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“God, this is intense.”
“Yes, it is,” she agreed before realizing that the speaker, the other new male student, wasn’t talking about her raging attraction to Étienne. One by one, the students sat up on their heels. Several of the ladies who knew her well, slanted sly looks in her direction, reading her like an over-sharing social media feed. Her cheeks flamed. “This is an advanced class,” she amended. “You should only take the poses as far as you’re comfortable.”
This guy, this Ryan Gardner, shouldn’t be here any more than Étienne. But, eager to involve Étienne in her life, she had invited him to join in. So when Ryan showed up ten minutes before class, nervous but game, she could hardly advise him not to take part based on his lack of yoga experience.
“It’s all mind-over-body, right? I can do that all day long.” He glanced at Étienne who looked casual as a cat stretching out its limbs. The two men couldn’t be more different. One golden brown, limber and European, the other pale, brawny and Canadian, complete with a full, neatly trimmed, dark beard that gave him a rugged outdoors-man appeal. To the delight of the rest of the class, the two had been in an undeclared competition since pose one.
To the relief of the instructor, they both made it to the end of class without sustaining serious injury.
“I don’t think I’ll be able to feel my legs or arms tomorrow, but best class ever,” Evelyn said on her way out the door. Several others echoed this sentiment as they dispersed amidst chatter and giggles.
Ryan took his time finding his shoes and then loitered around her desk as she updated attendance records and answered two email inquiries. “Do you have any questions?” Samantha prompted, hoping what questions there might be would be brief. She had plans for an intimate dinner with Étienne in the pool house.
“I do, yes.” He glanced over his shoulder at Étienne, who lounged by the door, waiting for Samantha. “Well, don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed the class, but…I…well, I—”
Samantha’s mind finally roused from the fog of distraction. “You were hoping for a…different instructor?”
His gaze flicked toward the window, which had gone full dark with night over the past half hour. “Maybe a different class? This is the address of the Lotus Blossom Center of Martial Arts, isn’t it?”
She sat back and touched two fingers to her lips in thought. Usually people who came looking for the dojo and its sensei didn’t surface until well after dark, which was why all her classes were held—or at least started—while the sun was still up. “Yes, and I teach yoga here. We have Aikido classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights.” Except last night when Dominique had asked his senior student to run the class while he was handling his family emergency.
Ryan nodded. His beard closed in around his flattening mouth. “I see. So…not tonight.”
“You hardly survived yoga class,” Étienne scoffed. “You would not last five minutes in Dominique’s class.”
Ryan turned. “Dominique? Dominique Marchant?”
“Oui. My cousin.”
Samantha tensed. Whoever this Ryan was, he knew more about Dominique than Étienne could even imagine.
“Where is he? We have to talk to him.”
Étienne frowned at the sudden burst of intensity from the quiet Canadian.
“We?” Samantha asked.
Ryan turned back to her and made a visible effort to stay calm, though his fingers wrapped around his thumbs until they cracked, all the relaxation from class draining away. “My girlfriend and I. It’s important that we reach him soon.”
“Do you know him?” Étienne asked, sounding baffled, but Ryan ignored him.
“Well, he’ll be here tomorrow night. You can also email. Through the same site I suspect you found this address on,” she added with a raised brow. This was all she wanted to say out loud about theV-zettein front of Étienne.
“This is something she needs to discuss with him in person,” Ryan replied. “And quickly. He’ll want to hear about this.”
“Très mystérieux,” Étienne murmured.
No, not mysterious at all, Samantha thought. Somewhere out there was a vampire desperate to speak with Dominique. In recent months, this had happened several times; though usually the vampires didn’t send their human helpers to take a yoga class first. Ryan wasn’t typical. He wasn’t just conducting daytime business for his nocturnal mistress. He seemed to care about said business. Vampire business.
Samantha sighed and pulled her phone from her bag. “Just you and your…girlfriend?”
He nodded. “Is there any way she can see him tonight?”
Samantha tapped and sent her message to Cassidy and Dominique. An affirmative pinged back within thirty seconds from his highness himself. “All right. You can follow me.”
“Thank you,” Ryan said, gushing gratitude.
“What was all this?” Étienne wondered after the door had swung shut behind Ryan.
