Page 44 of No Such Thing as Serendipity
She must have noticed my reaction because she put her hand on my arm. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. It’s just sometimes you can be intense. Remember that time you wouldn’t leave me alone about eating with chopsticks at that Chinese restaurant, and I ended up walking away hungry?”
Most of her food had ended up on the floor or table until she’d given up and stopped eating.
“I’d hardly call that a pattern.”
“How about when you convinced me I had to buy that Subaru?”
“You hated it.”
“Or when you—”
I held up my hand. “Stop. I get it. For you, I’ll try.” And I meant it. Emma deserved better from me.
She grinned and patted me on the arm. “I know you will, but...no buts, you’ll do it.” She ended the sentence with a sharp nod, as if she were putting an exclamation point there. “Come on.” She grabbed my hand. “I’ll change out of these clothes, so we can get moving.”
After morning programs, Vera directed us to return to our villas for the last offering before lunch.
“Did you sign us up for this?” I asked Emma as we walked back from our last class.
Only Dana from our villa had been at the tai chi class, so she walked with us. She was on one side of me, while Emma flanked my opposite side. It had been difficult concentrating on the exercises since Dana took every opportunity to bend so I could see down her shirt.I liked what I saw.
“No. This is mandatory,” Emma said.
Dana snorted. “Fuck mandatory. If they expect me to do some touchy-feely bullshit, I’m out.”
“Amen.”
Emma shot me a dirty look but said nothing.
Dana put her hand on my hip. She’d only need to slide it a few inches to rest it on my butt. “You and I could do something else.” She licked her lips. “Take a walk in the woods, maybe?”
“Blake plans on participating in all the offerings. She intends to take full advantage of the experience.”
Dana laughed, and her hand snaked closer to my buttocks. “How long will you continue playing this game?”
I gave Emma a pleading look. Dana was hot, and her hand on my hip was a reminder it’d been too long since someone touched me this way.
Emma’s eyes filled with disappointment, and she said, “I suppose that’s up to Blake.”
I moved toward Dana, so her hand brushed my ass. “Emma’s right. I want to give the experience a try.” I pressed my body against Dana’s hand as I exaggerated the movement of my hips as I walked.
“All right, you win. I’ll play it your way.” Dana smirked and licked her lips. My body blocked Emma’s view, so she was none the wiser.
“Good!” Emma’s innocence radiated and almost made me feel guilty.
I had to devise a plan to get Dana alone. I wanted more of what she’d given me a glimpse of earlier. Almost on cue, she reachedup and scratched her chest, pushing her V-neck shirt lower, giving me a better view of her cleavage.
Had it been on purpose or was it an innocent itch? I got my answer as soon as I looked into her smoldering eyes.
Damn.It was getting hot out here. I tugged at my collar to let Dana know I’d received her message. Would I have to sneak around Emma for a taste of Dana? No, I’d convince her to let me make my own choices in this department.
Time for scheming ran out since we’d arrived back at the villa. With Tranquility Terrace located near the firepit, our housemates were seated around the unlit fire.
“Hey-o,” Annie said, waving us to where they sat. “Our instructor should be here soon.”
“Does anyone know which instructor we have?” Emma asked.
“Not a clue,” Helena answered. She sat awkwardly in her chair, rubbing her leg. I’d noticed she did that a lot. Was it a nervous habit or did it help her pain?
