She said nothing on the short ride, but stopped at the elevators. "I have to take a shower and change," she said. "I'll meet you in the lounge in half an hour."
"Is that enough time?"
"I'm the type who can be ready in fifteen minutes. The extra was for you." She heard his chuckle as the doors shushed before her.
Arianna wasted no time. She refused to analyze what had changed, but the possibility of sex with her teacher was too tempting to discard. She showered, threw on a black lace thong and matching bra, and wiggled into her one knit black dress, casual but sexy. The knit dipped in a low rounded neck that showed her cleavage, and stopped above the knee. She left her legs bare and hooked strappy jeweled sandals on her feet. Then headed out.
Grant watched her walk into the dining room with a fascination and desire he no longer wanted to hide. God, she was gorgeous. This woman knew who she was and her confidence shimmered from every facet of her body, from her long legs and determined stride, to the gleam of mystery in her jade green eyes. Her dark hair swung silkily past her jaw, gleaming burgundy in the low light. Arianna Devlin would challenge a man on every level, and only the strong would survive. A pleasant buzz rang in his head at the thought of taking all that passion and channeling it. Her mind held a feminine strength which showed in her practices. Difficult postures usually frustrated beginner students. Arianna let her mind go and trusted her body to surrender. Her quick wit and honest conversation was a refreshing change from the women he usually met. His resolution to avoid her shattered into pieces when he'd put his hands on her today. Her flesh bent under his persuasion, and the heated resentment in her gaze only intrigued him. She obviously wanted him, but he held back. One word and she'd be in his bed. One word.
She reached the table. "I wasn't sure what you wanted to order," he said, as she took her seat.
"Steak. Bloody. Steamed broccoli. Vodka martini, extra dry, shaken, not stirred, and extra olives."
He signaled the waiter with the order and then leaned forward, intrigued. "Most of the women I know are vegetarians."
She tilted her head in challenge. "I have no problems eating cows. I love bacon, vodka and bread. I also balance my cravings with salads for lunch and yogurt for breakfast."
"A woman in balance is someone I respect."
"I'm glad." She smiled at him, her face open. "I take pleasure very seriously. Life is too short."
"I agree. So, tell me what brought you to my yoga class?" She started on the dinner rolls and slathered the inner flesh with butter. "I work in an advertising agency. Fast pace, tons of stress. All the late hours and bad food finally caught up with me. I didn't like the way I felt anymore, so I needed a change."
"Most people never slow down to even assess why they aren't happy. I give you credit." She took a bite of the roll. A drop of shiny butter gleamed in the corner of bee-stung lips.
Her tongue slid out and licked the corner of her mouth with slow motions. Grant stared at her openly. His erection was immediate, imagining those same lips over his shaft, opening and sliding upward to receive him. Again, she didn't pretend not to notice. She smiled the age old smile of Eve and beckoned him over to her garden.
"Why don't you want to go to bed with me?" she asked.
Her blunt question only made him want her more. Her body was dangerous, but her cleverness and companionship was deadly. Damn, he liked her. Grant reached for his red wine.
"Would you like to hear my story?"
"Yes."
He nodded and went back into his past. "I was married. She began as one of my students.
I loved her and I was faithful. My following began to grow and instead of hopping to different locations, I decided to embark on a yoga school. I wanted to develop something like the karate schools and train students to go deeper into the practice than a class at the local gym. She supported my goal, and we built the school together." He paused and waited for her questions. She said nothing, just nodded her head for him to continue. "The school became successful, but my wife began to change. She became jealous of the female students. As you know, the practices sometimes morph into an intimate level. There are standards to follow, but sometimes the women in class form an attachment to me. The same thing happened with the male students and my wife."
"Makes sense."
"She believed I was having an affair. Became irrational, stalking me and the students.
Began a chasm within the school until sides formed. Rumors started. I tried to talk to her, pulled back from my classes so we could fix it." Grant kept his voice neutral though the old emotions still clawed at his gut. "During one of my classes, I was served with divorce papers. Things got nasty. She rallied the students against me and some females made accusations that weren't true." Their food came. Silence settled over the table while he forked up his pasta. Then he continued. "She ended up getting the school. My reputation was ruined as a teacher. I walked away with nothing and had to start over. So, I moved to New York and made a fresh start."
