Priya in Heels (Entangled Embrace) (14 page)

“That’s not fair. We come from different cultures.”

“No, we don’t. You’re an American.”

“And not everyone on this side of the world just goes at it because they’re attracted to someone. You know what those people are called? Sluts and man-hos.”

He lost it and laughed—hard.

“It’s not funny!”

“Yes it is. How did you keep guys off you?”

“First of all, I spent most of my time studying or hanging with friends or doing stuff with my family. I was too busy to notice guys. Second, I don’t let guys flirt with me, or touch me, or get anywhere near alone with me. Guys never had a chance.”

“Interesting.”

“What?”

“I’ve done all those things. Guess this is the test, then, to see if two people attracted to each other as much as we are can keep our hands to ourselves and behave. You have your beliefs, but you’ve never been in an ideal situation to test them.”

I crossed my arms. I was in trouble. I’d never fallen for a guy, never allowed one to touch me or even flirt with me, and never all at once while alone. The full gravity of the situation hit. All those times I’d scolded Tulsi for being easy meant nothing if I was about to find out that two people into one another as much as we were could be alone and not have sex.

We didn’t speak for several minutes. Ty cocked his head and peered at me out of the corner of his eye.

“What?” I asked.

“I promise you’ll like it.”

My breath caught in my throat. “Ty…”

He took the launch of another protest as an invitation because his mouth returned to my neck. “Just stop thinking and go with what you want,” he muttered against the goose pimples on my throat.

Our lips met. When I clutched his hair, his hand slipped between my legs again. This time, I didn’t stop Tyler O’Connor. This time, I let go of everything placed in my head about love and sex from Indian society and did what my body wanted. And without a doubt, my body yearned for this man. So much so that it frightened me.

Ty was gentle and excruciatingly patient. Every touch and kiss left tingles in its wake, leaving me yearning for more. My breathing quickened to panting. My body went from relaxed to squirming with need. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I definitely didn’t know what to do to him in return.

Before I knew what had happened, I was quivering in his arms. He’d cracked me wide open, stretched my floodgates to unleash pleasure I’d never known…and all while still keeping our clothes on. How much better could it possibly get if we moved to the bedroom?

He smiled against my neck as I gasped. “Did I mention how beautiful you look in the candlelight, especially now that you’re flushed?”

Saying something witty or sexy seemed like the smooth thing to do, but all I managed was a breathy, “Oh, Ty…”

“Didn’t I promise?”

“Yes,” I rasped, drawing the hair at the nape of his neck into my fist.

“The kissing, the touching, the sounds you make…I like doing that to you.”

I glanced at his lap. “I can tell.”

“I wanna do more to you.”

I played along, falling into sinister territory. “Like what?”

In a gritty voice, he went on to tell me the sorts of things a man intoxicated with passion planned to do to an innocent woman like me.

“Like slip these off.” He hooked a thumb under both my shorts and my panties. Something about the way he caressed my hip, skin to skin, drove me wild.

“And kiss you here.” He stroked the inner edges of my thighs.

I nearly had a heart attack when he lowered himself. I couldn’t breathe, and oh lord, if I let Ty do what he wanted to do, I might just spontaneously combust. For the sake of my sanity, and my lungs that burned from oxygen deprivation, he stopped at chest level, his eyes dark with desire.

“Let my mouth explore this.” He splayed his fingers wide across the expanse of my stomach beneath my shirt. When his thumb grazed the bottom of my breast, I hiccupped a breath.

“And taste here.” He kissed my breast, over my shirt, and I may have dug trenches into his shoulder, considering how hard I gripped him.

My head reeled out of control.

Euphoria
wasn’t a strong-enough word to describe the sea of pleasure I was drowning in, or the way my skin tingled and burned wherever he touched. His mouth,
wow
, who knew a man could make me go weak with that thing? He kissed the hollow of my throat and a whole new roller coaster began.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Tyler

I was chest to chest with Pree as I whispered a few more of the things I wanted to do to her. There were so many. She hadn’t done
anything
, which blew my mind, and I couldn’t wait to open up an entire world of pleasures to her. I wanted to be her first and only, and everything started with a touch.

