Resisting Roots (Lotus House Book 1) (18 page)

“Okay, turn over onto your back.”

I did so and then silently lifted my legs so she could push the bolster under the hamstrings. It felt awesome on my injury. A few moments later, she added a scented oil to my chin and the space above my lips under my nose where I could inhale the woodsy fragrance. The next step always felt awesome. She’d place an eye pillow over my eyes, blocking out any additional light, set the music to a classical piano piece, and walk me through bliss.

The strains of one of Chopin’s melodic piano pieces flitted through my consciousness.

“I want you to breathe. Let everything go. You’ve worked hard today, given your body a blessing. Breathe into that pride. Allow yourself to be consumed by it, for you have earned it, deserve it, worked hard for it. And relax…let it all go.”

Genevieve’s voice had the power to soothe all that ailed me. Not only was it soft and consistent, her voice came at a timbre that suited my senses. Her scent, touch, and everything in between just relaxed me further. When I was with her, I felt safe. It sounded strange coming from a big guy, one who had always taken care of himself, but I was being completely honest with myself. Spending time with this sprite of a woman brought me peace, joy, and a love I’d never known.

In my life, I’d been plenty blessed. My mother and father had given me all they could, raised me well, showed me what hard work and dedication could give you in life, and I’d followed that teaching all the way to the majors. Somehow, through all the glitz and glamour of fame, I lost a bit of the simpler side of life. Being with one person and loving everything she brought to my world, to my soul. With Genevieve, I’d gotten some of it back—glimpses of the life I
could
have…if I worked hard and was dedicated to being the man I should be. For her, and for me. I needed to man up, go the lengths unexplored, and give her the life that she deserved and glory in the gift of having her as part of the bigger whole.

Her voice rose and fell with the piano.

“Now imagine you’re looking down on yourself. A single color fills the space around your body. What color is it?” The words were said the same as any other, yet they sounded as if they were spoken from the end of a long hallway.

Red.

A deep, dark crimson sparkled around my form as I imagined looking down on myself inside the studio. It flickered and popped as I took in the subtle hues.

“Whatever color you see is a chakra that is guiding you. It is part of your natural essence and can be open or closed, depending on where you are in your life.”

The red tone shimmered and pulsed around my supine form, and I imagined it getting brighter as tiny ribbons of light swirled at the base of my body. Before my eyes, the ribbons acted like roots, burrowing into the mat below me and down into the floor and beyond. Like a tree that had taken root, my essence delved into the earth and found a home.

Just as I felt myself falling deeper into the floor, my body getting heavier with every breath, I heard her voice.

“I’m going to bring you back, counting from five. When I get to one, you will be awake and ready to take on your day.”

She counted down, calling out commands that slowly woke me from that peaceful meditation, and the tethers to the roots started to break and tear apart. I frowned when she got to the number one. I sat up and faced her, the same way we did every day, only now I was completely stuck in the memory of my experience.

And just like yesterday and the day before that, she held her hands at heart center, her eyes open, and she looked at me with the most mesmerizing gaze and completed her private lesson with the words that seared right through me and burrowed pleasantly into my heart.

“The light in me, bows, to the light in you…”

“When I am in that place in me, and you are in that place in you…”

“We are one.”

“
Namaste
.”

She bowed at the waist, and her head touched the floor. I mirrored the gesture. When I rose, she lifted her hands to her forehead where she pressed her thumbs and then brought them down to her mouth and touched her lips in a light kiss. I didn’t know what the kiss meant, but I wanted to think she was blessing me.

And when my sweet angel opened her eyes, I knew she was, in fact, blessing me, because she already had. Her mere presence in my life had been and remained a blessing.

Only one thought controlled me in that moment. Her eyes opened, and those ebony orbs pierced straight through to my soul.

“Genevieve.”

She tilted her head and smiled, which warmed me from the crown of my head straight down to my toes.

“I’m in love with you.”

I
blinked
a few times to make sure I hadn’t imagined what he said. “Trent…”

I’d been fighting my feelings for Trent since the day we met, only realizing that the feelings had grown far too deep by the time my family spent Thanksgiving with his. When I’d given thanks to the Lord, I’d thanked him for Trent.

“I love you. I do.” Trent shrugged and placed his hands on his knees, his hazel eyes never leaving mine. He didn’t look away or try to avoid what he’d said. No. He was manning up and staying strong in his conviction.

We were sitting in the Lotus position, facing one another and staring helplessly. “It’s too soon…” I cringed even as the words left my mouth.

