by Kali Willows
“Many women are known to lie about their age. Perhaps we may need to consider the same?”
“Say we are younger?”
“I had thought, as time moves forward, we could change our year of birth. People will not believe in a few decades that we were born in 1928.”
“Interesting.” Shen collected a lock of her hair and twirled it around his finger.
“Perhaps now is not the best time to discuss this.” She knelt on the floor in front of him and unfastened his robe.
“Oh….” He sucked in a sharp breath.
Chapter Five
The softness of dawn’s early light crept through the hotel room curtains and into the bedroom, where Lien lay, breathless, in Shen’s arms.
“This is bliss.”
“It is.”
The sharp ring of the phone on the nightstand shattered the moment. Lien answered it. “Hello?”
“Good mornin’, doll.”
“Uh, hi.” She turned over and whispered into the phone. “I won’t be free for breakfast, after all.”
“Oh, did you sleep well?”
“Oh, Priscilla, actually, I’m just…. Well, no, to be honest, I didn’t.”
“That’s too bad. You have to get to the office right away.”
“You can’t be serious?” Lien looked to Shen then turned to the side and whispered into the phone again. “I’m with him. I can’t come to work right now.”
“Bring Shen along. This concerns him, too.”
“Excuse me? What does?”
“Gershom is here, and he’s very upset with the layout of the new site. He’s demanded we meet right now, in my office.”
“Priscilla, please tell me this is a joke?”
“I’m dead serious. You have forty-five minutes to get your butts here.” The line went dead.
“Unbelievable.” She sat up and pulled the covers to her chest with wide eyes.
“What is it?” “You would think she could wait—”
“What is going on?”
Lien was on the verge of tears. “I have to go.” The phone rang again.
“I will take care of this. Who does she think she is?” He grabbed the phone. “Hello?” He spoke in a low voice and replaced the receiver. “What the hell is going on?”
“I don’t know, but I’ve never heard Priscilla sound like that before. I’d better go.” Lien threw the covers off and began to dress.
“That wasn’t Priscilla. That was Gershom.” He stepped into his trousers.
“What?”
“He demanded I go to the third floor of Keystone Designs right now.” He found his socks under the bed.
“That’s where I work.” What on earth could Gershom and Priscilla be up to?
“I don’t understand.”
“Let’s put an end to this nonsense now.”
Shen picked up the phone and dialed zero. “Hello, please have a cab wait outside the lobby. We are in a rush.”
***
Forty minutes later, they arrived at Keystone Designs. Lien used her key to open the entrance to the dark foyer. The elevator operator didn’t come in on weekends, so they climbed the stairs to the third floor in silence. Lien’s heart pounded.
Shen dragged the heavy staircase access open, and they walked down the dim corridor. “Where are they?”
“I think we should go to Priscilla’s office. They may be in there.” Lien took his hand and led the way through the maze of offices. They arrived at another closed door. Low voices sounded from inside.
“Let me go in first. Something isn’t right here.” Shen shielded her as he ventured inside.
“Surprise!” Priscilla, Gershom, and a handful of employees jumped out and threw confetti.
“What is this?” Shen’s eyes widened, and he flexed his jaw.
“Your wedding, of course.” Gershom stepped forward and held up a tuxedo coat and a black velvet ring box.
Shock washed over her body. Priscilla held a beige garment bag.
“What is that?”
“Come with me. It’s bad luck for the groom to see it before the wedding.”
“Wait a minute. Explain to us, what this is all about?”
Gershom collected Lien’s shaky hand and gazed into her teary eyes. “You two belong together. Everyone else knows it, now you both do, as well, or am I wrong?”
Shen wore an ear-to-ear grin.
“Did you know about this?”
“I never had a clue.”
“Gershom and I plotted the moment we knew about you two. Lien, you have talked about Shen since you arrived.” Priscilla beamed.
“When we spoke on the phone last night, I was alone. How could you have known we got together?” Lien perched her hands on her hips.
“Alfred, the concierge.”
“Sneaky.” Lien shook her head.
“Shen.” Gershom patted him on the shoulder. “You confided a great deal to me in the time we have worked together. With a little encouragement from Madame Eve, we figured this would be the best way to get you both started in your life together.”
“This is all happening too fast.” Lien’s breath hitched.
“My dear, please, sit down.” Gershom escorted her to the office chair. The other employees tended to the decorations of white paper bells and balloons, with red roses in vases on every flat surface. The officiate, in his blue robe, loitered at the side under a flimsy lattice arbor covered with roses and garlands, his book in hand.
