Fei Liu nodded and shuffled from the room on her bound feet.
Alone with Tenzin, Lily was eager to see his body naked. Her heartbeat sped up slightly, and she took a deep breath before turning her attention to him. When she did, the Tibetan stood, hands at his sides, his gaze humble yet still simmering.
She appraised him a moment longer. So far, the fortune sticks had spoken the truth. Tenzin’s eyes radiated compassion and devotion while his body emitted a sense of coiled strength and power, even through the worn, baggy clothing.
Before having him undress, she scanned every inch of his sleek, muscular body, lingering on the sheen of his dark golden skin, the carved strength of his arm muscles, his high dignified cheekbones, as well as the sensuous pout of his lips surrounded by the darkness of clean shaven cheeks and jaw. Lily’s body tingled, and already she felt her yin dew rise, as it had in the gambling parlor. Her female energy rendered her body softer and more pliant in accord with his male hardness. “Undress, please,” she said, affecting the silky tone customary for a Tigress in the process of seduction.
Tenzin’s hands went to the frog closures of his vest. Thick, strong fingers worked open the wooden toggles until the rumpled fabric fell open, revealing his smoothly muscled chest. His pectorals were wide and round, topped with dark, cocoa brown nipples.
Lily watched him slide the vest off, down his strong arms, gazing at him with the appreciation intended to bolster his confidence. In this instance, her enjoyment was entirely sincere, and when his cheeks colored slightly, she averted her eyes enough to allow him to collect himself.
Unlike most other men she’d practiced with, Tenzin shed his clothes slowly, with a sense of modesty that made him seem vulnerable. With each small movement, the cords of muscle in his forearms flexed, as did the carved muscles of his abdomen. Her heartbeat rising, Lily stepped forward and took his vest from him. She folded it and set it on a nearby chair before turning to watch him remove his pants.
With his eyes downcast, he pulled the drawstring of his pants and held the waist so they wouldn’t drop at his feet. His thigh muscles clenched as he lifted each foot and carefully stepped out of his pant legs. Again she reached out and retrieved his pants, resisting the urge to stare blatantly at his round, hard buttocks.
He surrendered his clothing, an uncertain look moved across his eyes. Lily allowed her fingers to brush against his, enjoying the surge of yang force she sensed in him. The musky scent of his skin mingled in the air heated from bath water and herbs. Her insides jumped, and she took a deep breath as she set the remainder of his clothing on the chair.
She turned and nearly gasped. Yin surged in her body, and she felt her feminine instinct to melt against Tenzin’s hard physique. It wasn’t time yet for that. She turned halfway from him and gestured toward the tub. “I hope the water is to your liking,” she said in a silky voice.
“It looks very nice,” she heard him say. “I am grateful for the luxury.”
His gratitude sounded genuine, and this only fueled her natural instinct to join with him. Lily surreptitiously squeezed her hands into fists, and dug her nails into her palms, anything to stem her yin tide and distract herself from staring at his naked physique.
The lower part of the man was as beautifully formed as the top. His trim waist tapered into narrow hips, which drew her gaze to what was in the center. His dragon was thick and full, just as the contours of it through the loincloth had hinted. The reddish-gold shaft stood in a partial erection, and the tapered head, plump and very suckable, had already seeped a glistening dragon’s tear at the tiny opening. The yang droplet made her very mouth water to lick it off.
Tenzin’s dragon twitched as if aware of her gaze on it. His body was nearly hairless with the exception of a small ebony thatch around the base of his dragon. That sight roused the most intense need within her to taste him, to feel what looked like velvety skin over the hardness of male muscle.
Lily allowed herself a brief perusal of the full sac of his yang pearls below his dragon, then slid her gaze down his thick, sloping thighs and calves.
She cleared her throat. “Go on. Get in.”
He nodded. “Thank you.” His eyes reflected uncertainty, but he turned, obedient, and stepped into the tub, giving Lily a perfect view of his bottom.
She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. Tightening her fists, she wondered at the effect he was having on her. The only explanation certainly was his overabundance of yang, causing the imbalance happening within her own body.
