Sacred Serenity (Lotus House Book 2) (7 page)

I had no idea if Amber St. James was my One, but every time I was in her presence, I couldn’t shut down the urge to make her mine, an uncontrollable desire, a lust so pure, it burned like white-hot fire through my veins. That had to be my sign, one impossible to ignore. Whether ordained by the Great One, Mother Earth, the Universe, or God Himself, she was put in my path for a reason. One I rejoiced in finding out.

Sitting quietly, I picked up a long feather from the basket of trinkets. Starting at her forehead, I tickled her third eye chakra, known in Sanskrit as the
Ajna
. She smiled and her chest puffed several times in silent laughter. I’d take laughter over irritation any day. Definitely a good start to this practice.

With a light caress, I ran the feather down the side of her face and over her clavicle. She sighed. Another pleasant response. In my peripheral vision, I could see her fingers tightening as I ran the tip of the silky feather between her breasts, never straying or disrespecting her trust. Once the touch met her abdomen, I twirled it around the spherical indention of her navel. Her mouth opened on a soft gasp. That reaction was key. I had her.

As the guitar strings were plucked, I moved with the highs and lows, running the feather up and down each arm until I could see gooseflesh rise up. I’d made sure the room was set at a comfortable seventy-four degrees. For a moment, I stopped and watched her breathe. With every rise of her diaphragm, I counted her breaths and paired mine with hers so that we were connected through pranayama, as well as through the tip of the feather.

Speaking barely above a whisper, I addressed the class. “Good. Next, I want you to follow the same path of the instrument, but use just your fingertips.”

Amber shivered, and her hands tightened into fists. I started there, hoping to ease her. Breaking my own rules, I hovered near her head and brought my lips to her ear. “Itchy nose if it becomes too much. Trust me.” I covered one of her fists with my hands. I uncurled each finger and brushed each one with a single stroke of the tip of my index finger until she relaxed. Then I moved from her hand up her arm. When I got to the crease in her elbow, she inhaled. I used that reaction as my guide, wanting more of those little gasps and unexpected breaths. Every new spot I uncovered was like opening the locks hiding a precious treasure.

Being careful not to startle her, I pressed my entire palm over her heart, allowing the warmth of my hand chakra to meld with her heart’s energy. I could have sworn a delicate thread of pure turquoise blue weaved from her heart chakra into my hand, infusing my own senses with pure love. The sensation careened through my hand, up my arm, and straight into my own heart where it squeezed tight. It sounded so ridiculous even as I thought it, but it seemed as if her heart’s energy was embracing my own.

I became overwhelmed with a pride so strong it filled every single one of my senses down to the tips of my toes. I leaned forward and replaced my hands with my lips. Slowly, I nuzzled the space between her breasts and pressed my lips over her heartbeat. She gasped and wrapped her hands around my head and held me to her.

As quickly as the need came, it went. Whispered words around us brought me out of the meditative state. This woman completely tore away any restraint I had and renewed me with a simple heart-to-heart connection.

I cleared my throat and pulled off Amber’s blindfold, needing to see her eyes. I had to know if she regretted what I’d done. I hadn’t planned it, but it had happened, and I needed to know if she felt it too. When she opened her eyes, they were filled with love. She’d felt it. Taking a deep breath, and without speaking, I closed my eyes and handed her the blindfold. She put it back on.

“Okay, men, now you have carte blanche. The goal of this last exercise is to kiss every bit of skin you touched. Remember, respect your mate and don’t take it too far. This is a test of your will and control as much as it is for you to feel as one with each other.”

I turned back to Amber and saw her now in a completely different light. Whatever had happened between us through our heart chakra was real and intense, and I’d never experienced it with another woman before. A first for me, which told me exactly what I needed to know.

“Amber, if you don’t want to do this, I won’t.” I had to be sure. With all the other assistants, I wouldn’t continue with the kissing. Usually we’d just sit quietly and mediate while the others performed the act on their mate. Now though, touching her was like a siren’s call. I wanted nothing more than to put my lips all over her beautiful body and glowing skin. I salivated at the mere thought.

