“Breakfast is at six. Millie doesn’t like it when people are late,” she said, as if she were issuing a challenge.
They both knew her warning didn’t matter. Millie would feed him any time he showed up. He had no idea what he’d done to deserve the older woman’s approval. If she knew him, he had no doubt she’d change her mind, but for now he’d take what he could get and be grateful for it. Especially when it felt like he and the sweet old woman were pulling in the same direction.
“I won’t be late.”
Andy tipped her head in acknowledgment and then she was out the door, closing it firmly on him and his thoughts.
––––––––
LIAM STRETCHED IN the unfamiliar bed, his feet hitting the foot rail and making the whole bed shake. God, it was a miracle he hadn’t broken the thing in his sleep. Careful not to wreck Andy’s furniture, he stood and made his way to the bathroom, the gray glow of the dawn sky lighting his way. The hippy farmer with the fantastic body and the penchant for doing good said breakfast at six like the early morning was a deterrent. But Liam had always been an early riser, rarely sleeping past five.
He flipped on the bathroom light and groaned when his sleepy gaze landed on the postage stamp-sized shower. He’d tried it out the night before, partly to wash off the dirt from working on the farm and partly to wash away images of Andy on her knees in front of him, his fist in her hair. He’d succeeded in getting rid of the dirt and bruising his elbow from whacking it against the tile. He’d made no progress in eliminating images of green-gold eyes framed by inky lashes or the feel of her warm body pressed against him.
His cock didn’t seem to care that the contact had been completely accidental. He’d gone to bed hard and woken up harder, with only the promise of a cramped shower in front of him. Resigned to the inevitable, he took a quick shower, not bothering to wait for the water to warm up. The cold helped with the reallocation of his blood and when he finished, he was wide awake and ready. Fifteen minutes into the day and two goals already met.
Depending on how the day went, he’d see if he could work in a run later and maybe a full-sized shower at the bathhouse. He pulled clothes from the duffel he’d packed for the fishing trip and dressed quickly in faded jeans and a T-shirt. He was way ahead of Andy’s six o’clock schedule but he liked the idea of being the first one to meet the day. Although he had to admit, given the goats to milk and the people to feed, he might be stretching it to assume he was the first. He tugged on his black Southerland Security sweatshirt against the cool early morning air and stepped outside.
The sky was just starting to turn light, dawn nothing more than a thin, salmon-colored promise against the horizon. Ignoring the dew threatening to soak through his boots and one of the few pairs of socks he’d brought with him, he slipped silently around the cottage and headed toward the house. At this point in his life, stealth was pretty much his default position, but it had been a long time since he was as grateful for it as he was when he rounded the corner of the shed and saw Andy silhouetted against the growing light.
He froze mid-step, catching and holding his breath so he wouldn’t alert her to his presence. She’d hate knowing he’d invaded her privacy, but he justified it by telling himself she was the one doing yoga in a public place. It didn’t matter. He couldn’t have pulled his hungry gaze away regardless of the morals involved. Reminding himself to breathe, he watched her slide from mountain pose into warrior, lunging forward with her arms reaching overhead, fingertips pointed toward the sky. She wore a tight, long-sleeved T-shirt and leggings so there was nothing to obscure the long, graceful arc of her body.
As he watched, mesmerized, she shifted, sinking deeper into the pose, opening her hips and bringing her outstretched arms to shoulder height. He traced the lines of her body with his gaze, feeling the tension and release in the pose. He had to move or do something preferably before she got to down dog and he made an ass of himself. Crossing the still damp grass, he took up a spot behind her, taking a deep breath and letting it out as he sunk into the familiar position. Yoga had been a big part of his recovery and still helped keep his abused muscles from knotting themselves into pretzels.
“Don’t stop,” he said when she jumped out of the pose.
She stared at him for a moment as if she was trying to figure out his motives. With her chestnut hair pulled back in a merciless ponytail and her face scrubbed clean, she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. There was something so honest in her clear eyes and the light dusting of freckles made her seem innocent. Mixed with the obvious strength of her body, it made a powerful combination, one he was having an increasingly difficult time ignoring. Breathing in, he shifted his body back into warrior one. His hip flexors appreciated the forward alignment and the stretch of his arms over his head pushed his aching shoulders in exactly the right way.
Watching him show his familiarity with the poses must have convinced her he was serious and not trying to make fun of her because she stepped back into position. When she sunk into the lunge beside him, it emphasized how much smaller she was—not fragile, not with the way she moved—but petite in a way that pulled on protective urges he thought he’d buried long ago.
They held the pose for a moment, breathing together and giving in to the feel of the stretch. His thigh muscles protested but it was a good kind of hurt. The kind that made his body stronger and helped him bounce back after his injury. He sensed Andy start to move and followed her, shifting into warrior two. Relaxing into the pose, he rocked his hip flexors, helping them loosen so he could turn his body sideways. He reached through his fingertips, not bothering to pay any attention to his arms. He could hold them in this position for hours. It was the lower half of his body that yoga worked, the part he still needed help with.
Of course, he’d look forward to it if he could do it with Andy every day. Watching the long, graceful line of her arms through to her fingertips and the elegant stretch of her neck provided more than enough motivation. He’d turn into some kind of freaking yogi if it meant he got to watch the dark-haired beauty twist and bend her body beside him.
He saw her ribcage expand before she moved again. When she exhaled, it was as if she collapsed onto herself, lacing her fingers behind her back and flattening out her torso. Dipping below her bent leg, she raised her arms behind her back, almost completely reversing her earlier pose. He tried to follow her, but it was clear after a few seconds he’d pushed past the limits of jeans and boots as yoga attire. And his shoulders really didn’t want to bend that way.
He managed to mutter the word “uncle” a fraction of a second before his balance tipped and he toppled over onto his ass in the wet grass. The dew soaked through his jeans and he sucked in a breath as the cold seeped through to his skin. Beside him, Andy straightened and then turned to face him, her smile lighting up her face. He shouldn’t care. He didn’t. Honestly. But there was a part of him that loved the idea of being the one to put that expression on her face, even if it meant wet denim.
“I’ve never done that one before,” he said, rolling to his knees and grimacing when the dew went through the denim.
“I can see that.”
He could tell she was working to stifle her laughter. And failing.
“What’s it called?” he asked, reaching for some shred of dignity.
Still grinning in the early morning light, she offered him her hand. He took it, the warmth of her fingers surprising in the cool air. He squeezed her hand as she helped pull him to standing. He used the momentum to close the distance between them so he stood close enough to almost feel her. Close enough to smell the clean lavender scent of her. He watched her lick her full, pink lips as he waited for her answer.
“Humble warrior pose,” she said, a smile curving her mouth. “It’s called humble warrior pose.”