Tenzin held the sides of the tub, strong fingers gripping as he lowered his powerful build into the water. Judging by the delicious scent that emanated from him and his obviously clean appearance, he didn’t need a bath, but the ritual of washing a man, relaxing him, ministering to him as she was about to, was what a Tigress did with her partner. The more at ease he was and comfortable, the more freely his yang would flow.
She knelt by the tub. Tenzin’s male scent, diffused into the air by the steamy water, surrounded her. She cleared her throat with as delicate a sound as she could, in spite of the sudden tightness.
Picking up a washcloth, she dipped it into the hot water and smoothed it across his back. The water streamed down his muscles. She wet the cloth again and ran it over his neck.
A tiny sigh escaped the Tibetan’s throat. He took a deep breath, and his shoulders sagged ever so slightly. His eyelids fluttered, and his fingertips relaxed their grip on the sides of the tub.
She frowned. Could he be nervous? She never thought of men as nervous, especially with women, the power-wielding creatures the other sex were…she couldn’t imagine it. Men had the power to determine whether a girl underwent the painful, harrowing process of having her feet bound, or of being enslaved for life to a man who could beat her with impunity. And yet, she was forced to admit, she’d never met a man who’d bowed down before her as this one had. She could only imagine he would be nervous about being with a woman again after his long abstinence.
Lest he see her musing, she worked her lips into a smile and continued to wash him. With a hand on his shoulder, she bid him to lean back in the tub. The hard muscle quivered under her fingertips, but he yielded under her touch, letting her guide him to recline in the tub.
A slice of heat went through her middle, and Lily avoided his eyes until she could collect herself. When she did look at him, his gaze locked with hers. He regarded her through half-closed lids. His amber irises simmered with the strangest blend of wonder and need. Droplets of water beaded off his skin, and a sheen of moisture from the steam made his skin glow. He parted his full soft lips as if he were about to speak but remained silent, and she could hear the steady pulse of his slightly ragged breaths.
Swallowing past the dryness in her throat, she lifted her hand from his shoulder. “Give me your hand,” she said softly.
He slid up a bit in the tub, giving Lily a glance of his dragon, harder than it had been before. The plump lobes of the head were visible even through the depths of the water. With that wondrous gaze still on hers, he lifted his hand, surrendered to her hold.
Lily took his hand between hers, smoothed her fingertips gently over the callused skin of his palm, and then looked at it. Tenzin’s fingers were wide and strong, the hands of a man who worked hard, yet whose nails were perfectly clean and trimmed. A strange blend of contradictions, this man was. He appeared poor, but his worn clothing was clean and smelled of the spicy musk that he carried on his skin. Perhaps he’d simply cleaned himself up before presenting himself as a prize in the card game. That seemed the most logical answer.
She began to massage the palm of his hand, pressing gentle circles into the soft flesh below his thumb. Again, he sighed, the soft whoosh of breath almost a moan. His fingers curled slightly, and his hand grew more slack between hers. Lily couldn’t help the flush of pleasure she felt in seeing that he seemed to enjoy her ministrations so much.
“May I ask you something, Lily?”
She
glanced at him, careful not to let her gaze get captured in his again. His penetrating look made her feel strangely beautiful, yet completely, abashedly, naked all at once. The former feeling, of course, was not something in which a Tigress should indulge.
“Of course. You may ask whatever you wish.” She kept her gaze on his hand while she kneaded and rubbed the callused mounds of flesh at the base of each finger. Truthfully, she was relieved for conversation that would take her concern away from the aroused state she entered from touching him.
“Are these yin and yang exercises part of a religion you practice?”
“What makes you ask?” She looked at him and immediately realized her mistake. Those eyes, mysterious, childlike and sensual all at once, trapped her.
“Just a feeling.”
She continued her gentle massage of his hand, worked her touch up the length of each wide, strong finger. “Yes. I practice the Path of the White Tigress. It’s the use of life force in the Taoist tradition to achieve enlightenment.”
