The Tycoon's Temporary Bride: Book Four Read online

  So this was what it was like to caress a man. Liking the power it afforded her, she continued to arouse Adam’s passion, stroking him harder and faster as he grew hotter and stronger, until a slippery, clear liquid oozed out of the opening and crowned the tip.

  Adam released her, and fisted his hands at his sides. His body began to spasm as if sporadic bolts of current were passing through him. She knew what happened during sex, what went into what. What baffled her now was how the deed would be accomplished. How could this enormous column of flesh enter her body without causing her excruciating pain? Could a woman’s body really stretch that wide?

  “Tashi.”

  Tashi stopped in mid-stroke to gaze up at him. His eyes were a deep, deep blue, like the ocean after a quick storm, his lips moist and swollen as if they’d been beaten by passion. She wanted to please him, show him that she wasn’t shy or afraid. Tashi had no idea what kind of lascivious imp had inhabited her body, infected her blood, but as she stood there in the shade of the willow tree, half-naked with her jeans and panties halfway down her thighs, and her hand clasped around Adam’s private part, she felt bold and empowered.

  “Tashi, stop,” he commanded in a choked voice, jerking his body backward and away from her. “Release me.”

  Tashi released him and frowned in confusion as she straightened up to her full five-foot four-inch frame. “I’m not afraid, Adam. I want to be with you.”

  “And I with you, but you’re not ready for that, cara,” he said, even as his head began a lazy descent toward hers.

  Her heart began to thump at the anticipation of introducing her lips to his. For the two weeks they’d been sharing a roof, neither one of them had made any sexual advances toward the other—except for that brief moment in her apartment when he’d trailed his fingertip along her cheek to show her why she couldn’t work for him. Yet every day since they’d met, they’d been exchanging the mutual essence of their passion through bathing, dining, and gazing—preludes to their first kiss.

  His lips inched so close to her forehead, she could feel the blood pulsing through them, the tension and the electricity in the small space between them. Lower he edged, across her temples, her cheeks, to the sides of her trembling mouth, sniffing, heating her skin with his breath—so close, teasing without touching.

  Tashi had never smelled passion, didn’t even know that it had an odor, but she was certain that that’s what she smelled pouring out of Adam. It was heady, raunchy, musky, intoxicating and she wanted to bathe in it. She leaned closer seeking contact with him, but he drew back.

  “Finish undressing,” he whispered, his hot breath searing the sides of her mouth.

  Anxious to be free, Tashi resumed her task and pushed her jeans and panties down her thighs and legs while Adam stood there and watched her. When her clothes were a tangled mess around her ankles, he dropped to his knees in front of her. His long hair tumbled over his shoulders and brushed her legs, tickling her. His face was in perfect alignment with the junction of her thighs. She could feel his breath stirring the hairs on her Venus mound and the heat from his gaze warming the flesh beneath.

  “Finish,” he coaxed again.

  His words seemed to strike a physical blow to Tashi’s womanhood, and as they reverberated deep inside her, she swooned. Adam’s hand on her hips kept her from falling right onto his face. She imagined his lips kissing her, his tongue parting her, seeking entrance. Unable to control the spark of excitement at the prospect of Adam feasting on her, Tashi opened her mouth and expelled the moan that had been choking her.

  Adam lifted his head and gazed up at her. “You’re almost there. Use me.”

  Understanding his offer, Tashi braced her hands against his shoulders. She tried to ignore the silky feel of his mane and the rippling muscles of his shoulders under her palms as she raised one leg at a time and pulled off her jeans, panties, and socks. She kicked them behind her and dropped her hands to her sides. There, she’d done the unthinkable—stripped herself naked in the presence of a man.

  “Stand still,” Adam said. Starting from her toes, he took his time inspecting every inch of her body. Tashi’s skin tingled as he moved up her legs, her thighs, her groin area where he lingered as if he were trying to decipher the secrets to her femininity.

