Resisting Roots (Lotus House Book 1) (6 page)

Genevieve didn’t share any of those traits. If anything, she was the exact opposite of every female I’d ever met. Women fell all over themselves trying to go out with me. Everyone but the woman I wanted, the one who was currently avoiding all eye contact.

“Gumdrop, what’s the matter? You’ve been weird. Did someone piss in your Cheerios?”

For the first time throughout the entire session, her eyes met mine. Those espresso-colored orbs seemed skittish.

“Hey, did I do something to offend? I mean, I know I crack jokes during some of the poses, but it’s all in jest. Helps me get through the difficult ones.”

Her shoulders slumped, and she lowered her head. “No. Not at all. You were actually more focused today than you’ve been all week. It’s just that I was wondering…” Her voice fell off, and she twisted her fingers. The typical strong, compelling woman had left the building, and a nervous, fragile, almost frightened one had taken her place.

The caveman in me wanted to yank her into my arms, tuck her chin into my neck, and kill anything that made her afraid. “Go ahead, gumdrop. Ask me anything.”

“You can totally say no, but you see, I was wondering if I could take you for coffee or treat you to Sunflower maybe, and…”

My heart started pounding in my chest. Excitement, joy, and a downright giddy sensation worked its way through each of my sore limbs.

“Genevieve, babe, are you asking me out?”

“Huh?” She blinked a few times.

I smiled wide. I couldn’t prevent the satisfaction from spreading across my face in a shit-eating grin. “You are. You’re asking me out!” I thought I might hit the sky with a fist pump but held it back.

She frowned, and her nose crinkled. “No. Not exactly, it’s just that…”

“You are. Come here!” I grabbed her hand and tugged her over until her curves smashed up against my harder ones. Damn, she felt good. I settled a hand low on her back, close enough to caress the upper swells of her sweet ass, but I behaved, locking down the horny, sex-starved side of me that wanted to press her up against the nearest wall and claim her.

Her face paled when I cupped the back of her neck with my other hand and used my thumb to lift her chin. “Gumdrop, I’ve been busting my brain trying to think of way to ask you out, and here you are looking all cute and nervous about asking me. Well, I’m going to save us a lot of time and get right to the good part of the date.”

She opened her mouth, letting out a heated burst of air. I swooped in and took advantage, tipping my head and slanting my mouth over hers. She stiffened for a moment and then relaxed, melting against me as I ducked my tongue inside to dance with hers. She tasted of mint and cherries. I ate her up hungrily, moving her head from side to side. She sighed into the kiss, and her grip tightened around my neck. Eventually, I needed more. So much more. Nipping her lips, I slid a hand down over her tight ass and filled my palm with one perfectly plump cheek. She groaned and rose onto her toes, twisting my head and stealing my breath with her fervor. We groped one another like a couple of teenagers. Soft touches here, harder ones there, until I started to feel dizzy. My cock was hard as iron, and as I pressed into her lush curves, she retreated, jolting back as if zapped by lightning. Her hand flew to her mouth where that pink lipstick was smeared. Beautiful.

“Oh my… Yeah. That shouldn’t have happened,” she whispered.

“Gumdrop, that definitely
should
have happened, and it needs to happen again.” I started to approach her.

She lifted her arms and shook her head. “No, no. You misunderstood. I wasn’t asking you out on a date.” Her face crumbled into one of misery. “I mean, I kind of was, but not for me.” The honesty in her eyes floored me.

“Look, honey, you don’t have to be worried. I’m more than happy to take you out on a date. After this week’s classes and that kiss…I’m a hundred percent into you. I can hardly wait to feel you under me.”

She groaned and looked up at the ceiling. “Pig,” she muttered.

“What? You just hit on me, and I’m the pig?” I shot back, uncertain how this conversation had gone from her asking me out, to us kissing, to name-calling. I needed to get it back to the kissing part. There was no way in hell I wasn’t going to have my lips on hers again, and soon. That was a damn fact.

