The Tycoon's Temporary Bride: Book Four (14 page)

Guilt, and some other emotion she didn’t
recognize had pushed Tashi out of her chair. They’d cleared the
table and stacked the dishes into the terrace dishwasher then she’d
excused herself and escaped to the master suite for the rest of the
night where more guilt over occupying his personal quarters had
assailed her.

It was those precarious moments when they’d
stood on the edge of something astronomical, when some epiphany was
about to be revealed that scared her most. She tried to avoid them
as much as possible, especially because she’d come to sense a deep
spirituality in Adam.

He seemed to be at peace with himself and one
with everything around him, and he smiled a lot. Warmth flowed
through Tashi’s being as she thought of Adam’s smile that exuded
balance and confidence, a smile that always made her feel safe,
like she was home, in a place where nothing and no one bad could
harm her.

If she took away nothing else from her brief
encounter with Adam Andreas, Tashi knew she would take the visions
of his smiles with her. When she felt doubtful and afraid in the
future, she would think of him. He’d renewed her belief that there
were genuinely kind, decent, and good men in the world. Men like
her uncle, the nameless FBI agent, and Adam. Those three men had
one thing in common—they’d all cared for her. She would make them
proud.

Tashi took another sip of her orange juice as
the grandfather clock across the hall chimed out the mid-morning
hour.

This morning, like every other morning, Adam
had awakened her with a kiss on her forehead, and then escorted her
to the bathroom where a bath was waiting for her. As she soaked in
the scented bubbly Jacuzzi, he made breakfast and set it on the
balcony off the master bedroom, where they’d eat while enjoying the
view of the majestic green mountains and interlocking lakes in the
distance.

They’d settled into a routine where Adam
would disappear after breakfast while she cleaned up the kitchen,
made their beds, and twice she’d done their laundry. Having no
other chores to occupy her time, Tashi read a lot, just like she
used to do when she was living on the other side of town. She
couldn’t say she missed the town’s library since Andreas Estates
was equipped with a well-stocked one that housed both hardcopy and
digital books. All she had to do was download to her ereader for
borrow.

She was never big on TV, so when she was
tired of reading, she swam laps in the first-floor Olympic-sized
indoor swimming pool, worked out and practiced her kickboxing in
the fully equipped gym next to it, soaked in the hot tub, perspired
in the sauna or the steam room—depending on her mood—and a couple
days she’d just lazed around and watched old classic movies in the
ultramodern home theatre.

That was the daily life of Princess Tashi of
Andreas Estate for the past week.

Adam had never joined her on any of her
indoor excursions, and the mansion was so big, she never ran into
him. But during their daily meals, he always asked about her use of
the numerous amenities and if she were enjoying her exploration of
the house. A few days ago, when he’d been late starting dinner,
she’d mentioned that he didn’t have to cook every day, nor did he
have to join her for every meal.

“They’re not just meals, Tashi,” he’d
responded. “They’re dates.”

“Dates?” she’d asked, frowning at him. “We’re
dating?”

“Yes. I’m getting to know you as I hope
you’re getting to know me.”

“But I haven’t told you anything about
me.”

He’d chuckled, folded his arms across the
tabletop, and leaned toward her, his body, his presence eating up
the small space between them. “Quite the contrary, Miss Holland.
I’m learning a lot about you, even though you don’t talk.”

“How?” She’d wanted to move back, give
herself breathing room, but she was transfixed, immobilized by his
electric eyes.

“My preparing your meals every day, waking
you up with a kiss every morning, and running your bath is
equivalent to driving to your home to pick you up. Sometimes I
stand and watch you sleep, anticipate the moment when you open your
eyes and smile at me. Those are the most fulfilling and exciting
moments of my day.”

“I didn’t know that,” Tashi had responded as
her heart began to race at a thousand beats per second. “And how
are these dates going for you, Adam?” As soon as she’d asked that
question, Tashi knew she was ready to engage in the subtle games of
truth and dare, subdue and conquer, that men and women played with
each other. She couldn’t remember ever being that audacious with
anyone, much less a man.

