“Can I get you anything?” Natalie asked, pushing her blonde curls out of her face.
“No, I’m fine,” I said, continuing to look around. The place was decorated perfectly, but you could see little touches here and there that a child had occupied the space. There were toys on the rug, the pillows looked like they’d been fooled around with, and there were pictures as well.
“Thanks for coming,” a voice said, and I looked up the stairs to find a woman gazing down at me. She was so beautiful she stole my breath completely.
“I’m Piper,” she said, descending the stairs and holding her hand out. There was a jeweled band on her wrist that held a fitness watch, and her clothes screamed designer and expensive. I focused on her face, which was dominated by sharp cheekbones, light brown eyes, and soft dark blonde hair that was pulled back from her face with two clips. Pearls hung in her earlobes.
“I’m McKenna,” I said, finally making my tongue work. Her fingers were so soft, from what I assumed was hand cream that cost as much as I spent on housing for a year.
Oh yeah, she had money. And from my first impression, class as well.
“Why don’t we take a seat?” Piper said, her eyes flicking down to assess my outfit for a moment. I hoped I looked okay. My shirt was a little rumpled, but I was a yoga teacher. We were supposed to be natural and earthy like that.
Natalie vanished and I sat down on a white upholstered chair, terrified that there was something on my clothes that was going to stain it.
“This is a beautiful home,” I said, before I could stop myself.
“Thank you,” Piper said, folding her hands carefully in her lap. She gave me the impression of someone who coordinated and calculated every single breath. It must be exhausting.
“Why don’t you tell me what you’re looking for and then we’ll see if we can make that happen?” I said.
Piper looked down at her hands and considered her words. “I’ve been going through some…things, lately. Life stress. And my therapist recommended yoga as a way for me to de-stress.”
“Absolutely,” I said, trying not to get distracted by how long her eyelashes were. They had to be extensions. “Were you looking to do sessions a few times a week? I have my beach yoga class, but other than that my schedule is completely flexible.”
Her eyes flew up to mine, and for a moment I felt like I was being weighed and measured. I tried not to blush and failed. She wasn’t checking me out. I was teaching her yoga, nothing else. Clients were beyond off-limits, even for crushes. I needed to get a grip.
“How about we start with one session and see how it goes?” she said. I didn’t really do that, but I found myself agreeing.
“When did you want to start?” I asked.
Piper gave me another one of those looks. “What are you doing right now?”
Chapter Two
My mouth went dry and my hands shook as I clasped them together and waited for Piper to come back downstairs. She’d gone up to change into her yoga clothes and get her mat. Since it was such a beautiful day, she’d suggested we take advantage of the sunshine and practice on the porch. I’d already gone out and moved the rocking chairs out of the way and made sure the space was clear for her. I’d come back inside and was still waiting.
Why was I so nervous? I’d literally taught hundreds of private yoga classes, and not since my first days had I been so stressed about teaching. Not that I went into autopilot or anything, but I didn’t think so much about what I was doing. I was pretty good at assessing my client and putting together a class for them in my head as I went along.
Right now, my head was completely blank. Obviously, I knew I’d have to start somewhere and go through Suns A and B and finish in Savasana, but everything in between was just…I had no ideas. I yanked out my phone and quickly went through some of my early class notes to calm myself. In the early days I’d actually made written plans for my classes and memorized them. I still sometimes did that for my video classes, since those almost always had a theme when I started programming them.
“Okay,” a voice said, and I looked up the stairs again to watch Piper coming down wearing a pair of black yoga pants and a loose blue top over a white sports bra with crisscross straps.
I’d seen people of all genders in yoga clothes and I’d never seen someone make them look quite that good.
“Are you ready?” Piper asked, smoothing her hair that she’d put back in a bun.
“Yes,” I finally said. “You might want to get a towel and definitely some water. Do you have yoga blocks?” I asked. I needed to shift my brain back into teacher mode and shift it fast.
“Yoga blocks,” Piper said, and looked around the living room before pulling off the top of an ottoman and bringing out two yoga blocks.
“My son likes to play with them,” she said. The ottoman was full of kid’s toys and more blocks.
I waited while she filled a water bottle from a pitcher in the fridge.
“Sorry, I’m not normally this unorganized,” she said. This woman was the least unorganized person I’d ever seen.
“It’s fine,” I said. “Why don’t I take your mat outside and get it set up?” I picked up her mat, which was top of the line, of course. It honestly wasn’t my favorite brand, and she didn’t seem to have a yoga towel. I’d have to recommend that to her so she’d have more grip after she started sweating.
Now I was thinking about her sweating. How the little wispy hairs on the back of her neck might curl. How she’d look as if she was glowing in the sunlight.
I needed to stop thinking about my client sweating.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, holding it for a count of four and then exhaling.
Something told me I was going to need to do a lot of deep breathing to get through this class.
Piper stood on her mat and looked at me. I never taught using music, but suddenly, I was wishing I did. It was just too quiet outside. I could hear my own heartbeat loudly in my eardrums.
“Do you have any goals for this class? Do you want to feel calm or energized?” I asked. I was clinging to all my normal procedures for a private class.
“I think energized,” Piper said.
“Sounds good. Take a seat on your mat.” She did, crossing her ankles and still looking at me.
I took her through alternate nostril breathing to get her calm and centered. I also wanted to teach her about several other breathing techniques she could use to calm down or build heat or create energy.
It took me a few cycles of breathing to find my own well of calm, and then I was teaching and unaware of anything else.
Piper followed me through a nice slow warm-up and then we built energy into Sun Salutations. It was easy to see that this wasn’t her first yoga class. She didn’t need me to explain the poses as I called them, which was nice for me as a teacher. Not that I hated beginner students by any means, but it was a relief to sink into calling the poses and watching my student’s body follow.
I had forgotten a critical question when I’d started her class and I didn’t realize until we were already underway. There were students who liked it when the teacher did hands-on adjustments, and some who didn’t for various reasons. Since I’d forgotten to ask, I was going hands-off, just to be safe.