“I didn’t mean to ask you out. I was trying to see if you’d take a little time after your session one of these days to meet my brother.”

“Your brother?” Now I was lost.

“Yes. He’s your biggest fan.”

Her exasperated tone was not at all what I’d hoped to hear from a woman after I’d just kissed the daylights out of her.

“Christ.” I shook my head. Here I’d thought she was into me, but she was trying to set up a meeting with a fan. “Seriously? You have no interest in going out with me?”

Her mouth opened and closed several times. Ah, now I had her.

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“Then you
have
thought about going out with me. Personally?” I needed to get her back where I’d had her a moment ago.

She placed her hands on her hips and looked down. Couldn’t look me in the eye. Oh, yeah, I so had her.

“I may have considered it a time or two this week. When you weren’t being a pig, that is.”

As slow as a ninety-year-old man, I edged closer to her. She moved back with each step I took forward, until she eventually hit the wall. The patchwork fabric behind her head with all the golds, reds, and deep jewel tones set off her pale skin like the whitest marble. Placing my hands on each side of her head, I caged her against the wall. Exactly where I’d wanted her this entire time. Stuck. Completely at my mercy. The thought of having her at my mercy somewhere else made my dick hard as granite. I nudged the beast against her belly. She gasped but didn’t push me away.

“I’ll meet your brother, gumdrop. I would have eventually anyway.”

She furrowed her brow, but I carried on, rubbing my lower region where I wanted to plunge most. I was rewarded with another gasp, this one accompanied by a soft moan.

“But this is how it’s going to go. I’ll meet with you and your brother tomorrow, after our session. Then, tomorrow evening, I’m taking you out. On a real date.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Clients.”

She said the one word as if it answered the question. It didn’t.

Pressing my cock harder against her, I knew I’d gotten the exact spot I was shooting for when her mouth dropped open and a little mewl slipped out. That thin fabric of her yoga getup probably provided excellent friction as I rubbed against her clit.

“What do clients have to do with anything?” I growled and brushed into her again.

She clasped her hands around my neck, moaned, and shifted her hips against my throbbing erection—by far, the most pleasurable torture I’d experienced in ages. Damn, this woman tied me up in knots of desire.

“I cut hair on Friday and Saturday nights. I have two clients tomorrow.” She flexed her hips again and closed her eyes.

She licked her lips, and I brought mine close enough to smell the cherry on them.

Yoga instructor and hairdresser? “When are you free?” Moving my hands down over her ass, I cupped the sweet flesh and anchored her leg to my hip, opening her farther to my thrusts.

She panted as I smashed my cock against her sex. I increased the pace of the thrusts, and thank the good Lord above, Genevieve countered each movement with one of her own.

Her response was breathy and coated with desire when she replied. “I have to check my schedule. Oh, my word…”

I knew exactly what that meant. My gumdrop was about to go off, and if the intense concentration on her face and the mist of sweat now coating her brow was anything to go by, it would be one helluva release. Hell, yeah. I picked up the pace, pressed my pelvis forward, and rubbed my thick cock against her over and over. I lifted one hand and curved my fingers around a weighty breast. She jerked against my hand as I squeezed the globe through her tank.

“Kiss me,” I demanded when her head tipped back.

The little nonsensical phrases that left her lips were constant, proving she was completely lost in the moment. Just the way I wanted her.

Genevieve opened her eyes, and I swore to Christ, I could see my future staring back at me. Her mouth was slack, her half-open eyes filled to the brim with lust, and her cheeks as pretty as any pink rose I’d ever seen.

“Trent,” she whispered.

I about shot my wad in my pants. Her entire body tightened, and I couldn’t wait. I laid my lips over hers and tasted her orgasm in the breath that rushed out her mouth. Tongues wild, untamed, and everywhere at once…we kissed like our lives depended on it. She clutched me and held our lower halves together as the quaking and tremors throughout her faded and eventually stopped.

