Untouchable

by Stephanie Doyle

  After he’d bought the clothes, he found food from a home that basically served the role of a local restaurant. Having subsisted on fruit and jerky the past few days he was anxious for a real meal. The woman who had greeted him seemed to think the same thing as she loaded him up with containers of rice and stewed meat in a pungent curry sauce that made him think of his mother’s cooking.

  His mouth practically watering at the thought of dinner, he created a mental to-do list as soon as he reached the hotel.

  A meal, a shower and then a fashion show. In that order.

  And after the fashion show?

  It wasn’t as if he could stop himself from thinking about it. She was touchable now and that opened the door to all sorts of possibilities. Naturally, as a gentleman, he had to consider what she’d been through the last few days. He should let her eat and sleep.

  As a man, he wanted to have her.

  It was fair to say that Tarak had no idea which side of him was going to win that battle. He probably wouldn’t know until the moment was upon him.

  It wasn’t as if her fatigue was the only issue he needed to deal with. There was the other thing. Having never been touched before, it was without a doubt that Lilly was a virgin. There was the practical problem it presented. If while in the course of taking her, he hurt her, would that trigger her very deadly defense mechanism? If that did happen, he imagined that there was no better way to die.

  Beyond that there was the emotional fallout. What would he do with her after he’d taken her? Send her back to her village to live once again with the nuns and the monks?

  Instantly he rejected the idea. The visceral reaction he had to that question was a good indicator that he did not want to give her up. Logically that meant he wanted the opposite: to keep her. Or more accurately, he wanted her to want to keep him. After all, she found him first.

  Tarak stopped in front of the hotel as the impact of his thoughts rolled over him like a steamroller. He was a soldier of fortune. A man of violence, as Lilly liked to call him. He’d spent the first part of his adult life chasing down the people responsible for his parents’ deaths. Once he’d accomplished that the only option left to him was to keep on fighting, to use his unique skills in the best way he could.

  He thought he’d carved out a nice little niche for himself. Now that life seemed empty. Honestly, he’d felt that way long before the betrayal in Colombia.

  That’s why he’d returned to India, to his mother’s people. He’d come back to retrace his steps. To start over again from a common point. Yes, he’d lived most of his life in London, but this was where his parents met. This was where they fell in love. This was where he’d been born.

  He’d come back to the beginning to find a new course and he’d stumbled upon Lilly.

  He thought of his mother and how happy she would have been that he’d found a nice Indian girl to wed. It made him smile.

  From there everything fell into place. There would be no going back for Lilith. Only forward with him. He knew it in his gut. He imagined she might balk when he told her what her future would be, but she would come around to see things his way. He was certain of it.

  Increasing the speed of his steps despite the pain in his shoulder, Tarak took the stairs leading up to the third floor two at a time. He had his own key and used it to let himself in the room. He set his bag down then froze when he didn’t see Lilly in the small room.

  The sound of running water gave her away. He walked over to the bathroom and stepped inside the open door. The room was filled with hot steam and beyond the glass door he could see his future bride in all her splendid glory. Her hair fell like a black sheet down her back, sticking to her body in a way that suggested her hair knew a good thing when it found it.

  He thought about the first time he’d seen her just like this and decided he would never grow tired of watching this woman bathe.

  “How long have you been in there?”

  Startled, Lilith turned and then sheepishly lowered her head. “How long have you been gone?”

  “Almost a half hour.” He laughed. “You’re going to turn into a prune.”

  “It’s so wonderful. And it stays hot.”

  “Well, I imagine the rest of the hotel will be out of luck, but who cares. Step aside and I’ll join you.”

  Tarak stepped out of his boots and socks and then carefully slid his T-shirt up and over his head, gently pulling it down his arm. He reached for the buckle on his pants and stopped. When he looked up, she was staring at him in a way he’d never been stared at before.

  There was curiosity in her gaze, mixed with need. Possibly desire, too, although he imagined she had a hard time understanding what that was. But there was also trust. Blinding in its purity. It humbled him and filled him with a renewed sense of purpose.

  “Have you ever seen a man, Lilly?”

  “Of course.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “I…From a distance.”

  “This won’t be from a distance. I’ll be in the shower with you. Touching you. And then eventually I’ll come inside you. There will be no distance.” Tarak bade a fond farewell to his gentleman half. He’d never had much use for him anyway.

  “Yes,” was all she managed.

  Tarak shucked off his pants. He knew he was hard already but he figured that was part of it. She needed to become accustomed to all of him. He opened the shower door and she took a step back. He could see her gaze fall to his erection and then watched as she tried not to stare.

  “It will hurt a little. But only the first time. You need to trust me or this won’t work.”

  “I do trust you.”

  The hot water hit him and for a second he let the heat wash over him. He would need to rebandage his wound later but for now he felt no pain. The water pelted his body and he tilted his head back to wet his hair.

  He felt her tiny hand rest in the center of his chest and knew that this encounter would be more important than anything he’d ever done.

  He lowered his gaze to where she was touching him and then met her eyes.

  “I touched you,” she whispered. “First.”

