How You Tempt Me Read online

  “Then why won't you...” I blurt out.

  Julian tilts my face up with a finger under my chin. “Sophia,” he whispers. “I want you. I want you a lot, but...I cannot have you. Not before the test is finished. I want to hold you, touch you, have you...but it will interfere with your responses to the machine. So...I can't...but God knows how much I want to!”

  He pulls me close and I lean my cheek against his bare chest, listening to the rhythmic beat of his heart.

  Julian's breathing quickens as his hand moves down my waist to my hips and he realizes that I am not wearing anything under that baggy t-shirt. He strokes my curves through the thin fabric and I raise one leg to his hips, spreading my legs for him. He puts a hand under my knee to lift my leg up higher to his waist. “Sophia,” he says hoarsely. “You are just too perfect. Your whole body...you are driving me insane, you know that? I want you, so much.”

  I press my lips to his neck. “I want you too, Julian,” I whisper. “Right now.”

  He groans and pushes me against the wall. “Sophia, you are making it so hard...” His hand slips under my t-shirt and shoves the t-shirt up over my breasts. He lowers his head and I gasp, anticipating his mouth on my breast and his tongue over my erect nipple. Instead, I feel him breathe heavily over my bare skin, his lips barely skimming across my aching breasts. I push forward, wanting him to take me full into his mouth and feel his tongue and teeth on me.

  “Sophia, darling...” He crushes me to him, my hard nipples stabbing into his chest. He holds me flush against him, and I close my eyes at the heat of his bare skin against mine. I move my hand down to his towel, but he stops me, shaking his head. “We have to stop now, before we...” He swallows hard, his voice ragged.

  “Screw the machine, Julian,” I breathe against his neck. “I want you.”

  I can feel his lips curve upwards against my temple. “Can't. Screw the machine that is. It's not meant to do that.”

  I narrow my eyes at him, trying to see if he is joking. “But it is a sex machine, right?” I say at last. “So why can't it...”

  “The machine...it is supposed to stimulate your senses, your nerves, every inch of your skin, explore your body. It is supposed to bring you to orgasm, but through a more subtle teasing and caressing. Pushing, rubbing, thrusting...all these are known methods and actions in stimulating the sexual organs. But they can overstimulate the organs and senses, and cause pain and exhaustion. But there are other ways, other methods of pleasuring the body. The whole body should be awakened and aroused. There is still a lot to be explored and studied, and I know it's a lot to ask, but I hope you'll trust me...”

  I take a shuddering breath. “You won't hurt me, will you, Julian?”

  “Sophia...I won't.” He sounds pained. “I won't ever hurt you. How could I? When all I want to do is love you and make love to you...”

  I close my eyes and rest my head on his shoulder. Can I learn to trust again? Yet by signing the contract and putting myself in his hands, in his house, I have implicitly given him my trust. But I am afraid. I am afraid that I might begin to feel something more, something more than just desire for Julian. Am I ready to open my heart to him? By opening up to me tonight, he has given me a piece of his heart to hold, a precious, beautiful thing.

  We wrap our arms very tenderly, tentatively and protectively around each other, knowing that we are each holding something so precious and fragile in our arms. I have not allowed myself to come this close to anyone in a long time. Neither has Julian, I suspect.

  The night quietly slips away and dawn breaks over Julian's huge mansion. This is where I will stay for the next three weeks, in this house with this man and his sex machine. I am not sure what to expect, of this man, of myself.

  I can feel myself starting to shiver, but not from cold. Quickly I pull away and smile up at him to break the tension. “I wonder what else your machine can do, Dr. James,” I say, flashing a mischievous but shaky grin. “I wonder how much more I can take.”

  To my surprise, Julian gives me a big hug. “We'll see. I guess you will find that out very soon.”

  I bury my face in his shoulder to hide my blush. If this first exploratory orgasm is anything to go by, I think that the pleasure is going to be even deeper and more intense and mind-blowing than anything I have ever experienced. And that—can only be a good thing.

  End of Book 1