hot tub first. I like those things . . . even though when I use the one at home I exercise first.”
“You have one in your home?”
“No. My family belongs to a downtown athletic club called the Metro Y. We all work out there, even mother.” Lotus grinned at him, then her smile faded when he led her into the bathroom and began peeling his clothes from his body. When he saw her stare, he paused.
“Mustn’t feel shy, darling.”
“I know, but I feel a bit strange. I haven’t been doing this as long as you . . . sleeping with people, I mean.”
Dash closed his eyes, then opened them. “That was a zinger, I believe.”
Lotus opened her mouth to deny it, then she nodded. “I guess it was. I’m a little annoyed that you should have had so many women, yet I also considered myself a very up-to-the-minute, modern lady until I met you too.” She shrugged. “Explain it to me. I don’t understand my feelings.” “Well. . .” Dash lowered his arm, tossing his shirt toward the clothes tree and missing. “I don’t have warm feelings for your friend, Jeremy, either.” “Don’t worry about him.” Lotus retrieved the shirt and put it in the clothes chute on one wall of the bathroom. She tried to peek down the narrow opening. “How long before your clothes come back clean?”
“One day.” He pulled her away from the chute “Now about how we feel about other persons being in our lives . . . don’t you think we should concentrate on each other until we get our feelings sorted then we can handle the extraneous?” He unbuttoned her blouse, watching her every moment. “If I make you uncomfortable, stop me, love. You will soon learn that you are in control of our life together.”
Lotus smiled up at him, seeing the uncertainty on his face. All at once she felt no uneasiness. “Keep going.”
Dash felt his hand tremor when he lifted her blouse away from her body. “Your skin is like the lotus flower of your name, so creamy white, yet somehow it fits with your looks . . .” He was muttering and fully aware of it, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. “. . . Yet, it’s not incongruous with your Eastern features.” He shook his head in awe. “In fact, your skin is perfect for your blue-black silky hair and almond-shaped green eyes. You are an incredibly beautiful hybrid, my darling.” “You’re repeating yourself.” Lotus chuckled. "That’s what my brothers call me . . . the Sinclair hybrid.”
Yet she had called herself Weston. Dash’s mind churned with it. Why had she hidden herself from him? Bit by bit, China Doll, the outer layer will be peeled away. He would discover all her secrets. 'Do they, my lotus?” Dash discarded her blouse, then the skirt and panty hose she had been wearing. When she was standing in front of him wearing onlly a pair of briefs, he scowled at her. “I don’t like the thought of you traveling from New York to Las Vegas without a bra.”
"That remark’s from left field, isn’t it?” Lotus stared at him, feeling her lips parting in surprise. "You must have realized by now that I wasn’t wearing a bra on my trip east with you ...” Lotus began.
“You were with me. That’s different.” Dash’s
frown deepened when she tried to mask her amusement behind her hand. When she laughed out loud, he could feel his expression softening. “You trill like a bird, precious.” He faced her, feeling his body harden in response to her beauty, watching her eyes scan him then fix on his face again. “I cannot hide how I feel about you, love. I don’t want to hide it.”
“Hot tub,” Lotus suggested, then closed her eyes as she felt him pull her closer again, then touch a wall switch.
In minutes water frothed steamily around him as Dash led her down the three steps into the good-sized tub that could have held at least two more persons.
Lotus gasped and laughed as the hot water swirled around them. ‘‘It’s nice, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” Dash told her. Anything was wonderful, doing it with her. He lifted her over his body, letting her slippery silkiness slide up and down his form until he thought he might go mad. “We have to get out of here soon, darling. . .”
“Why?” Lotus turned over until she was on her tummy on top of him. “I like it here.” She slithered downward, feeling the hardness of him probing her lower body. She fitted herself to him, hearing him groan. When she heard other moans, she knew they were her own. “Dash . . . she gasped feeling the rhythm that he was beginning deep inside her.
