by Jeannie Lin
“You really believe you and Liu Jinhai are meant to be?” he admonished her.
Baozhen knew what that was like. He’d once thought his first love would be his only love. The only love possible in his overflowing heart. It was everyone’s rite of passage, but Lian was so sensible and Jinhai was such a... The scoundrel just wasn’t enough for her, and Lian should be bright enough to see it.
“Oh, Baozhen, you sound so serious.” She sighed.
“This is serious. We grew up together.” This was exactly the sort of conversation he was not good at. The serious ones. “I’m older than you. There are things I know from experience.”
Lian stiffened. “Are you saying you have a duty to protect me?”
“You have no real brothers.”
She made an impatient sound. “You of all people should know. Perhaps Liu Jinhai is not my other half—the summer to my winter, the dragon to my phoenix.” The lantern light gave her eyes a wicked gleam. “But at least he might like me enough to kiss me properly.”
Properly?
The wolf instinct took over and a lightning streak of fire shot through him. He reached for her and pulled her against him roughly. Lian grabbed on to his shoulders to steady herself before his mouth descended.
She made a startled sound as his lips pressed against hers. The moment he felt her yielding against him a fever streaked through him. He had known Lian all her life. If she wanted to flirt and kiss someone just to satisfy her curiosity it should be him.
And he had no intention of keeping this kiss “proper.”
* * *
The first touch of his lips stole everything from her. All strength drained from her limbs and every breath was surrendered to him. Baozhen was kissing her. Kissing her. But it was so much more than the brief meeting of lips he’d shown her in the courtyard. It was breath and body. The smell of him was so close. The roughness of his mouth was urging her own to yield, to open to him.
His arms tightened around her and his kiss was relentless. Magnificently so. She could feel the heat of him as he surrounded her. Her own skin had come alive...her senses were awake and sharpened, demanding more.
When he broke the kiss, she was gasping for air. Her heart pounded as if she’d run a hundred li.
“Baozhen...” She murmured his name, her voice filled with wonder. He’d devastated her.
“Put your arms around me,” he urged in a low voice.
Her hands gripped his upper arms, the crisp material of his tunic clenched in her fingers. Then she circled her arms around his neck as he pulled her fully onto his lap. His mouth captured hers again.
She sighed into the embrace. His palm traced a slow path down her spine before curving at her waist to pull her close. Their bodies molded together, soft against hard. If the first kiss had been meant to destroy her defenses, this second kiss was intended to savor the victory. Baozhen’s touch was confident as he tantalized her. With each caress her body responded, becoming flushed and swollen with pleasure.
So many nights trying to imagine what it would be like to be kissed. Not by anyone, but by Baozhen. She’d wondered if she’d know how to kiss him back, or where to put her hands. All those doubts fled in his embrace. He held her and guided her. There was nothing to do but feel.
He coaxed her lips gently apart and a tiny shock rippled through her at the touch of his tongue inside her mouth. Every muscle within her tensed, but she gripped him tighter, exhilarated. He explored her with just the tip of his tongue, inviting her to taste him in the same way. Before long she’d grown bold, reaching for him with every part of her, her body pressing against him. He was broader, harder, stronger than she’d imagined. And she ached with a fever more intense than any she’d ever suffered. An ache gathered low in her belly, in the soft place between her thighs.
Baozhen lifted his head and continued to hold her cradled against him, though they no longer kissed. In the dim light his eyes looked black and endless. He was breathing hard and she could hear each labored exhalation. Down below she could feel him hardening, and it fascinated her. This was the way a man kissed a woman he burned for.
“Your reputation is well-deserved,” she said in awe, barely able to find her voice.
“Don’t say that.”
He rested his forehead against hers. His skin was damp and flushed, though the night was cool around them. She didn’t say anything. She was too happy to think of words.
They stayed that way, folded around each other, for what seemed like a long time. Was she brave enough to try to kiss him now? She definitely, definitely hoped there would be more of that.
“We should go.”
Before Lian could gather her courage, Baozhen gently lifted her from him and back onto the bench.
The darkness hid her look of disappointment. She would have been content to stay there all night.
Baozhen held the lantern for her and they hardly spoke as they made their way back to their street. Lian couldn’t help glancing at him as they walked side by side. Every inch of her had become awakened and newly aware. She searched his face for some small sign that things had changed between them—that she was something more to him than the plain, skinny girl who lived in the next house over.
Baozhen turned to her as they neared the front gate of her house. He slanted her a half-smile that held unspoken knowledge and a shiver of pleasure coursed through her. She didn’t care if he’d given this sly look to a hundred other girls. He was looking at her that way now. Only her.
“No one is home yet,” she ventured as they came to a stop and he handed her the lantern. The light sputtered inside, the candle nearly spent. “They won’t be back for hours.”
She could see the walls of the Guo residence just beyond her house, and the thought of watching Baozhen disappear inside them tonight left a hollow feeling in her chest.
He ran his thumb over his mouth, swiping at the color that lingered there from the tint on her lips. There was something so masculine and assured about the gesture.
