Schooled: The Mastered Series

by Lorelei James

  Amery eyeballed that amazing ass of his as he meandered out the door. Then she ditched her clothes where she stood. She dumped more sake into a plastic tumbler and headed outside.

  The cold air hit her naked skin and she shivered as she walked across the wooden plank. Steam billowed up from the rock-lined pool so she had to blink several times to make sure Ronin was really in there. The man could be as stealthy as a ninja.

  She slowly entered the onsen, letting the hot water engulf her a little at a time. Thankfully this property had a private onsen because she couldn’t grasp the Japanese concept of public bathing with strangers.

  Ronin’s hooded gaze remained on her body until she was submerged up to her neck. “Come here and sit by me.”

  “I’m fine across from you.”

  “Come. Here.”

  “Bossy much?”

  “Like that’s a surprise.”

  “No funny business in the sacred onsen,” she reminded him as she crossed the smooth-bottomed surface.

  “What gave you the impression this was a sacred space?” he asked, reaching for her and settling her on his lap, her back to his chest.

  “You don’t talk much when we’re out here. I figured it made this some sacred-water Zen-type place.”

  His soft laughter drifted across her bare shoulder.

  Amery closed her eyes. When was the last time she’d heard him laugh? Right. Two and a half weeks ago in Kyoto. “So you’re just quiet when you’re out here because you’re tired from training?”

  Ronin’s arm tightened against her midsection. “Partially.”

  She sipped her sake, waiting, wondering if he’d open up to her. Deciding if he didn’t do it willingly she needed to push him.

  “Maybe I am reflective when I’m out here. I try to listen to what my body is telling me and shut down the voices in my head.”

  “Whose voices?”

  His lips brushed her shoulder. “Not yours. The hottest thing in my world is hearing your voice in my ear when I’m inside you, because it echoes inside me, filling the spaces that belong only to you.”

  “That’s sweet, but it still doesn’t tell me whose voice is making you draw into yourself and away from me.” The way the water swirled across her skin as his fingers lightly stroked her stomach caused her belly to ripple.

  “Daichi,” he said softly. “His voice is in my head.”

  “Even when you’re not training with him?” She wanted to ask if this was the norm. If Ronin’s sensei’s words were so powerful they haunted him after the sessions ended.

  “When I’m training it’s physical and mental. I’m focused on the technique and how it relates to the philosophy. After the session ends, Sensei critiques my training efforts. I’ve been working with Master Daichi so long that I’m immune to his harsher criticisms. But this time …”

  “What?”

  “I don’t want to sound like a fucking pussy, but this session feels less focused on my technical errors and more critical of my personal struggles and choices.”

  “Master Daichi is giving you the smackdown for getting sucked into the underground fighting world?”

  “Some. And he’s right. Those were impulsive decisions that affected people other than my stupid self.”

  “So he’s pissed that you had three concussions and had to wait for medical clearance before you could come here to train?” she said sharply.

  “Sounds ridiculous when you put it like that. But yeah. He’s not happy with me.”

  “But he’s pushing you to the absolute limit anyway, knowing that you’ve been on medical restrictions? Does he even care that his training demands might be further injuring you?”

  “In his mind as long as I’ve been medically cleared there’s no reason to take it easy on me.”

  Amery counted to twenty. Then thirty. She had to temper her reaction because she knew how much Ronin respected his sensei and he’d excuse his mentor’s behavior.

  “Say something.”

  “It hurts me to see you like this, Ronin. Withdrawn, exhausted, defensive. Master Daichi may know you as a fearless jujitsu master, but he didn’t see you struggling to define yourself as more than just that when you were on medical restrictions.”

  “That’s part of his issue. He’s says I’m too distracted to train properly.” He rubbed his cheek on the back of her head. “Sensei is convinced I’ve lost my edge because I’m—”

  “Married?” she snapped.

  “No, baby. He claims I’m distracted because I’m happy.”

  Amery angled her head to gape at him, knowing her mouth hung open in shock.

