Page 73 of Sol
Dani -- Barks
“Breathe in,”instructed Ana, the yoga teacher, inSpanish.
My heels reached the floor as I extended my tailbone up to the sky, my hands pressed firmly in theground.
Downwarddog.
Inverted, I cast my eyes between my legs behind me to see Trent, wearing basketball shorts and a T-shirt, folded over inhalf.
He was more flexible than I thought he’d be. Guess I’d figured a soldier was all brawn and no give. But Trent had plenty ofgive.
I was proud of him. He’d emailed the therapist in California, Marie Thrash, and set up a Skype call with her. Today, he’d joined me at the yoga studio by his hostel, which was the place I’d been going to since I got toGranada.
Lifting his head up, he caught my eye and smiled, messy, sexy hair falling into hiseyes.
Damn.
“Breathe,” saidAna.
Light filled the bright room. I’d brought my own yoga mat, while he’d borrowed one. Our bare feet tied us to the floor as we moved through theposes.
Something about practicing yoga always hit me deep inside. As much as I traveled, I always knew I had my body to come home to no matter where I was in the world. If I could stay with myself, then I always could rely on myself. And I’d beokay.
But normally it was a solitary practice. With Trent right there behind me, I knew he was watching my body, and it distracted me. Before, I’d be so into my body, my breathing, that I wouldn’t focus on anything except the challengingpose.
Today, I wondered what he thought. If he liked looking at me. And enjoyed watching him, knowing how beautiful he was inside andout.
So, once again, he was distracting me from class. Only this time, I wasn’t the teacher, and we both werelearning.
I’d catch his eye and follow his moves, checking out his strong legs anchored into the ground. Those legs, built and defined, made me think of how much he’d changed since he was akid.
But even more delicious than his legs were his arms. The way veins in his forearms popped out when he held himself up. The structural form of his arms. And I knew what it felt like to be held bythem.
Best of all, though, was his face, relaxed and uplifted for the first time since I’d seen him. Given his downcast eyes and drawn shoulders before, I’d somehow known how much sorrow he’d been carrying when he came to me that first day ofclass.
Now, he seemed to get some relief. Not a hundred percent. But yoga seemed to alleviate his suffering. While he still had something dark in his eyes that hadn’t been there before, he also had a lightness in his smile that he hadn’t shown me to date inSpain.
At the end of the forty-five minute class, he came bounding up to me. “I loved that! It’s so challenging. Trying to get all the parts of your body aligned. I know that it must chill people out, but right now, I feel more energy than I have inweeks.”
“That’s awesome! Yoga can have all sorts of effects on people, from calming their central nervous system to helping them lose weight. I think you needed to get some energy flow going. This isgreat.”
Ana wandered over to us and asked in Spanish, “Are you two going to join us at our weekend yoga retreat inNerja?”
“Yes,” I answered in Spanish. “It’s gonna beawesome.”
Trent tilted his head with his elbow on my shoulder, trying to understand. “What did sheask?”
“She wanted to know if we’re going to the yoga retreat. She’s part of the group that’s putting iton.”
He bounced on his toes and grabbed me by the waist, picking me up and spinning mearound.
“I can’twait!”
His bright-eyed enthusiasm was catching. Not only did a weekend away with him sound groovy, especially since we were spending so much time together, but we needed to be able to touch each other without looking over our shoulders. He’d told me that when he left my apartment once, a student saw him. We had to be morecareful.
But it was so hard. In class, I kept wanting to smile at him. I had to school my face to stay normal, not giddy from having some of the best sex of my life, with the most handsome man I’d everknown.
I’d given them the assignment to translate parts of the body. Problem was, when Trent said anything, I found myself remembering what that specific part of the body looked like on him. His sexy elbow. His delicious, lickable neck. His muscular shoulders. And other parts that we didn’t discuss inclass.
