The Tycoon's Temporary Bride: Book Four

by Ana E Ross

  “Close your eyes,” he said with that devilish smile again. And keep them closed until I say “Now”. Got it?”

  Tashi pouted. “Oh, now you want me to close my eyes?”

  “Just for a few seconds, and when I tell you to, I want you to hold your breath, as well.”

  “Wha—”

  “Just do as I ask. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

  “Okay, fine,” she relented, wondering what he was up to, but deciding to close her eyes and wait for his command to hold her breath.

  He reached behind her. “Hold your breath,” he said opening the door and taking a few steps forward. “Now.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Tashi released her breath and opened her eyes.

  “Oh my gosh, Adam!” Her hand flew to her mouth as her eyes darted around. This was definitely not the same room she’d left hours ago. It had been transformed into a sensual chamber of love. The drapes had been drawn against the fading evening light, and soft music floated out from the built-in surround sound system. Huge crystal vases with red and white roses were placed in each corner, and giant pillars of glowing candles lining the perimeter of the bed, provided the only light in the room while scenting the air with a pleasing aroma of jasmine, vanilla, and ginger.

  The bed had been remade with white silk sheets and pillowcases that were embroidered around the edges, but what brought tears to Tashi’s eyes were the red rose pedals arranged in the middle of the bed that spelled out Adam and Tashi.

  “When did you do all this?” she asked.

  “While you were cooking.” He wiped at her tears with his fingers. “Don’t you like it?”

  Tashi sniffled and slapped him playfully on his arm. “It’s perfect, you idiot.”

  He chuckled. “Well that’s a name no one has ever called me before.”

  “So that’s why you asked me to help you cook dinner, and then kept disappearing.”

  “Guilty.” He grinned shamelessly.

  “You did it yourself?”

  “No. I called an interior decorator after what almost happened in my office earlier. I’m so happy my friends interrupted us, by the way,” he added after a short pause.

  “You are?”

  “Yes.” He kissed her lips. “I knew this waiting game we were playing was coming to an end and I wanted your first time to be special. I hoped it would be tonight so I could finally show you how I feel about you. When I left you alone in the kitchen the last time, it was to tell them to scram. This was all they could manage working quietly and secretively, and within a short space of time.”

  How did he feel about her? Tashi wondered as she stared into his eyes. She wanted so much to believe that his feelings for her had transcended the physical like hers had for him. Being on his estate had been the safest place on earth for her. And now being in his arms was the sweetest. She wanted to share the secret in her heart with him, but that might scare him and cause him to feel guilty for taking the virginity of a foolish girl who thought she was in love with him, especially since he was aware of her strict upbringing.

  Adam wasn’t the kind of man who would hurt anyone intentionally, especially where the emotions and psyche were involved. This knowing they’d spoken about was all about sharing themselves physically and maybe even emotionally and spiritually with each other. It didn’t involve a lifetime of loving each other until death did them part. They would make that promise aloud to each other and in front of witnesses tomorrow, but in their hearts, they would both know the truth. Tashi didn’t want temporary to end, but she knew it would, because that was the nature of Adam’s relationships. Agent Dawson had requested that he make her his temporary bride. He was just following his friend’s order to protect her, and his own sexual nature to possess her. She need not read more into the situation than there was.

  He was hers for tonight, and only God knew how many more after this one, so she would enjoy him, and this romantic little nest he’d thoughtfully created for them. Tashi wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. “Thank you, Adam. This is the most beautiful thing anyone has ever done for me.” She kissed his cheeks and then his lips, softly and gently, while she graciously cloaked the truth in her heart.

  “And it won’t be the last time. As my wife, you will be treated like a queen, Tashi, so get used to it. Prepare to be pampered, and adored, and cherished.”

  His promises wrapped around her like a warm blanket, and even though he never promised she’d be loved, Tashi pretended that Adam was hers forever as he began to move toward the bed where she’d slept alone for the past eleven days. She would not be sleeping alone tonight. She might not sleep at all, Tashi thought, as he placed her in the middle of the mattress on top of the rose petals that spelled out their names.