  “He’s right. I am happy. He’ll be waiting a long damn time if he expects me to apologize for that.” He closed his eyes. “He just seems … older. Some of the shit he spews makes me wonder if he’s going senile. One moment he mocks me, accusing me of getting soft and complacent; in the next moment he’s praising me as how the ‘old’ Ronin would’ve done it. Nothing I do pleases him. So I end up reworking techniques I’ve had mastered for years instead of him teaching me new ones.”

  “I don’t suppose you can have a rational discussion with him about this?”

  “In the past, after we’ve been out of the formal training session, we’d talk. These past two and a half weeks he just drills me from dawn to dusk. Then he tells me to go home, sleep in my soft bed, next to your soft body and reflect on why I’m no longer the hard man he’d trained me to be.”

  Again, she had to temper her response. “Oh, sweetheart. That is awful. It sounds to me as if he’s feeling sorry for himself for spending his life alone.”

  “You may be right.” Ronin maneuvered her around until they were face-to-face. He teased her lips with his. A nibble. A lick. A feather-light brush of mouth on mouth. “Take a drink of your sake.”

  “I thought we were talking?”

  “We’re done. And I feel a whole lot better, baby. Now take a drink.”

  She tipped the rest of her drink into her mouth. Before she could swallow, Ronin fit his lips over hers and sucked the rice wine into his mouth.

  “Mmm,” he said as he swallowed it down. Then his smile broke the seal of their kiss. “I like sake better when it’s warm and it’s so much sweeter when I drink it from you.”

  “Ronin—”

  He cut her off with a kiss and then pressed his forehead to hers. “I’m sorry I’ve been distant.”

  She breathed a sigh of relief that her pushing him to talk hadn’t pushed him away. “Thanks for talking to me about what’s going on. Even if it did take you two weeks.”

  “I’ll do better next time.”

  “You’d better.”

  He dropped his hand into the water and moved her arm out of his way. “I’ve missed touching you.”

  “What a coincidence,” she murmured, “I’ve missed you touching me too.”

  His hand followed the outside curve of her body to her hip. “Let’s do something about that.”

  “Right here in the sacred onsen?” she teased.

  “I need to be up in that sacred pussy, baby, so straddle me on your knees and prop your hands on the ledge behind me.”

  There was her take-charge man. His words sent her heart racing. Her blood pumping. The extra blast of heat in her body owed nothing to the steamy water surrounding them.

  Ronin grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled her head back, baring her throat to his greedy mouth. He licked the water from her skin. He bit the cords straining the side of her neck until she moaned. “I missed hearing those sexy little fucking noises when my mouth and my hands are on you.”

  While his lips and tongue and teeth worked her into a writhing mass of need, his other hand gently stroked her breasts, then tweaked her nipples. His fingers glided down her belly over her mound.

  One maddening fingertip circled her clit. The man had mastered her body, knowing precisely how to rev her up in no time. Pushing his long finger in and out of her channel, he teased her G-spot while he worked
her clit with his thumb. “You always heat up so fast.”

  “Wait,” she panted. “I want to come when you’re inside me.”

  “Come for me first, baby. You always come first.”

  How well she knew that.

  “Did you touch yourself this week when I wasn’t around?”

  “No. Please, Ronin—”

  “You like this,” he murmured. “But you love this.” He did that slide-slide-slap maneuver with his thumb on her clit. It only took four sets and she lost it.

  He whispered sweet, filthy things in her ear as she pulsed and creamed around his finger.

  Then he made space between his legs, widening her knees until they were groin to groin. His hair tickled her chest as he kissed her collarbone.

  Amery’s hand circled his cock. “Sensei Daichi is mistaken. There’s nothing soft about you, Master. Black.” She lowered onto his shaft, and let his hiss of satisfaction reverberate through her.

  “Has it been a year since we last did this?” He cupped her ass and rocked his hips.

  “Just a week.”

  “Goddamn, you feel good. Every time. Whether it’s been a week since I fucked you or five minutes.”

  She put enough space between them so he could watch her tits bounce as she rode him harder.

