The Tycoon's Temporary Bride: Book Four Read online

  “Well, I’m not stupid.” Exasperation edged her voice. “We were taught about the birds and the bees, but we were forbidden to indulge in self-stimulation and carnal debauchery, as they called it.”

  Adam couldn’t suppress the laugh that rose to his throat. “Carnal debauchery?” That was taking it to the extreme. “Did your teachers commute from the Middle Ages in time machines?”

  “It felt like it.” She chuckled. “And sometimes they dressed like it too with their ankle-length skirts and long-sleeved blouses.”

  The fact that she could laugh at her cloistered upbringing was a healthy sign. “You were never tempted to peek?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “Some girls peeked. Those who were caught were expelled. Although,” she added with a touch of compunction, “when I look back on it now, I realize that expulsion was probably the best thing that could have happened to those girls. They were free to experiment and explore while I was still stuck in an archaic institution.”

  “Why didn’t you peek?”

  “I was afraid.”

  “Of being expelled?”

  “Of burning in everlasting fire. I was afraid of even touching myself, except to bathe, and…” Her voice trailed off as her gaze returned almost spontaneously to the area of his groin.

  Adam’s gaze followed hers to the junction of his thighs where his cock stood proud and tall, strutting its vigor and power like a royal ambassador. It seemed to be applauding her for finally relinquishing her fears, challenging her to take the next step and dance with him in the flames of passion until they both incinerated into ashes. “How does it make you feel to look at a naked man, Tashi? To look at me, specifically?” he asked.

  She shifted from one foot to the other and moved her camera case from her left to right shoulder as if its weight had suddenly become too much for her to bear. “It makes me feel funny.”

  Adam cleared the croak from his throat. Standing here talking to innocent Tashi about sex and nudity was the biggest turn-on he’d ever experienced. His cock had never been so hard. The way it was palpitating against his stomach like a restless serpent ready to strike should scare her, but she seemed rather fascinated with it.

  From what he could remember from his Sunday School lessons, Eve hadn’t been scared of the serpent in the Garden of Eden, either. She’d been enthralled by it. “Funny how?” he asked in a throaty voice. “Can you describe how you feel?”

  She licked her lips and folded her arms around her stomach as a shudder shook her slender frame. “Warm and tingly,” she said, her gaze moving slowly up his body to his eyes. “Maybe hot, and jittery. My breasts feel swollen, my nipples are hard and achy, and I—” She licked her lips again. “I feel thirsty and empty, yet full, and I have this ache, this throbbing deep inside me like an earthquake is happening in the very core of my being. “And…” She dropped her gaze to his bare feet nestled in the green grass.

  Adam’s throat tightened as he watched her chest heave. “And what?” He could hardly speak.

  “My panties are wet. I’ve never felt like this before—before I met you.”

  A sharp pang ripped through Adam’s gut. Did she have to be so honest, so forthright with her feelings? He inhaled deeply and sharply, fisted his hands at his sides, and closed his eyes to control the yearning rolling through him. When his breathing steadied, he opened his eyes to see her staring up at him with curious wonder in her emerald eyes.

  “Do you want to take off your panties, Tashi? I mean since they’re wet and all.” Why did that sound so perverted to him? Dear God, she was a virgin, and he shouldn’t, but seeing that she was his soul mate, it was only natural that they begin exploring the intimate aspects of their relationship.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “I’ve seen you naked, Tashi. I’ve bathed you. I’ve touched you on more than one occasion.” He wanted to touch her again. Intimately. Not as a caregiver, nursing her back to health, but as a lover, teaching her about the joys and passions of lovemaking, helping her explore the depths of her own desires, alleviating the aches, the throbs, the tingles and heat she’d just described to him.

  She trembled on a sigh. “This is different, though. You might want to do things, things I might not be ready for.”