“Through eroticism.”
She found his seemingly genuine interest encouraging. His questioning, too, was a rare trait. Most men simply wanted her to get onto her knees and suck their jiaos as soon as possible. “That is correct.” She, herself, hadn’t reached the higher levels of enlightenment since the early years of her practice, but she didn’t tell him this. When she’d begun the practices as a Tigress cub under her teacher, Tigress Mai, Lily had reached the Place of One Hundred Returnings.
However, at some point, her practice had waned, probably because she had not been able to find a decent steady partner, concentrating instead on instructing the women who came to her. For them the Temple of the White Tigress was not only a place to seek enlightenment, but also a safe haven for women, former prostitutes and abused wives, who needed shelter. As far as Lily was concerned, spiritual advancement was a gift if it happened. The women’s safety and happiness were her primary concerns.
“I understand.” His voice was unnervingly gentle, like a soft caress. “That explains your demand for my secrecy.”
Now she stared at him straight on. When it came to her Tigress cubs, women for whom Lily struggled and toiled to keep off the streets and give purpose to their lives, she felt no fear or shame. “Women who do what we do are unwelcome in society, that is, except for the pleasure we give men’s bodies.” She heard the bitterness in her tone and paused. When she spoke again, she softened her words. “We must keep under to endure, as Lao Tzu said. Our lives depend on discretion.”
“I give you my word that I’ll be careful.” His mysterious eyes looked directly into hers, and she had the sense he could see deep into her heart, past the seductive Tigress she’d made of herself, to the young woman who had been a vampire’s slave for food and pleasure.
Heart pounding, she released his hand and went around the tub to massage his other hand, grateful for the distraction. “May I ask you a question, Tenzin?”
He bowed his head, then looked at her with that unfathomable gaze of his. The look that made her yin surge each time. “Anything, Lily.”
Now that he’d shown her some degree of integrity, she felt she could proceed. “If we are to…work…together, I must know more about you. Can you please tell me something about your experiences?”
To her surprise, his cheeks colored slightly. He was silent for a moment as she gently rubbed the calluses on his palms, pressing down with careful pressure into his skin.
“For a long time, as a monk, I was completely chaste,” he said softly. “When I left the monastery, I wandered through Tibet, still abstinent. It wasn’t until I reached northern China and went to a city that I…indulged. There was a place called the House of the Jade Flower.” He looked down. “I spent all my nights there for a long time. The women were kind and beautiful and giving.” Finally he raised his gaze to hers again. Pain clouded the rich amber of his eyes. “It got so I couldn’t bear the guilt, Lily. It was like I had a war raging inside me all the time. I forced myself to leave that place behind and wander again. Since then, I’ve tried everything to overcome my lusts, severe austerity, mortification of the flesh, sensory deprivation, endless chanting, and prayer, everything.”
Tenzin glanced away again. “For a brief time I went to India and there practiced the various religious paths. Nothing worked. I’ve consulted the Heavens every single day since I left the monastery, and only until this very night has it finally told me that the forces in the world and in my spirit were propitious enough to bring me to my true teacher.”
Lily heard the desperation in his voice, felt it churn and swirl with the yang that overflowed in his body and spirit. Indeed the calluses of his hands and feet proved the miles he’d journeyed and amount he’d worked. The supplication and grief in his voice sounded real and was a sound she’d heard once before in Tigress Mai, who’d struggled and suffered to find the Taoist path she’d walked and imparted to Lily.
“I pray you believe me, Lily.”
His voice pulled her gaze to his, and for the first time she realized he was not ignorant of her responses to him. The plea in his sound sent a spike of guilt through her. Perhaps she was being too harsh in her reserve. She was falling into her own fears of being a victim again. But she wasn’t a victim. After all, Tenzin wasn’t a vampire. He was most likely an immortal and as an immortal, if he tried to hurt her in some way, she had most of her physical strength to fight him, as well as years of Shaolin training. She could approach Tenzin as an equal, without fear. If they were to be partners, she would have to do so.
