The Tycoon's Temporary Bride: Book Four Page 11

  He was always barefoot, but who needed slippers in a house with radiant heating and climate controlled rooms that automatically adjusted when one walked in? She’d noticed one wall in the library stacked with literature on living the minimalistic lifestyle, yoga, meditation, and other types of mind-channeling material, some of which she’d never heard of before.

  The mansion had been remodeled into a minimalistic, neutral-colored heaven of uncluttered space that offered an abundance of serenity and harmony. Instead of numerous little trinkets most people filled their homes with, Adam’s home was simply, yet elegantly decorated with furniture of the highest quality. Except for the portraits of his parents in the first-floor foyer, there were no other family pictures gracing the few walls of the house. Who needed pictures when the architecture was so stunning and the walls of glass offered uninterrupted views of the natural beauty surrounding the house?

  His décor was comprised mainly of priceless life-size effigies of mythical African, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman deities, and numerous oddly shaped sculptured objects that only the rich could afford. Some were made of glass, some of marble, granite, pearl, and precious metals. They were so strategically and perfectly placed throughout the house, Tashi felt that moving one just a fraction would cause imbalance and disorder, not only to the room, but to Adam’s demeanor as well.

  He must have felt like a fish out of water in her apartment, Tashi thought. He did not belong to that world, any more than she belonged to this.

  He’d done his disappearing act after breakfast, but she knew he’d reappear for lunch. She would offer to cook him something for a change, but the kitchen was one place she didn’t know her way around. She and Uncle Victor had eaten out a lot, and when they did eat in, it was frozen, canned, and boxed processed, readymade meals. In the summers, Uncle Victor used to grill hot dogs and pre-seasoned hamburger patties—stuff that Adam Andreas would never have in his kitchen.

  Other than slicing them up, Tashi wouldn’t know what to do with the vegetables in his fridge or the canisters of brown rice, quinoa, beans, and other whole grain staples in his cupboard.

  In the past week, she’d never had the same main dish twice for any meal, not even breakfast, and everything was always fresh and delicious and tasted as if it had just been pulled from the ocean or off a tree branch, lifted from the butcher’s slab, or dug out of the ground. Every night, he cooked her a four-course dinner, and everything was always so beautifully presented that sometimes Tashi thought it was a sin to mess up the dishes. Adam Andreas was a master of culinary skills. He wasn’t just in the restaurant business, he was a connoisseur of food—from the way he prepared it to the way he consumed it.

  Her sneakers laced, Tashi made her way along a corridor that ran the perimeter of the first floor. Its translucent glass walls created a surreal image of continuity between the interior beauty of the house and the meticulously furnished, landscaped back courtyard with its evergreen shrubs, wide green lawn separated into squares by copper-colored marble borders, and protective railings of stone and steel that extended as far as the eye could see. She squinted as the sun shimmered off the roofs and steel panels of several other buildings scattered across the estate.

  Tashi descended a short flight of stone-cut stairs and lifted her face to the sunlight peeking through the line of evergreen trees. She was dressed in an aqua, long-sleeved, button-down shirt and jeans—suitable attire to protect her arms and legs during her hike. She took her camera from its case and without giving it any real thought, she followed the nearest path of several leading away from the courtyard. She hadn’t brought her map with her, but she had her cell phone in her pocket. If she got lost, she would just call Adam.

  A chorus of chirping birds serenaded her as she made her way through the evergreen timberland. She welcomed the kiss of the light breeze on her skin and reveled in the smell of pine, birch, maple, rich dark soil, and an occasional whiff of the colorful mountain flora bobbing gracefully from the moist forest floor. She stopped here and there for a candid snap of squirrels and chipmunks scurrying through the woodland searching for nuts and pinecones, or chasing one another in the catch and release game males and females of all species played with each other.