“That’s a foolish thing to tell me,” he admonished.
Heat rose up the back of her neck. How silly of her! She should have left him gracefully and then waited for Baozhen to come to her—but there had been so many times when she’d waited and watched from afar, hoping he’d turn away from his newest beauty just to notice her. Give her one little look.
Here she was once again—overeager and naive before him.
“Farewell, then,” she mumbled.
Hastily, she ducked through the gate without looking back. She couldn’t wait to disappear into her room and bury herself beneath her quilt.
A moment later she heard the sound of footsteps behind her and her heart leapt.
* * *
Lian. Foolish little Lian.
Baozhen followed her through the garden, appreciating the tapering of her waist and the slight sway of her hips beneath the thin robe she wore. He was discovering all those things very quickly. That she had a waist and hips, and a luscious mouth and breasts, and all the parts a woman held in her arsenal to bring a man to his knees. His blood pumped so hard he could barely think.
Lian was the most dangerous sort of woman. She was impetuous and passionate and she lacked any fear of him. She was also too innocent to know how this game was played, and too bold to play it with caution. If Jinhai had come to the park tonight, as Lian had intended, would it be a different wolf now following her irresistibly to her chamber?
Foolish Baozhen.
The courtyard was silent as Lian opened her door. She used the candle from the lantern to light the oil lamp inside, and Baozhen found himself for the first time in Lian’s sleeping quarters. He noticed how her hand trembled as she set the candle down.
He approached her slowly. “What did you think would happen here, Lian?”
Her chin lifted and her eyes met his, though he could see her gaze wavering slightly and the slight blush in her cheeks. She was trying so hard to be worldly.
“I thought we would kiss some more.”
“And did you really think that would be all?”
He was close enough to detect her perfume. She smelled of springtime and innocence, which was seductive in its own way. Her mouth was still flushed from his attentions.
“You know better than to invite a wolf into your home.”
“I’m not a fool,” she insisted. “And I didn’t invite any wolf. I invited you.”
“And if Jinhai had come tonight?” A flash of anger streaked through him, but he countered it with a smile.
“I don’t see Liu Jinhai here.”
“Indeed...”
He reached for the damned hummingbird pin and tossed it into the corner in one motion. Despite her bold words he saw her pulse jump as he lowered his hand to her cheek.
He caressed her with just the tips of his fingers, murmuring close to her ear. “You shouldn’t have asked me in, Lian.”
This wasn’t just another pretty girl. This was Lian—his neighbor, a friend. The little brat who’d grown up into a beautiful and willful woman. He had to be careful and not let things go too far.
Baozhen drew her against him and her lips parted instinctively, as if she’d been waiting for him. The shortness of her breath as he kissed her told him everything. She wanted the danger...this small step into the unknown. This taste of passion that she was pursuing with complete recklessness.
He trailed a caress along her arm and along the underside of her breast. For a moment he hoped she’d shriek in outrage and demand that he leave. Instead she pressed closer, and he knew without a doubt that her once thin and sharp angles had been transformed into soft, pleasing curves. Entranced, he cradled her breast in his palm, stroking his thumb lightly over the rounded nipple. He could feel it tightening to a hard peak beneath the silk robe.
A shudder ran through her and he caught her as her knees weakened. She wound her arms around his neck and did something too seductive to resist.
She spoke his name.
The sound of it on her lips was sultry and decadent. It was a bedroom voice that promised abandon. He stroked her other breast out of greed, just to feel the eager response of her flesh. His own sex thickened within his trousers.
Lian didn’t protest when he backed her onto her bed, nor when he worked the edges of her robe open. The bodice hidden underneath was a tantalizing flash of red, embroidered with a lush orchid pattern. The garment fit snugly over her torso, accentuating the swell of her breasts.
“You shouldn’t be letting me do this,” he taunted lightly as he lay down alongside her.
“Then you shouldn’t be doing it,” she countered, but it came out as a sensuous purr that nearly undid him.
He reminded himself that there would be no release for him tonight, but that didn’t prevent him from easing the edge of her bodice downward. His mouth closed around one pink bud and his tongue circled it hungrily. She writhed against him, making him burn. Her fingers tangled into his hair to hold him to her.
A rush of power and possessiveness filled his chest. He was drunk with the taste of her skin. Lian was his tonight for the taking, if he so desired.
To his surprise, Lian began fumbling at his clothes, trying to disrobe him. He shouldn’t have been so shocked. He had never known her to be shy—at least not with him. Her movements, though eager, were unpracticed, and that was what saved her. This wasn’t some carefree and nameless dancer or song girl beside him. This was Lian, and she wasn’t meant to be used for a night of pleasure.
He took hold of her hands just as she managed to open his tunic. With a wicked grin he guided them over her head. Her wrists were slender enough for him to pin them beneath one hand.
“If you move, I’ll stop,” he warned.
Her eyes were fixed on him and her pupils were wide and black with desire. Her breasts rose and fell rapidly, half-exposed. She had no idea what would happen next, but he could see how much she wanted to find out. His hold on her would have been easy to break, yet she lay back...waiting. Waiting for him to show her.