  Her heart hammered in her chest as she gazed up at the man standing over her with his black hair flowing freely down his perfectly chiseled olive-toned body—a body that made Michelangelo’s David look like a wimp. His shaft was beginning to lengthen and thicken again, and the passion in his blue eyes assured her that he was as anxious to be with her as she was to be with him.

  Everything they’d said to each other, done with and for each other since the day they met—the bathing, the nurturing, the physical and emotional healing, the preparing and sharing of meals, the shedding of clothes, the self-discovery, the yoga, the meditation, the unraveling of secrets, the tears, the comfort, and the promise to protect—had brought them to this moment where all inhibitions, all distractions, and all fears had melted into nothingness around them.

  Tashi couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful setting in which to become a complete woman. Only the two of them existed in this special place where soft music floated around them, where flickering candles scented the air, and bouquets of red and white roses created the perfect atmosphere for lovemaking.

  “I want you, Adam,” she said, as her body began to crave more of the ecstasy it had experienced in the kitchen. “I want to make love with you, tonight,” she added just in case he had lingering doubts about the teachings of her upbringing, or that he was overstepping his bounds as her protector. “I want you to teach me.”

  “Such a sweet invitation,” he said, stepping closer to the bed.

  Tashi opened her arms as he came down over her, stationing his arms on the mattress on either side of her head to support his upper body. The weight of his hair fell on her chest and her nipples immediately hardened at the tantalizing caress. But when he settled his hips between her parted thighs, fitting their sexes together, Tashi jerked away, pressing her buttocks into the mattress at the same time her hands went to his chest.

  “There’s no need for you to be afraid, Tashi,” he said, giving her a reassuring smile. “We’ll take this very slowly. There’s no rush to get anywhere.”

  “I’m not afraid, but I know it will hurt since it’s my first time, and—” She looked away, suddenly feeling like the scared little girl who’d first arrived at his home and not the passionate woman she thought she’d evolved into over the past two weeks.

  “And what?” He cupped her face, and caressed her cheeks with the pads of his thumbs.

  “You’re—you’re so big, Adam. It’s just hard to believe that you can ever fit inside me. That day—our first day in the garden, I couldn’t even wrap my hand around you—around it. Is—is that a normal size for men? Are they all as big as you?”

  His unexpected chuckles sent Tashi’s mind racing, as an even more humiliating realization washed over her. What if she couldn’t satisfy Adam, reciprocate the kind of pleasure that he’d already given her, would give her more of tonight? She had to admit that for a twenty-two-year-old woman, she sounded like a naïve little girl who was clueless about the carnal indulgences between men and women.

  And face it, she was.

  Studying erotic pictures in books didn’t make her an expert. Adam was the first naked man she’d seen, the first man she’d kissed, and it wasn’t like she had experien
ced girlfriends to discuss these kinds of things with. In her desire not to disappoint her uncle, she’d avoided conversations where girls talked about their sexual escapades, even in college. Now, she wished she hadn’t been such a good girl back then. She wished she’d at least peeked. Even though her questions were natural, she nevertheless felt foolish. “You’re laughing at me. You think I’m a child,” she said, closing her eyes against his amusement.

  “No, bella.” He immediately sobered up and began to drop soft kisses on her lids until they fluttered open. His eyes reflected gentleness and a hint of apology. “First, if I thought you were a child, you wouldn’t be lying naked under me. And second, I laughed because you’re so innocent and sweet, and I can’t believe that I’m this blessed to have you in my life, in my bed. And lastly, without even knowing it, you’ve just spoken the very words every man on this planet wishes to hear from the woman he’s about to make love to.”

  Tashi frowned. “Which ones exactly?”

  “You’re so big.” His eyes brimmed with mischief as he mimicked the higher pitched voice of a woman.

