Celestial Bodies by Laura Leone Read Free Book Online

goals in here are self-awareness, self-appreciation and self-control. All you need to begin is faith in your own potential.”
    Their attention was clearly captured by the sincerity and warmth of her voice. The results of her own adherence to these principles were easy to see in her glowing face, supple body, and simple self-confidence. Nick watched intently as she urged the students back to their feet. She talked them through the exercise again, this time walking around the room and helping them position themselves at difficult moments.
    “Keep your back straight...” She gently helped a heavyset woman readjust her position. “Left arm on the floor,” she said, catching someone before he fell over. “Good. Exactly.”
    By the end of the class the groaning, moaning students were bubbling with enthusiasm, their faces glowing as they exchanged names and promised to practice over the weekend.
    “Thank you, Diana. This was wonderful. You’ve really helped me tonight,” said one woman before leaving.
    Diana noticed Nick standing in the doorway when her students started departing. Her heartbeat, slowed down by the deep breathing and long stretches, suddenly accelerated. She didn’t understand why, instead of growing more accustomed to him, she got more excited around him every day.
    “How long have you been standing there?” she asked.
    “About twenty minutes.” He put his hands into the pockets of his jeans. The motion drew the material tight across his well-shaped thighs. Diana forced her fascinated gaze back up to his face as he strolled into the room and said, “It was interesting.”
    “Thinking of joining our class?” she asked.
    “Are you kidding? I’d need a chiropractor to straighten me out by the end of the day,” he teased.
    “Nonsense. If you practiced yoga on a daily basis, you’d improve your overall health and temperament.”
    “The way you’ve improved your temper?” he asked.
    She smiled sheepishly as she toweled herself off. “If you think I’m short-tempered now, you should have seen me before I began yoga.”
    “When was that?”
    “College. Do you want some herbal ice tea?”
    “I’ll join you in a glass,” he said. What he wanted was a cold beer.
    They descended the stairs, walked through the shop where Felix was absorbed in conversation with the only customer, and sat down in the dimly lit courtyard with two tall glasses of chilled rose-hip tea that Diana had poured.
    “So what got you interested in yoga in the first place?” Nick asked.
    “My boyfriend during my sophomore year at college. He suffered from some kind of muscle atrophy. Yoga had helped to arrest the problem, and he practiced for an hour every day. He thought it would help me, too.”
    “With what?” Nick tried not to screw up his face as he sipped his tea.
    “With everything. I was very competitive, quick-tempered, tense, uptight, emotional. I don’t know how my family put up with me during my teenage years, to be honest.” She smiled fondly. “Of course, my mom was very patient by nature, and Felix has always been pretty obtuse.”
    “And yoga helped you?”
    She nodded. “Yoga and maturity. The discipline alone was very good for me. An hour a day of total concentration on relaxation and self-awareness really calmed me down, taught me to focus. Later on, I think it probably kept me alive in my crazy profession.”
    That surprised him. “You weren’t always a yoga teacher?”
    “No. I was in theatrical production.”
    “Really?” He had already tried to look into her background and had found nothing. Now he knew why. He’d been looking in the wrong places.
    “Yes. I majored in theatre business and moved to New York right after I got out of college. I worked with producers for nearly five years.”
    “Didn’t you enjoy it?”
    “Oh, I loved it. At first, anyhow. It was exciting, creative, exhilarating, always different, always educational. I loved the theatre, and I loved being part of its