Lucía’s looking at me like there’s an alien standing on her doorstep. I just drove down to Malibu after spending a whole week in Los Angeles. We’ve been talking every day, but my dad is still recuperating. Today, I’ve cleared my calendar. I decided to drive down early and wake her up.

She’s flushed and rumpled from her sleep. Her thick, chocolate colored hair is tousled. She’s rubbing the sleep out her eyes as she squints up at me.

She’s wearing a T-shirt that hits her right above her belly button. Her tiny shorts might as well be panties. She’s not wearing a bra and her nipples are hard underneath the strained, worn cotton of her T-shirt. They’re begging for my mouth.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” I stop to brush a kiss on the top of her head as I walk in through the door she’s holding open for me. She hugs me, but I give her a wide berth so she doesn’t feel how stiff my dick is. Then we’ll never get anything done.

“Uh, morning, Reece,” she says as she closes the door and follows me out onto her back deck.

“Yoga lesson, right?” I say casually. She’s standing there, blinking like a baby owl opening its eyes for the first time. She called me yesterday and I called her back, but kept it brief. I could tell she wanted to talk, but I was really focused on my to-do list so that I could enjoy today.

“Are you okay? Why are you blinking like that?”

Her frown turns to a smile. “Because, I’m tired, Reece,” she says through a yawn. She stretches, and takes a deep breath, “But I’m so glad we’re still doing this. I’ve missed us having this time together.” She looks up at me through her lashes, and a small, but happy smile adorns her face.

“I’ve missed it, too. The last lesson was a swimming one, so today we can do some yoga. You can’t use your arm properly, so you can show me stuff that doesn’t focus on them for support.” I walk over to the closet where our mats are stored and pull them out. “Go get dressed… unless you’re going to do yoga in those clothes.”

She flushes, and tucks a stray hair behind her ear. “Okay, I’ll be right back.” And then she starts to walks fast back into the house. “You need some help?” I ask her.

“No,” she snaps.

I’m chuckling as I watch her walk away, enjoying the sway in her hips. I have a plan for the day, and I want today to be perfect. I want to spoil her, let her relax and have a day of being together. And then tonight, I’m going to fuck her.

“Okay, I’m ready.” She walks back out and sits down on the mat I’ve rolled out next to mine. She’s wearing tight, multicolored yoga pants and a little sports bra. And that’s it. Her breasts are restrained, but just barely. The bra has these cords of fabric up the side and she’s got so much skin exposed to me that I’m tempted to suggest that we scrap yoga and just go back to bed.

“While I was changing, I was thinking. . .I can teach you one of the meditations I do to clear my mind and help me focus. I actually made it up, so it’s not proven on anyone other than me. You can modify it if you want, but at least you’ll have the basics down and be able to get a feel for meditation principles. And it will give my arm and hand a break.” She waves her bandaged arm.

“Does it hurt a lot?” I ask, restraining the urge to touch it.

She looks at it and sighs.

“Not like it did the night it happened. I’ve been keeping it elevated when I sleep so the swelling has gone down a lot. The stitches are dissolving.” She holds up her hand I can see the line of stitching in her palm.

“Okay, looks good.”

She looks straight ahead and stands up, putting her palms together in the first position of the Sun Salutations, signaling that the conversation is over.

I chuckle and follow her lead.

Once we’re done, and she’s still in her final pose, I ask a question I’ve been holding onto since she told me what we were doing for our lesson today.

“Meditation? Is that part of yoga?” Her eyes pop open as if she didn’t realize I was there. She shakes her head as if to clear it before she answers. “Sorry, I was already a little lost. And yes, it’s essential. At least to my practice of yoga. Meditation doesn’t mean just closing your eyes and not thinking. It can also be a time where you spend reinforcing your mind with positive thoughts and things that you want to influence your mood. I’ve actually made up my own meditation mantras. I took the first four stanzas in Kipling’s “If.”

“I read that in high school,” I scan my memory for fragments of the poem that are floating in my memory. “If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim.” I recite the one line I can remember and Lucía looks at me with pleasant surprise.