I leaned in to kiss her when her phone buzzed and ripped through the increasingly strong sexual tension. I was just hitting my groove, and Pree was just letting loose.

Reaching behind her, she checked her phone and spat, “What the heck?” and shot off the couch.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, half worried about her reaction and half disappointed at the timing.

She ignored me and texted like crazy. Her cell rang ten seconds later. She held up a finger and paced the area between the door and the hallway. I leaned back and stared at the ceiling. The mood had been perfect!

“What are you doing? Raj?” she asked into the phone. “Why would you think that?”

Pree glared at me. Was she mad at me?

“Be careful what you do… What! This is too fast. What are you thinking? You of all people! So you can wait at least until after the engagement, right? What if he said those things to get you to go home with him?”

She paused and tapped a foot. “Think about this,” she ended and hung up.

“What was that about?” I asked when she plopped down next to me.

“Vicki dated Raj for months before telling me about him. Now, she’s thinking about going home with him.”

“Several months and they haven’t had sex?” I tried not to laugh.

“She tries to be religious and moral. Anyway, people can date and not have sex.”

I shot her an incredulous look. “I doubt that. A couple can’t date for that long and not get caught up in it. You think Vicki’s an angel, but she ain’t.”

“You don’t know her.”

“Do you think maybe she didn’t tell you about Raj because she didn’t want you judging her?”

“I wouldn’t judge her! She’s my best friend.”

“You just yelled at her.”

“Because she didn’t tell me at the time when she’d met him, dated him, was ready to get engaged to him, that she’s wanted to have sex with him. We’re best friends. I tell her every time a guy hits on me, and that’s trivial compared to this.” She stood. “You know what? I’m going to bed. My head hurts.”

That was the last thing I wanted to hear. I wanted to get back to where we were ten minutes ago, relaxed and kissing. “Do you want me to sleep on the couch?”

“I’m a big girl.”

Monstrous thunder shook the apartment. Pree jumped. Another one of Texas’s infamous flash floods, insane thunderstorms, or tornado touchdowns. Outside, hail poured, car alarms went off, and trees bent in the wind.

She shuddered as I walked up behind her. “Did you change your mind?”

Pree jumped.

I chuckled. “Still a big girl?”

I headed to the kitchen and pulled out an open bottle of red wine. “Vicki said I could have the rest of this if I came over again. Do you mind?”

“No. Glasses are in the right cabinet.”

“Do you want a glass?”

“Guess it couldn’t hurt.”

As I poured crimson gold into two glasses, I said, “So if sex is taboo, why do you drink? That’s taboo, too.”

“Because all my friends do it.” She took the glass from me.

I grinned. “Seems like all your friends are having sex, too. What does that tell you?”

She sipped on wine. “That I draw the line somewhere. How has work been?”

“Busy. You?”

“Busy. Anything interesting happen? More tripping over your own feet?”

“Ha-ha. No tripping, and I don’t want to talk about work.” I reached down and took her hand, yanking her into the small space between the kitchen and living room, and twirled her. She hit my chest in the most ungraceful way possible as I danced with her.

“I’m a bad dancer, remember,” she warned.

“You danced pretty well the other night.” I smirked at the memory of her in that tiny, plaid skirt and how she’d looked, the way her body and curves had moved. Then I remembered how insanely good she felt dancing against me, gyrating against me. I caught a moan in my throat.

Keeping her close, I brushed my lips against her neck. Goose bumps puckered her skin. I kissed her throat again, this time with a quick lick, and blew against the slight moisture. Pree shivered. We slow danced to the music in our heads, lost in the atmosphere of a golden-lit room as a storm raged outside.

