The Recruit by Fiona Palmer Page A

crop top and yoga pants. With her skin tone, she could wear white easily, but she just couldn’t bring herself to wear it. It was too bright, plus she was never one to stay clean — dirt just seemed to find her like metal filings to a magnet.
    She tied her hair up into a quick braid as she walked out of the change room and towards her yoga mat. But who should be standing in her way? None other than the hunky, mysterious guy with those rich eyes which could go from haunting to ‘come hither’ in a millisecond.
    ‘Jaz, you’re back!’
    ‘Um yeah, I do work here,’ she said with a sarcastic look. ‘Gee, you make it sound like I was gone for a week.’
    ‘Felt like it.’
    Jaz paused two steps from him and studied his body, clad in a blue singlet and black track pants. ‘Aww you missed me…how sweet!’
    Ryan laughed and followed her to her yoga mat. ‘So can I take you up on the yoga lesson today?’
    Now it was Jaz’s turn to laugh. ‘What…you mean the lesson I never offered?’
    He cracked a smile. ‘Yep, that one.’
    ‘I suppose. Come on then, pull that mat over. I will try and break it down to an easier level for you.’
    Ryan threw her a look which said he didn’t like being accommodated for. Well Mr I-Can-Do-Anything, she wasn’t going to make it too easy. ‘So we start with some breathing, just stand at the edge of your mat.’
    Ryan did as she asked and followed her movements.
    ‘Now this is the Upward Dog,’ she said as she stretched her back. Ryan was halfway there, not bad for a beefy bloke. ‘Then bum up into the Downward Dog.’
    ‘Is there any barking in this too?’
    Jaz looked sideways at him as they both rested in the Downward Dog pose. ‘You’re kidding…that’s the best you could come up with?’
    ‘Yeah, lame, sorry. I’ve been away from civilisation for a while, I’m a bit rusty.’
    ‘I’ll say,’ laughed Jaz.
    She took Ryan up into a lunge position, left leg bent out in front with the right stretched out the back and then got him to twist his upper body to the left side with his elbow on his left knee and hands in a prayer position. Jaz did it with ease, her balance was great; however, Ryan started to get the wobbles and fell…right into her.
    His face went the slightest shade of pink. ‘Oops, sorry. I lost my balance.’
    ‘Yeah, no shit Sherlock.’ Jaz gave him a smile. ‘Don’t worry about it, that one’s really hard, especially for a beginner.’
    ‘Only you could be so condescending and nice at the same time,’ he laughed before trying the position again.
    ‘Your breathing needs to be more controlled but I won’t worry you with that much as you’re still trying to learn the positions.’ Jaz wasn’t going to let him know how far she’d brought the positions back to basic, she didn’t want him to feel too bad at his lack of flexibility. Ryan struck her as someone who liked to be well prepared and if he didn’t know something he was going to do it until he could do it a hundred percent right. He was taking the yoga very seriously and she liked the way he’d followed her every move and direction. She’d half expected him to pull the piss out of her the whole way through. But when she gazed at his own sculpted body, she realised he’d never do that. His body was his temple. A damn nice temple too.
    Jaz noticed that she had held the same position for much longer than necessary…hey, she was a little distracted! She moved him through the final routine.
    ‘Now just lay here for a bit, relax and breathe in and out and draw energy back into your muscles.’
    ‘Hmm, I like this part the best,’ Ryan, mumbled in his relaxed, almost half-asleep voice.
    After a few minutes, Jaz sat up and crossed her legs. ‘Well, how was that?’
    Ryan rolled onto his side and rested his head in his hand. ‘Much harder than I thought it would be. I could feel all my muscles working.’
    Jaz nodded her head. ‘Yeah, it doesn’t just stretch your muscles. You did well