asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah, something like that…"

Amy looked at Paige pointedly, "I've been your friend for a long time and I haven't seen you fall this hard since Walter. I know you're still all tangled up in feelings for the guy and you two have some kind of weird nonrelationship relationship thing going. But wouldn't it be nice, just this once, if you could do something the easy way? Just choose to go out with a decent, handsome guy who clearly likes you, and who's not more complicated than a Bach fugue?"

Paige leaned against the wall at the back of the studio, letting her shoulders slump in defeat. "That's the problem. I don't think Nathan would ever make the first move. He and Walter are such good friends, and I think he might see it as a betrayal of that friendship with Walter."

Amy put a reassuring hand on Paige's shoulder, "Well, then it's a good thing you're living in the twenty-first century, my dear, where women can make their own decisions, and don't have to wait on the man to act first. Didn't you and Walter already talk about this? Didn't the two of you already decide not to act on your feelings toward each other?"

Paige nodded.

"That sounds like you're a free agent to me and more than appropriate for you to find a man whose company you enjoy, let him know that you're interested, and see if it goes anywhere."

"Really?" Paige asked, thinking about the frustrating dance that she and Walter had been doing ever since they had met and how now nearly three years later their relationship had not really progressed much further than those first weeks they had known each other. She also thought about the immediate chemistry she'd had with Nathan and how simple everything was with him, how straightforward, with no guessing due to limited emotional and social skills, it was. She wondered if waiting around hoping for Walter to show interest in a romantic relationship was a way of keeping herself from being hurt as she had been in the past. After all, who could live up to 'Fantasy Walter' in her head?

The more she thought about it, the more she realized she was tired of playing it safe. Here was a man who was just about anything a woman could ask for in a potential romantic partner. A handsome, kind, smart, funny, available man showing interest in her, and she was acting as if he didn't exist because she was waiting around for a maybe someday from an emotionally unavailable genius who had already told her he likely never would be interested. Without stopping to give herself a chance to talk herself out of it, Paige hurried after Nathan.

"Get a grip, woman. I didn't mean you had to chase after him right this second," Amy muttered to herself. In Paige's haste to follow Nathan, she left her things behind and pushed past several class members loitering in the doorway. With a long-suffering sigh of a best friend who has listened to all the ups and downs of how the men in her life have treated her friend over the years, Amy gathered up her belongings as well as Paige's and then followed behind in her wake, apologizing to the fellow class participants that Paige had so unceremoniously pushed aside moments earlier. She wanted to give Paige a bit of a head start in whatever she planned to do but there was no way Amy was going to miss the entire show!

Nathan had just reached his truck when he heard light footsteps hurrying toward him. He turned. "Paige," was all he managed to say. Just one syllable before her arms had wrapped themselves around his neck and her lips had pressed to his.

Her lips were incredibly soft and the sensation of the length of her body against his would have made him lose his balance if she hadn't pinned him against the side of his truck. He dropped his gym bag and yoga mat and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her to him as her tongue danced across his lips seeking further access.

Time stopped.

Nathan had no idea how long they stood there when a second set of footsteps hurried toward them and then stopped a few feet away.

"Paige?" a female voice called.

Paige broke away from his embrace and stepped back, dropping her arms, running her fingers across her lips as if still feeling Nathan's kisses on her lips in amazement.

"Paige?" the voice called again.

Nathan looked across the poorly lit parking lot and saw her companion from the class.

"I'm sorry, Nathan, I have to go." She looked up at him, her head tilted sideways, biting her lip, a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "Tonight was amazing." She kissed him briefly on the lips once again. "Maybe we can do it again sometime," and with no further explanation turned toward her friend.

The two women linked arms and walked away leaving Nathan behind watching them in a daze, wondering just what in the hell just happened. After a moment he gathered his wits, climbed into his truck, and settling himself uncomfortably in the seat, started the engine. He was more certain than ever that he needed a cold shower.

Author's Note:

Hello My Cyclone,

I have made it my mission for some time to read and respond to your comments on my fics. Unfortunately, chaos has erupted in my family life and I am dealing with a mess that is overwhelming and soul sucking. The stress has been building and I have come to realize that everything I do that is not absolutely necessary for survival needs to fall by the wayside for the moment, and that includes replying to reader comments on FFN. Please continue to read and enjoy this story and others, but for the foreseeable future I will not be responding to reader reviews.

I plan to keep writing this story and posting, as it is one bright spot in my life at the moment and I hope you continue to read and enjoy it. That being said, I don't know exactly how quickly chapters will go up, so I ask for your patience.

Thank you for your understanding,

Masikka