Chapter 10
The waves gently crashed onto the shore and Willa breathed in the salty air.
It was going to be a good day. She could feel it.
After she got home from Bingo last night, she shoved the certificate she won into her bedside table and spent some quality time with her vibrator, trying not to think about how she felt when Shawn winked at her or whispered in her ear.
Saturday morning classes were always her favorite. They tended to bring in people who were trying yoga for the first time or who couldn’t make it during the week, always leading to a fun atmosphere. She was only bummed because she couldn’t walk with Ida on Saturdays since it conflicted with the time of her class.
She’d run into Blake this morning, but to her surprise, he was perfectly pleasant. He let her know that there was a coffee bar she was welcome to, if she wanted. Willa wondered if she’d judged him too harshly at first, or if Layla’s concerns colored her first impression.
Sure, Blake was attractive in the same way Leo was, and there were a few similarities in the way they dressed and carried themselves. But perhaps she had been too quick to group them together, and she decided she’d make a conscious effort to give him another chance.
She laid out her mat as people started making their way toward her. Usually, she taught yoga classes in one of the conference rooms on the first floor. She’d been bringing incense and her bluetooth speaker to improve the ambience, but she wasn’t sure it was helping much. So she’d posted a sign in the conference room today that she’d be doing yoga on the beach, hoping that it’d be a better location for people to connect with themselves.
As people showed up—some with yoga mats the hotel had on hand, others with beach towels—she started playing music and encouraged them to get settled and begin stretching however they saw fit. She was happy to see that Layla had joined today, along with one of the hotel bartenders, a blue-haired woman she hadn’t met yet. All in all, about ten people had showed up which was a promising development for her.
“Alright everyone, let’s get started,” Willa said.
She guided everyone through warm-up stretches and a simple sequence, offering modifications for those who were new to yoga. She demonstrated some poses, helping some people adjust the position if they got the footing wrong.
“And remember, yogis, it’s okay to skip the bind,” Willa said as she demonstrated how to go from warrior two into a bind, where her arms wrapped behind her back and looped between her legs.
A few people toppled over as they attempted the bind, and she went over to help them assume the correct position.
“Now, yogis, it’s time for one of my favorite parts of yoga—going upside down,” she said. “I’m going to show you a few ways you can do this. For my beginners, spread your legs out and forward fold. Grab your ankles if it feels comfortable, pulling yourself deeper into the stretch. For more advanced yogis, put your hands down on either side of your head, and pull yourself into a headstand.”
She pointed her toes and pushed her feet into the air, taking deep breaths before bringing her feet back to earth. While in the pose, she reminded students to protect their necks and listen to their bodies, offering tips on the healthiest ways to get into their headstand.
“Feel free to spend a few minutes in that pose or challenge yourself to do something you haven’t tried before. I’ll come around and see how everyone’s doing, and then we’ll wrap up in a moment. So this is your last chance to really push yourself today. And remember, it’s okay to mess up! That just means you tried.”
She went around and spotted a few people attempting a headstand. A few students, like the hotel bartender she had yet to meet, were clearly practiced yogis who could pull off a headstand effortlessly. Most of them fell over or stayed in the forward fold.
A few moments later, she wrapped up the class with gentle stretches and an extended shavasana. Willa said goodbye to everyone else, encouraging them to come back next week if they’d still be in town, before visiting with Layla.
“This is Amanda,” Layla said, gesturing to her alabaster-toned companion.
“I recognize you from the bar,” Willa said, extending her hand. “It’s nice to meet you. Thanks for coming today.”
“I loved your class,” Amanda said, her blue hair blowing in the breeze. “So you can definitely expect me to be one of your regulars.”
“Thanks,” Willa said.
“We typically go out on Friday nights,” Amanda said. “Girl’s night and all that. Want to join us next week? We get drinks and vent about work. You’re one of us now. Come hang.”
Willa grinned. “I’d love that. Thanks for inviting me.”
After exchanging numbers and promising that she’d join them next weekend, they said goodbye and she headed back home. The drive back to her house was one of her favorites—ocean views on every side of her, and a steady exit from tourists galore back into her locals-only haven.
It’d only been a few weeks, but she was starting to feel like herself again. Willa thought she’d miss San Francisco more—the walkable city, the infinite amount of restaurants, the hustle and bustle. But she was beginning to realize she was more suited for a slower pace of life—one offered by her home on the Bay.
As she came up on Shawn’s bait shop, she decided to pull in and get some shrimp for that evening.
Maybe she’d even invite him to do some off-the-wharf fishing with her.
As friends.
For fun.
Shawn had never hadtwo back-to-back days filled with tourists that made him feel like he’d rather be taking a nap in the middle of the highway, but here he was. Dealing with one of the same groups of women from yesterday. Trying to explain to them—again—that he was booked solid for the next week and couldn’t take them on a ride. Pretending to ignore their alcohol-stained breath.
