by Lori Wilde
“Does that help any?”
“No,” he croaked.
“Pull your spine upward.”
That he could do. Years of military training had given him excellent posture. He straightened his back, felt some fringe of self-control return.
And then she reached down and placed her palm against his diaphragm.
Her hand.
On his belly.
Inches from his dick.
“Inhale from the bottom of your heart,” she instructed.
What the hell did that mean? He closed his eyes, tried to imagine his heart breathing.
A hot flush raced through him. In a flash, he saw stars, felt silk sheets, tasted the sweetness of her lips and felt the heat of their bodies joined in sex.
His eyes flew open. Her face was only inches from his. Her hand still on his belly as she bent over him, her bottom lip caught between her teeth.
God, but she was incredible and he didn’t know what was more disturbing—her sudden gesture of vulnerability or the fact that his erection had suddenly vanished.
“Are you—”
“I’m fine,” he gruffly cut her off.
When her gaze dropped to his lap, Adam did something that surprised them both. He reached up and touched her lips.
When those gorgeous ocean-blue eyes met his, he felt it again, except ten times stronger—a mind-bending jolt of pure sexual awareness.
And bam! The boner was back.
Dammit.
“Oh, dear,” Eva exclaimed.
“Yo, teach, what’s up?” hollered a male student. “This cobra can only go so long without striking.”
Eva sprang away from Adam and hurried back to her place at the front of the room. “Downward-Facing Dog.”
Butts went in the air.
Adam took advantage of the position shift. He scrambled to his feet, yanked his yoga mat off the floor and, holding it in front of him to camouflage his condition, made a beeline for the door.
6
RELIEF SAGGED THROUGH EVA at Adam’s departure.
Not because she didn’t like him, but because of how much she did. It was too soon after Keith to get involved with someone. Especially a man she knew absolutely nothing about. A man who compelled her in a way no one had ever compelled her. That was the real issue. Compulsion. It couldn’t be healthy.
You’re imagining things. Romanticizing him. Leaping too fast. He’s no more fascinating than the other men you’ve been with.
Even so, Adam had thrown her off her game, but with diligent focus she made it through the rest of the class.
The way she saw it, she had two choices. She could do what she’d always done. When she saw a man she wanted, she simply went after him without weighing whether he was really someone she wanted to be with long-term or not.
Traditionally, she went for the looks, the chemistry, the sex appeal, which Adam had by the bucket loads. Or, she could ignore the rush of attraction, the thrust of hormones, the heady desire to kiss him until her lips swelled. She could be sensible for once when it came to relationships and follow her head instead of her ovaries.
She thought of Sienna who seemed very happy getting married to the only guy she’d ever dated.
Then she thought of her mother. How Angie had gone from one handsome guy to another, jumping into relationships without looking, taking Eva along with her. The roller coaster of her mother’s multiple relationships hadn’t ended until she’d gone for the safety and security of Mike’s kindness over good looks and a bad boy temperament. Then she thought of tempestuous Zoey who seemed very ecstatic over laid-back Jason and their baby on the way.
Eva had one thing going for her—she wasn’t dragging children through her mess of a love life—but she was making the same mistakes her mother had made. Assuming lust meant love. Well, it was time to stop that nonsense. She was twenty-nine years old.
Twenty-nine.
The innocence of youth was gone and what did she have to show for it besides a butterfly tattoo on her shoulder?
No. It was time to get off the merry-go-round and start acting like an adult. She was not going to allow this attraction to Adam Mancuso to turn her head.
Absolutely not.
ADAM EMERGED FROM THE ice-cold shower he’d taken in the locker room just as Eva’s yoga students emerged from her classroom.
It was rotten timing for his emotions—his gut constricted the minute he laid eyes on her and he had an overpowering urge to turn and run—but it was perfect timing for his assignment. They could walk home together and he could strike up a conversation, see if he could get her to talk about Barksdale. Besides, he wasn’t a coward. When he was afraid of something, he faced it head-on.
“Hey,” Eva said, a hesitant smile flitting about her lips. “You okay?”
He felt the tension in his own smile as he lied. “Fine.” Only after the cold shower cure.
“You were headed home?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you drive?”
“Walked.”
“Me, too. Would you like to walk home together?” she asked, beating him to the punch. “Um…”
“I only ask because I thought you might want to talk about what happened in class. Yoga can produce some startling reactions in our bodies and it’s only natural to be alarmed.”
Adam suspected his physical reactions had nothing to do with yoga and everything to do with the pert, fresh-faced yoga instructor. Even simply standing here in the hallway, staring into those big blue eyes, he could feel his dick rousing again. He tightened his jaw, determined not to let testosterone get the better of him. He really didn’t want to talk about what had happened, but it was the perfect excuse to engage her in conversation.
“Yes,” he said. “I’d like that very much.”
“Great. Just let me get my bag.”