Trent shook his head. “Nope. I was in deep relaxation, and I realized something.”

“That you love me?” My voice cracked.

“Well, that has been weighing on me for a while. I just didn’t know how to say it. But it was when you told me to imagine my color that things became so clear.” His tone was awed.

“And?”

He grinned and tipped his head. “My color was red.”

I nodded. “The Muladhara Chakra or the root chakra. I’ve known since the day we met that your root chakra was blocked. I’m actually surprised that’s the color you saw.” My heart was thumping double time. Seeing red went against everything that he was and had been most of his adult life. If anything, he’d always resisted being stable in one place.

“So what became clear for you?” I asked, my heart thrumming, the hairs on my neck prickling.

Trent licked his lips, and I watched that small movement. I wanted nothing more than to kiss those plump bits of flesh.

“I’ll get to that. First, why did you think my root chakra was blocked?” He scrunched his eyebrows together.

I inhaled fully to give myself time to place my thoughts. “You’re always on the go, hardly ever spend time in your apartment, and even though it’s top-notch, as I’ve mentioned before, there’s really nothing personal keeping you there. You are a baseball player who travels all the time, and you’ve admitted that you haven’t had a committed relationship since before college. Usually, people with a blocked root chakra tend to be flighty, on the go, and have very little keeping them in one place for long.”

“Until now.” His hazel eyes turned a startling green.

“How so?” I was afraid to hear it, but needed with all my heart for him to believe what I’d suspected.

“Now I have you. I have Rowan and Mary. My relationship with my folks has never been better, and I’m not looking forward to going back on the road. Heck, I’m not looking forward to sleeping in my bed at my cold apartment.”

I swallowed, the emotions clogging my throat like a wad of cotton had been stuffed down there. “So what does that mean to you?”

I held my breath, waiting for the punch line, the end of the joke. Trent was saying everything I’d ever dreamed he’d say. Coming to the conclusion that the life he had been leading wasn’t worth living any more. That beyond the glitz and glam was an honest and true life with a mate, family, and a home.

“It means I’m finally home. Wherever you are is where I want to lay down my roots.”

I couldn’t hold it in any longer. “I love you, too!” I squealed. I pressed forward, and sitting in Trent’s lap in a private yoga room at Lotus House, I held his face and professed my love through a kiss—a single ongoing press of lips to lips that said it all.

He loved me. I loved him. This was us, committing to one another. Laying down roots for a future together.

C
hristmas Day was finally here
. I’d sat on pins and needs for an entire month to drop this present on the Harper clan, and I could not wait.

Genevieve slept soundly next to me in her bed at the Berkeley home her parents had left her. For a long while, I just watched her sleep. The woman was beautiful in the daylight or nighttime hours, but in repose, her features turned angelic. A softness that wasn’t there during the day came over her pale skin, making her look like the finest silk.

Snuggling up to her back, I kissed her neck, waiting for the telltale hum.

“Umm,” she mumbled and pressed her perfect ass back against my morning wood.

Damn. She got me every damn time. For two weeks straight, I’d slept in her bed. And every morning her tight, sleepy body had the power to ruin me. Rolling her over, I lugged a leg over the top of her and slid over her form, holding most of my weight on my forearms. My hamstring protested as I shimmied down her body. Hovering between her breasts, I inhaled her scent. A mixture of last night’s shower romp with lemon-scented body wash and my fresh breeze male soap commingled into something heady and mouth-watering.

Slowly, I inched my way down her body. I looked up at her one last time before going under the covers. Her head was tilted to the side, and her mouth was slightly open. Little puffs of air left her mouth as the last vestiges of sleep kept her under. Not for long. I planned to wake her with one helluva Christmas morning orgasm—something I was hoping to make a new tradition.

My girl only had underwear and a tank on, so I had easy access to slip my finger into the seam at the side of her lacy panties and tear the tiny edge with barely any effort. I repeated the action on the other side, and the fabric loosened and slid off. Gripping her knees, I pushed them open and up, putting her entire center on display. The covers gave little room to breathe, but who needed air when I had a juicy peach calling my name?

When her legs jolted, I knew she’d awoken, but I was ready. I held them fast, and just like a pussy-sucking ninja, I laid my lips over her core and tasted her before she could ever even utter a good morning.

“Trent…”

I licked her up and down, flicking her hardened clit with rapid jabs of my tongue.

“Baby…wow…”

I stuck my tongue in as far as it would go, wanting to taste the purest of her essence. Her hips jerked, but I didn’t allow her to control the movements. No, this morning, it was all me. She was going to take every ounce of pleasure and cry out in release as I licked up every last drop. Using two fingers, I pushed into her heat. Her body trembled as I hooked them up and found that patch inside that made her go berserk.