  “Not gonna last,” he warned. “This all just hit me in my happy place and I’m too exhausted to hold off.”

  She rubbed her lips down the shell of his ear and gently blew inside. “I love that my sacred pussy is your happy place.” She stopped plunging his hard cock in and out and ground her pubic bone against him. “Kiss my neck.”

  His warm lips glided across her wet skin, making her shiver. Her entire body trembled when he latched on to that secret spot that sent her soaring.

  Amery arched even farther as she thrust forward. The orgasm sideswiped her with tiny, powerful pulses that milked Ronin’s cock and set him off. They barely moved in the heated water, letting the synchronicity of their bodies take over.

  After she opened her eyes, she noticed the banks of fog. “I think we heated up the air and the water several degrees.”

  “Either that or it’s a temperature inversion.”

  “Spoilsport. I think we oughta do that again so I can prove I’m right.”

  He sighed. “As much as I’d love to stay out here all night and fuck you until you scream, if I don’t move soon I won’t be able to move.”

  “You are too solid for me to heft in the house.”

  As she separated their bodies, he squeezed her ass. “I wouldn’t be much of a man if I let you even try to carry me.”

  Amery stood and held out her hands. “But you can lean on me if you need to.”

  Ronin let her help him out. “I know.”

  Her eyes searched his. “Do you?”

  “Yeah.” He framed her face in his hands. Then he gave her that wicked, wicked grin. “But you can give me a reminder like that anytime.”

  Chapter Five

  Amery told herself it was natural to be nervous.

  She held the platter of muffins as she started up the long path to the front door. Ronin hadn’t been clear on whether the place where he trained was Sensei Daichi’s home, or a training facility.

  The place was certainly off the beaten path. Trees arched in a canopy over the walkway. A barrier of thorny bushes lined either side of the structure—nature’s way of saying KEEP OUT. The door itself was imposing; heavy iron strips crisscrossing the distressed wood. As far as she could tell there wasn’t a handle anywhere.

  Then how the devil did anyone get in?

  She lifted the heavy knocker and banged it into the rusted metal plate.

  The door creaked open and an older Japanese man stood in the doorway. He bowed to her. “Welcome, Amery Black.”

  “How’d you know who I am?”

  “Ronin-san sent photos from your wedding.”

  “Oh.”

  He gestured for her to come inside.

  “Thank you.” Amery stepped onto the mat and immediately kicked off her shoes. “Forgive me for asking, but are you Master Daichi?”

  The man barked out a laugh. “No. Master Daichi doesn’t answer the door since he prefers no visitors. I am Yasuji. I live here and I’m delighted with visitors. Especially beautiful ones.”

  Amery blushed. “Thank you. Your English is very good.”

  “I spend more time with English speakers than Daichi.”

  “It shows, Mr. Yasuji.”

  “Not Mr. Yasuji. Just Yasuji.”

  “Okay.” She handed Yasuji the platter. “These are chocolate chip muffins.”

  “Thank you. Would you like tea?”

  Tea? Crap. Protocol for a formal tea ceremony was one thing she hadn’t studied. Since Ronin loathed tea she assumed it wouldn’t be a possibility. “Ah, sure. But I don’t want you to go to any trouble.”

  He smiled. “Do you share Ronin’s dislike of tea?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Then I will prepare it for us.”

  Left alone in the foyer, she wasn’t sure if she should follow. Offering to help him would be an insult. Wouldn’t it?

  Maybe not.

  Yasuji didn’t seem surprised to see her enter the kitchen. He gestured for her to be seated at the low table in the corner. After she’d settled on the cushion on her knees, Yasuji brought over the tea service. He poured the pale brown liquid into two delicate teacups.

  “This is wonderful. Such an unexpected treat.”

  “For me also. We have few visitors this time of year.” He slipped three small squares—a lemon bar, a date-filled pastry, and a marshmallow cookie on each of the two plates, pushing one toward her. “The older Daichi gets, the more he turns into a …” He tapped his lips as if searching for the right word. “Troll?”

