Page 4 of Pleasure Lessons

RHETT

I didn’t even go to the court today. I skipped our lesson. I can’t go near her.

Cassandra…

I sit on the tailgate of my truck, parked in the servants’ lot of Arthur’s mansion, my elbows on my knees and my hands twisted up in my hair. My gym bag is half-packed beside me but not zipped, and beside it, my letter of resignation, poking out of an unsealed envelope.

I haven’t licked it yet, because if I do–if I make things final and leave–I know I’ll never see her again.

Cassandra…

Just thinking her name feels like a sin. A sin I’d commit a thousand times over if it meant feeling her breath hitch just before our lips pressed together. If it meant being able to feel her slim waist in the palm of my hand.

Yesterday I told her not to be late, and now I’m the one who doesn’t show.

It has to be this way. Because if I see her again, and she bites her lower lip or looks up at me from under those lush lashes, I won’t be able to keep my hands off her. And if I put my hands on her again, who knows what will happen?

Actually, I know exactly what will happen, and that’s the problem.

“Eighteen years old…” I mutter, as though I’m pissed at the words. She’s not a little girl anymore. She’s a woman. But beyond that, she’s a temptation I must resist.

But I can’t. I know I can’t. Not if I’m near her.

So I have no choice. I have to leave, like a coward.

I already told the maid, Clarisse, that I’m taking the rest of the week off. Now I just have to drop off the letter at the manor and I’ll be free. Free of this obsessive attraction that’s gripped me since the moment I set eyes on her.

Just get up, walk inside, and drop off the letter. Be a man, and this will all be over…

That’s what I should do. Instead, I’m sitting here like an idiot, wearing the same shirt I wore last night when I saw her, sweating like I’m about to face the most important moment of my life.

I can still feel the connection between us, like an invisible chain from heart to heart. Christ, what the hell is wrong with me?

That’s it. I have to get this over with.

I gulp down a big breath, clap my hands together, and hop down to my feet. I turn toward the house, and my legs simply stop working.

There she is. Standing right in front of me, glowing like an angel.

“Rhett?” Cassandra says quietly, causing my body to turn to fire and ice at the same time.

I did my best to avoid her, but she came to me.

My blood pumps hot through my veins. I have no time to think.

There she is, standing barefoot on the cobblestones, her big innocent eyes wide and uncertain.

Like she just searched the entire estate to find me.

Her cheeks are flushed, and her hair is messy and windblown.

She has her forearms crossed over her belly, almost the way a child holds their favorite stuffed animal.

“I was on time for our lesson like you told me,” she whimpers. “Why didn’t you come?”

I reach out and brace myself against my truck, gripping the steel frame so hard my knuckles begin to ache. “I’m sorry. You weren’t supposed to come looking for me.”

“I didn’t know what else to do,” she says, stepping slowly toward me. “You told me not to be late, so I showed up fifteen minutes early and waited. I thought maybe your truck broke down, or maybe you were in trouble…”

A crack forms in my heart. Look at what I’m doing to this poor girl. The pain I’m causing her, all from making one simple choice that I thought would fix the situation. Instead, I’ve only made things worse.

“Did I do something wrong, Rhett?”

“Of course not!” I snap, causing her to jump. Shit. Calm down. I close my eyes, take a breath, and open them again. “You didn’t do anything, Cassandra. There’s nothing you could do that would make me…”

My voice trails off. I’m floundering. Drowning.

This isn’t like me. I’ve coached hundreds of women. Plenty of them have flirted with me, and it’s never fazed me. I’ve remained professional. Always. But Cassandra…all she has to do is look at me and I’m a wreck. One single whimper of her melodic voice and I’m all twisted up inside.

“Did you get bored of me already?” she asks, forcing a smile that doesn’t extend to her eyes. And it makes me lose control.

I leap forward like a leopard, snatch her by the wrist, and pull her to me. She gasps and drops forward into my arms. I catch her soft body and feel the tender flesh of her plump breasts as they rise and fall with every breath. Her nipples harden against me, and my cock pulses with aching lust.

Shit, what am I doing? No, no, no!

I let go of her before I do something rash and stare at her, directly in the eyes. “I could never get bored of you, Cassandra. Don’t be silly. I can’t even–”

No. Don’t say it. Don’t. But I just can’t help myself. “I can’t even sleep without seeing your face…you’re in my head every second of every day.”

Her beautiful, plump lips part. They’re gleaming, as if challenging me to kiss them. She reaches out her hand for mine.

I step back.

“No,” I rasp, shaking my head. “I’m resigning. I have to.”

I reach into the back of the truck and grab the envelope, lick it, and seal it shut.

“Rhett, you can’t!” she pleads. I avert my eyes. Her beauty is just too much to handle.

“You don’t understand, Cassandra. The way I look at you–the things I fantasize about…” My voice drops to a whisper. “I can’t want you like this.”

She steps closer, blessing my nose with the familiar, sweet scent of her perfume. “But…you do already…don’t you?”