"I'm sorry."
She offered no more, but he spotted an understanding in her gaze that soothed him. Grant realized he had never told the story to anyone other than his close friends back in Florida. No one in New York had ever scaled the wall to learn his past. Somehow, Arianna had gotten past. On some strange level, he trusted her. So, he told her everything.
"She lied to me."
Arianna blinked, seeming to realize the worst had not been told. "How did she lie, Grant?"
"She was having an affair with one of the students the whole time. While she accused me and took my school, she was screwing around with one of my senior aides." Her hands reached across the table and interlinked his fingers as he'd done back in the studio. The warmth and softness of her flesh closed around him and chased away the cold. "It doesn't matter," she said softly. "One of the principles you teach is correct. It's your own karma that you need to account for. You didn't cheat. You didn't do anything wrong. And another principle I've learned in this life."
"What?"
She smiled then, dazzling, sexy. "Life sometimes sucks." He smiled back. "Sad story over. Now you know."
"But I don't."
"Don't what?"
"I don't know why you won't take me to bed."
Her words shot like cannon fire in the candlelit room. The waiter took their plates, brought two fresh drinks and moved on.
"I promised I would never have an affair with a student. Too messy. Too many lies to cover up."
"I'm a grown woman with a mind and career of my own. I'm not promising love everlasting and white picket fences. You're not married. I'm single. And we're both dedicated to our careers. I just want you. For as long as it lasts." His body shuddered in response. Grant fought the knowledge things too good to be true usually weren't. "Arianna," he said softly, his hand tightening over hers. "I don't want you to get hurt. I don't want to make a mess of things again. I worked too hard to get back where I am."
"I understand."
Slowly, her fingers unraveled and she picked up her martini. He felt the distance close around her and knew it was his doing. Her body would be as open as her mind. He just needed to say yes. "Arianna--"
"No." She shook her head. "I do understand, Grant. Life's messy. I'm not going to chase you like some love-struck teenager. I work long hours and weekends. My smart phone is another appendage I can't live without. I don't want to change your life, I just want you in my bed. I'm even willing to let you set the rules."
She waved a hand in the air. "But we probably wouldn't fit. I'm direct and sometimes rude. I love sex and alcohol and red meat. I swear like a cop in Detroit and would probably side with a condo developer over saving some extinct bird species no one gives a crap about. I'll still come to class, and I'll finish up the weekend, but don't play games with me." He almost gasped. "Play games with you?"
"Don't put your hands on me unless you're ready for me. Got it?
Then he knew.
Grant grabbed the bill,
threw down some cash and stood up. Arianna sat, almost sullenly sipping her drink, expecting a male temper tantrum. "Get up," he said.
"Why?"
He leaned over and spoke against her ear. "Because I'm going to strip off your dress and make you come so many times you'll beg for mercy. Don't make me say it again." He paused.
"Get up. Now."
Arianna got up on legs that trembled and followed him out of the dining room.
The door closed.
Arianna walked toward the king size bed and put her purse on the bureau. She turned and he was beside her, his body heat rising to her nostrils, and like a horse in heat, a sound rose from her throat. She expected niceties, a glass of wine, some more conversation, but he reached behind her and unzipped her dress.
The black knit fell to the floor and left her in her thong and bra, her chest rising and falling as the excitement began to build as he stared at her. His gaze was hot and his hands large and hard as he smoothed his palms over her skin. He cupped her neck and moved downward over her shoulders to the swell of her breasts. Paused. Then over the lace to push in a gentle pressure that coaxed her nipples to harden and rise. Continuing down over her stomach, the curve of her hips.
He didn't speak, just drank his fill as he knelt before her and explored her naked buttocks, sweeping down her thighs, the backs of her knees and calves to her feet. She lifted her foot to kick off her sandals.
