Breathe In (Just Breathe, #1)(48)

At the park, Sadie relieves herself before Joe and I head down the stairs to the beach for a short stroll. I’m temped to jog, but I refrain since we’ll be trampolining in a few hours. Instead, I take out Sadie’s ball so she can at least run and get out this morning’s tension. This will give her time to stretch before she’s stuck in the condo for a few hours. Neither Joe nor I speak as we stroll alone in the brisk, morning air. Santa Monica is peaceful early in the morning just like Pasadena.

“So, trampolining . . .” Joe begins, finally breaking the silence as we’re halfway back up the beach towards Nathan’s. “I”m excited and a little nervous.”

“Yeah,” I confirm and my body relaxes.

I’m getting the feeling that he’s not going to question me about earlier. While Jared keeps my personal life private, Maggie has the tendency to share on occasion. I’m really hoping that she doesn’t divulge my secrets even though this morning was unusual.

“You must really like it,” he says.

I nod in response and my body continues to release the anxiety. “Do you workout?” I question, immediately chiding myself for asking.

He obviously does. God, look at his body. You can see his muscles under his shirt. That was such a stupid question. My brain is obviously still not fully functioning yet.


“Every day,” he politely replies. “I like to run and lift weights. I love to play any sport that I’m decent at so I’m not stuck in indoors or doing the same thing all the time. I practice Wing Chun and I also know Jujitsu.”

“Interesting,” I respond.

My appreciation for the sight of his half naked body yesterday stirs inside. Well, maybe this will be the way for me to come out of my funk.

“I can show you some Wing Chun sometime if you’d like. Not that you necessarily need help,” he snickers a little. “But, if you’re interested in knowing more options . . . and, you can teach me what you know.”

I ponder his suggestion for a moment, not sure and surprised at the mix of emotions stirring inside of me. “Sure. I’d like that,” I say.

I really would like to learn another style of martial arts. The thought of having more control over my body and what I can do with it intrigues me immensely. The idea of being closer to his body is a bit enticing too.

Sadie bounces up and down a good stretch of the beach chasing after her ball and returning it to either Joe or myself to throw it. Joe and I don’t talk anymore, just stand or walk in calm, peaceful silence.

My level of comfort with Joe is increasing, despite the sexual tension. This man perplexes me. He’s got a very confident air to him, but not cocky. There’s something else that I can’t quite put my finger on. He’s young, rich and handsome. How does he not have a girlfriend?

My mind wanders back to our conversation last night about what Joe said. Did he say he hasn’t or hadn’t found the right one? I can’t remember. Hadn’t. He said hadn’t. What did he mean by that?

After taking turns showering in Nathan’s room since Nathan and Jared are still asleep in my bed, Joe and I sit on the patio talking quietly as we lay on the two lounge chairs and eat some fruit and yogurt to tide us over until breakfast. Sadie is curled up between my legs with her head on my belly.

Our conversation is light, general stuff and nothing intrusive. We get to know each other on a different level and find ourselves laughing half the time. Okay, I get to know him more than he does me because he is telling me stories about his brother’s and himself. It’s delightful to listen and I only ask a question here or there since he’s really willing to keep talking. He seems happy to share and I’m enjoying the sound of his voice.

When I ask, Joe openly shares about his parents. His Mom, Elaine Kensington, comes from the Kensington family who have a long, successful reputation in the shipping industries since his mother’s grandfather, Lord Byron Kensington built the family empire when he was a young man in England. He branched out into real estate and hospitality soon after moving to America with his young, pregnant wife when he was in his early thirties. Elaine was learning the family business while attending Yale as her sister, Olivia, was finishing high school. Elaine was being groomed to take over the family business after her father.

Joe’s father, John Covelli, didn’t come from money, rather an honest, hard-working, blue collar family. His parents owned a small Italian restaurant, called Angelo’s, in a middle-class section of New York that John was expected to take over. While helping the family with the restaurant, John attended NYU for business — John’s college was paid for by scholarships. In his second year at college, John ran into Elaine when she and a few of her friends stopped into Angelo’s to warm up from the cold streets of New York late one snowy night just before closing. It was love at first sight for John.

Over the next few years, John courted Elaine from a distance, believing her family would never approve of his social status until he proved himself. Eventually, Elaine didn’t care and dated John openly despite her family’s protest. Without anyone’s help, and using all of the money he saved from working at Angelo’s since he was ten, John began purchasing small, rundown hotels on the edges of the middle-class and upper-class sections of New York. Properties the rich overlooked, but John had a vision. Buying the first few with mortgages, he’d fix them up and name them after his love. They were each named Elaine’s of whatever street or street corner they were on. Also, they were each styled differently, giving them their own personality and varying degrees of affordability. He wanted to cater to all levels of the working class with the design and feel of the opulence he believed everyone deserved to experience. By the time he bought his fourth building, John had just graduated college, as did Elaine. John had all the mortgages for his first three hotels paid off and he bought his fourth, fifth and sixth properties with cash. Just before buying his seventh property, John scheduled an appointment with Mr. Leonardo Kensington himself, Elaine’s father, with the assistance of Elaine, of course. The two of them visited Mr. Kensington together, and to Eleanor’s surprise, John asked Mr. Kensington for his permission to marry Elaine. Still not pleased with his pedigree, Mr. Kensington apprehensively agreed. Though John did not come from the same status, Mr. Kensington was rather impressed with John, his business sense and his determination to make a name for himself. Just after their honeymoon, Mr. Kensington began to recognize what Elaine had seen in John and overtime was reassured by John’s continued successes. Through his actions, John proved himself a worthy suitor not only for his daughter, but also potentially for the family business. Now, Elaine and John run the family empire together with the approval of Mr. Kensington. Since John’s involvement, he and Elaine have tripled the family’s assets and income.