Is she unsure? Can’t she see the lust in my eyes? The bulge in my pants? The torture I’m experiencing every moment I’m around her?

But then I remember just how young and na?ve Cassandra is. Like a beautiful bird that’s spent its entire life in a gilded cage, she has no experience with men. Least of all an unrefined man like me.

“You’re not just gonna quit on me, are you?” she asks.

“I…wouldn’t put it like that,” I admit. “But yes.”

“Why?”

My heart thuds heavy in my chest. “I have to.”

I move to step past her, but she slides in front of me, eyes down on the ground, holding herself like a timid dove. “No.” Her voice is firmer now. “You can’t go.”

“Cassandra–”

“You’re the only man who has ever…touched me like you did. And now you’re leaving me to think about it for the rest of my life? Will you not let me get to the end of our romance story? Like the ones from my books?”

Christ, she’s so goddamn innocent. She has so little experience she has to relate our interactions to something from one of her books. But her body has me drowning in the filthiest thoughts imaginable. It’s taking every bit of strength I have to not throw her to the ground and tear her clothes off.

Would she still like me if she knew what I was thinking?

I can’t stop myself. I lean closer…closer…until we’re nearly kissing. Why do I torture myself? I can’t have her. She’s off-limits.

“I want you so bad it’s driving me insane,” I say softly. We’re alone in the parking lot, but there are always people moving about the estate. Never know who might be watching–or listening. “But you know I can’t have you.”

“Why?” She twists her hand, showing me the massive rock on her finger. “Because of this?”

My lips twist in disgust, and I bite my cheek in anger. “Yes. But also because you’re too young, Cassandra. Too innocent. Too perfect. And if I have you–even once–I won’t be able to let you go and watch you walk down the aisle with another man. It would kill me.”

Her eyes shine with the hint of tears.

“Then don’t let me.”

Fuck it. I kiss her.

I kiss her like I’m a man dying of thirst and she’s a well overflowing with the most delicious water on earth. I kiss her like she belongs to me.

I’m not gentle. I’m not sweet, tender, or romantic. I’m driven by pure passion and the desire to possess her.

I taste honey and mint as I press my tongue into her mouth, slip my hand around her waist, and pull her to me.

The way she kisses me back just confirms her inexperience.

She’s hungry, starving for it, but she needs to be taught how to please a man.

And that’s perfect. After all, wasn’t she asking me before what men want from a woman?

I’ll educate her. I’ll make her mine, and when I’m done with her, she’ll know exactly what I want and how to give it to me–

I break away. Her lips are swollen, and we’re both panting heavily. “Tell me to stop,” I whisper. Her eyes bloom like flowers as she looks up at me and shakes her head.

“Cassandra, you have to tell me to stop. I can’t do it on my own.”

“I don’t want you to stop,” she whimpers, stroking the side of my face with her soft hand. “I don’t want you to leave. I want to learn what a man wants, and I want you to teach me.”

My cock twitches beneath my pants. I’m losing all control. Right in the middle of the day, in the parking lot of her fiancé’s estate, and I’m seconds away from bending her over the tailgate of my truck, popping her sweet little cherry, and making her mine.

“You don’t know what you’re getting into, Cassandra,” I tell her. “If I teach you, it won’t be like my tennis lessons. I won’t be able to take things slow with you. There won’t be any beginner lessons. We’ll jump right into the advanced classes.”

Her lips twist into the most adorable smile, causing my hard-on to ache, desperate to be inside her.

“I trust you,” she says softly. “Rhett, I–”

A flash of movement over her shoulder causes me to jump back. Clarisse emerges from around the corner, her arms full of laundry. My heart nearly explodes as she smiles and tilts her head in acknowledgement.

I wave casually and step sideways, trying not to be overly obvious that I’m putting space between me and Cassandra.

“Thought you missed your lesson today!” she shouts.

I force a wide smile and shake my head. “No lesson today. Just picking up a check!” I wave my resignation letter in the air, and she nods back.

“Keep making those big bucks!”

All I can do is smile and nod as she makes her way across the lot. I turn my eyes to Cassandra, who is doing her best to look innocent. She’s smiling, clearly trying not to laugh.

“I have to go,” I tell her.

“Rhett, wait–”

“I’ll be back,” I reply, pulling my hand away as she reaches for it. “But we have to be very careful . Understand?” She nods. Christ, she’s gorgeous. I’m going to be jerking off to her all damn night.

I step back from her, and it physically hurts. It’s like my bones are snapping, one by one, as I make my way to my truck.

“Will you actually be back?” she asks, looking at me with doe-eyes. “Or are you just saying that like yesterday?”

“I will,” I tell her. “I promise.”

She nods slowly as I climb in the driver’s side and start the engine. I shift into gear immediately, knowing if I give myself a moment to change my mind, I will. I’ll stay and I’ll do something that will ruin both of our lives.

“I will wait for you,” she says. “Just don’t vanish on me again.”

“I won’t,” I tell her. “Never again.”