And then Amber floored me. I don’t know if it was the aphrodisiac of the breathing, the touching, the feather, or more, but whatever it was, I would worship this moment later, reliving it a hundred times over.

“I trust you, Dash.”

Those four words gripped my heart and squeezed like before. I’d never forget the moment I’d finally earned this woman’s trust. All I knew was that I would die before I betrayed it.

Leaning forward, I started at her forehead, placing a dry kiss. Silently, I sent her joy, peace, and love. Being this close, the scent of strawberries warred with the peppermint diffuser. I wanted to rub my face all over her hair and neck, imprinting the fruity smell so I’d smell like her later. Not being able to contain myself, I laid a row of kisses down her temple, cheek, and along the silky column of her neck. When I reached the tender patch behind her ear, I nipped the flesh. Her mouth opened in a soft “O” that made my dick stand at attention.

Moving along her clavicle, I bit into the bony protrusions, losing myself in the exotic taste of her skin. After I’d kissed down each arm, nibbling on every finger, her legs were shifting restlessly and a musky scent overwhelmed both the strawberry and mint of the room. Oh sweet mother, she was turned on. Her arousal was soaking her panties right here on the stage in front of a roomful of people. The woman was a gift from God. Absolutely perfect.

I wrapped my fingers around her hips and held her steady. I glanced around the room, making sure everyone was in their zone. They were. Not one couple was paying attention to us, all lost in one another. Man, I loved my job.

Back to Amber, I straddled her legs and squeezed. Her body went rubber band tight until I circled her waist with both hands. Then I did exactly what I’d wanted to do when I saw her bare midriff exposed. I kissed and then dragged my tongue around her navel.

She mumbled a sleepy, “Dash.”

I sighed, resting my forehead against her abdomen. The musky smell was intense this close to her center, making my mind dizzy with a lusty haze. My cock was thick, long, and so hard I could have pounded a nail into wood with it. This close to her sex, I could so easily imagine pulling down her shorts and burying my mouth in her slick heat. I didn’t need to be a sorcerer to know it would be the sweetest pussy I’d ever have the honor of tasting.

Breathing shallowly, I lifted my head away from the temptress’s sweet spot and focused my gaze on something far less likely to get me slapped, punched, or thrown in jail for misconduct—Amber’s pretty, plump lips. She’d licked, pouted, pursed, and bitten down on the tender bits of flesh so much throughout this session that they held a raspberry hue.

Easing up her abdomen with firmer, more staccato kisses, I went over her sports bra along her neck where I was gifted another sensual sigh. I traced her jawline and kissed just the corner of her lips.

“Is your nose itching?” I asked, kissing the other side of her jaw up toward her lips.

“Not even a little.” Her voice shook.

I smiled. My brave little bird. She wanted this as much as I did, but she didn’t want to take it herself. If I gave it to her, she’d have no choice. Well, less so than if she’d instigated it.

Breathing close, I rubbed my nose along hers and allowed just the tip of my lips to barely touch hers. “How about now? Do you need to scratch anything?”

She moved her head from left to right.

My lips got so close I could inhale her breath directly. I was only centimeters from kissing her. “I’m going to kiss you.”

“Oh my,” she said against my lips.

“Unless you suddenly have a need to scratch, my lips are going to take yours in a kiss that will change everything. All you have to do is touch your nose.”

For long moments, I held myself above Amber, waiting for her to move away, to do something, anything.

Our breath mingled until she closed the distance and touched her nose to mine in a simple Eskimo kiss. That was it. I had the ability to hold back but no will. No longer caring about the circumstances, I covered her lips with mine.