“You know it? That’s great,” she exclaims and claps her hands together.

“Wow, you’re easily impressed,” I joke.

She slaps me across the arm. “It’s my favorite poem, Reece.” She rolls her eyes toward the top of her head, but this time in a look that says, I’m heaven rather than in annoyance. “It’s the perfect advice on how to be happy. Don’t give up. Work hard. Stay humble, be honest. For my meditations, I’ve broken it up into stanzas and then use each stanza as I need it.”

“Which one do we need, today?” I ask. She tilts her head to the side, and taps her finger on her lips as she thinks.

“If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, and stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools; If you can make one heap of all your winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, and lose, and start again at your beginnings, and never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew to serve your turn long after they are gone, and so hold on when there is nothing in you except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

“That’s two stanzas, Vega. You said one,” I say with mock disapproval.

“We need those two today, Carras,” she returns, creasing her forehead to mimic my expression. “We’ve got a lot of negative energy to dispel,” she returns with a smile. “I’ll say the stanza out loud once and then I repeat it slowly, really focusing on the words. I do this for twenty minutes and allow the words to help me focus and shut out the other noise in my head.”

“Okay,” I mumble, letting my skepticism show.

“Look, just try it. Clear your mind, think the stanzas and just be alone with them for twenty minutes. Forget I’m here. Forget you’re here,” she demands before she closes her eyes and starts to say the stanza to herself.

I mimic her. And I allow myself to focus on the words.

“Reece! Reece!” I hear Lucía calling my name, but she sounds so far away. And then I feel a rough shake on my shoulder and I jolt. I look up and Lucía’s kneeling in front of me. Her face scrunched in concern as she scans my face. “Are you okay? I’ve been calling your name for almost a full minute.”

The haze starts to lift, my awareness returns. I’m on her deck. We’re doing yoga. I’m confused by the minutes I appear to have lost. “Did I black out?” I ask her.

“No. You were meditating. Wow. Good job, Reece. I’m so glad you took it seriously.” She smiles as she stands up.

“Yeah, Luc. I got stuck on the words ‘If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same;’ I said those over and over again for twenty minutes.”

“That’s a tough one for us all. It’s hard to not get caught up in success and discouraged by failure. I struggle to remind myself, that they can be as valuable as each other.”

As much as I want to have this philosophical discussion, I also want to get going with my plans for the day.

I grab her waist and pull her down beside me. “Yes, I mean, just look at us. Tragedy has brought us together. It’s all what you do with it.” She smiles, but doesn’t say anything as she stares out at the horizon.

“Listen, can we spend the day together?” I ask her.

She turns to look at me and that smile breaks across her face. It warms me like the sun melting away frost.

“Yes. I’d love that. I’ll let Todd and Dan know I need the day off.”

I’m surprised by how quickly she agrees. I don’t hide my surprise, and she smiles. “That’s an easy ask, Reece. I’d love to spend the day with you.” She strokes my cheek with the pads of her fingers. I lean toward her involuntarily. My hand trails down the side of her face. I’d only have to lean in a little, and if she met me half way, I could have my lips on hers. I want to kiss her and then fuck her so hard that we break shit. I want to spend all day eating her pussy and sucking her nipples while I’m balls deep inside of her.

She leans back. “What are you thinking, Reece?” she asks, eyes wide with alarm.

I grin at the look on her face. “What does it look like I’m thinking about?”

“I don’t know, but you look like you’re about to jump me. And, in a ‘not so friendly’ way,” she says and leans even farther away from me. “You look like you want to eat me alive.”

I laugh, a long, loud burst that catches me by surprise. She is so fucking innocent.

“I am hungry,” I say sliding my hands down her arms and pulling her into me. She pulls away and heads toward the house and says without turning back, “Well, if you’re hungry, I’ve got some of those cinnamon rolls that Jess made in the freezer. Let’s warm them up.” I laugh and follow her into the house. I’ll let her go for now.

We’ve got a lot of shit to talk about, but once that’s done, I’m done fucking around. I’m taking her tonight. She’s ready and so am I.