Sacred Serenity (Lotus House Book 2)

by Audrey Carlan

  I held onto Amber’s knee and lifted it up and out so that my groin would have direct access to penetrate her. “Now, lift your partner’s leg. Once opened wide, you’d penetrate and then seal the connection by laying her leg over yours.” I placed my hand firmly on Amber’s tight ass and squeezed. “As you can see this position gives your hands freedom to play.” I grinned when she buried her head against my neck, her chest pounding along mine with her silent laughter.

  I watched as the class did the move, each couple following my instructions explicitly.

  “Lift the leg even higher if your mate is more flexible to achieve a more intense connection and deeper penetration. You can grind against one another, your pelvic bone stimulating her clitoris with each movement. Now move sensually against your partner in whatever way feels best. Kiss, talk, tell your mate what you love about them, how much you love them. Share the intimacy of the moment now, privately.”

  When the class lost themselves to their own gyrations and sensual explorations, I took that time to lay my head down and look at my lover eye to eye. “You’re enchanting, you know that.”

  Her corresponding smile lit me from the inside out. “You’re not so bad yourself.”

  She gasped when I hooked her leg higher and rubbed my groin against her, making sure my erection grated along her tender nub through those barely there booty shorts. I held her ass firmly, moving my hips in a tandem to her much smaller ones.

  “I like this position,” she said breathily.

  “You do?” I caressed her face, running my hand down her long form, waiting for the telltale sign that she always graced me with when she was languid and exultant.

  She half sighed, half moaned, her eagerness presenting itself in waves of desire pouring out her lithe body into mine.

  “Be careful, little bird, I could so easily work you over and have you silently screaming in orgasm if you push me too far. Your body rubbing against mine in that scrap of fabric is my weakness, and you know it.” I ran a hand down to her breast and tweaked her nipple through the Lycra.

  “Oh Dash, I want you all the time,” she whispered into my neck before licking along the tendon there.

  I groaned and pressed harder against her pelvis. “You ready for all of me, my love? To physically join…all the way?” I punctuated my questions with a circling of my hips.

  She ran her tongue up to my ear. Soft puffs of air tickled and tingled against the small erogenous zone. “You’re changing me, Dash.”

  Something in her tone warned me not to push, but I couldn’t help myself.

  “I don’t want you to change. You’re perfect the way you are.” Using one hand, I caressed her from her knee to her hip wanting her to feel the truth in my words as much as hear them.

  “Don’t.” She shook her head as if trying to dispel the compliment.

  “Amber, to me, you’re simple beauty. That’s all any man could ever want. It’s everything I want. Need in my life. Just you.”

  Her face seemed to crumble before me, like loose rocks falling over a cliff into the ocean below. We were losing the tight connection, and the melancholy from earlier poured into our blissful bubble, tainting our position with its negative energy.

  Amber’s body stiffened suddenly. “Dash, I love you with my whole heart, but I’m not sure I can give you what you deserve.” Her voice shook.

  I steadied my hips, tunneled my hands into her hair, and held her face so that nothing else could be a distraction. “What is it that you think I deserve?” I asked.

  Her chin wobbled and her lips trembled as if saying the very words were breaking her into tiny shards of glass. “All of me.”

  I smiled softly and leaned my head closer to hers, gravity pulling me toward the one I adored. “Ah, but that’s a gift I aim to receive when you are ready to give it.”

  “Dash.” It was a breathy sound, a whisper on the wind. “I’m saving myself.”

  “I know. Soon, my sweet Amber, it will be I who is saving you.”

  “God, I hope so,” she said and then cut off all conversation by sealing her lips over mine.

  Once again, the issue of her virginity was not yet resolved. More than ever before, confusion sat thick and heavy on my shoulders. She said she was saving herself, holding herself back from making that physical leap with me, but I had no confirmation of what that thing officially was. Could Atlas have been right? Was it a religious decision?

  Before I could find out, Amber pushed up and looked at the clock. “Class is over, and your students are practically turning the room into an orgy.”