  “Yes. I like it very much.”

  “You’re beautiful.”

  “Hardly. But I’m glad you think so. Turn around and close your eyes. I think it will be easier for you to just feel at first. These sensations are going to be very strong, Lilly. Do you understand? I don’t want you to be frightened by them.”

  “I understand.”

  Only she didn’t. Not at all. Obediently, Lilith turned around and closed her eyes. She knew why he was concerned that she understand what was about to happen, but she had no worries about hurting him. She was in control of her body now, and this was what she wanted. She didn’t think it possible that she would ever be able to hurt him.

  Then she felt his hands slide around her waist. He pulled her back against his chest and she felt the solid muscle of his body covered with dark hair pressing against her. His erection pushed into her lower back as he made no effort to shield her from it. Wet hands drifted up from her waist and covered her breasts. Pure fire rocketed from her breasts to her belly and down farther until her knees buckled.

  “It’s…too much. It…hurts.”

  “No,” he rumbled in her ear, taking the time to nip it. “It’s not pain that you’re feeling. It’s pleasure. Concentrate.”

  Concentrate. How was that possible? Her body was awash with such powerful sensations she couldn’t form a coherent thought. All at once she felt his tongue on her neck while his fingers pinched the very tips of her breasts, turning them into hard little points. One hand continued to linger over her body and she could feel the scrape of his teeth where his tongue had just been. Then another hand drifted lower, cupping her between her legs.

  For moments he held her still. One hand on her breast, the other on her sex. She thought this alone might have been enough to shatter her. To rip her body apart with electricity. But then his h
and slipped farther between her legs, his fingers playing with the folds of her sex. Dipping inside her then out. Then deeper inside. Then out.

  She could feel a heavy wetness where his fingers stroked that she knew wasn’t a result of the shower. The slickness allowed his fingers deeper access. Dazed with pleasure, Lilith considered how perfect nature was in that regard. Making a man hard so that he could penetrate and a woman soft so that she could accept him.

  As if from a distance she could hear herself moaning and sighing. The sounds she made were like nothing she’d ever heard before. Primitive noises that erupted from her without consciousness. She wouldn’t have believed it was her making them, but the only other sound she heard was Tarak’s harsh breathing behind her.

  Her hips rocked on his wonderful hand without shame. It was as if there was a string inside her that he’d found and captured with his fingers. A string he continued to pull on harder and harder until it was so tight inside her body she was sure it would snap.

  And then it did.

  A warm, terrible wave of satisfaction started in her belly and spread out to every nerve in her system. It was unfathomable how completely good it felt. She arched against him, her buttocks riding the hard ridge of his erection, urging him to do more. Take more.

  A drift of an idea passed through her brain and she realized that this was the way of mating. The wanting first, then the urge, until it all became need. She was his to take, and she was calling him to do so. Silently begging for him to finish this. Just as nature intended. It did not matter what the species…even for a freak like her.

  “I wanted to take you on the bed,” he said harshly in her ear. “I thought it would be easier for you, but I can’t…. I have to…”

  He didn’t finish his sentence. Instead he lifted her leg high so that her thigh was draped over his arm. She could feel him lean over her and then suddenly he was there—hard and thick, pressing against her center. She braced her hands against the tile wall and felt him, inch by inch, slip farther inside her body. His lips kissed the spot where her neck met her back while his hips thrust against her in what was becoming a compelling rhythm.

  This time he was making the noises, grunting softly as he tried to push himself farther inside her body, and she found that the harder she pushed against the wall the deeper he went.

  At first there had been a pinching. Now there was fullness. A tightness that almost bordered on pain. But she couldn’t separate the pain from the pleasure that was still riding her system. His hand covered hers on the tile wall. She could see the muscles in his arm were strained. The speed of his thrusts began to increase and his grip on her thigh tightened. He’d promised her that there would be no distance and he’d been right.

  She was being touched. Inside and out. He was everywhere. Around her and in her. It was more spiritually fulfilling than anything the monks had ever taught her.

  “Tarak,” she whispered even as his shout echoed through the small shower stall. He stilled then and she felt a pulsing deep inside her body. Then she heard his soft sighs and felt his muscles relax. The grip he had on her hand eased. Slowly he separated his body from hers and let her leg drop to the floor.

  Tears filled her eyes but she had no explanation for them.

  He turned her then, and placed her arms around his neck, holding her tightly to him. “I’m sorry,” he muttered. “So sorry, my little flower.”

  Enchanted by the simple hug, it took a moment for her to understand his words.

  “Why?”

  He pulled back and wiped a tear from her cheek. “I should have been easier with you. Gentler.”

  He bent to kiss her, his lips pressing against hers. That sensation was as startling as the others. And just as lovely.

  “I’ve taken you, but yet I’ve not kissed your mouth.”

  Lilith glanced up at him. “You can kiss it now, can’t you?”

  He smiled although she wasn’t sure why. Someday she would make him explain his sense of humor, but not right now. “Yes. I can kiss it now. But first we need to get out of this shower before we both shrivel up.”