Paradoxically, it was Adam’s calm demeanor
that seemed to coax out the naïve, yet wantonly curious girl who’d
been hiding in the shadows her overprotective uncle had cast over
her. She felt safe playing with Adam, like if she broke her doll,
he’d mend it, or if she sent a ball flying through the neighbor’s
window, he’d take the blame for her. She felt like she had a pal
who’d be there for her, no matter what.

His smile conveyed his enthusiasm in sharing
his thoughts with her. “Meals for me aren’t merely about eating, or
satisfying a hunger, Tashi. It’s a very intimate and pleasurable
event. I love to watch you enjoy my dishes, just as much as I enjoy
preparing them for you. My heart flutters when your eyes pop wide
as you place something tasty into your mouth. I love to watch the
way your lips curl around your fork or your spoon, the subtle
motions of your mouth while you chew, and the ripples of muscles in
your throat when you swallow. Your goodnight kiss to me is when
your little pink tongue emerges from your mouth and slides across
your lips to capture remnants of your meals.”

Tashi had had trouble breathing as Adam’s
sensuous words hummed inside her. He hadn’t touched her, yet she’d
never felt so aroused, so feminine in her entire life. She’d
quivered deep inside and expelled a soft sigh as something hot and
burning erupted inside her. To her dismay, she’d felt moisture
settling inside her panties.

“The way a person eats is indicative of what
kind of lover he or she will be,” he’d continued, smiling as if he
knew exactly what was happening to her. “You, my little Tashi,
would be shy and uncertain at first. Your irises would widen at
each new sensation, and your pupils would lighten with curiosity,
then darken with desire as you test the level of pleasure each
touch brings you. Then as you gain confidence and satisfaction,
you’ll abandon your inhibitions and let the pleasure wash over
you.”

Later that night, with her skin flushed and
her body aching, Tashi had lain awake in the darkness of Adam’s
white bedroom and imagined what it would be like to make love with
him. He would be gentle and patient at first, nibble on her body
slowly and sensuously, then as her passion grew, he’d relax his
control and lick and lap at her indelicately…

Pushing the sensuous thoughts aside, Tashi
rose from the sofa and walked over to the glass wall. It was a
beautiful day. The sky was a deep blue with wispy clouds scattered
across it. The sun was high and she could almost feel the rays
melting into her skin as she gazed down on the colorful flower
garden surrounded by trimmed shrubbery and walking paths below
her.

She glanced back at her camera bag. She’d
taken lots of shots from various angles inside the mansion, but
she’d never ventured out to inspect the grounds. Perhaps it was
time to extend her exploration and enjoy the grounds as much as
she’d been enjoying the interior of Andreas Estates before she made
her departure.

With her camera bag in hand, Tashi left the
sunroom and made her way down to the first-floor compartmentalized
shoe closet where all shoes were kept. The room was bigger than her
multi-family apartment building. Adam allowed no one to wear shoes
past the first floor. He’d told her it was because he didn’t have a
housekeeper, but Tashi believed it had a lot to do with his
spiritual personality.

He was always barefoot, but who needed
slippers in a house with radiant heating and climate controlled
rooms that automatically adjusted when one walked in? She’d noticed
one wall in the library stacked with literature on living the
minimalistic lifestyle, yoga, meditation, and other types of
mind-channeling material, some of which she’d never heard of
before.

The mansion had been remodeled into a
minimalistic, neutral-colored heaven of uncluttered space that
offered an abundance of serenity and harmony. Instead of numerous
little trinkets most people filled their homes with, Adam’s home
was simply, yet elegantly decorated with furniture of the highest
quality. Except for the portraits of his parents in the first-floor
foyer, there were no other family pictures gracing the few walls of
the house. Who needed pictures when the architecture was so
stunning and the walls of glass offered uninterrupted views of the
natural beauty surrounding the house?

