Sacred Serenity (Lotus House Book 2) by Audrey Carlan Read Free Book Online Page B

the joint program.
    The joint medical program between UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco allowed medical students to earn their doctorate after five years of hard-core schooling and on-site learning. I didn’t technically need to take the human sexuality course like I’d told Genevieve. To be perfectly honest, I wanted to take it. Choosing to remain a virgin didn’t mean I wasn’t curious. I’d never let a boy go beyond kissing in my teen years. When I turned twenty, my hormones were worse, almost as if I needed sexual intercourse or something close to take the edge off. That was when I went out and bought a small clitoral stimulator. A few seconds of that and I soared into the stratosphere on a blissful cloud. Now, though, at twenty-two, I wanted more than sexual satisfaction. I was aching for…companionship. A man I could love, who loved me back. A person who wanted to spend the rest of his life growing old with me and vice versa.
    And perhaps yes, like Dash suggested, to find my very own soul mate. Though I didn’t think I’d be finding such a person through a lusty crush on the Tantric yoga teacher. Just thinking about how many women he’s probably been with gave me the heebie-jeebies. He was a Tantric teacher. I imagined they had sex all the time. Probably every day. The woman in the café today seemed pretty familiar with him, and he said he’d “dated” her. Translation: he spent a lot of time under the sheets with her. Heck, Vivvie mentioned many times over the years how desired Dash was by the clientele and the other teachers at the studio. Who was I? A student and a virgin. I didn’t know jack crap about the spiritual Tantric world. I could do yoga with the best of them. Not in a teaching capacity, but wanting to hang out with Viv, I’d spent some free time in her classes. I learned a lot about the practice and the spiritual side. I funneled all that through the good Lord above. While I practiced my poses, I prayed. Worshiping silently in a room full of people has always been a beautiful meditative practice for me.
    I blew out a loud breath and dropped my yoga mat on the kitchen counter. My nana came into the room from the backyard, her gardening gloves still on her hands and a wide-brimmed, white thatch hat covering her head.
    “Hey, poppet. How was assisting that yoga class? Was Vivvie there?”
    “No, Nana. I’m helping out in a couples’ yoga class. The teacher is a friend of hers named Dash Alexander. Cool guy. Very nice.” The moment I felt my cheeks heat, I turned around, heading to the fridge for some water.
    My grandmother laughed and started to heat the kettle on the stove. “Is this Dash a handsome man?” she asked with nonchalance.
    Oh no. Nana was fishing, and she normally caught what she wanted.
    “Sure, he’s nice looking. A few years older than me. He’s really gifted at yoga and has a way of connecting with his clients. I think I’ll learn a lot from his class.” I grabbed a glass from the cabinet and filled it to the top from the pitcher.
    Nana hummed while preparing her afternoon tea. Teatime, a habit my grandparents picked up while living abroad. Even though the St. James clan came over from England long ago, my grandparents lived there while my grandfather served in the Air Force. During that time, Nana taught at the local church. To this day, she still taught Sunday school to the little ones at St. Joseph’s.
    “Oh, speaking of class. You received a call from a Professor Liam O’Brien’s office. Well, technically it was his teacher’s aide. Someone named Landen. Anyhoo, they’re doing a meet and greet of the new program residents Thursday at the lecture hall at UCSF. The information is on the notepad over there, darling.”
    “Thanks, Nana. This is so exciting. I can’t wait to meet the other fifteen students in the program.” I shook my head and shuffled my bare feet. My neon pink painted toes looked bright against my skin. “Do you think my mom would have been