  She let out a long harsh breath as he continued his languid scrutiny, unfolding his body in slow motion in the same way he’d done from his yoga pose. Her belly rippled, her breasts grew full and heavy, and her nipples tightened as he caressed them with his eyes. The pulse at her neck throbbed, her mouth quivered, and her eyelids fluttered under his watchful gaze.

  Moving behind her, he gave her backside the same leisurely survey before coming to stand in front of her again. Their gazes met and held and in those breathless moments, Tashi found a deeper significance to their visual exchange than any words she’d ever heard uttered.

  “Come.” He turned and began walking toward the structure.

  Leaving everything she’d brought behind her, Tashi followed him.

  He stopped at the steps leading up to the podium and turned to catch her gaze. “How are you, Tashi?” he asked.

  “Excited, tingly, flushed—”

  “No.” He shook his head. “Those are physical reactions to the fact that we are both standing here in our birthday suits. You’re filled with anticipation about making love with me. I want to know how you are. Inside.”

  “Free,” Tashi said without hesitation. “I’m free, Adam.”

  “No shame at baring yourself in front of a man, in front of me? No guilt for going against what you’ve been taught? No resentment toward me for daring you to challenge your upbringing?”

  “No, none of the above. I feel—” She stopped and searched her mind for a word to describe what was happening inside her. “Natural. Looking at you naked, and then taking off my clothes felt natural.” And strangely, all the anxiety and sexual tension she’d felt just a few moments ago had evaporated. “I feel like the person I thought I was all these years has become a stranger to me,” she continued. “The moment I began taking off my clothes was the moment I really saw me for the first time.”

  “You’ve found you, Tashi—the goddess, the little girl who’d been buried alive.”

  “Little Eve.” The words slipped out even before they materialized in Tashi’s mind.

  Adam’s forehead crinkled into a frown. “Little Eve?”

  “My middle name is Evelyn, after my mother. She was Eve for short. I look so much like her, down to my red hair and green eyes, that when I was a child people called me Little Eve. She died when I was four, then my uncle started calling me Tashi.” Tashi provided the information as if it were the most natural thing in the world to do. And he hadn’t even asked.

  He stared at her for a long moment as if he were digesting what she’d told him—that her name was Eve, and that her mother had died when she was four. She’d told him more about herself in those few seconds than she’d revealed in the two weeks they’d been together.

  “Fate was unkind to you, Tashi,” he said. “You were robbed of the most important person in your life way too early.”

  Tashi shrugged. “I hardly remember her, but I remember her smell,” she said, her heart quickening on the memories.

  “It is said that when it comes to memory, smell is the most faithful of all the senses. So I’m not surprised. Your mother’s smell was the most significant to you as a child. You still carry it inside you. What did she smell like?” he asked.

  “A combination of ginger—”

  “Jasmine and vanilla,” Adam finished her sentence. “I love those fragrances on you, Tashi. They’re very natural, subtle, and appealing.”

  Tashi smiled as heat generated under her skin. “When I was old enough, I began using her line of hair and skin products. It was my way of honoring her, keeping her memory alive in my mind and my heart.”

  She glanced off to where a bird chirped in one of the nearby trees. She was quickly losing t
he image of her mom’s face. Most of the pictures of her mother were in a storage unit in Sebring, Ohio where her uncle had stored them before he died. She’d taken a few to New York, but only God knew where those were now. She might never see them again. “I wish I could remember what she looked like,” she said, bringing her gaze back to Adam’s.

  “All you have to do is look in the mirror.”

  She’d never thought of that. She didn’t need pictures of her mother. She was a living image of her. She was certain she’d inherited her wild, curious, carefree spirit, too—the spirit she’d just exposed, the one her uncle and her educators had “buried alive” according to Adam.

  “Are you ready to learn more about Little Eve, Tashi?” Adam’s deep mellow voice drew her back to the present.

  “Yes. I want to get to know her.”

  “Well, this is the perfect place for new discoveries. This is where I come for deeper connection to my inner universe, and for healing, and inspiration. I leave everything behind when I come here, even my clothes. So I want you to forget everything you’ve been taught, everything you think you know about yourself, and begin with a clean canvas where Little Eve can begin painting her own story.”