  He helped her out of the stall and took his time drying her body with the fluffy towels. Such luxury, she thought. Then it was her turn. First, she dried his body, and then, because his wound had begun to bleed again, she cleaned it and rebandaged it.

  “It must have hurt your shoulder,” she said as she covered the wound with what was left of the gauze in his first-aid kit. “Moving like you were.”

  “Trust me. I wasn’t feeling anything in my shoulder.”

  “Still, we will wait before we do that again.”

  “Again?” He raised a single brow above his eye. Lilith touched it gently. She thought of Sister Peter and how she used to have the same trick. She thought about what Sister Peter might think of Lilith’s behavior, but in her heart she knew the sister would be happy for her. In a way, that simple expression made Lilith realize that her friend would always be there in her heart. It helped to let the guilt go.

  “Of course,” Lilith answered adamantly. “It was quite…wonderful. Did you not think?”

  This time he laughed full heartedly and then, with his good arm, he pulled her closer so that he could kiss her again. “I did think it. My only regret is not being easier with you and not doing everything I wanted to do.”

  Lilith’s eyes widened. “There is more?”

  “Much more. A whole lifetime of more. But first we’ll eat and then we should sleep.”

  “Yes.”

  It was time to return to the reality of their situation. While the respite was lovely there was still a goal to be accomplished. She needed to retrieve the necklace. She thought about the data on the flash drive, the files that she hadn’t told Tarak about. The blackmail and the money and the evil people who held such powerful positions.

  She knew now that she would have to tell him everything. If somehow they failed in getting it back, at least if he knew the power that Echo was wielding, he might find another way to stop her.

  There would be time for that tomorrow, though. Tonight was unquestionably theirs.

  Back in the room, dressed only in a towel, Tarak laid sprawled out on the bed as he began to show off the rice and stewed meat he’d purchased. Lilith secured another of the towels around her and for a second hesitated before joining him on the bed.

  It was probably silly, but the sense of intimacy was still very new and unsettling.

  “Come. I have a feast for you.”

  Thinking that she would have to adjust eventually, Lilith walked over to the bed and joined him.

  “You hesitate,” he noted absently as he scooped up some seasoned rice with his fingers and dropped it into his mouth. “I know you’re not afraid of me anymore. You couldn’t be. And I know you’re not afraid of hurting me. So why?”

  It was hard to put into words. The fear she’d had earlier in the day about what would happen when this was over. The certainty that her life had changed, but having no idea what direction she was headed next and whether she would head in that direction alone or with him.

  “I do not want you to kill people anymore.”

  Tarak lifted his head, his expression somber. “I might have to kill one more person. Maybe a few…to get you your necklace back.”

  “I understand that, but after.”

  “After.” He nodded. “We’ll need to spend some time talking about after when this is over. I have some ideas about it myself. But right now we need to focus on the present. We need to get our strength back, rest a little and then formulate yet another plan.”

  Lilith sat on the bed and reached for some of the meat. The taste exploded on her tongue and her stomach quickly realized how long it had been since it had been fed. But the flavor wasn’t nearly as compelling as Tarak’s mouth.

  “You know where she is.”

  “Yes,” he answered. “I’ve still got her on my receiver. And I spoke with some of the locals. There is a path that she should even
tually find. It will bring her into the city from the northeast. Then if we have it right, she’ll take the train to New Delhi.”

  “And what will we do?”

  “We will already be on the train. And when we get to the city we’ll have a friend waiting for us.”

  “You have already made contact?”

  “I sent an e-mail. I expect a reply soon.”

  “This friend will have more friends, I hope.”

  Tarak chuckled. “That’s my girl. Always focused on the objective. She’ll have friends. Once we meet up with her we’ll find a way to tail Echo. My guess is she’ll try to leave the city so the most likely place will be the airport.”

  “Do we want to let her get that close to escape? Why not try to take her out on the train?”

  “Because I still haven’t figured out how to get past her trick.” He sighed. “And the safer she feels, the more she’ll relax her guard and the better chance we’ll have to take her by surprise. Maybe she knew we were coming in the jungle when there was only us to contend with, but Delhi is a different place altogether.”

  Lilith nodded, satisfied that she could leave the planning in his hands while she ate. When they were full, he stretched out on the bed and removed his towel, as comfortable with his nudity as he was dressed in all black.

  He patted the space next him. “Come here. I can’t take you again or I’ll hurt you, but we can sleep together like lovers. You’ll enjoy that.”

  But Lilith shook her head. “I should not.”

  “Please, we’ve been through this. Now that you have control you don’t have to worry about hurting me.”

  “Awake I have control. If something happened. If Echo found us. I could wake and react without knowing it. I’ll sleep on the floor.”

  Tarak growled and sat up. “I’ll sleep on the floor, damn it. I’ve sacrificed the gentleman part of me once already today. I won’t do it a second time.”

  “But your wound. You should have the bed.”

  His eyes narrowed as he moved to stand very close. “Lilith, if you don’t get your pretty little ass on that bed I’m going to spank it and this time I can back up my threat.”