Peyton didn’t know whether to be disappointed or relieved.
Giving him a nod, she hurried upstairs and into her workout room. On the same side of the house as her bedroom, both spaces faced the beach, though this room had extra big windows. It was an ideal space to work out in. Besides the mat she used for yoga, there was also a spinning bike, portable ballet barre, some free weights, and a television mounted on the wall.
Setting her bottle of water on the table underneath the TV, she popped in the DVD, then grabbed her yoga block and stood in the center of the mat. Hands in prayer, she took a deep breath. With its tranquil music and poses designed for strength and balance, yoga was her favorite form of exercise. As far as she was concerned, it was the perfect way to start each day.
Unfortunately, with images of a half-naked Noah constantly popping into her head, Peyton had a hard time focusing on what she was doing. That was the thing with yoga. It wasn’t something you could go through the motions with. You had to be present and in-the-moment, breathing through each movement. If not, you ended getting almost nothing out of it.
Knowing she needed to get Noah out of her system, Peyton gave herself permission to fantasize about her half-naked SEAL bodyguard for a few minutes. After thinking about what it would have been like to walk downstairs and join him on the couch last night—or even better, invite him up to her bed—she was able to clear her mind and get back to her workout. By the time she finished her regular thirty-minute session, she’d almost forgotten she even had a bodyguard.
She slipped from chaturanga smoothly into downward dog, really feeling the release in her lower back, when she sensed movement near the door. She glanced that way to see Noah standing there staring at her butt.
Pulse quickening, Peyton slowly lowered herself to her knees, then half-turned to look at him over her shoulder to see him eyeing her intently. She’d never had a man look at her that way, all heat and hunger. It made her feel warm all over, most of that feeling settling right between her thighs. As he continued to stand there without saying anything, she had to wonder how long he’d been watching her.
“Is something wrong?” she finally forced herself to ask, the words coming out a little less stable than she’d intended.
She watched as Noah gave himself a little shake, as if he’d just realized he was staring. “Oh. No. Everything’s fine. Laurissa’s here. She wanted to know if you had time to talk.”
“I always have time for Laurissa.” Peyton pushed herself upright and got to her feet. “But she already knows that. Why didn’t she come upstairs herself?”
Noah shrugged. “Because my sister is a weirdo, maybe? She walked in the front door and straight into the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee, then headed out to the back deck saying she’d wait for you out there. Hope I didn’t bother you by coming up.”
“No, of course not,” she assured him. “Feel free to come upstairs anytime you want.”
As they walked, Peyton swore Noah let her get a little ahead of him so he could sneak another glimpse at her butt, and she felt her body go warm again as she realized she liked it.
* * * * *
Noah had to admit he’d never given yoga pants much thought until he’d seen Peyton in them. The stretchy material hugged her curvy butt, not to mention made her legs look a mile long. She was so sexy in them that he could barely remember his own name. Which was probably why he’d forgotten that he was standing there in Peyton’s living room in nothing but his underwear. At least until he’d followed the direction of her gaze and noticed she was fixated on something south of his belt line.
It was an understatement to say Peyton was a beautiful woman. But wearing yoga pants—and blushing— she was damn near a goddess.
He’d barely managed to push the images of those sinfully sexy yoga pants out of his head when he went upstairs to tell Peyton that Laurissa was here, only to see her bent over in a position that should probably be illegal. He thought he might have to jump in the ocean for a while to cool off.
That had been over three hours ago. Laurissa had long since gone and Peyton had taken her sexy yoga pants and even sexier butt back upstairs to get some more writing done. The scary part was that even now he couldn’t get the image out of his head. It was possible the sight had been permanently burned into his mind.
Noah went back to reading Peyton’s book. Or at least tried to. Mostly, he sat there on the couch wondering what it was about her that had him so off balance. It wasn’t like he’d never been around a beautiful woman before. He had. Lots of them. But there was something about her that got to him.
The crazy part of it was that Peyton wasn’t really the type Noah normally dated. He’d never given much thought about his type before, but he realized he tended to go after women who were outgoing to the point of being loud. Like the kind of woman you’d pick up in a club—or one who might pick him up.
Peyton wasn’t that kind of woman. He’d met her less than twenty-four hours ago, but he already knew that much about her. Yet, he was fascinated by her. Her quiet sensuality, the way she seemed surprised by how sexy she was, the blush that tinted her skin every now and