There were so many things I’d wanted to do to Pree on the dance floor that night. Now we were alone, in the perfect mood, the perfect setting. There was no other place I’d rather be, and Pree had no intention of asking me to leave.

I pressed my fingers into her lower back, nuzzled her neck. My hands slid up beneath her shirt to her breast, so firm and enticing that I couldn’t stop now. She gasped. My other hand slid between her lacy panties and cotton shorts.

Damn, she felt
so
good. Soft, supple skin. My tongue tingled with the need to explore. I could tell by the way she squirmed and panted and clawed at my shoulders that she was close to another climax.

Maybe she wanted more, maybe she would venture outside of her little bubble, maybe she wanted to go into the bedroom…because she reached down and felt my excitement. I groaned. She was killing me.

“Pree,” I muttered, “don’t do that unless you want me to take you to your room.”

She pulled away.
Don’t stop.

“What is it?” I asked.

A brilliant shade of pink colored her cheeks. She tucked her hair behind her ears. “Um, I’m okay.”

“I’m not done with you.”

I gently pushed her against the wall, chest to chest. Her curves were perfect and yielding, the way I always imagined they’d feel against me. I took her mouth with mine, nipped her lip. Her arms draped around my shoulders. As our kisses heated up, Pree’s grip in my hair tightened until she was practically pulling. No matter, I liked the little bit of pain. It showed how much she liked this, how badly she wanted me.

She rolled against me, her breathing fast and hard.

“You like that?” I asked in a rough voice.

“
Mmhmm
.”

“Do you want me to stop?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“You positive?”

She groaned against my mouth. It didn’t take long at all. With her release, she was louder this time, and I wondered how loud she’d get if I were inside her. I wondered if she was the type to scream, call out my name.

I had to practically hold her up afterward. Just knowing I could satisfy her, satisfied me.

Sex had always just been sex.
This
? I had to fill her every need, please her. Everything was for her.

With hardly any space around us, Pree leaned back and caught her breath. Before I could figure out if she wanted more, she slipped out from my embrace and guzzled down the rest of her wine.

Backing away into the bedroom, she said, “Um, I should get some sleep. Thanks for keeping me safe…and other stuff.”

“You sure I can’t join you in there?”

“I’m sure.”

I waited when she disappeared, deliberated on what to do. I couldn’t push too far with her, but the fact that she let me get this far was huge progress. I wanted her so bad it hurt, but I couldn’t make a mistake.

I paced the room a little, glancing at her door every now and then. She left the door cracked open. Was that an invitation?

I took off my shirt in the stifling heat and removed my pants before getting comfortable on the couch in my boxer briefs. I listened for Pree. If she so much as even uttered my name or stepped out, I would be in her bed and on her in an instant.

Maybe she wanted me to go after her, but what if she wasn’t ready? It would destroy all of my hard work.

My head crashed onto the couch arm.
Come on, Pree. Give me a sign.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Priya

After lighting a candle on my dresser, I lay on my right side and watched the cracked-open door.

Part of me hungered for Ty to make a move, come in, and ravish me with that magnificent body. But maybe that was the alcohol-absorbed part of me as my thoughts trailed off to rock-hard muscles and his…well, other firm parts.

Part of me was glad he didn’t come in, the part of me that refused to be a hypocrite, and the part of me that loved how respectful he was. He didn’t push me.

I must have fallen asleep and dreamed horrible things, because the helplessness and terror of being attacked escalated until I screamed and woke up.

Clutching the covers to my chest, I shot up in bed, desperately searching the room until my cognitive faculties reassured me that I was safe and sound in my apartment. The storm continued to pound against the window, the wind howled, and thunder rocked the skies in unison with lightning.

The room lit up, revealing a figure that advanced from the hallway and walked through the door. I screamed again, but clamped a hand over my mouth when I remembered Ty was here.

“Pree,” he said, his voice alert and in control. He cut across the room and landed on the bed beside me.

Ty wrapped me up in his arms, cocooning me in his protection and absolute serenity.

