Page 54 of Girl in the Water
For a moment, she was hurt. And then she was angry.
She grabbed her gym bag. She needed to work off some of her confusion and frustration.Capoeirawould help.
Of course, even the sport was something Ian had given her—one of a million gifts.
When she’d moved to the US, at first she’d wanted to leave her past completely behind. She loved America; she just wanted to be an American. Ian had encouraged her to be proud of her rich heritage.
There’s not one thing wrong with you, or bad about you, he’d repeated to her daily when she’d felt like she was just a dumb, backward girl from a bamboo hut in the middle of nowhere.
He was the one who’d first encouraged her to keep cooking Brazilian dishes. And sometimes they spoke to each other in Portuguese. When Ian insisted that she take up some kind of self-defense training, she’d chosen Brazilian capoeiraand had fallen in love with it.
Capoeira combined martial arts with dance, acrobatics, and music. She took to it like a monkey to climbing. She’d even placed in a competition. Ian had told her he was proud of her.
Ian who’d just run from the idea that she was a grown woman who wanted him.
And yet…
As she drummed down the stairs, a slow smile spread on her face, and she had to suck in her bottom lip and wrap her arms around her gym bag so she wouldn’t start laughing like a lunatic.
She had just seen Ian naked!
She texted Crystal to let her know that she got the job, and was going on assignment, so they wouldn’t be able to hang out for the next couple of weeks.
Crystal texted back her congratulations, and a promise to take her out to celebrate when she got back.
Daniela put her phone away as she reached her car. Before getting in, she glanced around to make sure nobody was watching, and she did a little dance.
She was going on a mission with Ian!
