She patted the towel gently on his lower abdomen and then brushed it around the base of his dragon. Reluctantly, she gave the delicious-looking member a last pat, promising herself that soon she would be revisiting it, this time with her mouth. She proceeded and wiped dry the hard edges of his pelvis, running her fingers through the wispy thatch of his pubic hair, and upward over his flat belly.
The soft towel readily absorbed the droplets of water off Tenzin’s skin, just the way Lily intended to absorb his yang into herself. She ran the towel over his strong chest and longed to feel the hard bulges fill her palms. Even the dark brown shade of his nipples was perfectly matched to his skin and invited her to taste them. Keeping her attention firmly on the task at hand, she finished drying Tenzin’s arms, letting the towel slide over the etched contours that separated his shoulder muscles from triceps and biceps. She bid him to raise each arm so she could swipe the towel underneath and dry the small thatches of dark hair in the musky recesses.
Her stomach fluttered suddenly as if a jarful of butterflies had been released inside her. Nervous! She paused at the unusual reaction, not recalling such a sensation since her first days as a Tigress. Back then the mere gaze of a man as handsome as Tenzin had made her perspire and shake. So many times she’d actually fumbled with a man’s dragon as she knelt before him, only to feel the heat of embarrassment burn her cheeks. However, years of assiduous practice with men had long-since dissolved this childish response.
Why? Was it because of the strange, almost perfect balance of yin and yang she had just experienced in the tub? He was a man, a Green Dragon, a vessel from which she could sip his yang force, an aid to her in her quest for enlightenment, the only possible relief from the endless suffering and loneliness of the world. She reminded herself that once she’d achieved that end, she wouldn’t need him anymore.
No doubt, he wouldn’t need her either. Not that he ever had, or would. Men never did.
Her heart beat hard so loudly she could hear her own blood crash in her ears. Her mouth went dry, anticipating the feel and taste of his dragon. Turning slightly, she gestured to him. “This way.”
Chapter Four
When the Dragon plays near the Tigress’s mouth, the Tigress seizes the fallen jade.
‑‑ Madame Lin from The White Tigress Manual
Tenzin’s heart pounded. Between Lily’s body showing through the sheer material of her robe, the sensual bath, and then the way she’d dried him, his likpa felt as if it would explode. Having emerged from an extended, failed period of sensual deprivation, he hadn’t known a woman’s touch in the longest time and feared he would spill himself too soon. Lily’s massage of his hands and feet, the small touch on his shoulder, and her beauty all had made him wild with desire for her.
If he hadn’t caught several glimpses of the vulnerable girl underneath the seductive Tigress, he would have felt completely inadequate. Lily was beautiful. He couldn’t help staring at the way her waist-length ebony hair swayed, how the tips brushed the tops of her buttocks. Part of a tattoo covered one creamy swell and wrapped around her waist to her front. She walked with a balanced sway rather than the shuffle of a woman with bound feet. Personally he found her gait as seductive as the rest of her and could imagine that any man might worry about his ability to please a woman so magnificent and so obviously practiced at seduction.
He followed her back into her bedchamber. The warm incense-scented air wafted around his bare skin. By the bed, she halted him with a small touch on his arm and turned her gaze up to his. Once again he saw her falter inwardly. He’d practiced observing people for far too long to miss the tiny flicker in her eyes that communicated a touch of nervousness or doubt. She’d done this several times in the course of the night and each time it happened, he felt a bit less awkward, remembering her humanity. Underneath the lacquer and silk, underneath whatever method of erotic practices she followed, she was a woman, a being with fears and sufferings of her own.
She blinked and he noticed the contrast of thick ebony lashes against the creamy silk of her skin. “Are you ready to continue, Tenzin?”
The question alone sent a shiver of lust through him. Wordlessly, he nodded, unable to speak through the thickness in his throat.
“Well then, we shall.” A tiny smile curved the red fullness of her lips. Slowly, she brought her hands to her robe and slipped it back. The pink silk whispered down her arms and fell to the floor.