His hand stopped the motion. "No, he said roughly. "Leave them on." Grant straightened. Unclipped her bra. Then slid her panties down until she was naked.
Arianna stood proudly before him, evidently aroused, her breath hitching as she reached for him.
"Let's play," she said.
Her fingers flew over the buttons of his shirt as she ripped it off his body. Corded muscles rippled down his arms, his chest and stomach. His olive skin was warm and a musky, manly scent oozed through his pores--like sex itself. A pull of the belt loosened his pants and she pushed them down. His erection sprang forward and her hands coasted, caressed him from hilt to the tip and felt him shudder.
Her head bent and nipped at his shoulder, digging her teeth into his flesh. Her leg lifted to hook her ankle around his buttocks, feeling his erection tickle her, teasing her clit through the rough cloth of his underwear. His breath hitched hard, his hands grabbed her by the waist, lifted her up and yes, yes, yes. . . .
She waited to be thrown against the wall and taken on a hard, wild ride, but she felt the softness of the mattress on her back and suddenly her hands were clasped over her head and he pinned her beneath his weight.
Arianna gulped for air, shaking her head to come back to earth. "What are you doing?" she gasped.
"Slowing down."
She arched upward then, grinning at his restraint. "You don't have to. I like it quick, I like it hard, I like it--"
"I don't play that way."
Her legs lay splayed open on the bed, his shaft pressed against her entrance. "Grant, I want--"
"Baby, you don't know what you want yet." He laughed then, a low, husky growl of sound. "But I'm going to show you."
"I don't understand."
"I practice tantra."
"Please tell me that's sex."
He dipped his head and nuzzled her neck, biting the sensitive lobe of her ear. "Hell, yes.
But it's better than regular sex. And I'm going to show you every step of the way." He reached out, slid a drawer open, and took out a pair of velvet handcuffs. Before she could protest, he slipped her wrists into them and clicked the cuffs closed.
"Grant?"
"Shhh, trust me."
Sliding off the bed, he dimmed the lights. He took off his underwear, then strode naked to the bed and lay beside her, one hand propped up so he could see her clearly. His fingers glided over her breasts, pinched her nipples lightly, coasted down on her stomach and traced the line of dark hair between her thighs. "Something tells me you approach sex like everything else you do.
No holds barred."
She sucked in her breath as she felt his finger part the thick bush of hair and stroke her swollen lips. "I, I don't think that's a bad thing."
"Not for men. But for you. I think you deserve more. You deserve to come a dozen times before I enter you. I want to lick your sweet pussy until you scream my name, I want to touch every part of your body, hidden and not hidden, and not once am I going to enter you." His other finger slid in and parted her lips to expose her clit. She pulled at her restraints, feeling overwhelmed by helplessness and sharp excitement. He watched her face the whole time, enjoying her pleasure, while his fingers caressed, softly at first and then steadier. Arianna tried to fight it, tried to hold on for longer, not used to so much foreplay being focused on her with such intensity. "I don't want--"
"Come for me, Arianna," he coaxed. "Come for me the first time while I watch what I do to you." Almost punishing her for holding back, he slipped one finger gently inside her and rubbed, harder, and harder, faster until--
"Grant! Oh, God!" She came hard, her hips arching up against his hand as the shimmers sliced through her in an agony of pleasure. Slowly, she floated down, her legs relaxing against his fingers, her wetness trickling down her thigh. He laughed in satisfaction and then rolled on top of her, his mouth near hers.
"That's it. That's what you needed. Now, let's bring you back up." His mouth took hers. Like a whisper, floating, he eased her into the kiss, his taste and scent swamping her senses as she opened her mouth to his.
His tongue thrust into the warm satin of her mouth, urging her in an endless game of come and play. She moaned deep in her throat and he caught the sound, his fingers stroking her nipples like light teasing feathers, making them twist and tighten. Her stomach dipped as she felt herself begin to crest again, the delicious tension pulling bit by bit, and then his mouth moved down to her neck to bite and lick.
"I want to touch you." She gasped the words.