  Tashi relaxed and smiled as some of her humiliation evaporated. “No woman has ever told you that you’re big?”

  “Oh, they have.”

  She looked across the room, feeling even greener.

  He gently drew her back. “And to answer your question, yes, I’m bigger than most men. Most women like that,” he added in a voice void of modesty.

  “They do?”

  “Yes, Tashi, they do,” he replied with quiet patience. “But it’s not the size of a man’s jade stalk that matters,” he added on a note of experience as if he were explaining an intricate philosophy to a child. “It’s how he uses it to pleasure his partner. And you will learn to love the feel of my enormous jade stalk strolling leisurely through the terrace of your celestial palace. But before we get to that stage, I intend to bring you pleasure in so many other ways before I release your passions inside you.”

  Tashi felt heat rise to the surface of her skin and all her insecurities vanished, but... “Adam?” she called.

  “Yes, Tashi?”

  Protection. The word came at Tashi like a blast from the past—her mother’s past, actually. What if she got pregnant? Would Adam make their arrangement permanent? It’s what she would want, but he might not. He might see a child as a burden, and her as a trap, and he might resent her for placing that burden on his shoulders, or more precisely on his lap.

  But Lord, she would love so much to take away a part of Adam with her—something more tangible than his smile and his kindness. Something she could actually hold in her arms, and love, and watch grow. She had enough money to make a decent life for herself and her child. It wouldn’t be anything close to what Adam and the Andreas family could provide, but her child wouldn’t starve, and once she got her photography career going…. Her own mother had done it. Since she didn’t have a sibling or any other family to name as guardian for the child, she would make plans for Adam to be notified in case something should happen to her.

  Tashi realized that her reasoning was selfish and unfair, but she didn’t care, didn’t want to care. She’d been good all her life. She’d followed rules and obeyed orders without question. She wanted to do something original, and natural, and having Adam’s baby felt like the most natural thing in the world to Tashi.

  Besides, he knew where babies came from. He knew she had her period exactly two weeks ago, and he hadn’t brought up the matter of protection, either, she thought, watching the strained look of desire in his eyes as he waited for her. He’d been waiting for her, for this for almost three weeks. Maybe, just maybe, he wanted the same things she did, but was afraid to voice his feelings after being hurt and humiliated by women he’d thought he loved.

  They were so different on so many levels, yet so much alike on others. She didn’t know if he loved her, would ever love her, but she loved him enough to abandon her upbringing and give herself to him outside the bonds of marriage. She was done being a good girl, and if making love with Adam was bad, then tonight she would be bad. So bad, she thought as the pressure of Adam’s shaft pressed against her heat stirred a quivering deep inside her womb.

  “Yes, Tashi. What is it?” he asked again.

  “I’m happy,” Tashi said, smiling up at him. “I’m happy that I waited for you.” And that was the honest truth dragged from the depth of her heart.

  “Me too, love. Me, too.” And with that, Adam bent his head and captured her mouth as if to shut her up, and when he thought he’d cleared all questions from her mind, he raised his head and gazed down at her. “Tell me, what do you want, Tashi? What do you want me to do to you?” he asked in a voice thick with passion.

  Tashi swallowed as he pressed his hips into hers. “I—I don’t know. Make love to me.”

  His eyes shimmered like blue shard of light. “Be specific. Making love is a lot more than intercourse. It’s an endless foray of caressing, licking, even blowing… So tell me, where exactly on your tantalizing little body do you want me to place my hands? Where do you want me to caress, lick, blow you?”

  Tashi licked her lips at the sultry questions. She fidgeted under him and swallowed again. “I want you to kiss my neck and—and my—my breasts. I guess.”

  “Is that it? That’s all you want me to kiss?”

  Tashi’s mind was suddenly ablaze with the images from the Kama Sutra and other sexually related books in Adam’s library—images of men with their heads between the open thighs of their partners, and women kneeling before men with their mouths clasped around their shafts. The rapturous looks on their faces must have been the same one she’d had while Adam was bringing her to her very first orgasm in the kitchen. As she recalled that moment, Tashi felt her heart pounding in her chest and the familiar tingles return to her belly.

