Overcoming Fear (Growing Pains #2)(20)

“Easy now, big fella,” Krista said with a snicker. She put her palms on him again and felt his deep rumble of a chuckle.

Ah, heaven. His body was pure paradise. Hard, cut, oh-so-masculine—she couldn’t stop herself from pausing there for a minute, her hands resting on his warm, broad, glorious lateral muscles.

Pulling herself out of her lust daze, she cleared her throat and got her business face on. This sucker would bend if she had to bend him herself!

“Okay, now, go with it,” she said as she pushed with her right hand and pulled with her left. She was trying to show him how to move to get the pose.

“Not working,” he said stiffly. “You are going to push me over.”

Krista could feel his muscles flexing under her palms. His back arched and bowed, trying to stay poised. The muscles rippled.

“Work with me, dumb-dumb, not against me!”

Desperately trying for self-control, she kept her left hand on his back and reached around his torso with her right to push on his chest gradually. The play of muscle on his front was equally as marvelous as his back. He was hard everywhere, no ounce of fat on his body what-so-ever.

Krista gulped against the sudden hot flash.

“Are you helping or trying to make it worse?” Sean asked, cutting through Krista’s mental picture of his bare chest.

“Cripes, Sean, have you ever stretched in your life?”

“I have muscle, darling. Yoga dudes don’t.”

“Yoga dudes certainly do,” Krista replied, removing her hands regretfully and circling him, looking for the malfunction. “They are just more flexible with it. Get back in pose. I’m going to try and help you from the front. Maybe you’ll bend better if you can see what I’m trying to do.”

Sean gave an irritated sigh and tried to contort his body again, this time getting a little closer to what they were going for.

“Breathe, Sean, that’s part of it.”

The breath he took wasn’t exactly what Krista was thinking. She had a feeling there might’ve been a swear word mixed up in there somewhere.

Krista stood in front of him, the sun nearly gone now. Orange light splashed across his face and hair, illuminating his eyes and highlighting the peaks and valleys of his face. He looked like the statue of David in repose. Here, on the beach, he gave off more radiance then she had ever seen. He was at home here where elsewhere he was just on loan.

“Right,” she inspected him. Then she met his eyes. The sinking sun lent a glow that made them look otherworldly. He was focusing on her with a wary expression.

She probably should have been wary, too, but she couldn’t think that far ahead.

“Let’s…see.” She stepped up to him slowly, dropping her eyes to see which parts of his torso she would guide. As she neared the hairs stood up on her arms.

“Okay,” she breathed softly. “I am going to put one hand on your torso, right here...” She moved her right hand to the area just above his pec. This time he didn’t flinch. She looked up to meet his eyes. They were looking down intently, a softness in them she hadn’t seen before overlaying a familiar hunger.

“I am going to put my other hand on the back of you, right...” She reached around him slowly, not breaking eye contact, having to step closer to get her arm around his big body. Their chests were almost touching as she softly put her other hand on his back. “…here,” she whispered.

She leaned closer to his face, to his parted lips. His eyes watched her approach, heavy-lidded, wariness gone. Krista felt light all over. The lighting, the waves crashing behind them, the calm and quiet of the beach, all cast a mystical quality on the moment.

She moved slowly, as if through honey, their eyes and face so close. Her hand turned him to her, moving him closer rather than into the correct pose. His body lost all rigidity and molded to her palms like play dough, his eyes glued to hers like a drunk man clutching a cup of coffee. Even closer, his eyes dropping to her lips, her eyes nearly closed, waiting. Hoping.

Within millimeters… his balance gave out.

He sucked in a breath as he grabbed for her shoulders. In surprise she forgot to plant her feet. After a tiny fight for balance they tumbled, landing with a soft smack, his weight pressing her deeply into the packed sand, sandwiching her.

She barely had time to say “Oh,” or “yes please,” before he rolled to the side and lay next to her, panting.

“Are we done yet?” he asked to cover the moment.

“You are a long way to getting that pose, but for today, yeah. I don’t want to stand any—“

It was then that a wave washed further inland than expected--or maybe not, since the tide was coming in. The water washed up over them in a surge, dunking them, filling their mouths with freezing cold, salty ocean.

Krista’s first reaction, and the one she went with, was to immediately panic! She wasn’t a sophisticated ocean goer. In fact, the ocean and all its power terrified her. In a world after Jim, where she craved control, the ocean was a power all its own. Untamable.

She flailed immediately, submerged, scared, freezing water washing over her. She held her breath and closed her eyes, thinking she was being sucked out to sea. A second later she was hoisted up by familiar hands, the wave already receding.

“Are you okay?”

Krista opened her eyes, seeing Sean’s face close to hers, largely in shadow. “That wasn’t a part of my relaxation and energizing regime.”