"Not yet. I think you're always too eager to dive right in. Let me teach you how the ancients practiced sex." His mouth moved to her breasts. His tongue swirled around her nipples, his hands pushing up her mound so he could suckle and lick and bite until her nerve endings jumped at the sound of his voice or the touch of his fingers. "A woman's body is made for sex, but a man needs to learn discipline to fully appreciate his own pleasure. Holding back and riding the wave makes it more intense when we finally explode." His mouth moved lower across her stomach, dipped into her navel, then licked at the edge of her junction. "Tantra is about sexual energy. It's about foreplay, and the journey. Not the culmination." His fingers parted her thighs wide, then wider, his thumbs held open her pussy as his tongue licked and teased gently at her budding clit.
"I'm going to thrust inside of you and not come, Arianna. Not until you beg me over and over for mercy." He paused, and looked up her body so his black eyes cut into hers with pure heat. "Again, baby. Come again."
His tongue thrust inside of her, and tongued her swollen nub, over and over. Arianna felt her inner center squeeze and tighten with anticipation, with need, wanting more, and then she let go again, his mouth swallowing her climax, her scream ripping through the room.
Arianna began to drown in a fog of pure sensual feeling, sensitive to his tongue and fingers and voice. She cried for him, for his cock to be inside her, but he denied her still and flipped her over. Her rear arched high in the air and his moist, warm breath found other crevices to explore. He pushed against her knees, leaving her exposed and vulnerable to anything he wanted to do to her, and still she begged for mercy. Finally, he turned her again and rose above her.
His erection filled her gaze, and she moaned, half in torment, half in pleasure as he laughed and finally gave her what she wanted. With one quick movement, he uncuffed her wrists.
"Now, take me."
He pushed inside of her, stretching her, his massive length sliding through the wet channels of her pussy. He buried himself so deep to the hilt she didn't know where he stopped
and she began.
Arianna rose up to meet him, felt him grow even bigger, and then he pushed in and out, his cock rubbing against her clit, so sensitive from the hours of pleasure she felt the twist start again, and unbelievably, she came, her nails digging viciously into her back, her hips bucking helplessly.
He stayed hard in her longer, making her climb again until she begged for his release as well as hers. His fingers slid into the damp strands of hair clinging to her face and he tenderly pushed them back. Her eyes were glazed with too much pleasure, half drugged.
"Last time, baby. Hang on."
And then he took her on a hard, wild ride, slamming into her open body until he stilled, his whole body tightening, and then he came with a shout, his semen shooting deep inside her and leaking down the insides of her thighs. His body shuddered against hers and then he collapsed, her arms coming around him as she tried to find her breath.
Wrecked, fucked completely out of her mind, Arianna slid into a drugged, foggy sleep.
Chapter Three
"Morning."
She blinked drowsily, rolled over, and buried her face in the pillow. Weak streams of light filtered through the blinds. "Not yet," she groaned. "Later." His low laugh filled her ear as a warm body pressed against hers. "How did I figure you would be testy in the morning? Didn't you sleep well?" She opened her eyes to find him grinning down at her. His hair fell loose and straight to his shoulders. Arianna reached out and ran her fingers down the dark strands, tracing her thumb over the hard line of his jaw. "You didn't let me sleep. You're a slave driver in bed, just like in class."
"And you are my top student. You get high marks in both."
"Flatterer." She leaned over and pressed her lips to his. "I don't know how great I'm going to be today as a model."
"I already ordered some fruit and toast. Coffee. And the hotel has an incredible jet shower. It's just what you need."
"What I need is for class to start at ten."
He chuckled and rolled out of bed, padding naked over the carpet as he tweaked the blinds to let more sun through. Arianna studied him in the light. A mass of dark hair swirled over olive skin, his calves and thighs tightly defined. His buttocks and abs were all lean muscle and his erection jutted proudly as he poured a mug of coffee. She felt her body stir in response. Grant Madison was one of the most sensual men she'd ever been with. Every moment of last night was a full catering to her body. She felt worshipped, her body the temple he'd always claimed it to be.