She moaned, my mouth masking any sound outside of the cavern of our joined lips. She tasted of bubble gum and walks through the park, innocence and warmth wrapped in one package. I ate it up, delving my tongue in farther to taste, devour, and mark as my own. I wanted the kiss to go on forever. Amber responded with long licks of her tongue into my mouth and nibbles against my bottom lip while I tended to her top one. I lost all track of time and space, beginning to understand that Amber narrowed everything down to one simple thing. Us.

Kissing her, laying my body over hers, was one of the single most pleasurable moments of my entire life, and I’d had some wild experiences. Maybe that’s the reason it was so special. It couldn’t be duplicated. Nothing had ever been this perfect in my twenty-eight years of life. No woman had broken me down to my base self where the core of my being rested. She woke me up, made me see, and with every swipe of my tongue against hers, she brought me to a higher plane of existence where alone was a thing of the past. Not something I’d ever wish for again. With her under me, wrapped around me, inside me, I was whole.

A
distant clapping
noise filtered into my subconscious mind. Dash’s lips kept at mine. I had no intention of stopping our kiss, save for the sound…roaring, cresting, getting louder by the second, prodding at my concentration on the finest lips I’d ever touched. Eventually, the cheering poked and pierced the little bubble of heaven we’d created around us until all I could hear were twittering birds. No, not birds, laugher. Chatter rising in volume until it could no longer be ignored. Dash pulled back first. I lifted my head, my mouth chasing his lips in the dark. He plucked the blindfold off my eyes with a flourish. Speckles of light flickered and colorful starbursts flared against my vision before I could see his face clearly. His eyes were black as night. He grinned and then oddly, looked to his left.

“Sorry, class. Looks like Amber and I got a little swept away in the exercise.”

Class.

We were on stage.

In front of a roomful of people.

Oh. No.

Dash held my hand as I sat up and rubbed at my eyes. A wave of heat not connected to my lady bits resurfaced and spread up my chest and over my neck to blister my cheeks. I looked down at our joined hands and focused on his words.

“Homework for the next three days is to practice what you learned in class today on each other. Take turns. Once you get to the kissing step, give it enough time before you ramp up and employ what you’ve learned to a more corporeal, united activity.”

He waggled his eyebrows, and the couples around us laughed. Me, I was mortified. Humiliated beyond reasonable comprehension. I’d lost my mind and made out with my yoga instructor in front of an entire class full of people. A person couldn’t return from that. Pretend like it never existed. Walk away with a twinkle in your eye and a smile.

No, Dash would want to discuss it. A sense of pure dread made every hair on my body stand at attention. What was I thinking? The truth? I wasn’t. Plain and simple. I felt like the second I put the blindfold on, I was lost to him. He’d taken me to a place in my mind that was light, love, and pure…heaven. Of course, I knew spiritually and cerebrally that I wasn’t in
the
heaven. Though I couldn’t deny that I’d never felt the way I did when Dash touched me. Each caress of the feather he’d used on my skin brought with it a tingle that skimmed every nerve ending, lighting them on fire. I burned with it. Longed for each new scrap of his essence over mine.

Regardless, none of that compared to the moment when his lips touched my bare skin. My head and heart pounded a jungle-like rhythm. Each new expanse of skin anticipated his next movement. Yearned to be found, conquered. I’d tried to repeat the quadratic formula in my head, count and name all two hundred and six bones in the human body, if only to distract me from the sheer bliss he’d bestowed. Dash overpowered and overwhelmed the smallest body part. He drowned me in a sea of sensations so acute I’d have died and gone to heaven just to experience them again.

The couples in the class moved around, rolling up their mats, whispering to one another as they prepared to leave.
Leave
. Yes! That’s it. I needed to be on that train.

No. You’re not a child, Amber. Put on your big girl panties and address this like a mature adult.

I could do that. I’m certain Dash could do that being six years my senior. Easy. I’d tell him we got carried away, he’d agree, and then we’d commit to it not happening again. Perfect.

Once I’d gotten my swishy track pants back on to cover some of the nakedness I felt, I sucked in a huge breath and planned to lay it out for him.