Hot blood shot through his likpa. He looked down, face burning. Sweat erupted on his brow.
“Remember what I said earlier about desire.” Lily’s soft voice caressed him, eased a bit of his discomfort away. “Desire is a tool, an ally, when used correctly. I will help you use it correctly, Tenzin. Just look at me.”
Slowly…carefully… he lifted his gaze to Lily’s. Her perfect almond-shaped eyes, dark and sultry, regarded him with a potent blend of kindness and desire. Her smile deepened, this time, reaching her eyes. “Look at all of me, Tenzin. Every single inch.”
His heartbeat increased. The flowery musk of her scent invaded his senses. In spite of the throbbing need in his lower regions, it wasn’t so easy to give in to his desire, not after so many years of fighting with it.
“As your teacher, I give you absolute permission to stare at me.”
Must…obey. He let his gaze move lower, to the delicate curve of her pale throat.
“Don’t be afraid to look at my breasts, Tenzin.” She paused and smoothed her hands over them in a way that drew his gaze. “Do they make you want to touch them?”
Tenzin looked at the ripe swells. He swallowed hard as he studied their shape, fuller on the bottom in a way that made them point upward. Her large nipples were dark, reddish brown, almost the color of plum wine, and the skin of her breasts was temptingly pale and smooth. They rose and fell with her gentle breathing. He nodded again, his mouth watering to taste those dark, inviting tips.
She slid one hand, fingers splayed, down her flat stomach. Her red nails contrasted seductively with her pale skin then blended with the front part of the tattoo he’d glimpsed. “Look lower, Tenzin.”
His eyes were now captured on the trail her hand made. Her fingertips grazed the contours of a colorful leaping tiger inked on her skin. He’d glimpsed before the creature’s powerful long tail curl over the swell of one buttock, but now had a clear view of the rest of the tiger’s body as it leapt upward, front claws extended toward one side of her ribcage, the creature’s belly positioned over the front of her sex.
“What do you feel, Tenzin, when you look at me?”
He swallowed hard, his mouth and throat terribly dry. She turned and retrieved his tea cup from earlier. Someone had emptied it and replaced the cold tea with fresh, steaming liquid. The scent of honey stimulated some moisture in his mouth.
“Drink this before you answer,” she said and held the cup to his lips.
He put a hand over hers and tilted the cup, letting the warm, sweet drink pool on his tongue. He swallowed greedily until the small cup was empty.
She smiled as she lowered the cup and set it aside. The tiger on her belly moved and stretched. “Is it easier to speak now?”
Tenzin swallowed. “Yes.” In spite of the lubrication, his voice came out in a tight whisper. He stared at Lily’s lower body, at the perfect flare of her hips and over her shaved pubic mound. In the haze of his mind, he could just remember her question. “I feel…”
“Yes? It’s all right. No matter what you say.”
His eyelids shuttered briefly and he glanced up into her eyes. Again, he was captured by the seductive yet compassionate shine in them.
“I…want you…Lily…” His body thundered, his cock throbbed, and words came with great difficulty. “…so much.”
Lily’s smile deepened, and he sensed that his words pleased her more deeply than what showed in her face. “Very soon now.” She reached out, and her gentle touch on his shoulders urged him back onto the bed.
He felt his arouse
d body sink into a wealth of silk pillows. It had been so long since he’d lain in such a bed with a woman, and Lily’s bed seemed to invite two lovers to entwine themselves in its softness.
Lily knelt in front of him. The top of her head just reached a level with his lips and the fragrance of her hair and skin, like jasmine flowers mixed with female musk, intoxicated him. He wanted to reach out and pull her against him and take her mouth in a deep kiss. His lips ached to taste hers, to explore the soft, warm recesses of her mouth with his tongue.
But he held back, not only because he was her student now, but because he sensed her need for control. In spite of their respective roles, something about Lily called on his deepest powers of restraint…of respect.