Speechless, she stared at Gershom’s faded blue eyes.
“My dear, do you love him?”
A fervent nod was the only reply she could offer. Tears stung her sinuses.
“Shen, do you love her?”
“More than life.”
“You have squandered so much time. Believe me, life is too short to waste. Every moment is precious. When you know someone is your true mate, what is there to wait for?”
A wave of giddiness washed over her.
“This is no gunshot wedding, but it’s the next best thing. You already have your honeymoon suite at my hotel where you stayed last night. It’s paid up for the next three days.”
“So, will ya, doll? Will ya marry your true love?” Priscilla held up the garment bag with an emphatic nod.
“Shen?”
“If you want to spend your life with me, it would be my honor and divine pleasure Miss Lien Long.” He accepted the ring box from Gershom and held it open for her. A sparkling princess-cut diamond ring rested alongside matching gold wedding bands.
“I know it’s not your dream wedding, but we put together as much as we could on such short notice.” Priscilla dabbed the corners of her watery eyes with the handkerchief Gershom handed her.
“It couldn’t be more perfect.” Lien’s lips quivered as a single tear spilled down her cheek.
The officiate stood tall and spoke with purpose as he addressed the dozen people surrounding the happy couple.
“Are you okay?” Shen caressed her trembling hand.
“Perfect.” She flashed him a nervous smile.
“As we gather here together today to celebrate the union of this couple, let us bring the power of our varied cultures, backgrounds, and experiences to support Lien and Shen as they begin this new phase of their lives together. I invite the bride and groom to exchange their own vows.” He nodded.
“Shen,” Lien said. “Because within the depths of me, I long to love one person, with all my heart and soul”—she accepted the wedding band from her maid of honor, Priscilla, and placed it on Shen’s finger—“I choose you, my beloved.”
“Lien”—Shen took the second wedding band from Gershom, his best man—“because I need my soul mate who knows the most secret intimacies of me, who won’t hold them against me, who loves me when I’m unlovable and looks for my hidden potential, I choose you, my beloved.” He placed the ring on her finger.
The officiate continued, “Please repeat after me. I, Shen, promise you, Lien, that I will be your h
usband from this day forward, to love and respect you. I will support and hold you and make you laugh. I will be there when you cry. I will kiss you softly when you are hurting. I will be your companion and your friend on this journey that we continue together.”
Shen then Lien repeated the words.
The officiate asked them both, “Shen and Lien, will you support each other’s dreams?”
“We will,” they recited in unison.
“Will you dream together to create new realities and hopes?”
“We will.” Shen gave her hand a gentle squeeze.
“Will you cause each other anger?”
“We may.”
“Will that be your intent?”
“No,” they replied.
“Will you take the flames of anger and use it to temper the strength of this union?”
“We will.”
“Will you stand by each other in sickness and in health?”
“We will.”
“If life has meaning at all, it holds it because of love. With your pledges and joining of hands, and in exchanging rings, you have united yourselves in shared destiny. May you strive always to meet this commitment with the same spirit you now exhibit. By the powers vested in me by the Marriage Act, I do hereby pronounce you husband and wife. Bless this union. You may kiss the bride.”
Shen traced the line of Lien’s face with his fingertips then drew close and tenderly claimed her lips. Lien sank into his embrace, forgetting the witnesses surrounding them. A round of clapping and cheering stirred her from her daze. They parted lips and ducked as handfuls of dried rice rained down on them from their spectators.
An hour and four dances later, Lien tucked her head into the nape of Shen’s neck. “I love you, my double dragon.”
“I love you more, my dragoness.”
Double Dragon Seduction
A 1 Night Stand Story
By
Kali Willows
~DEDICATION~
For lovers of dragons, and lust filled nights, there’s always need for a little fantasy in life, and to my creative co-genius who fed my imagination throughout this fiery journey.
Chapter One
Mr. Jamison Trembley and his fiancé, Katrina Harlan, will exchange wedding vows at her parents’ estate in Niagara Falls on the eve of December first.
The doorbell startled her and she wobbled on the high kitchen stool. A wave of hatred flooded her and the newspaper burst into flame in her hands. She dropped it on the floor then extinguished it with her slipper.
The shrill chime sounded again.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming already.”
Gwen peeked through the side window curtain then grinned and opened the door. “Hey.” She spun and headed back toward the kitchen.