He ran his hand over the back of my head and gently gripped the nape of my neck. “Bad dreams, babe?”

If only he hadn’t said anything. The visuals of the mugger’s eyes glowing in the alley rammed fright straight down my throat. I twisted to face him and flung my arms around his neck, noticing he was without a shirt and in underwear. His bare flesh burned against mine. It only comforted me even more.

“It’s okay. It’s just a dream. I’m here. No one will hurt you,” he muttered into my shoulder.

I pulled away and nodded. Ty kissed my forehead and crawled out of bed, but I grabbed his wrist and tugged. He chuckled. “I’m just going to light some more candles. Or is that too much of a fire hazard?”

Instead of a laugh, I whimpered.

He found the matches beside the three-wick candle and the already burning smaller candle on the dresser. A strong glow warmed the room. Ty returned to me, drawn in darkness and accented in light, adding deeper contours to his naked muscles.

All I wanted was to hug him again, have him hold me and protect me.

Without spoken invitation, he slipped beneath the covers, drew me against him so that he spooned me, and pressed his massive hand flat against my belly. I loved the way he felt against me, and I felt
every
bulge.

“You’re safe,” he said.

I nodded.

“Do you want me to stay in your bed with you?” he asked.

“Yes,” I finally admitted. “Don’t go.”

I closed my eyes and savored the throbbing rush of sensation Ty’s fingers sent through me as he stroked my skin beneath my shirt. He was close to the hem of my shorts and slipped beneath them every now and then.

I swallowed, suddenly very thirsty and very awake. “Ty?”

“Babe?” he responded in that gritty voice that made my stomach twist into knots.

Those knots only tightened and multiplied when he kissed my shoulder. I sucked in a choppy breath but didn’t push him away. He dragged his lips to my neck, nibbled and licked. He slid his hand up and cupped a breast…and it felt beyond amazing. I exhaled as he groaned.

He pushed my shirt up as I shifted to face him. His mouth found mine while his hand slid down my side, my leg, and grabbed my knee, bending it. He hooked his arm beneath my leg, my knee in the crook of his elbow. He rocked against me, swayed with a smooth, erotic cadence as our kiss deepened. Wherever he touched, skin, hands, tongue, lips, set me ablaze. A white-hot fire consumed my body until I couldn’t stand it. I
needed
him.

“Tell me what you want,” he whispered in my ear.

“I don’t know what I want.”

“You know.”

I dug my nails into his hard, chiseled sides as his grip tightened. Ty pushed me onto my back, never allowing a gap between us, and settled in between my legs. He took my knees and pushed them back, opening me so that I could feel him in every sense.

Oh my freaking goodness!

Things were no longer a matter of logic and planning, but following my gut, listening to my soul, and letting my body do what it had wanted to do since the moment Ty had walked into my ED. I thrust against him. He pushed harder against me. Without thinking, I shoved him away and took off my shirt.

Ty looked surprised, but just for a moment. He sprang into action and met my hands behind my back to undo my bra. He tossed it to the floor and lowered his mouth to my breasts as I tugged down on his briefs. His mouth felt so incredibly good, I couldn’t think straight, couldn’t move fast enough.

“That a girl.”

I squirmed and writhed as he slowly, excruciatingly made me suffer. I yanked down on his boxers when he snatched my wrists and held them above my head.

“Say it.”

Heat rose to my cheeks.

“You should never be embarrassed in front of me, babe.”

I bit my lower lip, drawing his attention to my mouth. The words eased out of me as the most basic of truths. “I want you, Ty.”

“Yeah?”

“I want you
so
bad.”

He swallowed and released my hands. I pulled myself up and licked his throat, something I’d wanted to do for so long. He closed his eyes and sighed, pausing as if to savor.

First, Ty slid my shorts and underwear off in one shimmy. Being so exposed and raw made me want to cover myself, but Ty had a way of putting me at ease. He made me feel safe, secure, flawless.