Our mouths were fused together when I responded to the beauty that was Genevieve by almost blowing a load into my pants. Still, I enjoyed rutting against her like an animal, her soft curves pressed against my hardest one. “Shit!” I said, my breath coming in bursts against her moist neck as I desperately tried to get a handle on the pleasure rippling through me. I wanted to sink so deep inside her and let go. Let everything go. The pent-up tension mingled with my frustration of being so close to heaven and not getting to dive in. But this was not where I’d take her fully the first time. Instead, I licked the salty column of her neck and committed that taste to memory. Not that I needed to. I planned on having a whole lot more of it and soon. Very soon.

“So you’ll check your planner and get back to me on that date,” I rumbled into her ear.

Her body started shaking with laughter. “Yes. I will.”

S
haking like a leaf
, I entered the office where we stored our timecards. Crystal was sitting on top of the desk, not in her chair, on
top
of the desk. Piles of papers were scattered around her. She had her blond hair up in a twist held by a pencil. Her eyes were closed, and her lips moved slightly. The woman did not look her sixty years of age. She had nary a wrinkle on her face. A person off the street would probably guess Crystal was barely pushing forty. Not that she cared. She had this thing about age. Said age was nothing but a number to note the years one had been alive, not one’s life experiences. I moved silently, padding on bare feet to the chest that held our cards, pulled out mine, and wrote my hours on it, as well as the hours this week I’d used the private room with Trent.

Even the mere thought of his name sent a shiver racing through my body.

“I can hear you thinking over there. What has you so twisted up, Vivvie?” Crystal asked, her eyes still closed, body comfortably in lotus pose on top of her desk, surrounded by chaos.

“Sorry I bothered your…whatever it is you’re doing,” I said, trying to move through my office work. In twenty minutes, I’d teach my class, have the private lessons with Trent, and then we’d meet Rowan at Sunflower Bakery. The thought of having Trent meet my brother sent a whirlwind of nervous energy scuttling in the air around me.

Crystal opened one clear blue eye. “Your energy is zapped, honey, not to mention you’re putting off some tumultuous vibes. How do you expect to teach your class so depleted? Sit.” She closed her eyes, put her fingers into a prayer gesture against her forehead, bowed, and then came up.

“Why are you on the desk?” I was trying not to laugh.

“Getting perspective.” She shrugged, unfolded her legs, and moved to the edge. Some of the papers fell to the floor below. “You know accounting is not my strong suit, and every computer I touch fizzes out. I thought a little meditation would clear my head and provide me with the answer.”

“And you had to do that on the desk?” I cocked an eyebrow and smiled.

Crystal’s lips smoothed into a serene little smirk. One I knew very well. “To understand a problem to its fullest, it’s best to give all of yourself. So I inserted myself into the chaos in the hopes that I could find the fix to my numbers issue.”

I cringed, thinking about my own “numbers” issues. The property tax on the house was due in December, the bills were two months behind, the kids needed to be fed, clothed, and in their school activities without being overwhelmed with the financial problems of owning a giant home in Berkeley proper. Sure, if I sold it, the problems would disappear. Our family home was worth around one-and-a-half million. I’d have enough to pay off any remaining debts, go back to school, pay for Row’s and Mary’s college tuition, and still have start-up for my own salon one day. But it was where we grew up, where our parents lived, loved, and brought us home from the hospital for our first night’s sleep. We learned how to walk, talk, and be who we are there. It would be the last bit of our parents gone. I couldn’t part with it, and I’d fight tooth and nail to keep it.

Crystal assessed me with a critical all-seeing eye, the same way she approached everyone. Her talents as a yogi were something to behold, but she had other gifts, such as a keen eye for when people were hurting and great advice on how to fix it. She also had an uncanny ability to see through the sharks of the world, the untrustworthy individuals and situations most people had trouble steering clear of. Mostly though, she just knew people and had a sixth sense about relationships, business deals, and the future. Every time I’d come to her about a problem with the kids or the house, she’d offer sound advice and a token of inspiration to encourage me to figure it out on my own. Maybe she could help me with my dilemma over Trent.

