White Tigress by Jade Lee

away." And then, once again, he opened her robe, pushing it off her shoulders so it pooled about her hips.
    She tried not to flinch. Indeed, now that she understood she was not about to be raped, she felt the burn of embarrassment more than fear. But then he pressed the four fingertips of each of his hands on her collarbone in the center of her chest.
    She stiffened. She could not help herself.
    He frowned. "How can you let your yin flow freely when your body is tight, your breath caught in your chest?"
    She had not even realized she was holding her breath, yet even knowing that, she could not release it. She could only remain as she was, kneeling before him, her eyes pulled wide as she stared into his dark eyes.
    "I am going to move my hands now. Slowly. Breathe out with my movement."
    She couldn't even nod. But then he began to stroke his fingertips down on the hard bone between her breasts, and almost by magic her breath slid from her body.
    "Good."
    His hands continued, flowing underneath each breast, circling back around to the starting point.
    "That is one circle," he said softly. "We will do seven times seven circles, and then seven times seven again in the other direction."
    "But why?" The question was out before she could stop it, but he nodded as if pleased.
    "We must purify your yin before it can be of any use." He began another circle, and she found herself breathing with his movements despite her curiosity. "This motion pushes the waste from your body and encourages new yin liquids to form. Do you feel a change in your body?"
    She did, but she was too mortified to say so. Indeed, she had been doing everything in her power not to think of his hands as they circled her breasts, of the slightly rough texture of his fingers as they stroked her, of the warmth she felt seeping into her body from his hands. And most of all of the tingling he produced inside her. A tingling and a fullness.
    "Tell me what you feel!" he ordered, his voice sharp. But his hands continued to move despite his tone. "I cannot tell if the exercises are working otherwise."
    She swallowed, unnerved to have to say these things out loud. Certainly not in front of a stranger.
    "Li-dee!" he snapped, mispronouncing her name.
    "I...," she stammered. "I... no one has ever touched me here before."
    "Speak with the downstroke," he ordered, though his voice had gentled.
    She nodded, adjusting her thoughts to his rhythms. "I do not think this is proper," she said. And then she closed her eyes in horror. Of all the ridiculous things to say! Of course this wasn't proper. None of this was proper. But what she meant was that these feelings he engendered, this tingling awareness, that was not proper.
    "Why?" he pressed, as if he could guess her thoughts. "Your breasts are part of your body. Why is it not proper to make them young and healthy?"
    She bit her lip. She had no answer.
    "Perhaps you believe what you are feeling is wrong? Perhaps you enjoy this feeling and so you feel shame?"
    She turned her head away. She knew better than to try and shrink from his touch. Besides, for some reason, she did not want to move away. She found his strokes... soothing somehow. And all the more unsettling because of it.
    "Look at me!" he ordered, and she had no choice but to obey. "This is a restful stroke. One designed to bring peace to the woman. Is that how you feel?"
    She nodded, though not with certainty.
    "You feel more than peace?"
    She wet her lips. She could tell by the intensity in his expression, by the focused stare of his dark eyes that she would have to answer. And so she tried to explain. "I feel uncertain," she said. And then her eyes dropped in shame. "And it feels... nice."
    He smiled. It was a small movement, but one that softened every feature in his Chinese face. As if he removed a tiny bit of his mask to reveal a gentleness she had not expected. "Honesty is good. Honesty with me is excellent. Honesty with oneself is absolutely necessary." Then he leaned