“C’mon,” said the ringleader of the group, a busty blonde who batted her eyelashes as she laid a hand on his forearm. “Can’t you make an exception, just this once?”
Shawn heard the door jangle as someone came in, but was too busy trying to calm himself down enough to deal with this woman, when a voice he recognized pierced the silence.
“Hey, babe.”
Shawn’s heart pounded as he looked at Willa.
Holy fuck, she was actually following through. When she’d said he could use her as an excuse—as his fake girlfriend—to keep the tourists away, he didn’t think she’d show up at his bait shop and help him with the ruse.
“Hi,” he said, breathlessly.
She smiled at him.
God, being on the receiving end of that smile felt like catching a 40-pound grouper—like he was the luckiest son of a bitch on the Gulf. He felt the edges of his lips curve up in response until she pouted.
“Aren’t you going to kiss me?”
A temptation too hard to resist.
He barely registered pushing past the blonde who had cornered him and grabbed Willa’s hip with one hand and her cheek with the other before claiming her mouth. She tasted better than he imagined. Like strawberries and sunshine and salt.
He’d daydreamed about these lips—about what it’d be like to suck and nibble and bite them, and so he did. He tugged her closer and she fisted her hands on his chest before digging her fingers into his hair. He couldn’t hold back a groan when she thrust her tongue into his mouth, and he consumed her. He wanted to taste every inch of her, wanted to get lost in this moment, this kiss?—
Suddenly, she was gone.
Someone had cleared their throat behind him.
Willa looked over his shoulder, still panting from the kiss.
The kiss he wouldn’t have stopped if she hadn’t pulled away.
He rested his forehead against hers.
“Hi,” he whispered.
“Hi,” she responded, her eyes drifting to his mouth again.
“So is this your girlfriend?” the busty blonde asked.
“The one and only,” Willa said, pushing past him and crossing her arms as she studied the tourist. “Maybe you shouldn’t touch men unless you know they want you to.”
“He certainly didn’t seem to mind it.”
“Not what it looked like to me.”
“How would you know?”
“Trust me,” Willa said, her voice thick with meaning as she rested a sultry gaze on Shawn, bringing a hand to his cheek and rubbing her thumb across his lips. “I know.”
Shawn’s heart thumped.
He was still recovering from that kiss. If someone had told him the world stopped spinning while his lips were locked with Willa’s, he might have just believed them.
His little crush was getting out of control.
He didn’t question it when she asked for a kiss. He’d thought about it enough since last night. Since the pure joy on her face when she won Bingo. Since the way she looked at him after he dropped her off. He’d jacked off this morning, thinking about those plump lips around his cock, those delicate fingers dragging him into her mouth.
“Look,” he said, feeling light-headed from the kiss he’d never stop thinking about. “Like I said, I can’t take you on a ride this week. Happy to help you find some rods or lures, if you want some. But I’m booked solid for anything else.”
The blonde stared at him for a split second before responding.
“Time to go, girls.”
As the door jangled on their way out, he turned back to look at Willa, who was staring at him with square shoulders and a lifted chin.
“Sorry if I went too far,” she said. “I just walked in and saw her touching you, and I thought about what you told me yesterday. And I wanted to make her stop. I didn’t think…”
She didn’t think he’d kiss her.
Those were the unspoken words hanging in the air. She must’ve thought he would just peck her on the cheek to keep up the charade.
He tried not to look disappointed. Did that mean she hadn’t felt as affected by the kiss as he had? That she hadn’t felt like the world stopped for a moment, and all that existed was the two of them? That she hadn’t wanted to keep going?
“Thank you,” he said honestly, knowing that if she hadn’t come in when she did, he’d still be trying to get away from that woman. “I’m sorry if I?—”
“No,” she said, cutting him off. “No, it’s fine.”
She bit her lip and crossed her legs, eyes darting to his lips again. A spark of hope coursed through him.
So she was affected, after all.
“Maybe I should use you as my fake girlfriend more often, Greene,” he murmured as he walked closer to her.
“Do fake girlfriends get discounts? Because if so, I’m in.”
“I’ll have to take it up with management.” He paused. “Management says you get 20 percent off every purchase.”
She giggled.
“Why’d you come in today, anyway?” he asked.
“I was on my way home from yoga and thought I’d get some shrimp. I was thinking of fishing off the wharf tonight. I was going to invite you to join me, actually,” she sucked a deep breath in. “But I’m just now realizing I don’t have my bucket.”
“I can bring some home for you,” he jumped in. “At the end of my day. I have a bunch of buckets out back I use to bring bait home or on the chartered trips.”
“I don’t want to be a hassle.”
“Not a hassle at all.”
She hesitated, then nodded.
“Should I go ahead and pay for them now?”
“This one’s on the house.”
“Shawn, you don’t have to?—”
“Please, it’s the least I can do for my fake girlfriend,” he smirked.
She grinned at him. “9 o’clock. My wharf.”
“I’ll be there.”