“And did you find the answer to your numbers problem?”

Crystal laughed, walked over to the table that held jewelry and bits and bobs that she made in her spare time and sold to interested patrons for a fraction of what they were worth. With a delicate hand, she lifted a stunning white crystal necklace on a long dangling silver strand and walked over to me. “I did.” She placed the necklace around my neck, the stone warm between my breasts where she’d tucked it down into my tank. “To ward off negativity.”

“What was the answer, if you don’t mind me asking?” I rubbed at the new crystal that now settled over my heart. With my own numbers problems, I could use some thinly veiled advice.

Crystal slid a lock of my hair behind my ear. “To hire an accountant.”

I’m certain my brows pinched together as she ran her thumb along the space above my nose.

“I inserted myself into the chaos, meditated on it, and found that I was not needed at all in the equation. Jewel has been on me for months to let her hire an accountant, but since it was our center and our hard-earned dollars, I didn’t want to waste them on something I thought I could do.” Crystal shrugged and walked back to her desk where she grabbed stacks of papers and piled them all neatly into one large stack on the corner. “Turns out, I’m much better at using my talents toward things that interest me rather than things that give me a headache.” She winked and sat in her chair.

“Is the center doing okay?” I asked, nervous that her money problems could also be not having enough of it. However, every class was full, which led me to believe things were going well.

“Better than ever. All of our evening classes are packed. Yours and Mila’s classes have taken off during the morning, and our private rooms are booking up. Speaking of…I heard you had a private lesson all week. Is that true?” She grinned and her entire face seemed to brighten.

The thought of Trent made my skin feel unbearably hot. That kiss, the way he’d pressed me up against the wall yesterday, had me calling out my release, his own right on the heels of mine. We’d both acted like love-sick puppies, and I couldn’t help wondering what it meant. He made it clear it wasn’t a one-time thing for him. He even mentioned that he wanted to take me out on a date. Problem was, he was the type of man a woman fell for…hard. I knew his history. Well, I didn’t
know
know. I knew what I’d read in the smut mags and what Rowan told me about how much of a stud his idol was. Apparently, he had a girl on his arm every other week, according to star-stricken Row.

Even if we dated until he was playing baseball again, he’d be off at away games and around his people doing what they did. I had an inkling it wouldn’t be hanging out in his hotel room alone, away from scantily glad groupies. No, I needed to protect myself. Sure, I was attracted to him. More than that. I
wanted
him. Wanted him like no other man I’d met. Would I be able to let him go when he was in a better position physically and playing on the team? Did it matter? Could I have a casual fling and keep my heart in check? I bit my lip.

Crystal tapped on the desk. “Honey, whatever is going on in that head of yours is torturous to watch. Please, share with me. You know that your mama left me in charge of ensuring you were looked after emotionally. Since she’s not here, God bless her beautiful young soul, you’ve got to work with what you have.”

Inhaling full and deep, the way I suggested all my clients do throughout my classes, I straightened my shoulders and spine and looked at Crystal. “My private client is professional baseball player Trent Fox. Yesterday, I kissed him. Right here. Well, not right here”—I pointed to the floor in her office—“but in the private room. It got a little heated. Now he wants to date me, and I asked him to meet Row because he’s a huge fan, and I feel like with our parents gone, if I can introduce him to his idol, even though I kissed him, and I shouldn’t have, I should try to do that for my brother.” I’d lost my breath by the time I finished.

Crystal lifted her hands and waved them in front of her chest. “Wait a minute. Why shouldn’t you have kissed him?”

From all that, she zeroed in on to that one tiny facet of what I’d just told her? “Because he’s a player. And he’s my client.”

She scrunched up her nose. “There are absolutely no policies regarding fraternization. We do not place rules on sexual attraction. If anything, we
encourage
it.” Her eyes gleamed.

She had a solid point. The studio even had classes on the schedule for couples, tantric yoga practice, and special retreats designed to help couples find their more passionate side.