“I believe you,” she said softly. “You seek a way out of suffering, as all beings do. I would not deny you any help that I could give.”
As soon as she’d spoken, some of the grief drained from his face, and he bowed his head. Lily could hear the gratitude in his reverent silence.
Lily set his hand down gently and went to the end of the tub. She knelt down again and proceeded to rub Tenzin’s feet. She massaged the soles, pressed her thumbs deeply into the callused skin. Again, the cleanliness of even his feet amazed her.
Tenzin groaned softly. “That feels so wonderful.”
Again, Lily experienced the familiar sense of pleasure when she had a man exactly where she wanted him. With a minimum of words, the Tibetan exuded appreciation. She pulled herself in, careful to retain her distance. It wouldn’t do to let go too soon. She had mastered the practiced way of giving passion with detachment that was the mark of the White Tigress.
The water in the tub sloshed gently. Lily felt Tenzin’s body slide down a bit in the bath. He lay back, eyes closed, a tiny smile on his lips. His breathing had slowed, and she could see he was totally relaxed, so much so that his dragon now lay partially flaccid against one muscular thigh. His broad chest rose and fell steadily. Stillness hummed in the air.
Her hands tingled around Tenzin’s foot. The energy cascaded gently into her wrists, flowed up her arms, a free flow of the Tibetan’s yang energy, released by the massage.
The energy traveled into her breasts, down through her abdomen, into her sex, which tingled wildly. Her own body grew languid, yet her mind retained clarity and calm.
Amazing! Yin and yang had melded already and they hadn’t even begun the exercises. She exhaled silently, preparing for the next stage. Her body and mind quivered with anticipation. Maybe this man could actually help her restore her strength? Or even better, enable her to reach the Place of One Hundred Returnings again?
Slowly, she straightened from her kneeling position, dried her hands on a small towel and reached for a larger towel, which she unfolded. When she looked at Tenzin, his eyes were closed. She touched his shoulder softly and showed him the towel.
His eyelids flickered, and he looked at her with a more serene gaze. Apparently, he too, had been calmed by the blend of their energies.
At her slight nod, he rose, the water splashing softly against the sides of the tub, his movements smooth and placid, his limbs relaxed, like a man risin
g from deep meditation.
Lily could not avert her eyes from his naked body, golden skin gleaming with droplets of water. His dragon, at rest now, hung partially sheathed, between his legs. Her fingers itched to surround it and bring it to life. It swung forward with the movement of his body as he climbed out of the claw-footed tub and stepped into the towel she held for him.
For a few seconds, she stood still, mere inches from him, separated only by the towel. His nearness to her skin once again stirred her yin. In spite of the calming they’d both experienced, the excess was still there in her as well as in Tenzin and needed to be drained off. Before she grew too restless, she let the towel loosen and stepped around him.
Slowly, she brought the towel up to his back and began to rub it across his shoulders, patting it gently over the wide planes of his back muscles. The velvety sheen of his skin replaced the watery glow as she dried him. She worked her way down his spine to his narrow waist, then over his firm buttocks. She couldn’t help touching their smoothness with her bare hands and resisted the temptation to peek around to see what her ministrations were doing to the front side of him.
There would be time enough…
She proceeded to dry the narrow space between his legs, stopping short of coming in contact with his yang sac, just visible to her. As if reading her thoughts, he shifted his legs, widened them an inch so she could have better access. But she declined the invitation, telling him with her gestures that it was she in control of this session.
She took her time rubbing down the length of his strong legs, the thighs and calves powerfully rounded, until she’d reached his ankles. She swiped over the tops of his feet and turned her attention to his front.
His dragon had hardened again. The thick member stretched its head from its sheath and stood in a jutting curve from his body. His breath rasped in her ears, and she could smell the heaviness of his male musk. Her yin responded, made her sex quiver and soften with slippery dew. Even the heavy sac beneath, plump and full of life force, made her salivate, long to trace the contours of each pearl with her fingertips, and then the tip of her tongue.
Ace in the Hole Page 4