With a few appreciative caresses down my body, he took off his boxer briefs.

I gawked. Maybe it was the lighting. Maybe I was in way over my head. I’d seen those things before, namely in class and on patients. But that was school, medicine, work, things that required professionalism and in no way sparked eroticism. But this thing on Ty was beautiful, arousing, and a bit alarming.

I panicked as he returned to me. “Oh, no, no. That’s never going to fit.”

He laughed. “Relax. I love the compliment, babe, but we are made for each other.”

He returned to torturing me with his hot, sweaty flesh in delightful friction. This man was maddening!

“Ty,” I begged.

“What do you want?”

“I want you inside of me.”

“
Hmm
,” he hummed as if deliberating.

“Ty!”

His laughter cut short as soon as he penetrated, slow, careful, considerate. I gasped.

“Are you okay, babe?” he asked.

I nodded. He was so gentle that I almost cried. He had a satisfied look on his face that said being inside me was the best thing in the world. It seemed he knew my body so well because everything he did had me elated, floating on air. He knew when I was close, because he’d stop or slow down. Even when I tried to go faster to finish this agony of desperately wanting to reach the end, he pinned me down.

Ty liked to be in full control, and he liked to make me beg. Honestly, it turned me on even more, and by the looks of things, it turned him on, too.

The rest of the night went on like this: sweet and passionate kisses, gentle touches, mind-blowing climaxes. At the end of one heck of a ride, Ty held me in his arms, naked and sweaty. I struggled to catch my breath and pulled the sheets to my chest.

Ty stroked my arm and kissed my head. “Didn’t I tell you you’d like it?”

“I loved it,” I said, my lids heavy with sleep now that the pounding adrenaline had ceased.

“So I’m your first?”

“
Mmhmm
.”

“So that makes me special?”

“Only a handful of guys can say they were my first.”

He chuckled as I drifted closer to slumber. I vaguely felt him remove the sheets between us so that we were full flesh on flesh. And I barely heard him, or
thought
I heard him, mutter in my ear, “Damn, girl. I am
so
in love with you.”

I slept hard. It was perhaps the best sleep I’d had in a very long time.

When I awoke, Ty wasn’t in bed, but I smelled coffee and faced prying sunlight through closed blinds. I yawned and stretched. My feet hit cushioned carpet, leaving a faint trail of footsteps. I dressed and opened the blinds, unleashing the full breadth of sunshine and revealing a soaked ground after last night’s downpour.

I found Ty moving back and forth in the kitchen, stopping me dead in my tracks. Reality smacked me upside the head.

Holy. Freaking. Crap. I’d just lost my virginity. Ten hours ago, I had railed on Vicki to slow down and not do the deed with her boyfriend of three months who wanted to marry her, preordained by their parents. Me? I’d made love to Tyler O’Connor, the American down the hall, who wasn’t even my boyfriend, in a whirlwind moment of fear and undiluted need.

I expected my inner voice to scream, “Hypocrite!” but it didn’t. My body was warm, sore, and perfect. In fact, I ached for more. This thing with Ty was my addiction. I’d fought it for so long, but now that my body had had a taste, I wanted more. I wanted everything and all of him, forever.

I sniffed my breath. Rank!

I backtracked into the bathroom and took care of business, washed my face, fixed my hair, and made sure no embarrassing stains or holes marked my clothes. When I was satisfied all was well, I walked into the kitchen, where Ty ambushed me with a kiss so deep he might as well have sucked the life force out of me. Good thing I’d brushed my teeth!

He left his hand on my neck, which was an unbelievable turn-on, and muttered, “Slept well?”

“Yes,” I panted.

“Coffee and pancakes?” He led me to a bar stool where he served me.

This was unexpected. Wouldn’t a normal man have asked if he could pick up where we left off and pleasure me in the privacy of my bedroom? How about some mutual gratification in the area of mind-blowing orgasms? Or, as I assumed about most men, expected me to cook breakfast for him?