“Oh my god…”

That was the second holy reference. A third, and I’d be tasting that sweet nectar straight from the source. I hummed and spent a few minutes fingering her deep, making her crazy. At one point, she cried out to God again, but that time, she held my head with her hands over the blankets. She tried and failed to shift her hips up and ride my mouth. Not this time. Pressing in a third finger, I went for the gusto by wrapping my lips around her clit, laying my tongue flat over it, and giving it the double rub, lapping repeatedly coupled with a firm suction.

Her pussy got so juicy, all I could hear were the labored sounds of my breathing and feel the slippery glide of my fingers in and out of her slit as she came while I was three fingers deep.

“Oh, my word…”

It was music to my ears.

I let her ride out her release, forcing it to go on and on until her body just flat gave out. Then I licked up her cream, swirling my tongue around her swollen clit, giving it one last soft lick before kissing my way up her body. When I got to her tank top, I pushed it up so I could run my tongue over each fat nipple. They were hard little points, the size of erasers and red as raspberries, and I hadn’t even touched them. I narrowed my eyes and looked at the tightened peaks.

“You played with your tits, gumdrop.” The single thought that she was up here plucking at those succulent tips made my dick so hard it could cut diamonds.

She mumbled something incoherent that was a cross between a “had to” and “no choice.”

Taking my time, I made my way up her body and snuggled along her side—where I enjoyed being almost as much as between her thighs—and kissed her lips. “Merry Christmas, gumdrop.”

That time, she gave more effort in the return kiss.

“I’ll say.” She blew out a breath over her forehead and wiped the hair out of her eyes. “Merry Christmas. Shall I return the favor?” She grinned that sultry smirk.

Hmm… I thought about it for all of two seconds. That hadn’t been the reason I’d gone down on her, but now that she was offering, who was I to turn down my girl’s luscious lips wrapped around my cock?

“Ho, Ho, Ho on to blow she goes…” I sang, making up words to a random Christmas song.

She giggled and then rolled up and over my body. She laved each of my nipples and bit down on the flat disks until I groaned and palmed her ass. I looked down, and she winked, kissing her way over the hills and valleys of my abdomen until she reached the small thatch of hair she called the happy trail. I was all for that description because, if my woman was scratching her nails down that trail, I was a happy camper.

Just as she was about to go under the covers, I pulled them up and away, knocking that shit right onto the floor.

She pouted. “I thought you’d want me to be all incognito like you were.”

“Hell, no! I want nothing in the way of me watching the most beautiful woman alive wrap her lips around my hard cock and suck me off on Christmas morning. This is how memories are made, gumdrop. The best ones. The ones we can revisit year after year—”

The second her mouth engulfed the head of my dick, I thought of nothing else but her mouth, lips, tongue, and that this was the best damn Christmas I’d ever had.

“
I
can’t believe
you did this.” I shook my head and looked down at the paper work in front of me.

Trent clasped his hands in front of his body. He sat next to me, his elbows on his knees, his head turned toward me. “Do you like it?”

I huffed. “Do I like it? Of course I like it, but it’s too much. Trent, you paid off my student loans and the remainder of the semester I needed to finish my cosmetology diploma?”

“Yeah. I thought you wanted to finish and you’re so close, babe. Now you can.” He pointed to a line on the form. “See. I’ve already set you up to start the last semester in February. Same time I start spring training, provided the leg is up to par.”

“It will be,” I said.

Trent grinned. “With you helping, I believe it. I’m already surprising the hell out of the coaches with how much mobility I’ve got. That was all you, gumdrop. Your yoga and commitment to me and my recovery got me there.”

I rolled my eyes. “No, baby. That was all
you
. Your commitment to attending yoga every weekday and following your regimen. But you’re changing the subject!” I knew how much that school cost, and I still owed five thousand in school loans, which apparently were now paid off.

Trent leaned forward and cupped my cheeks. “Gumdrop, look at me. Do you want to go back and get your diploma?”

I nodded.

“And do you want to one day own your own salon?”

Again, I nodded.

“Then shut up and accept the present.”

That time I scowled.

“Yeah, Vivvie. This is ridiculous. Besides, I want Trent to open our gift,” Rowan said, rubbing his hands together.

“Yeah, yeah! Trent, we all worked on it together!” Mary clapped and jumped up and down in her slipper-clad feet.

“All right, lead the way.”