  She was ready, physically, at least. She just didn’t know it, and wouldn’t know it until her mind, her heart, and her soul caught up with the longings in her body. Every aspect of her being had to be in total harmony before she could experience maximum and ultimate pleasure and fulfillment. Tashi was as chaste as an angel. An angel that had fallen from heaven and into his arms—literally. Because of her innocence, he would have to tread carefully with her. Too much, too soon and she could be turned off forever.

  “We’ll only do what you want, what you’re comfortable with. Nothing else,” he said. “We’ve had sixteen dates in the past week. Most people are in bed by their third date. This is just the next phase in our emerging relationship.”

  She stiffened at the words “emerging relationship” and her lips quivered as she gazed at him, wide-eyes. In the past week that he’d been studying her, Adam had learned to decipher sudden changes in her mood. The tension in her body, the dread in her eyes suggested that she was scared, not of him, but for him.

  The imminent danger of her circumstances suddenly flooded Adam’s being, reminding him that she was running and hiding from some bad people who wanted to harm her. People who were prepared to kill anyone who stood in the way of what they wanted: her.

  He could tell her that she need not be afraid, but he knew those words would be meaningless to her. He had to show her that she could trust him in all areas of their relationship. She’d trusted him as a caregiver, and now she must learn to trust him as a friend—a friend with whom she need not project pretense, caution, or hesitation. They had to learn and grow together as one unit, and the only way they’d know the true essence of their souls was if they bared themselves, emotionally, psychologically, and physically to each other.

  There should be no secrets between them, but there should be explicit consent. Tashi had grown up with philosophies about the human body that were vastly different from his. Adam had no desire to convert or steer her away from those teachings, but if she wanted to explore the wellspring of her sexuality, he would be delighted to be her guide.

  “Do you want to get naked with me, Tashi?” His gaze held hers, willing her to take the first step into the unknown, feed her curiosity and explore another realm of the complexity that comprised Tashi Holland. Her name wasn’t Eve, but the vision they would create couldn’t be more allegorical—Adam and his woman, completely naked, and one with nature in their own Garden of Eden.

  Her lips parted as if she wanted to say something, but no words came out.

  “Do you trust me, Tashi?”

  She shifted her weight again, her irises a kaleidoscope of bluish-green hues as she fought the war between submission to the yearnings in her body and subservience to her past.

  Finally she nodded. “Okay. Yes, I—I trust you, and I—I want to get naked with you.”

  Heat whipped through Adam as she caught her bottom lip between her teeth. His skin tingled as he imagined her nibbling on his flesh, ever so daintily. “I promise to go only as far as you wish. You can stop me at any time. Okay?”

  She gave him a demure smile—half consent, half trepidation.

  Finally, he’d have the honor and the pleasure to enjoy the sight of Tashi’s exquisite body as she peeled each layer of clothing away. He’d still have to wait—he hoped not too long—to caress the silkiness of her skin, mold the delectable curves he’d recently noticed developing under her clothes, revel in visions of her lying in his arms—sated, damp, and quivering after they’d ridden the high tide of desire together, over and over again.

  When he’d undressed her before, she’d been half-conscious with no desire or strength to stop him. Today, he wanted her to undress herself, to be fully aware of what
she was doing, even if she wasn’t certain of why she was doing it. Even though he’d seen her naked before, it felt to Adam like it would be the first time.

  To aid her introduction into his uninhibited world of nudity and intimacy, Adam reached out and slid her camera case off her shoulders and set it down on the slab of granite. “Take off your clothes, Tashi.”

  She glanced around the perimeter of the garden, spanning the tress as if she expected her uncle or her educators to float down from the branches and reprimand her for being naughty, prurient, for being charmed by the serpent.

  “There’s no one here but us. It’s just you and me. I promise not to touch you until you’re completely naked. Then, and only then, will I know that you’re ready to explore these feelings of desire you’ve been experiencing.”

  Adam’s heart began to beat wildly and furiously against his chest as Tashi’s hands crept up her body toward her throat where her pulse vibrated violently against her skin. He sucked air into his lungs when her slender fingers closed over the top button of her shirt.

