Page 55 of Sweet Passions at Bayside
“You know I’m a Gemini, which means I’m an air sign. My father used to tell me that I was like the wind, hard to catch and easy to get swept up in, but too adventurous to settle down.” She turned the charms over and pointed to the one with three squiggles on it. “Air sign. When I graduated from high school and didn’t want to go away to college, I tried attending community college. But I could not sit through the classes. My mind wandered, and I was bored to death. I was basically horrible at school. Well, that type of school, anyway. My mom suggested I try taking an exercise class to combat my boredom. I must have signed up for twenty different exercise classes over the next year, each one less fun than the next. I stayedawayfrom yoga because I was…”
“A whirlwind?” he offered.
She laughed softly. “Exactly. Anyway, one day Desiree, who’d tried her best to never talk about her mother back then, told me that her mother meditated religiously. You know her mother never stays in one place very long. I figured, what could it hurt? And I took a yoga class. I swear to you, that first class changed my life. For the first time ever, my mind calmed enough for me to sit still. The next time Lizza blew into town for a visit with Desiree, I was there when she arrived. I told her about how yoga had affected me. By then yoga had become my saving grace. You know I never feel complete unless I make it to the mat, and she understood that. I’ll never forget, she put one hand on my arm and said, ‘You’re a water sign. You need that.’ Of course, I’m not a water sign, so I told her she was wrong. But she insisted, and said she could see water all around me. That’s when I remembered that my mother had delivered me in an underwater birth. It was all the rage back then. And Lizza said, ‘See? You’re a unique person. You’re an air and a water sign.’”
She pointed to the other charm, which looked like waves. “The next time I went into town, I bought these charms.”
“What does the water sign signify?” he asked curiously.
“Water signs are intuitive and emotional. They’re overly sensitive, and a little mysterious.”
“For all Lizza’s faults, I have to agree with her there, doll. When I look into your eyes, I could drown in their depths.”
She curled against his side. “You’re softening that Viking image of yours with all this romance.” Smiling up at him she said, “I like that you wanted to keep a part of me with you. I want you to have it.” She set the necklace in the drawer and took his hand, leading him out of the bedroom. “You can thank me during ourquickshower.”
The shower was anything but quick, but how could he have even tried to fool himself about being fast with his sexy tigress’s hands all over him. He buried his hands in her hair, holding tight.
“Tighter,” she demanded. “Geez, big guy. Don’t you know me by now?”
Perfectly matcheddidn’t begin to describe how good they were together. More like two of the same being.
After thoroughly loving each other, he said, “You gotta stop me if I get too caught up in you and push too hard.”
“I promise.”
Dean gathered her in a towel, stealing more steamy kisses.
“If you keep that up, we’ll miss the sunrise!”
Her giggles and threats filled the air—and his heart. “We have thousands of sunrises in our future.”
“Maybe,” she said teasingly.
“C’mon, woman.” He smacked her butt and she scurried out of the bathroom toward her room. It felt weird to return to his bedroom alone, where Emery’s scent hung in the air. As he dressed, his mind skipped ahead, and his stomach clenched tight. How could he let her move out?
Twenty minutes later they were sitting on a blanket on the dunes in their sweatshirts and shorts, overlooking the water. Ribbons of red, orange, and lavender crept across the sky. Emery rested her head on his shoulder, fitting to him like a piece of a puzzle. He’d brought a thermos of ice water with lemon slices for them to share. This, he decided, was the perfect way to greet the day.
“This is my favorite time of day to do yoga, before the world wakes up, when it’s just me and the gift of a new day.”
“I like the way you said that. Agift.”
“Oh, I might blow through life like I think it’s all here for my taking, but trust me, I know each day is a gift. It’s a chance to renew ourselves in so many ways.”
“How’s that?”
“The way I see it, if we mess up one day, the next day is a chance to make it better or move past it. It’s a gift of another chance. A new beginning.” She gazed up at him and said, “That’s what I love so much about doing yoga first thing in the morning. It centers me in a way nothing else ever has. It’s like my mind, body, and soul all have this one chance to come together without any clutter.”
“You, without any chaos?” He leaned down and kissed her. “I’m not sure I’d want to even imagine that.”
She laughed softly. “You sort of center me, too.”
Her confession warmed him all over. “Is that so? How?”
“I’m not sure, but you push me to see things differently. I know this will seem weird, because you have already made me act so differently than I normally do. But I feel more like myself than I ever have.” She looked out over the water as the sun crept higher. “Ever since our first kiss, which I know wasn’t months ago or anything, but ever since that kiss, I haven’t wanted to hold back.”
He brushed her hair over her shoulder so he could see her face more clearly, and when she turned, her cheeks were flushed.
“I tried to fight it,” she admitted, “because I didn’t want to risk our friendship. But I feel completely uninhibited when we’re close. I never realized until now that Iwasn’tuninhibited with anyone else.”