Mary pointed to a tall poster-sized present next to the Christmas tree. Trent leaned down and tore at the paper as if he were a five-year-old.

I worried about his reaction. We didn’t have much money, so the present was handmade. Trent had a soft side that mostly consisted of making love to me and being kind to my siblings and his parents, but I hoped that the gift make him feel like a bigger part of a whole.

He’d told me a couple weeks ago that he finally felt like he was home with me and my family. So the three of us had covertly taken pictures over the last couple weeks, along with the random ones his mom had taken at Thanksgiving and a few we’d taken with the cell phone when we were out. I’d printed all of them, and the three of us did a scrapbooking project and made special designs around the edges. The framed collage was all pictures of him with us and his parents. One big, happy Brady Bunch style family.

Trent covered his mouth. “It’s…it’s…ah-mazing. I mean…wow…” His eyes were wide and his jaw slack as he fingered the different pictures. “This is one of the best presents I’ve ever received.”

Mary squealed and jumped into his arms. He hugged her tight and petted her hair. Then he stood, and Rowan gave him the manly fist bump. Trent grabbed his hand and brought my brother into a full hug. At first, Rowan tensed but then wrapped his arms around Trent and squeezed. That was when the tears ran down my face.

Ever since Dad had died, Rowan lacked that male bonding. Trent had manned up over the past two months, giving his time to Row, which definitely helped him come out of his shell a bit, but this was the first time he’d embraced a male like that since we lost Dad.

I stood and threw myself into Trent’s arms. “I’m so glad you like it,” I sobbed against his warm neck.

He held me close, kissed my cheeks, and wiped at my tears. “I love it, and I love you. Now I’d like to give Row a present, but you have to promise not to be mad. This is my gift, man to man. It will hurt me deeply if you don’t allow him to accept it.”

Oh, no. My mind spun at the possibilities. After my gift and the Barbie dream house for Mary complete with four new Barbies, the Ken dolls, a race car, and a closet full of clothes, the options were endless. What could he have gotten a soon-to-be seventeen-year-old?

“Row, you ready for your gift?”

Rowan’s eyes lit up. “Yeah, sure. Whatever, man.”

He was obviously trying to be cool, which actually worked for him.

“Okay, but this present is for Christmas and your birthday. I don’t want your sister killing me for going overboard.”

“Um…okay.” Row’s voice shook. He cleared his throat and followed as Trent walked out to the front of the house.

The three of us followed Trent right out the front door and stopped on the porch. There, in the driveway, were Trent’s parents standing right next to our dad’s vintage Mustang.

“Holy shit! Dad’s
Stang
.” Row’s eyes were wide as dinner plates. He ran his fingers through his hair and tugged at the layers. “No way!”

He looked at the car, to me, to the car, and then to Trent who was holding out a set of keys.

“Yes way. No man should be without the car his dad loved and wanted him to have. Right, Dad?” Trent yelled over the porch to where his dad held his mom in a tight hug in the frosty morning air.

“Damn straight, son!”

I opened my mouth and closed it at least five times. Rowan, on the other hand, grabbed the keys, hugged Trent, and ran down the steps where he laid his body over the car and gave it a welcome back hug.

Trent came over to me as Mary ran down the stairs to hug the Foxes. They wrapped her in their loving arms right away.

“Merry Christmas, sweetheart. We have tons of presents for you,” Joan said.

Richard rolled his eyes and grinned. “She really does. She went nutty on you four but especially you, little one.” He petted Mary’s hair.

I shook my head and sucked back a sob, watching my family happy on Christmas. Usually this day was one of the hardest without our parents. However, today, with Trent and his family, it felt like we were starting over. Making good memories with people we loved, yet never forgetting the ones we’d lost.

“Did I do okay?” Trent wrapped his arms around me from behind.

I held on to his forearms as my brother kissed the car and petted it like it was a long lost lover.

I pressed back into him. “You did more than okay. You did it all.”

“What all?” he asked kissing my temple.

“You gave us back Christmas.”

“And you gave me back a real life. I think we’re even.” He laughed and squeezed me tighter.

“
D
ude
, long time, no see.” Clayton Hart, my private personal trainer, grabbed my hand to shake it and clapped me on the back at the same time.

I smiled wide. If I called anyone a best friend, Clay would be the one. He’d been with me since college, where we graduated together. He graduated at the top of the class in sports medicine and fitness and I went off to play for the Oakland Ports. I’d seen him several times a week for the past five years. He helped me work out and keep my weight down by giving me a menu plan.