“Yes, my treasure, I’m with you, all the way.” Her last, fleeting thought was that it would hell to say good-bye to him now, and that it would be well nigh impossible. Then she was soaring with him, out, out, beyond all limits until the galaxy exploded between them. Lotus clung to him as they descended from the star plane to earth again. It took moments for her to realize that they were still joined and that Dash was watching her, his hooded stare mesmerizing her. “Are . . . are we going to stay like this forever?”
“I think we might.” His words were soft and slightly slurred. Lord, does she know what she does to me? He had thought maybe the first time together was a glorious fluke, a full moon phenomenon. Not so. A lotus blossom with the green eyes and pink pearl skin had moved into his life and possessed it. What would you do if you knew that, China Doll? His mind raced with the question.
“What are you thinking?” Lotus smothered a yawn behind her hand.
“About you. Sleepy?” He could feel his body beginning to react to her again. Once more he was amazed. He had always been a very sexy man, but he never had the quick responses he was having now. “Too sleepy?” he crooned, undulating his body, the warm water sloshing around them.
Her eyes flew wide and she stared at him. “So soon?”
Dash nodded, restraining himself in case she wasn’t willing.
Nice.” She wriggled against him, feeling the gentle spear of his body. “I didn’t know that it could happen like this.”
"Neither did I,” Dash told her ruefully, hugging when she giggled.
The love cadence rolled over them again, slower, with great savor as each of them exerted themselves for the other. The passionate joy of giving consumed them.
Lotus wanted him to be lost to others in that moment, so that the long line of other women who had marched through his life would be forgotten. She felt her hands curl into his shoulders as the arrows of hair on his chest abraded her breasts with loving persuasion. Her body tingled in awareness as he swung her around to cradle her in his arms, suspending her on his body as he lifted her higher to take her foot, kissing each toe.
“You taste good, love.” Dash felt his blood heat to a higher temperature than the water as his lips sucked and pressed along her calf to behind her knee.
“This is fun.” Lotus gulped, her body bumping gently against the sides as Dash forayed up her leg. When he ducked his head under the water, and she could feel his mouth intruding so intimately, she felt as though she must be fibrillating.
All at once he left her for a moment and surged to his feet, lifting her with him and out of the tub. In minutes he had her body lathered in scented oil. “Must protect your skin,” he muttered to her in lazy heat.
“Heavens, yes.” Lotus agreed. “But I’d much rather continue what we were doing.”
“And we shall, my love,” he assured her as he dried her with warm towels, then swung her up into his arms. “We shall.” He kissed her mouth as he carried her through to the bedroom, placing her gently on the king-sized bed, then following her down, peeling the towels away with loving concentration. “Now where we’re we? Ah, yes, now I remember.” His face slid down her body, kissing each pore on his journey. He lifted her hips and began a sensual search of her body with his mouth, feeling her body jerk and arch as he probed her.
“Dash, I . . .” Lotus forgot what she was going to say to him.
Dash reacted to her clutching hands and took her fully with his body, the climax reached together in an explosion of light and gentleness. They slept, their arms around each other, their breathing deep and satisfied.
When Lotus woke she was alone. She shi
fted her body and felt an unfamiliar aching soreness. She remembered, feeling her body turn to fire and ice. Dash! She leaned back and stretched, blinking her eyes at the slanting rays of afternoon sun.
“Hey, sleepyhead, get up.” Dash spoke from the bathroom doorway, a towel wrapped around his waist. “We don’t have much time to shop, and I want to take you to Henri Bendel’s.”
Lotus jackknifed to a sitting position. “I’m not letting you buy things for me.” She felt a smothering hurt that he could think that she would let him. She pulled the silken sheet up to her chin.
He was across the room in long strides and down on the bed beside her. “I’m not trying to denigrate what we have, darling. I wouldn’t do that. I just thought you would like to shop in New York. I know you haven’t been here for years . . . and never as an adult. I’ll pay the bills, then you can give me the money when you get back to Rochester and your job.”
Lotus pressed her hands against his chest when he would have hugged her to him. “I will pay you back, you know, so I don’t want to go to expensive places. Take me somewhere inexpensive.”