  CHAPTER NINE

  What are you doing? Have you lost your mind? Your uncle is turning over in his grave to see what you’ve become.

  Quieting the censoring voices that had been governing her thoughts, crowding her mind, suppressing her desires to explore the sexual titillations she’d been experiencing since she hit puberty, Tashi kept her gaze locked with Adam’s as she undid the first, second, and then third buttons of her shirt.

  She could almost feel the doors of her soul bursting open, freeing the sheltered girl who had been locked away in a prison of proselytization for most of her life. That naïve girl, cloaked in decadence seemed starved for her first taste of forbidden pleasure. She could see her unfolding before her eyes, rising from the darkness, pushing to her feet, and reaching her fingers upward toward the light of her inner universe—becoming a woman with needs and expectations.

  Tashi couldn’t say that she resented her uncle for the way he’d raised her. In fact, she appreciated that he’d shielded her, and that he’d sent her to schools that demanded chastity and celibacy. With a less strict upbringing, she might have ended up like Mindy—teenage and pregnant, or she could have become an unwed mother like her own mother, struggling to take care of a young child, alone. Perhaps that’s what her uncle had been afraid of most—that she would become her mother. That’s why he’d stopped calling her Little Eve.

  What Tashi wished was that her educators had been a little more open-minded and forthright about a young girl’s developing body, about the hormones running wild inside her, instead of teaching her that her awakening arousal was bad, even evil to a point. Teach her instead that her desires were normal, and that one day she would meet a man—that one special man—with whom she would want to explore those feelings and find fulfillment of the most delicate form.

  That special man for Tashi was Adam, the man who’d save her life, and in whose presence Little Eve felt safe and treasured enough to emerge from the shadows where her uncle had shoved her, eighteen years ago.

  Little Eve loved the sight of the man before her—his elegantly chiseled cheekbones and straight nose, his rosy lips forever curled on the edge of laughter, and his sharp chin that spoke of distinction and dominance. Little Eve loved the wispy mat of hair on his chest and stomach that extended into a thicker thatch at his groin, then thinned out again on his thighs and legs.

  The last button undone, Tashi slid the shirt off her shoulders, down her arms, and let it slither to the grass behind her. She inhaled sharply as the cool summer breeze—charged with the electricity from the force of the waterfalls—caressed the skin of her arms, her chest, and quivering stomach. It whispered of the wanton thrills awaiting her.

  You’ll burn, Tashi. You’ll burn…

  Tashi tossed her head in defiance and sighed deeply as her long curls brushed against her shoulders and across the curve of her back—tickling her. Extending her arms out at her sides and throwing her head back, she closed her eyes and rotated her neck from side to side ever so slowly, and welcomed the nascent sensations nursing her arousal.

  Never had she imagined that something as simple as her own hair brushing against her skin could send jitters up and down her spine. Perhaps she’d been aware all along but because she’d been programmed not to respond to anything slightly sexual, she’d ignored the elusive stimulation. If her own hair could induce such titillation, she could just imagine the fire Adam’s silky mane trailing up and down her naked body could evoke in her.

  She hoped to burn until the thirst and the hunger inside her were assuaged, until there was nothing but ashes left of her. Her head began to sway as if to its own music—a secret melody her soul had composed eons ago. Picking up the tempo, her body began to rock from side to side, undulating on a weightless wave.

  “Tashi.”

  The whisper of her name brought Tashi floating back to shore. Her lids fluttered open to find Adam staring at her. His eyes were ablaze with a sensuous flame, his sexy mouth pulsing with the promise of the passion that could be hers if she dared to reach out and ask for it.

  She wanted it. Her gaze slid across his aristocratic face, brimming with gentleness, kindness, and strength. It was a face she hadn’t known she’d been searching for her entire life. It said nothing, yet everything she’d ever want to hear. For the first time since they’d met, Tashi didn’t feel shy about openly admiring Adam, gazing unabashed into his eyes, feeling the magic pulling her down into the enchanting chasm of the blue oasis of his soul. In the past week, she’d stolen glances at him while they ate their meals together, but each time he’d met her gaze, she’d averted hers, but not before she’d caught his smile that seemed to say, Don’t look away. I enjoy your furtive glances.

