23. Elias
Chapter Twenty-Three
ELIAS
I angled the plane in the sky, looking ahead to Diamond Creek. The small town was just coming into view from across the bay. The harbor was visible with boats streaming in slowly from a day of fishing. The roads curved up along the hillside, winding up into the mountains.
A light gust of wind buffeted the plane, and I adjusted to level the plane out after the turn. It felt so good to be flying again. I wiggled my ankle slightly, relieved to feel some flexion. The surgeon had told me I would always have a little trouble with rotation, but all in all, my ankle was back to working order. I was beyond relieved it was my left ankle rather than my right.
As I lowered the plane, I spied a sea lion swimming just outside the harbor entrance and gestured to the passengers to look down as we lowered. Sea lions were massive creatures and easily visible from the air in the shallow waters once you were low enough. I grinned at the oohs and ahhs coming from over my shoulder. As if to show off, an eagle took flight from one of the signs just as we came in for a landing at the airport, giving the passengers a close look as it flew level with us when we came down over the runway.
Alaska’s surfeit of wildlife could be so flashy. After we landed and the passengers disembarked, I rolled the plane into the hangar to put it up for the night. As I was doing the evening checks, Flynn came in from the side door, calling over, “How’d it go?”
“Good. Easy flight, happy customers. Best we can ask for.”
“Absolutely.” He stopped beside me as I hitched my backpack over my shoulder. “Want to go to yoga class with me?”
“I’m sorry, did you say yoga class?”
Flynn looked a little sheepish. “Daphne wants me to go with her.”
Diego had just come in and burst out laughing. “Daphne wants you to go to yoga class?”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, guys. Just go with me. We can have dinner at the brewery afterwards.”
“Yeah, because yoga followed by beer totally makes sense,” I said dryly.
By this point, Diego reached us. He glanced between us. “I’m game.”
“What do we need to wear?” I muttered, knowing I was already doomed to be persuaded to join this madness.
Diego chuckled. Meanwhile, Flynn, revealing he’d planned this all along, said, “I had Cat get T-shirts and shorts for you guys out of the laundry.”
Diego met my gaze, his lips twitching. “We have no choice. You know that, right?”
“I’ll go,” I replied with a belabored sigh. I didn’t mean it, but it was fun to give Flynn a little grief.
“I’d like to point out that there is no way in fucking hell you would’ve ever gone to a yoga class before you met Daphne,” Diego offered.
Flynn gave us another sheepish smile. “I know. She likes the teacher, and she promised me there were other guys there.”
“But why do we have to go with you?” I asked as the three of us turned to leave together. Without needing to discuss it, we each went through the quick motions to close down the office and lock up the plane hangar before walking out to the parking lot.
“Because I need support,” Flynn said flatly.
* * *
“As you lift your arms, take a deep breath in,” the yoga teacher said in her soothing voice. “Take a breath all the way into your belly. Let it out, and then slowly lean forward. You can bend your knees as your head comes down if the backs of your thighs feel too tight.”
The yoga teacher, Gemma, did seem nice. She was pretty with amber curls that fell to her shoulders and stunning brown eyes. Diego was having trouble keeping his eyes off of her. Meanwhile, Cammi was here too, drawing my eyes to her again and again. I was only half paying attention to the class. She was here with Susie and another friend of hers, Tess.
We got here a little late, and Flynn cast an apologetic look toward Daphne as we hurried to the back of the almost full class.
We did a few balancing postures, and I found my left ankle challenged with that. Despite the distraction of Cammi, I actually liked the class, which surprised me. Afterward, Daphne was talking with Cammi in the parking lot about menu options for her apparently newly acquired café. That gave me an easy excuse to stop and chat with the rest of the group.
“We’re grabbing dinner together, do you all wanna come with us?” Susie asked.
“We were already planning on dinner,” Daphne said. “It was the only way I could persuade Flynn and the guys to come to yoga. Did you like it?” She looked from Flynn to Diego and then to me. All three of us nodded obediently. Daphne’s hazel eyes narrowed. “Are you just humoring me?”
“No, babe,” Flynn said as he slid his arm around her waist and dipped his head to dust a kiss on her cheek. “I actually liked it.”
“I swear, I did too,” I offered. “I didn’t realize how tight my back was though.” I absently rubbed my hand over my lower back. “I hope I don’t end up sore from all that stretching.”
Gemma happened to come out at that moment, hearing my comment. She smiled over at us as she locked the door. “You might be at first. Feel free to come back. The first four classes are free, so I promise I’m not trying to make money off of you.”
She stopped beside us, and I didn’t miss Diego’s gaze sweeping over her. He was enough of a gentleman not to ogle her. When her eyes landed on his, I was pretty sure there was a little sizzle in the air. Of course, perhaps I was confusing the sizzle with the fact that whenever I was near Cammi, my body felt like an engine revving.
“Thank you all for coming,” she added.
Tess smiled widely. “I told you I would get more students coming to your classes.”
“We’ll come back,” Susie chimed in.
“I’ll definitely be back,” Daphne offered.
“How long have you been in Diamond Creek?” Cammi asked.
Having been new in this small town myself, I knew the minute a new face appeared, unless it was obviously a tourist, people wanted the entire life story.
Gemma smiled. “Just a month. Hopefully I’ll see some of you at class next week.”
I wanted to ask Cammi to ride with me. When Susie pointed out that her small truck was crowded because Tess ended up needing a ride too, I wanted to kiss her. Susie was seriously nosy and had a reputation for interfering. I didn’t mind one bit if she was interfering and trying to make sure Cammi needed to ride with someone else.
“You can ride with me,” I offered.
When Cammi’s eyes swung to meet mine, I felt that now familiar jolt of lust sizzle down my spine. A few minutes later, we were in my truck. I came to the conclusion it probably hadn’t been the best plan to christen my truck the way we did. Because now all I could think about was finding another secluded location and getting my hands all over her.
I would have to make do with much less. “Come here,” I murmured, reaching for her hand and giving it a little tug.
She unbuckled her seatbelt and slid to the middle, immediately buckling up again. Because Cammi was a buckle up kind of girl.
“Close enough?” she asked.
“Yep. It feels good to have you beside me.”
The moment I said that, I realized the potential implications. The crazy thing was, instead of freaking out, I experienced the mental and emotional equivalent of a shrug. Although it was hard to miss Cammi tensing slightly beside me. Seeing as we were about to meet our friends in a matter of minutes, I knew now wasn’t the time to ask what she might be worrying about. Instead, I slid my hand on her thigh because I couldn’t help myself.