Trancing the Tiger (Chinese Zodiac Romance Series Book 1) by Rachael Slate

you.” Gently, he lifted his finger from her lips, fighting the urge to lick off her taste.
    “I don’t understand.”
    He shifted forward, opened the partition, and gave the driver new directions. After sliding the partition shut, he reclined and studied Lucy. She had no idea of the world she’d stepped into. Of her role in it.
    “Are you going to elaborate or just leave me hanging?”
    “You’ll see soon enough.” He smiled at the scowl on her face. “Patience, xiǎo tùzi guāi guāi .”
    She glared at him, clearly interpreting his reference to the nursery rhyme “Well-behaved Little Rabbit.” Crossing her arms, she faced the window, giving him a fine view of her bare back.
    Lace was the worst possible fabric she could have chosen. Tiger urged him to seize the delicate threadwork between his teeth and tear it to pieces. Sheng smothered the urge with a cough into his fist and regarded the view from his window instead.
    Within a few minutes, they arrived at the Hai San Kongsi . In the reflection of Lucy’s window, her lips parted as she peered at the carved out mountainside.
    Kek Lok Si had once been a Buddhist temple, bursting with commercial shops and tourists. Two decades ago, the Hai San had set up residency here—pouring half a billion dollars into restorations and improvements—and now the temple housed their private association. Over a century and a half old, the plethora of temple structures rose out of the mountainside, combining every style of pagoda from Chinese to Thai to Burmese.
    To the world, Kek Lok Si used to be one of the largest Buddhist temples.
    To him, this was home.
    After the Matchmaker had scraped his sorry ass off the streets, this temple had become his sanctuary. For the first time in his life, he’d not just survived, he’d lived. She’d given his shitty existence a purpose—to seek out and train the other Chosen. His new family.
    During his teen years, he’d practiced here as a monk. As it happened, he wasn’t cut out for a life of abstinence…from anything. Tiger had just begun to reveal itself and denial wasn’t in the beast’s nature.
    A constant conflict waged between them. Whenever Sheng sought to rise above, Tiger dragged him down to his baser instincts.
    The worst test so far was Lucy, and not because he and Tiger disagreed.
    But because both of them desired her.
    “Where are we?” She pressed the fingertips of one hand against the glass.
    Leaning forward, he peered around her, desperate to observe her reaction. The condo was a ruse. The apartment—a maneuver for him to get close to her.
    This was his home.
    Her future.
    What if she didn’t like it? Anxiety burned through his chest, until he tilted far enough forward to spot why she’d become so quiet. So still.
    Her eyes were lit up like bright stars on a pitch-dark night. Her breath misted the glass from where her mouth parted in an expression of awe.
    Her other hand joined the first to press against the window as she craned her neck to survey more of the mountainside.
    This was good.
    And he was about to make it even better.

Chapter 5

    Sheng’s door slammed, jolting Lucy. She surveyed the empty seats. Where were they and why had he left her in the car? Before she worked up a true huff, her door popped open and he extended a hand.
    Oh. Who would have guessed? Sheng was a gentleman.
    She slipped her hand into his, shivering at the magnetic pull of her body toward his. Effortlessly, he plucked her to her feet, gliding one steadying hand around her waist.
    Not that she wobbled or anything.
    The blast of humid air settled around her like a welcoming caress, waging war against the searing heat of Sheng’s presence. She eased out of his grasp to stop from snuggling against him.
    “Welcome to Kek Lok Si.” His black brows shot upward and he tipped his head in the direction of the temple. His expression exposed an earnest concern as though her opinion mattered to him.
    Odd.
    She inhaled the sweet, floral perfume