With his free hand he reached for her skirt, sliding the silk up over her knees. She continued to watch him, her breath coming faster now as she willed him to continue. Her legs were nicely shaped and her skin glowed in the lantern light. Baozhen slipped his hand beneath the robe, but he didn’t touch her yet. If she denied him then there was a small chance he could still be a gentleman about it.
There was no denial.
Lian closed her eyes as his hand settled on her thigh and followed the shape of it upward. She bit her lower lip in anticipation just before he reached her sex. His own heart stopped the moment his fingers touched against warm, willing flesh. His mind clouded with a thick fog. She was already damp. Heaven and earth. Elation surged through him.
In slow circles he deepened the caress, gradually initiating her to a man’s touch. He was rewarded when her knees parted instinctively and her hips arched against his hand. Her head was thrown back and her cheeks suffused with color. The look on her face was indescribable. He moved just the tip of his finger over her most sensitive spot and she whimpered and moaned perfectly for him.
He wanted more of this. So much more. Women were so beautiful, with all their hidden looks and mysteries waiting to be uncovered. And Lian was the most beautiful creature of them all. He quickened his strokes to intensify her enjoyment.
His erection had become painful, and the sight of Lian pinned beneath him only made it worse. He’d become a slave to her responses, to her small cries and the sensual churning of her hips. His singular purpose was to bring her to climax and take pleasure from being the one to bring it to her.
He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against hers, letting the sounds of her arousal guide him.
* * *
Lian was crying out shamelessly, but soon any sense of embarrassment faded in the wake of the most devastating pleasure she had ever known. She and the neighborhood girls had always speculated what exactly it was that happened between a man and woman, but she had never known it could be like this.
This was not romance or poetry, a flight of sparrows or a fall of spring rain. This was tawdry and base and she was rendered helpless against it. There was nothing she wanted more than Baozhen’s touch on her, inside her. She was completely at his mercy and she’d die if he stopped.
He seemed to know. He ground his body against her while he stroked her with wicked skill. His touch was lightning-quick, like the beat of a hummingbird’s wings. She gasped for air, her mind whirling as she fought for some way to tell him she needed more.
Baozhen had trapped her hands to keep her still, but it was no longer needed. She was ensnared by this rapture that consumed her. Her heart was beating so fast it would surely burst. He was whispering heated words into her ear. Love words. Gutter words. The blood was rushing so furiously through her head that she couldn’t make them out. She only knew that Baozhen was there—holding her, touching her.
He relaxed his hold on her wrists to twine his fingers with hers. “Soon,” he gritted out, and she wasn’t certain whether it was a command, a question, a promise.
A sob caught in her throat as the pleasure intensified to a nearly unbearable throb. She had never cried in front of Baozhen, but she was suddenly filled with desperate longing. She wanted without knowing what it was she wanted.
A short but endless time passed, and then her entire body and soul tightened to a single, blinding point. A flood of nameless emotion swept through her. She shuddered, lost between heaven and earth, filled with light and sensation.
When she found herself again Baozhen was reaching for her. He kissed her lightly on her cheek, her lips, the tip of her c
hin. Each affectionate gesture seemed wholly innocent after the lightning storm she’d just experienced.
But while her limbs were waxen and languid, Baozhen remained taut beside her. She’d thought he’d joke now, and say something to lighten the mood, but his expression was strained.
She didn’t have any experience in the bedchamber, but she knew enough to understand that this was not the end of things. His tunic was open, exposing a patch of sun-warmed skin and lean muscle, solid from labor and riding. It was enough to show her that Baozhen was as beautiful beneath his clothes as he was on the outside.
Pushing all hesitation aside, Lian reached for his trousers. Baozhen moved to stop her, but she refused to be denied. The knot at his waist fell open. She slipped her hand inside, running it along the flat of his stomach and downward to find him. Baozhen tried to push her away, but all the while his hips shifted restlessly toward her.
“No,” he choked out. “Lian, wait. You’re very beautiful...it’s very difficult to stop when—”
He was nearly incoherent before falling silent. Her questing fingers had encircled the male part of him. The skin was heated and incredibly smooth. Another mystery uncovered—and not at all what she had expected. Now he changed, becoming as hard as jade when she touched him. She could barely breathe.
“Baozhen,” she implored as she pushed the trousers down around his hips. “Please.”
He made one last feeble attempt to remove her hands, but his body was insinuating itself into her grasp, begging for her.
“It was you I was waiting for tonight,” she confessed. “It was always you.”
She didn’t know if he’d heard her, but he lowered her back onto the bed with sudden resolve and pushed her robe up around her hips. She was exposed scandalously below the waist, but there was no time for embarrassment to set in before Baozhen covered her with the length and breadth of his body.
He took only a moment to center himself, his fingers touching her down below briefly, before she felt the blunt press of his member between her legs. She looked up at his dark expression as he cupped a hand to the back of her neck, gripping lightly. His breath fanned hot against her cheek as he pushed into her.