  I glanced at the class and found couples in various arrays of copulation. No one was penetrating the other…well, I didn’t think they were. “Damn. Class, settle down. Time to close up shop.”

  At that point, Amber stood, walked over to her bag, pulled out a pair of sweat pants and tugged them on. Then she zipped up a hoodie over her sports bra. Thank God, she was covering her body before heading out. My green-eyed beast would have had a fit if she’d tried to leave the building dressed in the outfit she’d worn in class.

  “Where are you going?” I asked, concern coating my tone.

  “I need to be home tonight. Alone.” She pressed her lips together, and her hands formed two fists.

  Using every reserve of courage within me, layered in the confidence I had in our bond, I nodded. “Okay. I love you, Amber.”

  She looked down at the floor and then back up. “I love you, too.”

  Even though she said the words, she didn’t show them. In fact, her entire body language screamed discontent. I’d give her the night, and tomorrow, we’d talk. God willing, we’d settle this newfound wedge that had wormed its way into our relationship.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Individually, a person driven by the second chakra can be selfish, materialistic, and overconfident. However, if a couple is driven by the sacral chakra, they have the power to be stable and capable of having a long, healthy relationship. Communication and commitment to individual desires must be respected. Both parties must believe with their whole heart that the other is their soulmate and commit to being together forever in order for the relationship to last.

  AMBER

  A shrill ring blasted me from a dead sleep. I grappled for my phone and read the display. “Trent calling,” was on the screen.

  “Hello, hello? Is it time?” I pushed the hair away from my face, trying to get my bearings at the same time my heart was pounding a mile a minute.

  “It’s time. I’m getting the car ready. She wants you there, Amber. Ask your grandma if she can watch the kids. They’re still asleep.”

  I glanced at the clock and noted it said two in the morning. “Okay, sure. I’ll be right out. And Trent…”

  “Yeah?” His voice was a hard growl.

  “Yay! Baby time!” I squeaked.

  He groaned. “Just get here. You have five minutes before I’m loading up the car with the kids.”

  In addition to being Vivvie’s boyfriend and father of her baby, Trent Fox was also an alpha male, hotshot baseball player that was all kinds of protective and possessive of his new family. A lot of that had to do with the fact that my bestie had not yet agreed to marry the man—much to my dismay as well as his—even though she was carrying his progeny.

  Moving as fast as my feet could carry me, I tugged on a pair of yoga pants, socks and tennis shoes, a tank, and a hoodie before wrapping my hair into a ponytail.

  God, please take care of Genevieve. She needs Your strength, love, and guidance today to bring one of Your children into the world. I can’t wait to see Your miracle come to life. Amen.

  I tiptoed through the hall and to my grandparents’ bedroom. I opened the door to the sound of my papa snoring away. Nana really needed to get him to agree to get his adenoids removed. Unfortunately, for my grandmother, my grandfather didn’t believe in unnecessary medical treatments. If it wasn’t killing him, he’d just as soon leave well enough alone.

  Whe
n I reached my grandmother’s side of the bed, I laid a soft touch to her bicep and whispered, “Nana.”

  She blinked her eyes open immediately. My grandmother was a light sleeper, always had been. Her weathered hand came out from under the covers, and she grabbed my wrist. I helped her sit up.

  “What’s the matter, poppet?”

  “Vivvie is having the baby. She wants me there with her.”

  Her eyes widened, and she pushed her hair behind her ear. “Okay then, she needs me to watch the children. I’ll throw my robe and slippers on and meet you there. God bless her heart. We’ve got a baby coming.”

  I grinned and shuffled out of the room, down the stairs, and out the door.

  “’Bout fuckin’ time!” Trent roared when I arrived. He looked over my shoulder. “Where’s Sandy?” His jaw was tight as stone and his volume just below a holler.

  “She’ll be here in a few minutes. She has a key. Let’s go.”

  He looked at Genevieve, who was already in the front seat, her eyes closed, teeth clenched, and her hands holding tight to her basketball-sized belly.