“I want you, too, Tenzin,” Lily said softly. She ran her hands down his arms and rested her touch on his forearms. In spite of the vast erotic experiences he’d had in the past centuries, heat bloomed in his cheeks. The feeling was so strange, as if this were his first time with a woman. He didn’t understand the effect Lily had on him and could only attribute it to the fact that she was, indeed, his first woman in a long time and that she was knowledgeable about men. Perhaps she’d compare him to others and find him lacking.
He pulled his mind away from such thoughts. He was here to give her his yang force, an act which would help them both. Lily was a Tigress, a religious practitioner, someone who certainly did not need a man beyond the life force that flowed from his body.
Lily tilted her heart-shaped face upward. Her violet eyes studied him, her full soft lips slightly parted. She reached up and placed her hands, palm down onto his chest. Her light touch sent a ripple of heat straight to his now aching groin. His breath hitched, and he watched her, surrendered to the tingling warmth where her skin touched his.
“Just allow yourself to enjoy my touch.” She slid her hands up, grazing his nipples.
Tenzin sucked in a breath. He moaned softly as his nipples pebbled under her soft caress.
“That’s it,” she crooned. “Just relax.”
Tenzin watched her, gaze trapped by her caress. He sensed so many thoughts and feelings swirl inside her, things she wouldn’t say out loud but which carried through her touch on his skin.
Her fingers remained splayed on his shoulders, her eyes narrowed slightly, the lids sensually heavy.
He resisted another impulse to reach out and pull her into his arms. How much more would she make him endure? His cock was already harder than a diamond, the skin seeming to be stretched to its limit, the veins ready to pop. At this point, she could do anything she wished to him, and he would obey.
He willed himself to remain quiet, his training in meditation standing him in good stead. His heavy breathing was the only indication of how close he was to losing all control.
She slid her hands on his shoulders and leaned into him. The warmth of her body invaded the narrow space between them. She closed the distance, let her breasts brush his chest, and pressed her lips softly to his lips. The kiss was quick, like a single breath. She brushed her bottom lip across his with a mere whisper of touch.
His eyelids shuttered, and his lips parted, wanting to receive more. That little taste of her mouth, and the tiny swipe of her nipples against his skin, made his head swirl and stole all rational thought from his mind. His heart thumped in his chest, a steady rapid beat, while his cock stood almost straight up.
Involuntarily, he jutted his hips forward, as if to reach the moist warmth of her sex.
But she seemed to draw back from him. She stared up at him, her eyes wide as if startled. What had frightened her? In the next second, the sensual Tigress demeanor slid back into place, and he wondered if he’d imagined the split-second of fear.
She slid her hands from his shoulders back down to his chest. The movement, though sensual, was obviously practiced. She trailed her fingertips down the furrow that divided his two chest muscles. Her touch left a trail of tingling heat, teased him more, and made his cock surge to the point of pain.
A tiny smile curved her lips, and her eyelids hooded her eyes as she trailed her feather light touch back over his nipples. With the pads of her index fingers, she swirled tiny circles over the sensitive disks, which tightened again. Icy heat sparkled through his chest, and Tenzin closed his eyes and tilted his head back, barely able to support his weight under the pleasurable assault.
Energy swirled in his chest, seemingly pulled by her touch. Wherever Lily’s fingertips went, the tingling heat followed.
Tenzin forced himself to open his eyes. He wanted to watch Lily touch him, wanted to keep his gaze on her beautiful face, her pouting lips, painted the red of cherries, as well as the darker flush of pink in her smooth cheeks. Her own nipples had tightened, he noticed, eyeing the dark peaks. He almost reached out and cupped her breasts, desperate to feel the soft swells against his hands. He pulled in a shuddering breath. When would she let him touch her?
Lily’s touch slid to his back, slender arms encircling him. The movement brought her closer, so close that her breath pulsed warmly onto his chest. Leaning in, she pressed her lips to the center of his chest.
He released a shuddering sigh. The soft pressure of Lily’s mouth on his skin was exquisite. She parted her lips, brushed them back and forth over the center of his chest. Each tiny slide of her full mouth made his skin tingle, made his shaft tighten more and more.
