BindingCherryBlossoms by Gia Dawn Page A

better?”
    “Better,” she agreed, calmed by his professional behavior.
    She didn’t protest as her Bakushi led her to the bed
and sat down beside her. Ty hovered in the background as if unwilling to
intrude. “Tell me what you were thinking when you did such damage to yourself.”
    Her gaze moved from one man to the other. “I got nervous,”
she admitted. “The thought of both of you—” She couldn’t finish the sentence.
    Ty stepped forward. “Master, may I have a word with your keisei ?”
    For a long moment, Sakura thought her teacher was going to
refuse. He held her so close to his chest she could feel the strong thump of
his heart. But then he jerked his head in affirmation and let her go, standing
stiff and alert on the other side of the room.
    Ty bent down to kneel at her feet. “I understand if you do
not want to go through with this,” he said. “I won’t be offended.”
    He reached out to touch her arm and for the first time
Sakura caught a glimpse of his hands. She gasped as she noticed the mass of scar
tissue where his palms should have been and the way several of his fingers did
not bend along with the others.
    “Not a pleasant sight,” he admitted with a sigh. “Severe
nerve damage. I was hoping that by working on the rope technique I could manage
to regain some mobility and be able to touch a woman again without being as
clumsy as a child.”
    Sakura could hear the self-hatred in his voice. It was
terrible that a man who had risked his life in service to others should feel
such loathing for himself. She glanced at her Bakushi to find him
studying her with an intensity that made her toes curl. He knew Ty’s
inhibitions, she acknowledged. Knew the other man’s pain and had offered her a
chance to help Ty heal.
    But he still should have asked her first.
    “Okay,” she said in an unsteady voice, not quite managing a
smile. “Okay.”
    Her Bakushi removed his robe and let it fall to the
floor, his stunning body taking her breath away as he sat on the bed and slid
her kimono from her shoulders. “Good.”
    She had another brief moment of hesitation as Ty stood and
removed his robe, intimidated by being so close to two naked men, but when she
saw Ty nod in appreciation she relaxed and let their teacher push her down onto
the bed.

Chapter Seven
     
    He placed his palm on her chest and held it there for so
long she knew he could feel the pounding of her heart. Then her Bakushi seemed to make a decision. “Her wrist is injured. I will hold her to keep it
from being damaged further. You will bind only her hips and legs.”
    “ Hai. ” Ty reached for a length of black silk rope.
    Then their teacher climbed onto the bed behind her and
gathered her to his chest, holding her injured arm gently as he positioned her
to his satisfaction. Now she could feel the beating of his heart. It thumped against
her back and added its rhythm to hers. They did not beat in perfect sync but
complemented each other as if they were singing different verses of the same
song.
    But Sakura stiffened again when Ty took her knees and spread
them wide, exposing her fully to his gaze. To her consternation, she found
herself trying to pull her legs back together, earning her a small smack on the
inside of one thigh.
    “Relax,” her teacher admonished. “No one here will harm
you.”
    But she shivered as Ty pressed her knees to the bed and
knelt between them, especially when the man behind her ran his free hand up her
stomach to pinch one nipple until she gasped. He turned his attention to the
other breast as Ty ran his hands between her legs, brushing her clit as he bent
over to wrap the rope around her stomach.
    In the end there was nothing she could do but surrender to
their touch. Ty’s hands were bigger than her Bakushi’s , his fingers
thick and webbed with scar tissue. But he manipulated her gently, taking care
to gauge her reaction every time his hands moved to graze her sex. He tied the
rope around her hips,