  I ran around the side of the car and jumped in the back. I placed my hands on her shoulders. She jerked and then sighed. “Amber. Thank God. It hurts so bad,” she moaned.

  Trent got in the car and waited a minute. Then he saw our front door open and Nana coming down the stairs in her robe and slippers waving. “Now we can go.”

  I smiled but kept quiet. Trent had really proven himself worthy of my best friend and those kids. He loved them like they were his own siblings. It filled my heart with joy to see his protective side come out regarding their safety as much as that of the woman he loved and his unborn child.

  Trent streaked out of the driveway and zoomed off into the dead of night. There was little traffic all the way to the hospital. He dropped Genevieve and me at the doors to Labor and Delivery and sped off to park the car.

  Viv sat in the wheelchair an orderly provided. “You doing okay?” I asked her.

  She nodded and blew out a long breath. The contraction must have passed because her face went from contorted in pain to simple elegance in a second flat. I never understood it when laboring patients said they were only in pain during the contractions. The rest of the time they were anticipating the next round, which had to be exhausting.

  “Thank you for coming. I wasn’t sure I wanted anyone else in the room, but you have this direct line to God, and I feel like I need that.”

  Now that made me cheesy smile. I leaned down and gripped both of her hands then closed my eyes, holding her hands against my lips. “God, please help Genevieve bring baby Will into this world safe and sound. We trust You to protect and surround this child in Your love. Amen.”

  “Amen,” Genevieve said and then crunched up her entire face and placed her hands on her tightening belly.

  I laid my hand over the places she hadn’t covered. Whoa! The entire thing contracted and firmed so much her skin felt stretched to capacity against the tension. Incredible.

  Just as an orderly was leading us down the hall to an open room, Landen turned the corner, clad in a pair of pale blue scrubs. Our combined shock was laughable.

  “Hey you, what are you doing here?” he asked, glancing down at Genevieve.

  “My best friend is having a baby! What are you doing here?”

  He walked alongside us as we made it to our room. “All-nighter for labor and delivery. I think you’re up for it in a couple weeks.”

  I nodded. “Cool. Are you going to be assisting us today?”

  “Yep. I’m with Dr. Lee.”

  “Awesome.”

  Right then, a massive six-foot-something, wall of anxiety skidded around the corner. “Where is she!” he roared, probably waking up half the ward at this time of night. Then again, most of the people in this area were having babies or awaiting their C-sections. A man hollering probably wasn’t that uncommon.

  Landen approached Trent with his arms out. “Calm down, sir.”

  “Don’t tell me to call down. My entire fucking world is somewhere on this floor, in pain, and about to have my baby!”

  “Trent!” Genevieve called from behind the curtain not far from where we stood. The orderly had set her up in a cloth gown and a fetal monitor.

  “Gumdrop, thank Christ!”

  “Friend of yours?” Landen hooked a thumb over his shoulder toward Trent, who was fawning all over Genevieve.

  I chuckled. “Yes. Dad-to-be. Very nervous dad-to-be, as you can see.”

  “Dude’s built like a brick house.”

  I held my hand over my mouth to cover my chortles. “That’s Trent Fox, star hitter for the Oakland Ports. They breed ’em big.”

  Landen’s eyebrows rose up on his forehead. “That’s…Trent Fox. The Trent Fox. The best flippin’ hitter since, well…in forever?” He gasped and tried to get a better view.

  I nodded and grinned huge. “So you better give him and his lady some seriously special treatment or he’s liable to take you out.”

  Landen pushed both hands through his hair and bit down on his bottom lip. “Trent Fox…I’ll be damned,” he whispered. “Today just got insanely cool.”

  My soon to-be-nephew coming into the world…yes, it did.