Dash grinned at her. “If we have time.” He kissed her nose, then pulled her from the bed to her feet. “Come on, lady, let’s move.”
She scampered past him, gasping when she felt him pat her backside. She threw cold water in her face and freshened her body with a washcloth. Then she remembered that she hadn’t brought her underthings with her. She gaped down at the silk briefs and chemise on the vanity top, the note next to them telling her that Dash had ordered these over the phone for her. He hoped they fitted.
For two heartbeats she toyed with the idea of not wearing them, but the silk lacy underthings magnetized her. She hopped into them and went out to the bedroom. Dash was there, placing her skirt and blouse on the bed.
He turned around and smiled at her. “I took these out of your duffel bag and ironed them for you. Will they do?”
“You ironed them?” Lotus said disbelievingly. He looked in her duffel bag! Had he seen the file there? She stared at him, but could discern no anger. She felt perspiration coat the palms of her hands as she relaxed.
“Of course I ironed them. I worked my way around the world after attending the university, and one of my jobs was as a valet at a hotel in Singapore.”
“Truly?” Lotus pulled on the denim skirt, wondering fleetingly why she wasn’t embarrassed about dressing in front of Dash.
Dash nodded, then pushed her gently into a chair and fitted her shoes to her feet. “I find that I enjoy being your valet very much. Consider hiring me full-time?”
“I’ll think about it.” She looked away from the hot amusement in his blue eyes.
Dash put his arm around her as they went down the stairs to the main floor of the apartment, insisting that she eat an apple and drink a glass of milk before they left. Lotus muttered to herself all the while she raced back upstairs, brushed her teeth, and rushed back down again.
They took the elevator to the street, where a cab was waiting for them outside to whisk them on another hair-raising trip in Manhattan. The short ride ended in front of the discreet establishment with the name Henri Bendel on the front.
Lotus gawked but she couldn’t help it. The store was so elegant. They took the escalator to the designer section of the store.
“Don’t worry, we’ll come again. Then you’ll have time to see everything.”
The saleslady glided up to them, her well-trained eves running over Dash, her thin-lipped smile widening slightly. “Can I help you?”
“Yes, I want to see something for her.” Dash kept his arm around Lotus.
“A specific color?”
"Blue,” Lotus answered.
“Coral or a medium green perhaps,” Dash said at the same time.
Lotus looked at him. “Blue is my favorite color.” He kissed her nose. “I like it myself, but I want to see how you look in . . . ah, that’s nice . . .’’He nodded to the woman as she and two of her assistants spread some dresses and suits in front of
them. “Try the satin suit, darling.” Dash indicated the salmon-colored Chanel suit one of the women was carrying.
Lotus tried on the suit, glad that she had succumbed to the temptation of the fine lingerie and worn it as one of the attendants helped her off with her clothes. She wished that her panty hose didn’t have a run in one leg, but that was life.
“Ah, that is attractive on you,” the saleswoman said as she stepped back and Lotus stared at herself in the mirror.
Her long, straight, black hair seemed to gleam with an ebony fire it had absorbed from the dull gleam of the salmon-colored satin, her pale skin had even deeper pink tones, and her green eyes flashed emerald. “It is pretty,” Lotus faltered, trying to feel for the price tag on the suit.
The saleswoman watched her for' a moment, then pulled back the curtain and gestured for Lotus to precede her. “I am sure that Mr. Colby would like to see this on you.”
How did she know his name? Suspicion warred within her. Of course, salespersons would know him, she argued with herself, not feeling one bit mollified. She squashed feelings of jealousy when visions of Dash arm in arm with gorgeous creatures crossed her mind.
Dash rose from the beige-colored silk chair where he’d been sitting. “Darling, that’s beautiful on you We’ll take this one, and we’ll get some shoes for you, love.”
“What’s the price?” Lotus hissed at him.
“Very affordable,” Dash told her, smiling.
“For whom?” she persisted, plucking at his sleeve.