“Still, it wasn’t very professional.”

Crystal shrugged. “Sex, love, and passion usually aren’t. Those things are not naturally confined to a perfect little box. They are messy and complicated, but the good parts feel out of this world, give our bodies and minds what they need. If this man gets your heart and root chakra heightened, why not enjoy yourself?”

I rubbed at my face. Crystal always made it sound so easy. “What if I fall in love with him?”

She snorted. “Worse things have happened to you, my dear. That would be a nice balance, wouldn’t you agree?”

Sighing, I shook my head. “No, but what if he just wants to have sex with me, not a relationship?”

She pinched her eyebrows together. “Did he tell you that?”

“Not exactly. He wants to take me out on a date and…other things.”

She smiled. “And are you interested in ‘other things’ too?”

“Oh, yeah,” I whispered breathily, thinking about how he’d made me feel up against that wall. Three long years had passed since I’d had an orgasm that wasn’t self-initiated. That one release had been better than all the self-induced ones combined, and he hadn’t even touched or seen much of me.

“Looks like you have your answer,” she said simply, going back to her stacks.

“Not at all. I’m more confused than ever,” I groaned, stood, and checked the clock. “Now I have to teach a class, and I’m going to muck up everyone’s happy place.” I wanted to stomp like a child.

Crystal stood, walked over to me, and pulled me into her arms. She held me close until I melted into her motherly embrace. For a woman who didn’t have any children of her own, she sure took on the rest of the world’s orphans as though they were from her own womb. “Listen, my dear, and listen good. You don’t have to plan this out. Not every speck of your life has to fit into a box. Right now, you have to think about you, Rowan, and Mary. However, you do not have to plan out how your relationship with this Trent fella is going to be six months down the road.” She petted my hair. “Why not take it one day at a time? If you want to have extracurricular activities with him, ones that are of the
casual
nature, go ahead. You’re a grown woman. You are the only person judging you. So cut it out and live a little. Let’s go through a quick chakra readjust. I can’t have you mucking up our clients with your bad juju.”

C
rystal was right
. As usual. Once she’d helped me clear the negative energy surrounding my chakras, she sent me on my way to teach my class. The class was great, completely packed, and put me in the perfect headspace I needed to be in to see Trent.

When I entered the private room, he was already sitting on a mat. A manly one at that. It was black, a full eight feet long, a special edition from a company I recognized. Top of the line, ideal for his height, with extra thick padding. That was a smart idea since he was recuperating, and a baseball player’s knees needed to be in tip-top shape. His eyes were closed, but when I entered and shut the door, he opened them.

“Hey, gumdrop. I was trying the meditation shit you told me about. I kind of suck at it though. Think I’ll take that hot chick Dara’s class this weekend.”

“Hot chick?” came from my lips before I could take it back, betraying my feelings about him mentioning the physical attributes of another woman.

He grinned and bit down on his plush bottom lip. A zap of electricity churned through my nerves.
Stupid, sexy man.

“Yeah, you met her. Skin the color of the darkest honey, chestnut-brown hair down to her ass. Bluest eyes I’ve ever seen. Works in the bakery.”

I flapped out my mat loudly, feeling very prickly all of a sudden. “Yes, I know who she is.”

“Then you know she’s hot. Shoot, I took a look around this place after class yesterday, and the guys should come here to pick up chicks. They’re all smokin’ hot, bendy as all get-out, and sweet as pie.”

Of course he noticed all the women who worked here. Thought they were all hot. Hmmm. Well, whatever. They were pretty. I’d give him that. But if he was trying to get on my good side and date me, he shouldn’t be bringing up the hotness factor of people I considered my good friends.

“What did I do now, gumdrop?” His tone was instantly apologetic.

Holding my head high, I pretended his comment hadn’t bothered me and fiddled with my props around us. Unfortunately, I failed, because in two seconds flat, Trent grabbed me around the waist and hauled me on top of him until I was straddling his thighs, my center connected to his much harder one, and our faces a scant inch from one another.