“Dash…”

That was the only word I got out before he curled a hand around my nape and the other looped around my waist. We slammed chest to chest only seconds before his lips were on mine. He didn’t work up to seduction like he’d done when I was blindfolded. No, he went straight for the gusto. I told my fingers to push against his chest, break the seal, but somewhere, lust and pleasure clouded and deadened each synapse that fired. Instead, I dug into his chest, circled my arms around his waist, and did the exact opposite of what I should have done. I held on. Tight.

My fingertips pressed into the sinewy, muscular texture of his back, clinging when I should have let go. Dash did the same, adding a vise lock around my waist as his hand moved to my cheek where he could slant my head left and right, getting just the right angle to delve deep…so deep. He consumed me from the inside out. I couldn’t get enough. He tasted so good. Like honey and spearmint. I moaned, pressing closer until I could feel the hardened ridge of his erection against my belly.

That was the jolting wake-up call that finally penetrated my moral psyche. I pushed with all my might, breaking our connection and sucking in a gasp of air so large I had to bend over to get control. I rested my hands on my thighs, digging into my quads. The pinch of pain did nothing to calm the roaring train of lust chugging through my system.

Lord, help me.

Dash wiped off his mouth as if he’d just taken a huge gulp of water instead of having kissed the sanity right out of me. “Amber…why did you stop?”

Why did I stop? Was he for real?

“I know you enjoyed it. Held me tighter even.” He stepped closer, his face a mask of desire, ready to partake the fruit he so obviously craved. “Your body sealed to mine…” He closed his eyes, and his nostrils flared on a sharp inhale. “Didn’t you feel it?”

I licked my lips, the remnants of his taste still there as I backed up a step. He advanced a step closer.

Dash grinned. “Are you afraid of me, little bird?”

I shook my head but didn’t respond. Honesty clogged my throat and stole my nerve.

He bent his neck and progressed another step. If I moved back one more foot, I’d be off the riser, and he’d know I was attempting to escape. What I was running from, I didn’t yet know.

“Hmm. You’re not afraid of me. If you were, you wouldn’t have kissed me like that. Possessed my heart and body with one press of your lips to mine.” He squinted. “Admit it. I bring out a side of you that you’re afraid of. A piece of your soul no one has ever seen, perhaps not even yourself.”

“Dash…” I swallowed, trying to think of what to say, how to deny it. Still, I came up empty. He was right. I’d never felt like this before, not with anyone, not ever, and it scared the living hell out of me.

He finally stepped close enough to cup both of my cheeks. His palms were warm and soft. Instinctively, I closed my eyes, letting the connection soak into my skin. He leaned forward, so close that our breath mingled, and I thought he’d kiss me again. Unfortunately, that wasn’t his intent. Surprisingly, he rubbed his nose against mine and then pressed his forehead to mine. A current of heat rippled through me, like skipping rocks on a serene lake, the instant waves breaking the serenity and calm.

Dash’s voice was strong, confident, and genuine when he spoke. “I would
never
hurt you. Never betray your trust. Your innocence is safe with me, Amber.”

My innocence is safe with him.

I pushed my head back so that I could look directly in his eyes. “What do you mean my ‘innocence’?” I’d not told him I was a virgin, and Genevieve would never break the best friend code.

He chuckled and sifted his fingers into my hair, massaging the back of my head with strong, blunt pressure. I briefly succumbed to the modest pleasure and sighed.

“Amber, I know a lot about a person the moment I meet them. I’ve always been that way. People speak to me with their body language, the words they speak, the way they dress, even a simple gesture can say a lot about a person.”

I didn’t mind backing up and stepping off the riser then. Space was necessary for some reason.

Not wanting to give attitude, but still uncertain where he was going with his innocence comment, I stiffened my spine and placed my hands on my hips. “So you think you’re what? Telepathic?”

Dash smiled huge and rubbed at his chin. The prickly hair on his chin grated against his palm as he did. For all intents and purposes, that could have been a mating call with the way my body reacted. I clenched my thighs against the flow of arousal coursing through me to land heavily there. Throbbing. Aching.