  He took her hand and led her up the black marble steps. On the second to the last step that was much wider than the others and seemed more like a small foyer, Tashi noticed a chrome basket containing the clothes Adam had worn at breakfast that morning. He wasn’t kidding when he said he left everything outside of his sanctuary.

  One more step and a soft white floor gave way under her feet. Tashi gazed out the other side of the platform to the blue pool bubbling with white foam from the force of the waterfalls feeding it. “It’s a lovely place, Adam. Serene and magical.” She had no doubt that the ambiance played a huge role in emboldening her. “How long has it been here?”

  “I built it five years ago when my parents moved back to Italy,” he replied, his eyes following hers. “I come here as often as my role as CEO of Andreas International allows. When the weather is favorable, I spend the night.” He pointed at a closed door on his left. “That’s a bedroom suite, and—” He pointed to the right. “Kitchen, living, and dining area. I spend more time here when my parents visit.”

  “Do you always come alone?” she asked, taking a swift glance at a slab of granite on one wall that served as a table. A pitcher of water with what looked liked mint leaves floating inside it, and two glasses were situated on one end of it, and a black leather toiletry case on the other.

  “The only other people who come here are the landscapers, and they stay away when the flag is up.”

  “So that’s what the flag is for.”

  “Yes. And for additional security and privacy, I had retractable, one-way, mirrored walls installed on each side of this platform to protect against the elements of Mother Nature, scurrying animals, and uninvited guests. The front part has two panels—one for the foyer—” He pointed to the wide step, “and one for the platform. They are remotely controlled and when in use, I can see out, but no one can see in. You’re the first person I’m sharing my sanctuary with, Tashi Evelyn Holland.”

  Tashi quivered from the indulgence in his voice when he spoke her full name.

  “I’ve been waiting for the right partner to join me, to share this special place with me. And now here she is.”

  “How do you I’m the right partner?”

  “How do you know you’re not?” A faint light twinkled in the depths of his blue eyes, like a prelude of voltage to a lightning storm about to break. “Sometimes we should just let the questions lead us into the answers, naturally.”

  Tashi’s heart took a perilous leap. If he only knew her—that she’d killed a man, taken the life of another human being, he might ban her from his special place.

  “Tashi.” His eyes searched her face as if reading her thoughts. “You won’t be able to explore the complexities of your soul if you harbor negative thoughts. You must let everything go if you intend to find the true and secret knowledge of you. Let Little Eve be your guide, your compass as you discover a different way of thinking, breathing, reacting to situations and stimuli in your life. Just trust her. You think you can do that?”

  “Yes. I can. I want to.”

  “Good.” He looked her over. “We need to secure your hair so it doesn’t get in your way.” He walked over to the granite pillar.

  As he rummaged through the toiletry bag, Tashi couldn’t stop herself from admiring the twin hillocks of his buttocks projecting from the strong columns of his thighs, and the slight flexing of the muscles beneath the taut olive-toned skin. It was sexy and provocative and she wondered how his skin and his muscles would feel under her palms.

  He turned suddenly, and her gaze once again landed on his groin. His erection had lost some of its vigor, although it seemed to retain much of its girth and length. She dropped her gaze when he began walking back to her.

  “It’s okay to admire me, Tashi,” he said in a low silky voice. “I can take the attention.” He held out his hand.

  Tashi took the hair elastic from him. He could take her attention, but could she take his, she wondered when his gaze zeroed in on the lift of her breasts as she raised her hands to pull her hair into a ponytail.

  “Ready?” he asked, giving her a flashing smile.

  She cleared her throat. “Ready.” Anything to shift her focus.

  “The first thing I want you to do is stand straight with your feet together and your hands clasped, like in prayer.” He demonstrated the posture.

  “Say the word Namaste three times as you bow toward me. We’ll do it together.”