His décor was comprised mainly of priceless
life-size effigies of mythical African, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman
deities, and numerous oddly shaped sculptured objects that only the
rich could afford. Some were made of glass, some of marble,
granite, pearl, and precious metals. They were so strategically and
perfectly placed throughout the house, Tashi felt that moving one
just a fraction would cause imbalance and disorder, not only to the
room, but to Adam’s demeanor as well.

He must have felt like a fish out of water in
her apartment, Tashi thought. He did not belong to that world, any
more than she belonged to this.

He’d done his disappearing act after
breakfast, but she knew he’d reappear for lunch. She would offer to
cook him something for a change, but the kitchen was one place she
didn’t know her way around. She and Uncle Victor had eaten out a
lot, and when they did eat in, it was frozen, canned, and boxed
processed, readymade meals. In the summers, Uncle Victor used to
grill hot dogs and pre-seasoned hamburger patties—stuff that Adam
Andreas would never have in his kitchen.

Other than slicing them up, Tashi wouldn’t
know what to do with the vegetables in his fridge or the canisters
of brown rice, quinoa, beans, and other whole grain staples in his
cupboard.

In the past week, she’d never had the same
main dish twice for any meal, not even breakfast, and everything
was always fresh and delicious and tasted as if it had just been
pulled from the ocean or off a tree branch, lifted from the
butcher’s slab, or dug out of the ground. Every night, he cooked
her a four-course dinner, and everything was always so beautifully
presented that sometimes Tashi thought it was a sin to mess up the
dishes. Adam Andreas was a master of culinary skills. He wasn’t
just in the restaurant business, he was a connoisseur of food—from
the way he prepared it to the way he consumed it.

Her sneakers laced, Tashi made her way along
a corridor that ran the perimeter of the first floor. Its
translucent glass walls created a surreal image of continuity
between the interior beauty of the house and the meticulously
furnished, landscaped back courtyard with its evergreen shrubs,
wide green lawn separated into squares by copper-colored marble
borders, and protective railings of stone and steel that extended
as far as the eye could see. She squinted as the sun shimmered off
the roofs and steel panels of several other buildings scattered
across the estate.

Tashi descended a short flight of stone-cut
stairs and lifted her face to the sunlight peeking through the line
of evergreen trees. She was dressed in an aqua, long-sleeved,
button-down shirt and jeans—suitable attire to protect her arms and
legs during her hike. She took her camera from its case and without
giving it any real thought, she followed the nearest path of
several leading away from the courtyard. She hadn’t brought her map
with her, but she had her cell phone in her pocket. If she got
lost, she would just call Adam.

A chorus of chirping birds serenaded her as
she made her way through the evergreen timberland. She welcomed the
kiss of the light breeze on her skin and reveled in the smell of
pine, birch, maple, rich dark soil, and an occasional whiff of the
colorful mountain flora bobbing gracefully from the moist forest
floor. She stopped here and there for a candid snap of squirrels
and chipmunks scurrying through the woodland searching for nuts and
pinecones, or chasing one another in the catch and release game
males and females of all species played with each other.

Coming upon a cluster of maple trees lining
the sides of the path, Tashi stopped to admire a male cardinal
enjoying the maple sap dripping from a hole in the trunk of one of
the trees. She managed to get a few shots before he spread his red
wings and flew out of sight. Higher up in the branches a
female—probably his mate of the season, or several seasons—fed
seeds to their fledglings. She only got two shots before the momma
bird spread its brown wings as if to protect her young from
view.

Tashi smiled. It felt great to be outdoors
again, to experience this simple, yet extraordinary slice of
nature. Tashi wished she could stay here forever and forget about
the world beyond Andreas Estates, where people wanted her dead. But
that was wishful thinking.

Encountering a fork in the winding road,
Tashi pushed her somber thoughts aside as she contemplated which
one to take. Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken” popped into her
head. They seemed equally traveled to her, and realizing that it
really didn’t matter, she took the one on the left. In a few yards,
it opened up into a meadow with a crystal blue lake surrounded by
clusters of pine and a variety of other flowering trees she
couldn’t identify. A range of gently sloping hills on the other
side created the perfect backdrop.