“No, no. You misunderstand. I’m merely stating that I’m observant. Not only have you told me that you are religious, but also you’ve been very concerned about how much or how little I’d be touching you. Then, of course, when I did touch you, there was your reaction.” He smirked.

That dirty devil. “My reaction? This ought to be good. Please, enlighten me.”

Dash pursed his lips. “You acted as if every touch was the first one you’d ever received. As if each kiss to your flesh was a new one. A brand-new beginning.”

I frowned and tightened my hold over my chest. “A new beginning. To what?”

Dash smiled wide and rested his hands on his hips. He’d left his shirt off and was displaying his golden body to me like a bronzed god bathing under the sun’s rays. Only it was actually track lighting that created the effervescent hue surrounding him, though it definitely fit the mood.

“Haven’t you figured it out?” He grinned.

I cringed and sucked in an irritated breath. “Figured out what?”

“That this is the beginning of us.”

How can she not see and feel what’s happening? My mind seized with the fear that I’d misinterpreted the connection between us. For me it was a live wire, filled with energy like a wild electrical current. Never ending, only getting stronger.

“Us? What
us
? There is no
us
, Dash.” Her brown hair hid her face.

I wanted nothing more than to push it back and gaze upon the canvas in its entirety. “Amber, there is.”

She shook her head. “What planet do you live on?” Her voice cracked with the strain of her denial.

“What rock do you live under?” I shot back with a heaping dose of mirth.

The corresponding glare I received was priceless and so pretty I wanted to kiss it away. If I’d been certain she wouldn’t sock me, I’d have done so.

Amber sighed. God, each sigh she blessed me with was a direct shot to my dick. Every single one made me harder than the last. For all the money in the world, I couldn’t describe what her little sounds did to me, or why such a deluge of need was attached to her presence. It’s as if it always was. Kismet, fate, whatever you wanted to call it. And now, it was my duty, my
pleasure
, to get her to see the light, of what we were meant to be.

“Dash, I… We kissed, and it was good.”

I cringed. Good. When referring to a kiss, good sounds bad, especially the way she was circling around what she really wanted to say.

“Great even.” Another sigh and a slump of her shoulders said it all, until she put the nail right into the coffin.

“I’m not the girl for you. We need to stop whatever this is between us right now. Cut our losses and just be friends and partners for this class. Nothing more.”

“To hell with that!” The words left my mouth so harshly she practically jumped back a foot. “Amber, I have never in my life experienced what I did today. When I’m touching you, everything disappears. I’ve studied the Tantric arts and have put them to the test many times in my sex life, but nothing, absolutely
nothing
holds a candle to the simple act of putting my lips on your skin. Taking your mouth with mine. Holding you. I can’t explain, but I know enough that when the universe hands you a gift, you do not thrust it back in its face. You treasure it.” I stopped and strengthened my resolve. “Unless, of course, you can look me in the eye and tell me right here and now that you feel nothing. That this, whatever it is…is completely one-sided?”

I held my hands in fists at my sides, waiting, dreading what lie she’d spew. I knew with my entire being that Amber St. James was meant for me. Ludicrous as it might sound after having known one another for such a short time, the facts were there, laid out in black and white on the floor of a yoga studio in Berkeley, California. Each touch shared, each of her gasps, our mouths melding like perfect liquid sunshine. No matter what she said next, I vowed then and there that I’d prove it to her or die trying.

She inhaled sharply and pulled at her elbows where her arms were folded over one another. Like she was trying to hide how affected she was by me, more than her exposed flesh in the flimsy sports bra. I saw her puckered tips, wanted to wrap my mouth against each peak and warm them until graced with a needy sigh. If she’d just let me, I could take her to places she’d never even heard of before.

Amber pursed her lips. “I’m not going to lie to you. Not only is lying a sin, it’s ridiculous. Obviously, I reacted rather…”