  Today, Tashi felt different, reborn, like everything she’d known about herself up to this point in her life had been false. She felt as if she was meeting the real Tashi Evelyn Holland for the first time. She liked her—this serenely wild, slightly adventurous young girl who was eager to enter the new and unfamiliar cosmos unfolding before her eyes.

  Little Eve had found her Adam, her light, her guide, the man who could teach her how to dance and play, laugh and revel in this numinous place where no one or nothing could hurt her.

  Anxious to shed the remnants of her clothes as quickly as she felt the restrictive teaching of her past dissolving around her, Tashi reached behind her and unsnapped the clasp of her bra. Keeping her eyes locked with Adam’s, she slid the straps off her shoulders and let the lacy garment fall noiselessly to the ground on top of her shirt. Her nipples hardened and tingled when Adam’s gaze and the cool breeze seemed to simultaneously brush them in an invisible kiss.

  “Your home is beautiful, Tashi. More lovely than any I’ve ever seen,” he said, his voice husky with emotion.

  Tashi thought it strange that he hadn’t said she was beautiful, but then she remembered that he was a yogi. He would regard the human body as a house for the human spirit—the true you. He hadn’t really met her yet. She hadn’t met her.

  “Your home is beautiful too, Adam.” There, she’d said them, spoken the words that had been echoing inside her since she first collided with him in the café. He’d been naked in her presence before when he’d first brought her to his home. Although she’d been faintly aware of his strength and virility, she’d been in no condition to evaluate and appreciate him. She was well now, and definitely appreciating him.

  Tashi felt a rush of wickedness as her gaze slid from his face to his neck where his pulse seemed to beat in time with hers. She admired the way his broad and muscular chest and shoulders tapered off into a flat, corded stomach, narrow waist, and slim hips. She’d often admired his physique under his clothes, but she was salivating now as her eyes drew lower to where his engorged penis protruded like a pillar of bronze muscle from the thatch of dark hair at his groin. It was far more intimidating, yet captivating up close. She wondered about the texture of the thin skin that ra
n the length and girth of him—from the root to the glittering tip with a wide opening that looked like a small mouth.

  Tashi licked her lips as muscles pulsed deep inside her body.

  “Go on, Tashi. Take it all off,” Adam coaxed, reminding her of his promise not to touch her until she was completely naked.

  Incited by his words and impatience, Tashi toed off her sneakers and heeled them behind her. She then unsnapped the clasp of her jeans and pulled the zipper down. When her fingers slid beneath the waist of her jeans and her panties, Adam groaned. Capturing his gaze again, she began to push them off her hips, slowly and provocatively, wiggling her hips and buttocks to fight the restriction. Down, down, she eased until she felt the breeze ripple through the auburn carpet covering her Venus mound.

  Adam groaned again. The sound knocked her off balance and finding herself pitching forward, she put her hand out to break her fall. Of all the places her hand could have landed on Adam’s anatomy, it chose to land on the area of his groin. A shot of adrenaline, mixed with fear and excitement coursed through Tashi’s system. The naked hardness of his body excited her.

  Curiosity got the better of her, and she moved her hand just an inch to the right and fisted her fingers around the column of flesh—not completely circling it. It felt like smooth velvet, hot and hard, and it pulsed in her palm as if it had a life of its own. The inner walls of her vagina began to respond to the stimulus, contracting and throbbing and spewing hot juices from between her thighs.

  She felt Adam’s hands on her arms steadying her, applying slight pressure as he seemed to combat his rising desires, but her eyes remained glued to her hand that was full of him. Of its own volition, her hand began to move up and down, pushing the thin smooth skin back and forth, watching the red glittering tip appear and disappear within the folds. She was fascinated by the way the muscles of his stomach convulsed like a wave rolling across the ocean, and the harsh sounds of his breath rumbling through the garden.