  Coming upon a cluster of maple trees lining the sides of the path, Tashi stopped to admire a male cardinal enjoying the maple sap dripping from a hole in the trunk of one of the trees. She managed to get a few shots before he spread his red wings and flew out of sight. Higher up in the branches a female—probably his mate of the season, or several seasons—fed seeds to their fledglings. She only got two shots before the momma bird spread its brown wings as if to protect her young from view.

  Tashi smiled. It felt great to be outdoors again, to experience this simple, yet extraordinary slice of nature. Tashi wished she could stay here forever and forget about the world beyond Andreas Estates, where people wanted her dead. But that was wishful thinking.

  Encountering a fork in the winding road, Tashi pushed her somber thoughts aside as she contemplated which one to take. Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken” popped into her head. They seemed equally traveled to her, and realizing that it really didn’t matter, she took the one on the left. In a few yards, it opened up into a meadow with a crystal blue lake surrounded by clusters of pine and a variety of other flowering trees she couldn’t identify. A range of gently sloping hills on the other side created the perfect backdrop.

  Tashi stood in the middle of the dirt road that ran the perimeter of the lake and admired the natural scenery around her. Never in a million years would she have imagined a lake nestled inside a mountain. This was a treat any serious photographer would die for. Searching through her camera bag, she fished out her 20mm wide-angle lens and switched it for the 45mm micro she’d been using while traipsing through the forest. As she followed the road around the lake, Tashi took her time compiling a collage of the breathtaking, colorful landscape from every angle possible.

  She’d gone about a quarter of a mile, passing stone-cut picnic tables and benches, when the sound of rushing water caught her attention. Guessing that it was the waterfall she’d heard from the house a few nights ago, Tashi took the narrow path that led from the road into another wooded area. She passed a flagpole with a white flag in the lowered position, and followed her ears toward the gushing sound. As she traveled deeper in, the air became crisp and fresh and charged with electricity—similar to the way it felt right after a heavy rainstorm.

  Rounding a bend, Tashi stopped suddenly as two white limestone square structures situated in the middle of a green lawn with garden beds bursting with blooming flowers and herbs lining its perimeter. Marble effigies of Greek and Roman mythical goddesses scattered about seemed to keep watch over the private refuge. Rolling lush hills, ancient sprawling trees, and an abundance of foaming waterfalls gushing from a rocky hill into a gigantic whirlpool completed the background.

  The structures, separated by a white stone canopy, each exhibited three oblong windows with golden panes that cast off an iridescent glow against the midmorning sunlight. But the serendipitous discovery of the picturesque sanctuary-like structure in the middle of a modern day Garden of Eden—minus the Tree of Life—wasn’t what made Tashi gasp.

  It was the naked, motionless man coiled into a yoga pose that only a seasoned yogi or a very advanced practitioner would dare to attempt. His knees and shinbones were flat against a white floor, and his body was curved backwards with his stomach and chest stretching toward the sky. His forearms were flat against the mat—perpendicular to his legs. His hands gripped his ankles while his forehead rested between them with his face upside down and facing away from his body. His long black mane was pooled around his arms and legs creating a stunning contrast to his muscled tanned body fashioned into a graceful human triangle.

  Inevitably, Tashi’s eyes zeroed in on his erection extending like a bronze flagpole from the thatch of curly black hair at his groin. She’d never imagined a man’s penis could be that
big, especially from a few yard’s distance. She was very naïve when it came to human anatomy. She’d attended all-girls’ parochial schools all her life where pictures and drawings of naked men and women were prohibited in biology classes and where even the first violation of that rule brought immediate expulsion. With the church’s philosophies and her uncle’s strict rules, it was a wonder she hadn’t turned into a frigid maiden, incapable of any type of sexual sensations.

  Sensations that were frighteningly powerful and foreign, she realized as saliva gathered inside her mouth and her skin began to burn with curious excitement. Her nipples tingled and hardened and pressed painfully against the cotton material of her shirt, but most poignantly she felt an incessant throbbing deep inside the core of her womanhood as moisture poured into her panties. She felt as if someone had turned on a faucet inside her and then broken off the handle so there was no way to stop the flood once it started. The sight and sounds of the gushing waterfalls in the background and the subtle blend of jasmine, mint, oregano, and other herbs floating on the gentle breeze toward her only seemed to intensify her arousal.

