Early morning, Claire walked down to the basement with some of Phil's workout clothes.
It only occurred to her while she was getting dressed in her stretching clothes that Daru wouldn't have any with him. So she decided to bring some and keep them near the bedside table. 'When he wakes up, he can change into these.'
Slowly reaching down, when he neared the bed, she saw Daru sound asleep.
Keeping the clothes on the table beside his bed, Claire took a closer look at the sleeping Daru.
Daru slept with no shirt on, only in his pants. The blanket covered close to nothing of his solid pecs and abs.
'Damn,' Claire gulped when she looked at his sharp, lean body.
Claire has seen her fair share of boys; no, it would probably be more than her fair share. Those included all kinds of fit guys and athletes. So it was not like she hadn't seen fit dudes, but Daru was clearly a cut above all the rest.
He didn't seem to be flexing at all, 'Don't think it is possible while sleeping. And yet his body is so tight.'
Just looking at him, Claire's temperature was rising.
'And he has the face of a model too.'
Not able to stop, Claire raised her hand to bring it closer to Daru's pecs. When she was half a meter short of touching the alluring meat, Daru jerked to hold her hand.
He pulled on her hand and brought her on the bed. Turning to be right above the perpetrator, Daru opened his eyes with sharp intent while his hand went for her neck. Only that when he saw Claire's startled face, he eased the momentum to only lightly rest his hand on her chest.
"AH…" almost like a delayed breath, Claire exclaimed at the sudden exchange.
For Daru's enemy, this delay would have been fatal.
They both looked into each other's eyes. Claire is still a bit unresponsive, hardly noticing the slight weight of Daru's forearm now resting on her right breast, or his chest and body that she was fascinated by just a few seconds touching so close to her.
"I am sorry, I am a very light sleeper," Daru said, not moving an inch from the position.
Gulp "It's alright. I only came to give some of Phil's clothes for the yoga session today," Claire said, turning her head towards the side.
Daru looked toward where she faced, to see a black track pant and sleeveless shirt on the table.
"Oh, thank you."
"No, it should be me thanking you for being our instructor for free."
"Ha, that's what family does, doesn't it? Help when you need," Daru said with a smile and a small chuckle.
Claire looked still in that frozen state, now just more aware of how close they are, "Yes, yes, they do."
For a second they looked at each other. Then Daru moved aside, and Claire got up hurriedly.
"Give me ten minutes. I will be out, fresh and changed," Daru said, getting up from the bed.
"No, take your time," Claire said while she folded her arms behind her back, now not looking towards Daru or his more exposed body, "it's still too early; the girls would have not woken up."
"Hm…" Daru hummed.
"And I will go for a run too. So you can get dressed in your own time."
"Oh, do you run every morning?" Daru said as he folded the blanket he used all night.
Claire too helped in making the bed as they talked, but she still avoided looking towards Daru.
"Yeah, sometimes Phil comes too. While today he left way early, it has been some time since he came together for the run."
"Oh, he might be very busy then."
"Yes, he is… very busy." There seemed to be some undertones to what she said at the end.
"Alright, then I will go for my run," Claire said and hurried towards the stairs.
While she left, she took a sidelong glance towards the body that she was avoiding her gaze till now.
She ran upstairs.
When she reached the top, she rested her back at the side of the basement entrance. Looking into space, her eyes clouded a bit.
What she was thinking, only she knew. She stayed like that for half a minute. Claire shook her head and gave a wry smile.
Tapping her thigh, she walked towards the door. While she crossed the hallway, she looked towards the living room and was shocked. There, Alex and Haley sat at different ends. They both were concentrated on their tab and phone respectively.
It was surprising as both of them are not early wakers.
'For obvious different reasons, but still, this is surprising.'
Alex usually studies late into the nights, and because of that, she takes her time getting up. Not late as she is always on time for her college, but still, she is not a morning person.
And Haley, well, Haley, she just doesn't get up early.
Sighing, Claire called out, "Hey, girls."
Both looked up towards Claire and replied.
"Hey." There seemed to be a bit of tension between them. How both sat far like avoiding each other. But Claire didn't put much thought to it; it is not like this is any new.
"You are up pretty early."
"Yeah," Alex said not looking towards her.
And Haley too seemed to avoid her gaze.
Claire has enough guess to why they were acting like that. From how they were acting around Daru in yesterday's dinner, she sure has a solid idea.
'Not like I can blame them.' Thinking back to a few minutes, 'and if they see his body… sigh….'
Claire just sighed to herself, knowing that this is again going to be an issue between Haley and Alex.
"Alright, I am going for a run. Daru will be up in ten minutes or so. Keep him company till I come back."
She didn't have to look back to know that the last part was heard by them with full attention.