This was more like a relationship, one that had been going on for a long time.

“Did you sleep okay?” I added half-and-half and sugar to my coffee.

“You going to have coffee with your sugar?”

“Har har.”

“I slept just fine, thanks to you.” He sat next to me, nudged my shoulder with his, and ate in silence with one of those epically adorable smiles that said he couldn’t be happier.

Ty was so stinking cute! His untucked shirt clung to muscles, and his bed head was horribly sexy. Sleepy eyes winked at me.

He sipped his coffee. “So, listen. My cousin’s wedding is in a few months. Do you want to…sleep over at a hotel the night before?”

I pushed around syrup into a pattern as it oozed back into an amorphous splotch. “That sounds fun. Is the wedding in town?”

“Right outside Houston.”

“I already found a dress.”

“Bet you’ll look tasty in it. You can drool over how exquisite I look in a tux.”

“Like a penguin?”

He laughed. The front door rattled and opened behind us. Vicki walked in, surprised and a little scared to see us, or maybe just to see me.

“Hey guys,” she muttered.

Ty gave me a look. One that said my next move, my next choice of words, might determine where my friendship with Vicki ended up.

I smiled, not forced or fake, but sincere because I could clearly see that my best friend had fallen in love and had probably lost her virginity, too. Vicki had been in love with Raj for a while and it pained me that she hadn’t confided in me sooner.

“Breakfast?” I offered.

Vicki sighed and slumped her shoulders as if the weight of the world had magically disappeared from her back.

“I’ll let you guys catch up,” Ty said. He made Vicki a plate, poured a mug of coffee for her, cleaned up his mess, and washed the dishes. Well, dang, the man couldn’t get any more perfect.

“Thanks, Tyler.” Vicki ate while I walked him to the door.

He hugged me and kissed my jaw, making me momentarily forget we weren’t alone.

“Thanks so much for sleeping over.” I played with his shirt, trying not to molest his chest.

“Anytime, babe. I look forward to another ‘sleepover.’” He looked past me. “Later, Vicki.”

“Bye, Tyler!”

I closed the door after him, walked behind Vicki, and hugged her, rocking her side to side.

“What’s that for?”

“How could you think you couldn’t tell me the truth about Raj? That you were this into him?”

Her face turned red. “I dunno, I thought…”

“That I would judge you? Come on, we’re friends with Tulsi, and have you ever heard me bad-mouth her?”

“No.”

“You’re in love! Did you sleep with him?”

“Well…” A giant smile spread across her face. “We did.”

“How was it?”

“The first time was awkward, but last night was amazing.”

“How long have you
been
sleeping with him?”

“Since the day he came over to hang at the pool.” She couldn’t stop smiling.

“Oh, snap. Have you told anyone?”

“Tulsi and Sunni know. They were very helpful about stuff.”

“Did it hurt?”

“No, because he was so gentle and…prepped me beforehand.”

“Prepped you? Oh…” Yeah, I didn’t need to hear the details, although the thought reminded me of what Ty and I had done last night. That had been good prep. The main event had been even better.

Vicki snapped her fingers in my face. “Are you there?”

“Oh, what? Yeah.” Oops!

“Did you, uh, get some yourself last night?”

“Vicki!”

“It’s okay if you did. You guys are so made for each other.”

“No, we’re not. You know my mom has Manuk picked out for me.”

“Yeah, yeah, the dentist from Dallas. Blah blah blah. You’re in love, honey buns.”

“No, I’m not. He just—”

“What? Makes you feel good, all hot and tingly? Makes you wanna drop your panties every time he walks into the room?”

“Oh my God!”

“It’s not taboo. We’re not in India, and we’re not Indians in America twenty years ago, either. If you got to know anyone at
mandir
or other Indians around town, you’d know they were hooking up. Indian guys, white dudes, black guys. You know in Cali., Indian–Mexican marriages are common? You should tell your mom to stop looking for a man. You’ve already found one.”