  “Adam.”

  His name slipped from her mouth, unwittingly. It was a tiny whisper, but when Tashi detected a slight tremor in Adam’s body, she knew he’d heard her above the roar of the waterfall. She should leave, she thought, but her feet seemed to be rooted to the ground and her eyes glued open to the irresistible specimen of male flesh in front of her.

  Her heart fluttered when he began to unfold like a graceful ballerina. Walking his hands away from his feet, he brought his head and torso upward with slow controlled movements. Coming into a kneeling position with his shins flat against the mat, he bent forward and rested his torso on his thighs, his forehead on the mat, and his forearms extended backward along the sides of his body. He stayed in that position for about thirty seconds before he brought himself to a kneeling position again. This time he extended his arms out on either side, his palms raised toward the sky, his thick black hair falling down his back, past his waist to rest gently against the firm hills of his buttocks. He clasped his hands together and bowed in reverence, twice.

  Tashi had never seen anything so magnificent, so arousing in her life.

  She held her breath as he turned his head and gazed at her, finally acknowledging her presence. Tashi’s body felt heavy and warm as he pushed to his feet. Again, she wanted to leave, to apologize for wandering into his private sanctuary, but neither her limbs nor her tongue would obey her.

  He glanced at a white robe lying on the floor next to the mat, but instead of picking it up, he walked to the edge of the podium and down a flight of wide steps toward the lawn. He seemed to cover the short distance between them in slow motion, his eyes never leaving her face as he drew closer to where she stood next to a granite table and cushioned chairs under the shade of a sprawling willow tree with branches so low, they kissed the grass.

  He stopped a couple feet in front of her and held his hand out to her like a guru welcoming the newest member of his shrine into the fold. “Come, Tashi,” he said, ever so gently.

  His smile was devastatingly sensuous, and his invitation was a passionate challenge, hard to resist. Tashi’s heart began to pound in her chest and her stomach began to heave like an ocean wave battered by the force of hurricane gale winds. What in heaven’s name had she wandered into?

  “Come,” he repeated. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

  Adam’s pulse pounded at finally admitting to himself that Tashi Holland was the perfect woman for him—his heart and soul mate. He’d known it the moment he first gazed into her eyes and felt the heat and light of her soul connecting with his, saw the glorious sunrise and the golden sunset of his future illuminated within their emerald depth, felt the fusing of their spirits in that sharp bolt of electricity when they first touched.

  As he gazed into the emerald pools of her eyes, Adam felt himself falling, tumbling into space where little boys and girls with auburn and black hair, green and blue eyes floated around him and Tashi. He’d often dreamed about the children he’d have one day, but never had he seen them so clearly—as if they already existed, were already inducted into the circle of life.

  Adam had never felt this mystic connection to any other woman. He hadn’t felt this way about Claire, not after investing months of time and energy into their relationship, not when he’d gotten down on his knees in front of his family and friends and asked her to marry him.

  Tashi Holland had revealed nothing about herself in the two weeks they’d spent together, yet Adam felt as if they’d known each other all their lives, and even before then in a former life. Time and circumstance had separated them, but the instant they’d collided, their souls and hearts had rejoiced at meeting again. Well, that’s how he’d felt about her. How she felt about him was another mystery in itself.

  It was no coincidence that they’d collided in Mountainview Café, two weeks ago. If he’d come through the door, or if she had gotten up from her table one second earlier or later, they would have missed each other. Fate had placed them both in the right place at the precise time. But due to his past experiences with her kind—damsels in distress who’d kicked his world off its axis—he’d fought the magnetism. He just couldn’t trust his heart.

