Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 94106 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94106 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
“Oh. Jeez. Yeah. Sorry. To the right? Okay. Yeah. Sorry again.”
The instructor’s brows rose, and he grinned knowingly.
The heat rose on my cheeks and wouldn’t let up. “Umm. Sorry again.”
“Not a problem. Why don’t we try that again? This time without the beat down.” Hot Instructor winked, then put his warm hand on the exposed skin of my back. “Bend at the waist.”
I was thrilled to hide my face and have an excuse for the color that had already rushed to my cheeks. When my fingertips reached the sand, the instructor stepped behind me and gripped my hips with both hands, guiding me to shift to the left. “There, you’re aligned now. When you stretch into your bend, there’s less chance you’ll injure your back.”
I stayed down long enough that he moved on to someone else. When I eventually rose, Bella leaned toward me, failing at her attempted whispering.
“He’s hot and was totally checking you out.”
The sunrise morning yoga class turned out to be the best exercise class I’d ever taken. Not only was the instructor amazing at poses and helping all of the students ease into positions, but he guided us to use those moments in pose to appreciate the beauty around us. The sunrise, the light shining on the unusually calm ocean, streaks of orange and gold shimmering on the water—it was absolutely breathtaking.
As we moved through our vinyasa, coming into upward-facing dog, my eyes, which had been closed for the last few minutes, suddenly opened. I had that sensation you get when someone is watching, a prickly awareness I felt all over my skin. Looking to the left and right, I could find no one in my peripheral vision, and the instructor was busy helping a woman a few rows ahead of me. Yet that strange feeling stayed with me through the end of the class.
After our hour was up, the yoga instructor came over to introduce himself. “We didn’t actually get to meet before.” He extended his hand. “I’m Ty. I haven’t seen you in class before. Are you vacationing in Montauk this week?”
“Actually, I live a few houses away. Well, I have a summer home here. It’s my first week out, and Bella invited me to the class. We’re neighbors.”
Ty smiled at Bella and returned his attention to me. “Did you enjoy the class? We’re out here five days a week.”
“The class was amazing. You’ll definitely be seeing me again.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
Something about the way he said that, or maybe it was the gleam in his eye, made me feel good. I might have been thirty-seven, but I liked to think I’d begun to grow old gracefully.
Bella and I shook the sand from our mats and rolled them up. I stared out at the ocean as she tied hers closed. “Remind me not to have coffee right before yoga,” she said. “I’ve had to go to the bathroom for the last seven poses.”
My skin had a layer of sweat on it from the workout, and a warm breeze floated by, leaving my arms with goosebumps. I should have felt grimy, but instead I reveled in the chills, feeling more alive than I had in a long time.
“Thanks so much for inviting me. Let me make you some breakfast after I wash up.”
Bella groaned in response to my invitation. Not exactly the answer I’d expected.
“What’s the matter? Please don’t tell me you’re on a diet. You’re so thin.”
I was still facing the ocean, but I turned toward our houses just as she filled me in on her problem.
“My pain-in-the-ass brother’s here.”
Chapter 7
* * *
Ford
I stood on the back deck watching the yoga class for nearly a half hour before it ended. For the last two days, I’d been telling myself I needed to come out to Montauk to check on Bella, make sure everything was okay—that was the reason I was coming. The only reason. But seeing Valentina walk up wearing tight, black yoga pants and a cropped exercise top that showed off her flat stomach, I realized I wouldn’t have even known if my sister had a giant hole in her face.
“I told you, I’m fine,” Bella whined as she approached, still thirty feet away.
Valentina stared at me, looking nervous. I assumed she hadn’t shared our little Match.com chat and almost-date with my sister, and she was anxious that I might let on. Of course I wouldn’t. I kept my sex life far away from my Bella—not that there was any sex to talk about when it came to Val anyway. Unfortunately.
Reaching the deck, my sister kissed my cheek chastely and then jogged to the back door. “I have to go to the bathroom. I’ll be back in a minute. Do you remember Mrs. Davis?”
“I do.”
Val had been looking anywhere but at me until I began to speak.