“Not to worry.” He gave his credit card to the saleswoman and Lotus went to change back into her clothes. When she came out, Dash had the dress box under his arm and he led her to the shoe salon.
A small army of personnel appeared from nowhere and soon had boxes strewn everywhere for Dash’s scrutiny.
“Would you believe they would have just the right color to match your suit? Right size too.” Dash looked smug after they had made their choice.
Lotus computed the length of time it would take her to pay off the shoes and grimaced. “I will be paying you back for years,” she grumbled even as she admired the coral slings that emphasized her trim ankles and calves.
“Purse.” Dash aimed himself and Lotus toward the counter of bags that the salesperson assured him would hold a matching clutch bag. “Don’t worry, I have no intention of charging you interest.”
“I am still paying off some of my school loans, buster,” Lotus said grimly.
“Do you think that there would be hose in this color?” Dash ignored her and quizzed the shoe saleswoman who immediate gestured to an attendant, who looked at the color of the suit in the box and nodded.
“This is ridiculous. I was brought up in a very conservative family. We don’t run up big bills unless it’s for something worthwhile like education or helping the poor. . . Lotus huffed after him as he thanked the woman for the pale coral stockings that she had handed him, then with his parcels he strode toward the escalator.
"Good principle,” Dash assured her as he took
her arm and escorted her out the door down Fifth Avenue to Van Cleef & Arpels.
Lotus dug in her heels. “Oh, no, you don’t. I would have to take out a loan and use my parents’ home as collateral. No way.”
“Don’t be silly.” Dash half lifted her into the elegant shop of Van Cleef and Arpels.
“Let’s leave,” she whispered, pleading with Dash as a man who looked more like a funeral director than a salesman approached them.
“Mr. Colby. How are you, sir?”
“Good God, you know the help in a jewelry store? That’s disgusting,” Lotus muttered through her teeth as the dark-suited man inclined his head toward her, then ushered them to stools placed in front of an enclosed case. “This is insane. I could go to jail. I want to go home.”
“Tomlinson, the last time I was in here, you showed me a fine collection of coral jewelry. Do you still have it?”
Lotus looked left and right. She saw a man go to the front door and activate the lock. She rose to her feet. “Closing time. We have to go.” She pulled at Dash’s arm. “Don’t want to get locked in.”
“Sit down, Lotus. Everything is fine.” Dash urged her to take her seat again.
“I don’t like it here. It smells so rich. He’ll see right through me. People can tell if you have student loans, you know.”
“How?” Dash arched one dark brow.
“Infrared lamps?” Lotus begged.
“Ah, here’s Tomlinson. Do you have it?”
“He doesn’t have it.” Lotus rose to her feet again, only to be pushed back into place by Dash.
“Look at these. Won’t they be perfect with your suit?” Dash lifted the Daliesque slash of coral that would fit along the outer edge of her pierced ears.
“Wrong color,” Lotus bleated, throwing anxious glances at the phlegmatic Tomlinson.
“They’re perfect. We’ll take the earrings and the pin.”
“Not both,” Lotus said from the side of her mouth, trying to smile at the expressionless Tomlinson at the same time.
“And I think the pendant is beautiful.” Dash pushed the silk-lined velvet-covered box at Tomlinson and nodded.
Open-mouthed, Lotus watched the man wrap the box in silver paper. “I will be in debt until I’m ninety-two ... if I’m not thrown into debtor’s prison before then,” she muttered.
“They don’t have debtor’s prisons anymore.” Dash soothed her as he took the small bag from Tomlinson and led her toward the door.
“Do too,” Lotus mumbled, glaring at him when he signaled for another taxi and helped her inside.
'You’ll love wearing the jewelry with your suit.” Dash took her flaccid hand between his two, lifting it to his lips to kiss the palm.
I'll bet you were at the official counter when the aristocrats were led to the quillotine,” Lotus said through clenched teeth, frustrated by her inability to fight his persuasiveness.
"Darling, that would make me so old.”
Lotus Blossom Page 9