He stepped out of the way of the door and waited while she zipped into the locker room and then returned with an oversized tote bag slung over her shoulder, her purple yoga mat peeking from the top.
The summer night air was warm, but not overly so. People strolled the sidewalks. They passed a Thai restaurant spilling the smell of ginger, peanut and coconut out into the street.
“That’s a great place to eat,” Eva observed.
“Is it a good place to take a date?”
“The atmosphere isn’t terribly romantic,” she conceded, “but the food makes up for it.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
“Not yet,” he said, not knowing why he gave that answer.
She cast an appraising glance over him. “How long has it been since you’ve been in a relationship?”
“Um…”
“Okay, that was too nosy. It’s none of my business.”
“A while,” he admitted.
That was true enough. He and Kirsten had been broken up for almost a year and he hadn’t been with a woman since. Honestly, that was probably what was wrong with him. A year without sex could do serious damage to a guy’s restraint.
“That could explain your intense reaction in class,” she said. “That and the fact that you have a really fiery sacral chakra.”
“Fiery sacral chakra?”
“It means you’re just naturally very sexually responsive.”
That comment made him inordinately proud of himself. “I’m not sure I believe in all that chakra business.”
“You don’t have to believe it. Doesn’t change the fact you’re chock-full of sexual mojo.”
“I am?”
She made a noise in the back of her throat that almost sounded like a purr. “You have one of the strongest masculine auras I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen a lot of them.”
“You read auras, too?”
She shrugged. “My mom worked in a spa in Sedona for a couple of years when I was a kid. I guess I absorbed some of that culture.”
“It’s a different philosophy,” he said, not wanting to soun
d judgmental, but he found all the New Age stuff a bit far-fetched.
“Yeah,” she said. “You have to be pretty open-minded to believe in it.”
Oh, so he wasn’t open-minded? “There’s open-minded and then there’s gullible.”
The soft smile was back at the corner of her lips. “Are you saying I’m gullible?”
“No, it’s just that there’s two sides to every argument.”
She nodded, surprising him by agreeing. “My mom’s the gullible type, but my childhood experiences didn’t turn me off to possibilities. There’s plenty of mysteries in the universe.”
“Are you saying I’m turned off to possibilities?”
“Not at all, but you seem to be taking it that way. Why is that?” She canted her head.
Eva had the ability to make him doubt himself and for a man who was always certain of the path he was on, that was unsettling. They crossed the street at the stoplight.
From this spot on the hill he caught a glimpse of the ocean stretching below. It was a beautiful place to live. The town houses they passed all had window boxes growing a plethora of colorful flowers. He had the strangest urge to pick a handful of blooms for her.
“I’m saying not to cut yourself off to possibilities, Adam. You seem to have already made your mind up about the world.”
“What makes you think I’m doing that?”
She stopped walking and he had to back up. Her gaze fixed on his face. He shifted under her scrutiny.
The woman was sharp, looking as if she could read his every thought. It was disconcerting, her talent for sizing up a situation. She made him feel…well, not so alone…and that put him on guard instantly. She was charming and disarming and he wanted to move mountains for her. More cause for concern.
“What are you so afraid of?” she asked.
You. “Who says I’m afraid of anything?”
“Everyone is afraid of something.”
This conversation was spiraling out of control and he didn’t know how to rein it back in. “I’m afraid of getting an erection in yoga class.”
Her laugh was clear and loud and the sound of it stirred something joyous inside him. This woman did strange and wondrous things to him and that was what scared him more than anything else.
“Touché,” she said. “I take it you won’t be returning to class.”
“I didn’t say that.”
Her eyes lit up. He could tell that she liked him. He liked her, too. That was the issue.
“So,” he said, “you know I don’t have a girlfriend. What about you?”
“I don’t have a girlfriend, either,” she teased.
Delightful. She was delightful. He had to watch this one. She kept him on his toes. “No man in your life?”
Slowly, she shook her head. “No, but I’m not looking for a relationship.”
“Did the last one burn you pretty badly?”
“How do you know there was a last one?”
“Beautiful, sexy woman like you? I’m betting there have been a lot of guys chasing you.”
She shrugged. Not coy, admitting it. “The last one burned me, but not in the way you think. He didn’t break my heart or anything. I wasn’t that invested. More like he hurt my pride. Since then I’ve been thinking about a moratorium on dating.”
“For how long?”
“A year.”
“Why’s that?”
“I tend to jump into relationships too fast and end up with the wrong kind of guy, so I’m thinking maybe I should take a year off and get to know myself a little better. I fear I might be one of those women who always has to be with a man, and that’s not how I want to be.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Well, I’ve never really been without a boyfriend since I was sixteen. Boyfriend. That sounds like such an immature term when you’re pushing thirty.”
“You’re almost thirty?”
“Just turned twenty-nine.”
“I would have guessed you weren’t more than twenty-five.” This was true even though the dossier the ONI had compiled listed her date of birth.