  DASH

  The phone was my nemesis. I picked it up and put it down all damn day. The desire to call Amber was so strong I had to physically turn the damn thing off. That was when Murphy’s Law came into play. Whatever could go wrong would. By the time I turned the sucker on, Amber had texted me that she was at the hospital with Genevieve and Trent. They were having the baby. Several hours after the text was a rambling voice message stating that the baby was coming and to notify the yogis. At least at the end of that message I got a rushed love you. Those two little words were enough to Band-Aid the fear crackling against my rib cage with every breath I’d taken.

  Now, I was walking the white linoleum halls of the hospital, looking for Labor and Delivery to surprise my girl. From what I gathered, she’d been at the hospital since around two or so in the morning. It was now four in the afternoon, a solid fourteen hours later.

  As I stared at the directory, a voice I recognized echoed behind me. I turned around and came face-to-face with Landen O’Brien, the boy wonder who wanted a piece of my girl. Of course, now it looked like the guy would likely end up being her half-brother. Talk about twisted situations.

  A look of recognition swept across Landen’s face. “You’re Amber’s boyfriend.”

  “That’s right. Do you happen to know where she is?” I asked.

  “Sure do. Her friend just had her baby. I assisted,” he announced with a dose of pride. His chest puffed up, giving him an extra inch or two of height.

  “Oh yeah. What did you think?” I figured it couldn’t hurt to make conversation with the guy. If he was going to be in Amber’s life as a friend or a brother, and especially as her study buddy, I needed to get a handle on the guy. Feel him out.

  He shook his head. “You know, I thought it was going to be awful and disgusting.”

  “And it wasn’t?”

  Landen chuckled. “Oh, it was disgusting. What comes out of a woman when she’s birthing a baby is not for the faint of heart, but I don’t know.” He shrugged. “The second the baby’s head made an appearance and he took his first breath of life on Earth, something just clicked, man. You know?”

  He’d experienced a miracle. A unique spiritual occurrence that, when seen through the right eyes, can change a person forever.

  “Believe it or not, I do know. Had a couple of those myself. One very recently with my girl.” I thought back to the sacred spot massage. Heck, almost every sexual experience Amber and I’d had so far seemed like a spiritual blessing.

  “She’s really amazing. The way she helped her friend breathe and then helped her friend’s husband not hyperventilate.” He laughed and led me to a closed door. “Well, there you go. They had the baby a couple hours ago, so they should be settled.” />
  I held out my hand. “Hey, it was good seeing you. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of each other in the future.”

  “If you stay with Amber, for sure.” He waved and then headed off to some unknown location within the bowels of the hospital.

  If I stayed with Amber. Why the hell wouldn’t I stay with her? He probably didn’t mean anything by it, but even the mention of not being with her sent an uncomfortable spike to my gut. I breathed through the discomfort and then knocked on the door.

  “Come in.” A male’s voice came through the door.

  I opened the door and entered. The room was small, perhaps ten by ten. Genevieve lay resting with her hands over her now considerably smaller stomach, Trent by her side. He was caressing her face and making her smile. Amber was seated in the chair next to the bed, completely enchanted by the small bundle in her arms.

  She looked up as I entered. “Hi,” she whispered. “Glad you could come.”

  “Wouldn’t miss it,” I said and walked over to Trent with my hand out.

  Trent skipped the hand and went right for the hug, clapping me on the back, hard. The big guy was full of smiles and unfettered joy seeped out of every pore. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigar. It had a blue seal around it labeled, It’s a boy.

  “Congrats, man. A son.”

  Trent inhaled and spread his arms out wide. “Best day of my fuckin’ life.”

  I grinned and rubbed a hand over my scratchy jaw. “How you doin’, pretty lady?” I said to Genevieve. “You holding up?”

  Her smile of contentment was all I needed to see. “So happy. He’s perfect, our William.” She sighed and looked over at Amber.

  I walked over to Amber and looked down at the baby swaddled in a blue-and-white blanket, a pale blue knitted cap covering his head. His face was pink and round. As I was checking him out, he opened his puckered mouth and yawned as if he’d had a very long day, which I guess he had. Birthing was just as hard on the baby as it was on the mother I’d imagine.