Thirty days. Seven rules. One undeniable attraction.Noah Andrews’s name was once synonymous with the San Francisco tech industry, but his heart broke - both physically and emotionally. After a heart attack sidelined his career, his long-time girlfriend dumped him. Why is he now so attracted to this woman who seems to embody the life he left behind?
Chapter 1
Murphy
It looked as if the yoga class was about to end. Thank you, Jesus. And not a moment too soon. Murphy Clarke hadn’t intended to spend the third anniversary of her un-wedding in a yoga class some six hundred fifty miles away from home. But somehow her annoyingly perky sister, TC, had worn her down.
As a life coach, she couldn’t just take a month off, like her sister, the teacher, could. Her responsibilities didn’t end at the beginning of summer. She had developed a set of rules, and here she was, breaking the first.
That’s how she found herself in Summer’s Beach, North Carolina, staring at the boyishly handsome instructor who had a penchant for torturing his students with contortionist poses.
She sat up and was nearly standing when—
“It’s time for our ending meditation. Take the stillness and peace of this session as well as the silence into the world with you today.”
Murphy sighed as she sat back down. Apparently, rather loudly. Not only did her sister and their friend, Eli, scowl at her, the instructor fixed a spine-chilling stare at her with his steel-gray eyes. Again. She had walked in ten minutes late—through no fault of her own. Well, her client, Amelia, had a crisis and she couldn’t leave her hanging. She had to take the call. He had flashed her one of those if-looks-could-kill stares .
Grimacing as she assumed the half-lotus pose, she placed her index fingers to her thumbs and slowly breathed out an om. She checked on her sister. Full lotus. Show off.
“Ommmm.” The instructor breathed out. The students followed with their own om, strung out so it felt as if the entire room was vibrating.
Brrnng! Brnng! Murphy’s cellphone broke the silence. Damn it. She reached into her tote bag and fumbled for it.
Brnng! Brnng! Her cheeks burning, she rooted around the large vacation bag and grabbed it.
“Murphy here. How may I help you…Josh…wait a second.”
She rose, gave the instructor a shrug, and walked to the back of the room.
“No, I don’t think so. I think at this point in your life you’re exactly where you need to be. Don’t you feel it?”
Josh Millcreek was one of Murphy’s first life coach clients. His level of self-confidence fluctuated over the three years of their relationship. This most recent crisis would end soon. She just needed to be there for him. And vacation or not, that’s what she intended to do.
She held the phone in front of her, nearly parallel to the floor as she talked. “You’re not your old—”
A shadow hovered over her phone. She blinked. Frowning, she looked up to see the yoga instructor. His eyes bore into her. He snatched the phone from her hand. She shivered as a spark of electricity skittered up her arm. She swallowed hard.
“What the…?”
The yoga instructor grabbed her phone? The tall, handsome instructor? The one with broad shoulders? And loosely curled caramel-colored hair? She imagined if he’d ever smile, he’d probably have adorable laugh lines. For a split second, she was lost in his penetrating eyes and those shoulders—far too broad to belong to a yoga instructor.
Earth to Murphy. That, however, didn’t excuse him from stealing her phone. She glowered at him.
“What the hell are you doing?” The nerve of this man.
“Ma’am” —Ma’am? He called me ma’am?— “we’re in meditation. Silent meditation. Who are you talking to?” He nodded toward her phone.
“My client, as if it’s any of your business.” She held one hand out, the other on her hip as she waited for him to return her phone. Instead, he raised it to his ear. What?
“Ms. Murphy is in meditation at the moment. I’m sure she’ll return your call later.” He clicked the phone off and tossed it to her. It bobbled in her hands before she clutched it in her palm.
“Let’s continue our closing routine.” He pivoted and walked to the front of the room, leaving her to stare at his nicely formed butt. “Now that I’ve put Ms. Murphy’s phone on airplane mode.”
“How dare you.”
Murphy grumbled to herself but returned to her spot and sat down next to her sister. She placed her left ankle over her right thigh and huffed.
“What is your problem?” TC kept her gaze on the instructor.
“I told you I didn’t want to go on vacation, but—”
“Ladies, are we ready? Ms. Murphy, you can talk about your fear of vacations after the session.”
“I’m not afraid of—”
“Everyone take a deep breath. Think peace and stillness. This is the attitude you’re taking with you as you leave the class.”
Terry Newman is an award-winning author who writes romantic comedy with a splash of fantasy.Fueled by coffee, peanut butter, and popcorn, she writes stories set in fictional towns in northeast Ohio. Terry loves to place her characters in improbably situations, then allows them to take over…uhm…guide the story.
She lives in a small apartment with overflowing bookshelves, her muse, Moose, and all her characters, in North Lima, a real town in northeast Ohio. And, yes, it does get crowded at times.
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