  Amery managed not to choke on her tea. “You mean a hermit. Someone who doesn’t leave the house.”

  “Yes, a hermit.”

  Yasuji used chopsticks to pick up a morsel and popped it in his mouth.

  Her chopsticks skills had improved since she’d married Ronin. She chose the marshmallow cookie. It wasn’t as sweet as American desserts but it was still tasty.

  “So are you here to visit Ronin?”

  “I assume there’s a ‘no observation’ rule here as it’s a rule my husband has implemented at his dojo.”

  “That is not an answer,” Yasuji chided with humor.

  “Yes, since it’s the last day of this first training session, I hoped to watch him so I have some idea of what he’s been doing these last three weeks.”

  “Ronin doesn’t tell you?”

  Amery snorted. “Are you kidding? He never divulges his secret ninja stuff. Not that I haven’t asked.” She sent him a sly look. “Or tried to get a sneak peek.”

  “You get in trouble for breaking the dojo rules in America,” he guessed.

  “Once in a while. Gotta keep Master Black on his toes. Besides, his punishment for breaking his rules can be very creative.” Amery froze. Had she really just blurted that out?

  Yasuji laughed—a real gut-buster. “Ah, Amery-san. You are the perfect match for Hachidan. A woman who challenges him.”

  “He challenges me too. He has from the moment we met.”

  His dark brown eyes twinkled. “Shall we break some rules and watch him train?”

  “Is this a trick question?”

  “No. I’ve been interested to see what torture my brother has been putting him through.”

  She hadn’t seen that one coming. “Master Daichi is your brother?”

  “Older,” he clarified. “I moved in with him after my wife died. She’s been gone ten years. It seems like ten lifetimes.” He pushed up from the table. “Come. Let’s adjourn to the training center.” He pointed to the door. “You’ll need your shoes.”

  They exited into a gorgeous Zen garden—the largest private one she’d seen. How tempted she was to sink into the moss beneath the flowering trees and drink in th
e serenity. As they crossed the pebbled path, she noticed many of the trees had been trimmed to bonsai. “This space is astounding.”

  “This is part of the reason I came back here. My wife, Rikya, designed this.” Yasuji pointed to a structure within a grove of trees. “Here we are.”

  On the outside the training center looked like a small shrine. As soon as she stepped inside, her jaw dropped. The two-story room was eight-sided. Pegs, ropes, spikes, and hooks were scattered at random intervals from the floor to the ceiling. Modern sparring mats covered the floor.

  In the center of the room, two enormous pieces of wood, at least a foot in diameter, were braced on the floor and rose up twenty feet. A thick beam separated the two pieces at the top. Gouged into the backside, every twelve inches, were steel brackets that stuck out three or four inches.

  Just as she turned to ask Yasuji what it was, voices echoed to them from a hallway off to the left. She recognized Ronin’s voice, although his inflections were different when he spoke Japanese.

  Before she could call out, Yasuji pulled her behind a spiked tree and put his fingers to his lips.

  As always, her heart beat a little harder at seeing her husband. And she really, really loved seeing him like this, in full-on Master Black mode.

  Ronin’s hair had been pulled back into a samurai ponytail; secured high at the back of his head, but leaving longer sections of hair beneath. He wore a white gi, no patches or ornamentation. No belt. He clutched a metal rod in one hand and a towel in the other.

  Then her gaze moved to the man speaking to Ronin.

  Master Daichi looked—there wasn’t a PC way to say it—ancient. He wore a black gi top that had faded to the same dull gray as his hair. His pants were wide; the fabric bagged around his legs. His black belt wasn’t simple, but heavily adorned.

  Speaking in a taunting, singsongy tone, he gestured to Ronin, then to the apparatus in front of them and snatched the towel from Ronin’s hand.

  Ronin swung the steel metal bar around like a staff, circling Master Daichi, keeping the rod in constant motion as he crouched and jumped. Twisting and turning his body one way, letting the rod function as a third arm. When he swung, air whistled through the metal. She held her breath as each strike came closer to Sensei’s head.