The tip of her tongue darted out and slid up the center furrow of his chest with moist warmth. He sucked in his breath, and his hands, on reflex, slid into her ebony hair. His chest rose and fell heavily under her seeking tongue, which she trailed teasingly to one side, tracing the outlines of his muscles and feathering a trail across to one nipple. The moist heat of her mouth closed over the sensitive, flat round.
Ohhh. His fingers tightened in her sleek hair. She flickered the tip of her tongue several times over the hard tip, then tugged it between her lips and tongue, gentle, sensual pulls that sent shoots of heat straight into his groin.
“Lily.” Her name slipped from him before he could stop himself. He stiffened, wondering whether she would pull away.
Instead, she pressed her hands into his back, bringing him closer. She lifted her mouth an inch away from his skin and blew over his moistened nipple. The soft, cool wind of her breath caressed the aroused peak. Tenzin curled his fingers deeper into her hair.
He tilted his head back, lost in the sensations: the wet heat of her mouth on his skin, the sleekness of her hair against his fingertips, the gentle press of her hands on his back, expertly teasing his body to the heated arousal only her soft, wet petals could relieve.
Lily pressed her lips into his skin again, kissing a soft trail over to the other side of his chest. She closed her lips over his other nipple and tugged the tight bud against her tongue. More sparks of heat darted through his body, traveled in an invisible trail to his groin. He groaned softly, whispered her name again.
This time she did lift her head, causing his hands to slip from her hair. Her eyelids were heavy, her full lips parted, gleaming from her kisses to his chest. The scent of her arousal filled the air, making him feel crazed with lust and wishing she would throw off her robe and entwine her body with his in the soft bed.
She did no such thing, and he sensed her pulling herself inward, resisting the carnal urges he caused in her. She was the Tigress…in control, the mistress of her own desires.
Her gaze darted down to his hardness, at his cock jutting at a painful upright curve from his body. Her appraisal seemed to tell him that he was aroused exactly as she had planned.
“You have an overabundance of yang,” she said softly. Her voice thrummed sensually through him. “Before you can begin this path, you must be relieved of the excess. Otherwise, you’ll feel mad.” She slid her touch back to his arms and closed her hands over his shoulder. With gentle pressure, she pushed him into a sitting position on the bed.
“I feel mad now, Lily.”
He allowed her to guide him. Her tou
ch was warm and soft, yet firm, and his body sank further into the soft bedding. Arousal hummed along every nerve ending in his skin, culminating in his cock. It throbbed visibly now with the need for release. He panted from the intensity of the pressure. In spite of his avowal to be her student, he wanted desperately in that moment to have her be a soft, pliable woman who would just straddle him, allow him to sheathe his cock deep inside her, and smother him with kisses while she rode them both to bliss.
A smile curved her lips. “I understand. Don’t fear. As I have already said, I will help you.” She punctuated her promise with the slide of her fingertips up and down the lengths of his thighs. In teasing strokes, she dipped her thumbs down his inner thighs, dangerously close to his erection which twitched with need each time she drew near.
He licked his lips, the juices of his mouth activated by the sight of her hands so close to his cock. He gripped the bedclothes so as not to reach out and pull her closer.
“I will tell you as many times as is necessary,” she said gently. “There is nothing wrong with desire.” She arched her back causing her breasts to jut closer to him. She leaned in enough to push her nipples against his skin.
He pulled in a breath. “When may I touch you?” he choked out.
She smiled and pressed another soft kiss across his lips. “Soon, Tenzin. After I release some of your excess yang.”
She moved closer and bent over him. Her nipples brushed his knees, causing him to gasp at the contact; his teeth clenched, and his fingers dug into the bedclothes.
Lily threw her head back, the long hair touching the floor behind her, the movement bringing her nipples closer. Her mouth parted, and she began a sensuous rhythm back and forth, rubbing her hard tips against his knees. She shuddered a few times but never stopped the cadence.
When he thought his seed would spurt out of him, she stopped. Lowering her head, she opened her eyes and gazed at him. Then a small smile curved her lips.
Ace in the Hole Page 5