  Fate had been kind enough to give them a second chance meeting outside the grocery store. Again, he would have let her walk out of his life, perhaps forever, when something had propelled him to shout out his name to her—his name that she’d been curious enough about to look up on the Internet. His name had saved her life.

  And now here she was standing in his most private, most cherished place on earth—a place where he came when he wanted to connect with his inner universe. Since he’d built it, Adam hadn’t invited anyone to his sacred sanctuary, and no one had come. He hadn’t invited Tashi either, but here she was—being everything to him that her name signified: blessings and good luck, prosperity, and connection to the divine.

  “Hello, Tashi,” he said, breaking the electrifying silence.

  “I’m—I’m sorry.” She took a step back from him, but kept her eyes locked with his. “I didn’t mean to disturb you.” With one hand, she gripped the strap of her camera case hanging from her shoulder while her other hand was balled into a fist at her stomach.

  Adam noted the mixture of curiosity and awakening desire in her eyes, the convulsing of her body as she tried to cope with the magnitude of sexual tension running rampant through her. She looked so innocent and inexperienced, so way out of her element, it was almost sinful to stand before her in all his naked glory while she was still fully clothed.

  Adam cleared his throat. “You didn’t disturb me, Tashi. Come,” he said for the third time, holding his hand out to her, willing her to trust him, to take his hand and let him lead her into their future, show her how safe and protected she’d be with him.

  She shook her head and crossed her arms over her stomach. “I should go. You were clearly in the middle of something deep.”

  “I was, but it’s okay. Perhaps we can get into something deep together.”

  Her forehead crinkled. “I’ve never done yoga.”

  “Would you like to try it? I can teach you. We’ll begin with the basics, of course.”

  “Now?” Her eyes flittered down his body and lingered briefly on his erection that had begun to lose some of its rigidity. It came instantly back to life as if she’d caressed him with her gaze. She looked away. “You’re naked. Do you usually do yoga naked?”

  Adam smiled. “When the weather permits, I try to make the most of it. It’s a beautiful day, so… Does it bother you that I’m naked, Tashi?”

  A blush appeared in her cheeks. “I’ve never seen a naked man before.”

  Relief flooded Adam as he ruled out sexual abuse and assault as the reasons for her violent reaction to him in the tub. It was perhaps the strange novelty of having a man touch her so intimately that had scared her. “But you’ve seen pictures, I’m
sure. I don’t think there’s a girl out there past the age of fifteen who hasn’t at least taken a peek at naked men on the Internet.” The truth in his words distressed him.

  The ease with which children could access adult material was a disturbing by-product of the digital age. Kids were growing up much too fast for his liking these days. Innocence seemed to have flown in the face of the sexual revolution epidemic sweeping the globe. It wouldn’t be so bad if they had adult supervision while viewing that material to explain exactly what was going on. Then their perception of human sexuality wouldn’t be so warped and depraved.

  “You’re looking at one, and I’ll be twenty-three in December,” Tashi said, her voice dropping in volume. “There was some nudity in my textbooks in college.” She shrugged. “I studied photography, and we did a chapter on nudes, but other than that, no. I’ve never seen a live naked man, nor have I ever peeked at them on the Internet. I’ve never even been kissed.”

  Adam was floored. “Never been kissed? Where did you grow up, in a convent?”

  That brought soft chuckles from her, and she cupped her hand over her mouth to stifle her merriment. The sound of her laughter and the light of humor in her eyes were priceless. Adam wished for more of this side of her. She was breaking out of her silent shell.

  “Something like that,” she finally said, catching her bottom lip between her teeth. “I attended parochial school all my life, and my uncle…” She paused. “Uncle Victor was very strict. He didn’t allow too much socializing, and boyfriends were out of the question.”

  Uncle Victor. She’d given up his name, albeit with a little hesitation. It was a small step forward, but every step she took toward him was progress. Bravo to her Uncle Victor, Adam thought. He’d probably lock up his daughters, too, ban computers from the estate until they reached the age of consent. “So you have no idea what goes on between a man and a woman.”