  Tashi wanted to ask him what the word meant, but thought it would break the spiritual aura already twirling around them. So she tucked her questions away, clasped her hands against her heart, and on Adam’s cue, she bowed toward him and repeated Namaste in unison with him.

  “Now,” he said on an impressive smile, “drop your hands to your sides and your head forward and just let it hang there, like a robe on a hook.”

  Tashi mimicked him.

  “Close your eyes. Good,” he said when her eyelids fluttered shut. “Now allow your body to relax and melt into the space around you. You are the air you breathe, the light you feel, the wind that bathes your skin. Breathe in that light and that air slowly through your nostrils while simultaneously raising your head, and then exhale through your mouth while bringing your head back down. Release the toxins that have been building inside you over the years to the wind. Again. Breathe in. Deeply. Slowly… Out… In… Out... Inhale… Release…”

  Tashi was so caught up in learning to breathe, and relax, and ridding herself of toxins, that she didn’t even realize Adam had moved until she felt him standing directly behind her, so close she could feel the heat from his body bridging the tight gap between them, his musky odor scenting her space. A gust of wind picked up a few strands of his hair and whipped them over her shoulder. They landed on her chest and danced across her left breast as they swayed to the motion of the wind. Tashi trembled, and her heart began to thump.

  “Keep breathing,” Adam whispered. “Don’t break the rhythm. Control the sensations. Breathe them in, make them flow through you, send them to every fissure of your body, command them to assuage your aches for as long as you desire, and then release them into the ethers when you’ve had enough. In… Out…”

  Tashi did as he instructed, and soon her heart settled into a steady pace, and the tingling sensations of Adam’s hair brushing against her breasts and nipples, his voice and his smell transitioned into wellsprings inside her spewing streams of impalpable warmth throughout her inner being. It was magical, like desire alleviating yet amplifying desire. It satisfied her, yet drained her… Unable to stand the contrasting delight, Tashi opened her mouth and sent it into the ethers.

  Her heart was pounding, her limbs were languid, and she felt dizzy, like she was spinning in space. Her knees buckled.

  Adam’s arms cir
cling her kept her from falling. “Good girl. You’re a quick study. No, no,” he added softly when she tensed from the warmth of his skin on hers, the hairs of his chest and torso tickling her, the feel of his smooth hardness pressing into her back. “Don’t tighten your body. Don’t fight. I promised that we won’t do anything you’re not ready for. You can trust me, Tashi. Just relax into my embrace and think of me as a vessel channeling you calmly to shore on the waves of your sensations. Use me.”

  Soothed by his gentle voice and tender touch, Tashi relaxed into the rhythm of the waves and soon her heart was calm and beating against her chest in a steady rhythm again.

  Adam unfolded his arms from around her, and drawing his body away from her, he placed his palms to the backs of her hands and laced his fingers through hers.

  The simple contact seemed even more intimate than when his body was pressed against hers. She swallowed a lump in her throat.

  “Bring your head up, and take a deep breath,” he said as he raised her arms slowly away from her body and up above her head. “Hold that breath,” he said, touching her palms together before releasing her and stepping back. “Now turn your palms facing outward and bring your arms very slowly back down to your sides as you release your breath. Don’t forget to lower your head to your chin on exhale.”

  Tashi exhaled on a smile, amazed at the equanimity that controlled breathing brought her. No wonder Adam seemed so balanced and serene all the time.

  “Good,” Adam said coming to stand in front of her. “Now try it again, at your own pace this time.”

  After a few more breathing exercises, Adam began to demonstrate a series of yoga poses for beginners. First it was The Mountain, then The Tree, The Warrior, The Seated Twist, The Cobra…

  As she transitioned from one position to the next, Tashi’s body felt limp, relaxed, and light as a feather, like she was looking at an apparition of herself floating through time. Her mind was free, empty. She was one with the wind, the light, and the air surrounding her. She heard nothing but the deep sound of Adam’s coaching voice. She felt nothing but his strong warm hands on her body as he helped her perfect one pose after the next.