He waited, arching an eyebrow when she flushed and ducked her head.
“I’m not very flexible.”
No, she was strong and muscular. The renovations she had done on the building had given her a toned body sculpted for work, not femininity. And yet when he looked at her, her beauty still grabbed him deep in his gut.
“You will learn.” He shucked his jacket, then arranged a set of cushions on the floor. “Please sit. Tell me what you did and how it felt.”
She folded herself awkwardly onto the cushions, obviously self-conscious. “I…uh…I did the breast exercises. It felt…” She shrugged. “Useless. It wasn’t anything like what we did before. You know, in my kitchen.”
He remembered. He’d relived it a thousand times in his fantasies. “You felt nothing?”
“Nada.” She sighed. “I’m not even sure I believe in this stuff.”
He looked at her. Why was she so stubborn?
“I mean, I do,” she said in a rush. “Something sure as hell is wrong with me, but—”
“You are not wrong!” he snapped. “You have awakened as a woman. Why do you fight it?”
She reared back, stunned by his fury. Truthfully, he was a little startled himself. She bit her lip and looked down at her hands. “I’m sorry,” she finally said. “I haven’t even asked how your day was.”
He blinked, completely thrown. “I’m sorry?”
Tracy smiled, the curve of her mouth softening her face. “Let’s itemize our relationship so far, shall we? There was a wonderful couple months of almost conversations in the hallway. Then I accuse you of illegal activity and try to throw you out of my building. Then I come to a class, run out screaming, only to have you follow and give me the most fabulous night of my life.”
“I cannot claim credit for—”
“Don’t interrupt, Mr. Gao. Then I ignore you for over a week only to show up in the middle of the night, try to buy you, and now I’m stalking you.” She leaned forward. “Is this the usual path to enlightenment?”
He smiled. “Nothing with you is usual, Miss Williams.”
“So, answer my question—how was your day?”
He shook his head, wondering where to begin. “My mother is spending too much money again, or so my sister said in her e-mail. I am cold in your Illinois November. And my classes are hard. I understand the material, but my English is not fast enough sometimes. Everything takes longer for me.”
“I can’t even imagine trying to study in a foreign language. I nearly failed Spanish in high school.” She shifted to sit cross-legged. She was not aware of how the simple act of opening her legs like that focused his gaze. “So why do it?” she asked. “Aren’t there schools in Hong Kong?”
He nodded, forcing himself to look back to her face. “This university is one of the best in the world for business. When I am finished, I will have my choice of jobs.”
“You aiming for a big industry career?” There was a note of surprise in her voice, but his eyes were held by the curve of her lips, the shift of her mouth. “Nathan?”
He blinked. “I…uh…I aim for a big career.”
She smiled. She had the most perfectly colored lips—soft rose that deepened to red when she grew excited. “I understand that,” she said. “Big career. Big money. That’s what I want, too.” Then she looked about his apartment, her gaze taking in his poor clothing and sparse furnishings. “I just wouldn’t have guessed you as the power-and-fame type.”
He followed her gaze, seeing no privation. He had the luxury of a whole room to himself with no spying eyes, no critical gazes, no demanding students. “I am happy with very little,” he said honestly. “But the temple requires a great deal of money to support it. And I have siblings who want to do as I do—go to school, advance, have a future beyond temple drudgery. If I do not make good, my whole family could starve.”
She frowned, obviously startled. “You’re exaggerating, right? They’re not actually starving, are they?”
He looked down. How did he explain the realities of the Hong Kong poor? “We live on an outlying island. It took an hour and a half for my sister to ferry then bus to school. She would leave at four in the morning so that she could meet other students at the library and tutor them for money. A few years ago, she gave it up as too difficult, but I know she longs for more. My brother, too. They both want more education, more opportunity but there is no money for it.”
She shifted to her knees, and he saw her breasts bounce. Her nipples were already hard, and they drew his gaze. “What about your parents?”
“My mother and her sister run the tigress temple. Like all tigresses, their hearts and minds are devoted to ascension to the immortal realm. They take in students for money, but there are many mouths to feed.”
“How many?”
He shrugged as he settled down beside her. A teacher should not sit this close to the student, but he couldn’t resist. He wanted to be near her. “Twenty students live with us, plus my brother and sister. My aunt.”
“And your father?”
Nathan leaned closer, letting the sweetness of her scent add spice to his thoughts. “I function as father. I am the eldest male. It is my responsibility to see that all are cared for.”
She frowned. “But that’s a couple dozen people. Surely they can work. They can do something.”
He tilted his head, wondering at her surprise. “I am the eldest male,” he answered simply.
And when she still didn’t seem to follow, he pushed to his feet. This closeness to her interfered with his thoughts. He wasn’t thinking before speaking. And now he was trying to explain the realities of a Chinese family to an American woman. She couldn’t possibly understand, and yet he still continued. “It’s a temple. We have a garden for vegetables and some farm animals, but no money for repairs, for texts, for all the things that a large group of people need.”
“That’s a lot of maintenance,” she said. “How old is the building?”
“Three buildings. The temple has stood for more than a hundred years.”
She released a whistle, low in her throat. It was not a sexual sound, and yet his dragon responded as if it were a siren call. “Like I said, a lot of maintenance.” She shook her head. “But you’re only one person. You can’t possibly support them all.”
He shrugged. “I am the eldest male.”
“Yeah, I got that. Isn’t that a little sexist? I mean, to take that all on yourself because—”
“Don’t you care for your brother? Did you hesitate when your parents died?”
She leaned back. “Of course, I took care of him. He’s all I’ve got. But he’s just one person, and we’re barely scraping by. If it weren’t for the insurance money, we’d have lost everything. I still worry that social services is going to show up and take him away.”
He looked at her, guessing at the strength required to keep both her and Joey together. “You must have been very young. Barely eighteen.”
She shrugged. “It didn’t matter. He was my family. I’d do anything for him.”
He remained silent, wondering if she would see that he did nothing more than she did. He was holding his family together. Even from a continent apart, he would see that they survived.
It took her a moment, but in the end, her eyes widened in shock. “You can’t seriously expect to support two dozen people.”
“I can, and I will.” He straightened, showing her a dragon’s determination in every line of his body. “But I must get my education. That is why the temple goes even longer without electricity.”
She studied him, but he could not read her face. Did she understand what he was trying to do? Could she comprehend the drive to succeed—not for himself, but for all who depended on him?
She pushed to her feet. Her motions were smooth and infinitely feminine. Then she touched him—a gentle hand laid on his shoulders. He felt the warmth of her body all the way through to his soul. “I had no idea,” she whispered. “I can’t even imagine. The pressure must be incredible.”