  Adam let out a long sigh and suddenly he was off her, rolling over to the side of the bed, and switching on a bedside lamp. Puzzled, Tashi watched him walk toward the bathroom, and in less than a minute he returned holding a small leopard print pouch in his hand.

  “What’s that?” she asked, rising up on her elbows as he climbed back onto the bed and sat back on his haunches.

  “We’re going to play a little game,” he said, opening the pouch and dumping a stopwatch and two ivory dice with words etched in black onto the mattress. He held his hand out to her. “Sit up.”

  Her perplexity swiftly turning to curiosity, Tashi took Adam’s hand and sat up in the bed, facing him. “What kind of game is this?” she asked, tucking her hair behind her ears.

  “A sex game.” He picked up the dice.

  “A sex game? I guess we know who’s gonna win this one,” she said on a skittish giggle.

  “There are no winners or losers, or perhaps there are only winners. Anyway, hopefully by the time it’s over, you, my dear, will know exactly what you want me to do to you, and you’ll not be shy about asking for it.”

  Well in that case, Tashi felt she would like this game. “Have you played it before?” She knew she sounded like a jealous schoolgirl, but she didn't care. He was so experienced, she wanted to share something new with him, something he’d never shared with any other woman, something more intimate than being the only visitor to his garden.

  He smiled. “No, Tashi. I’ve never played this game with anyone before. I’ve been saving it.”

  Tashi bit back her cry of joy. “For what?”

  “Whom. I’ve been saving it for you, for my wife.”

  “I’m not your wife, yet.”

  His eyes swept over her face, then swiftly scanned her body. “We can wait until tomorrow if that’s what you want,” he said, reaching behind him for the pouch.

  Tashi watched him guardedly, trying to figure out if he was bluffing. It would be just like Lady Fate to throw a curve ball at her, and send Agent Dawson knocking on his door tomorrow, then temporary would be over before it even begun. She didn’t think she could go on living the rest of her life wi
thout the experience of making love with Adam. “No. I don’t want to wait.”

  “I was hoping you’d say that,” he said, his smile turning into a full grin. “Now here are the rules. One die has action words, and the other nouns—body parts. The person who throws puts the words together to form a command, a task that the other person has to perform for thirty seconds—no more, no less. The timer allows both the giver and the receiver to concentrate on their pleasures. But once it goes off, we move on. Any questions?”

  “Yeah, when does it end? When do we know the game is over?”

  His eyebrows arched upward. “Excellent question. The game ends when either party cries, “Game” and the other responds “Game Over” so they know they’re in agreement.”

  Tashi’s body was already tightening in anticipation. She felt like a giddy schoolgirl playing with her best friend after school. The only difference was that this was a very naughty, grown-up game. “Okay,” she said, catching her lower lip between her teeth.

  “Okay. There’s a question mark on the ‘noun’ die.” He held it up so she could see. “If it turns up, just fill in the blank with a body part of your choice. Oh, and we’re not allowed to use our hands, unless it’s part of the command.”

  “What happens if we do?”

  He tossed her a look of mock impatience. “Then that partner forfeits the game.”

  “Then what?”

  “We get dressed, and go back to the kitchen and finish making dinner.”

  “Yeah, right.” Tashi rubbed her hands against her thighs in a slow seductive manner.

  He smiled suggestively. “It’s all about control, Tashi, being able to control your sensations to build tumescence in order to acquire ultimate gratification, like you did in the kitchen.”

  That was awesome, Tashi thought on a tremor. Never would she have imagined that these types of games existed. She’d always thought that sex was a serious ordeal, that it wasn’t a time for humor—just moans and groans as partners expressed their feelings. But now, she was so eager to learn how to prolong those feelings of arousal for both herself and for Adam. “What are the action words?” she asked.