“You don’t have to flatter me. I’m not sleeping with you.”
Her honesty took him by surprise. He was accustomed to game playing from most women. “I don’t recall asking you to.”
Her gaze traveled below his belt. “Your penis did.”
The way she said “penis” only made him more flustered. “Hey, I thought you said it was a natural reaction to that particular yoga position.”
“You’re not doing a yoga pose now.”
Adam gritted his teeth. The woman was outrageous.
“You embarrass so easily,” she said. “I think it’s adorable.”
“I’m not embarrassed.”
“Then why are your ears red?”
It was all he could do not to finger his ear. Instead, he was stunned to hear what came out of his mouth next. “My ears turn red when I get turned on.”
“Oh,” she said. “Oh.”
Ha! At last she was at a loss for words.
Awkwardness stole over them and the night air was suddenly filled with a heavy undercurrent of tension.
“How come a woman like you isn’t already married?” he asked, desperate to say anything to fill the void.
Eva smiled. “What do you mean, a woman like me?”
“Sexy,” he said. “Smart. Inventive.”
“I have many flaws.”
“Yeah? Like what?”
“I’m dreadfully honest and drink orange juice straight from the carton.”
“Those are terrible flaws,” he murmured. “But you’d think some guy would have braved them for the total package.”
“I could ask you the same thing. Are there any serious relationships in Adam Mancuso’s past?”
“There was one,” he admitted.
“What happened?”
“We were too much alike. Kirsten realized it before I did and called the wedding off. She said she needed a man who completed her, not complemented her.”
“Sounds like she’d already met someone else to me.”
“You’re intuitive, as well, Eva St. George.”
“Not as much as I should be,” she said.
“What does that mean?”
“I’ve had several misguided relationships. If I was more intuitive, I never would have gotten involved with some of those guys in the first place.”
“Oh?” He leaned closer. “Do you want to talk about it?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Most guys don’t want to hear about a woman’s exes.”
“I don’t.” He fisted his hand. “But if it helps you to talk about it…”
“Not really. What’s past is past…” She lapsed off.
“What was his name?”
“Keith Barksdale.”
Ah, they were getting somewhere at last. Adam waited, not wanting to seem too curious.
She swallowed, moistening her lips with her tongue. “It was…he was…”
“Yeah?” Adam said, fisting his hand. “What’d he do?”
“He was charming. Very good-looking.” She glanced down, then raised her eyes and met Adam’s gaze. “But not as good-looking as you.”
“No?”
“You want to get some ice cream?” she asked, stopping in front of an ice cream shop.
“I don’t normally eat ice cream.”
“You don’t like it?”
“I love it, that’s the problem.” He patted his belly.
“One cone,” she said. “What could it hurt?”
It wasn’t the one cone that bothered him. It was the thought of her wicked little tongue licking at the smooth, creamy confection. He was about to beg off, but she was already opening the door of the shop, pushing inside. “C’mon.”
Without really knowing why, he went.
“A scoop of pistachio on a waffle cone,” she told the girl behind the counter. “And…” Eva turned back to Adam, but didn’t wait for him
to order. “Vanilla in a cup.”
Was he that damned predictable that she could so easily guess his ice cream preference?
“Put mine in a waffle cone, as well,” he said just to be contradictory.
“Ooh.” Eva’s eyes twinkled. “Mr. Plain Vanilla likes a bit of crunch with his cream.”
“How did you know vanilla was my favorite?”
She held up both palms. “I’m intuitive.”
“Impressively so. More lessons from Sedona?”
“Not really. Vanilla is the number one flavor. I took a wild guess. The odds were in my favor.”
Sassy. He liked that.
They got their ice cream and meandered past a family of six sitting at the front of the store, bickering good-naturedly.
“You ever think of having kids?” she asked when they were back on the street.
“What?” That question seemed to come out of left field.
She inclined her head toward the family inside the ice cream shop. “You’d be great at it.”
The comment pleased him. He did want a family. Eventually. Someday. Maybe. “What makes you say that?”
“You strike me as the responsible type.”
“Is that a compliment or a criticism?”
“Depends on if you want to be responsible or not.”
“Do you want kids?”
“Someday, I suppose. My best friend, Zoey, just found out she’s pregnant. Luckily, her boyfriend is a great guy and he proposed. They’re getting married in a couple of months.”
“I suppose that’s one way to do it.”
“How would you do it?”
“I’m a pretty traditional guy. I’m a fan of the marriage first, baby second option.”
“That option doesn’t guarantee happily ever after.”
“Maybe not, but it’s the way I feel.”
“Me, too. At least for me. Other methods work for other people.”
Her agreement surprised him. He would have supposed she’d be unconventional about parenthood. “You’re pretty balanced, Eva St. George, you know that?”
“All those years of yoga,” she joked.
“Why yoga?” he asked, pausing to take a lick of his ice cream. “What’s the appeal?”
“I’m attracted to the discipline.”