“So, I guess I’m too late?” Cindy joined her.
“You are? For what?” Resuming her seat at the island, she drummed her nails in irritation.
Cindy stepped over the pile of smoldering ashes and grimaced. “I was hoping to steal your paper before you found it.” She pulled two glasses and a bottle of amaretto from the cabinet, poured double shots, and handed one to Gwen.
“Even if you had, you couldn’t stop the gossip.” She gulped back the sweet liqueur and slammed the tumbler down, wishing for another.
“Subtlety has never been his strong point.” Cindy sucked back her own shot.
“No…it isn’t.”
“Getting married on your birthday, though, that’s low, even for him. What an asshole.”
“Cheers to that.”
***
An hour, and three quarters of the bottle later, Gwen sat beside Cindy sat on the leather couch in her den, staring at the sputtering flames of oak in the fireplace. She tried to let the soft crackling, and dark shadows dancing across the walls and ceiling soothe her—with minimal success.
“So, what are you gonna do, sunshine?” Cindy’s sympathetic tone grated on Gwen’s nerves, as did her practical message. “He’s clearly moved on. Are you ready to let go?”
The liquid pain killer was kicking in, smoothing the rough edges of her anger and grief. “I have no idea what to do. I mean, ten years together—how do I just give that up?”
“If you could take him back, would you?”
She gasped. “Are you crazy?”
“No, but I would have thought you were, if you wanted him back.” Cindy tucked a leg under her and faced Gwen.
“I know I’m better off without him, but it doesn’t make it any easier, you know?” She hated the tears that choked her voice.
“Yeah, I understand, but one day soon, you’ll discover something I’ve known about you all along.”
“What’s that?”
“You’re stronger than you think. Look what you’ve survived.” Cindy reached over and patted her hand. “You’re amazing, and I’m proud of you.”
Avoiding her friend’s eyes, she propped her feet on the glass table, knocking a pile of books over.
“I got it.” Cindy laughed and collected them from the floor. “I can see what you have been doing lately. How much time have you been spending reading this smut?” She held up a book with a demon and angel illustration on the cover, the blurb touting a lurid tale of erotic passion.
“Gimme that.” Gwen grabbed it.
“No wonder you’re depressed, reading all these…these…romances with monsters?”
“I read it because I’m depressed. I need something to distract me while he’s living it up with that slut.”
“But it’s just fantasy. None of it’s real.”
“That’s the beauty of it, Cin. If you know it can’t be real, you don’t get caught up with the roses and champagne, the farce of what real love could be, blah, blah, blah.”
“Honey,” Cindy reached for the book, but Gwen pulled away, clutching it to her chest like a life preserver.
“Leave me my fantasies. They’re not real anyway.” She lifted her chin. It was little enough to ask, after all.
“Whatever works for you, sweetie.” Cindy’s gaze softened as she reclined into her seat.
“Joshua, the hero of the story, may be a demon, but at least he has a soul, unlike that selfish bastard.”
“Okay.” Cindy snickered. “No need to get pissy. I get it.”
“Even though it’s fiction, can you imagine what being with a supernatural creature would be like?” Gwen’s fingers teased the smooth, glossy cover as she allowed her intimate imaginings to slip out.
“What do you mean?” Cindy sipped her drink, watching her with a frown.
“Well, how hot is this?” She opened the book. “His wings encompassed her trembling body as he descended upon her quivering lips.”
“Wings? Oh come on.”
“Don’t get your panties in a bunch.” Gwen flashed her an evil grin.
“What?”
“I did get inspired after we spoke last week.” Bursting inside, she couldn’t keep her secret any longer. “I heard about a dating service.” She dropped into her office chair and booted up her laptop, anxious to share her find.
“Dating service? Have you lost your mind?” Cindy joined her, looking over her shoulder at the monitor. “You said you didn’t want a relationship right now.”
“True, but I never said I didn’t want an outlet for my pent-up frustrations.” She logged into email and reveled in the sense of empowerment, the first positive emotion she’d experienced in a while.
Cindy dragged a chair next to hers and sat down, peering at the screen.
“What do you mean?”
“Madame Evangeline found a match for me, for an extraordinary night that has nothing to do with an average man, a selfish man, an ass—”
“Okay, open it.” Cindy grabbed for the mouse.
“My, my, aren’t we nosey?” Gwen taunted. “Listen. At your request, we have reviewed your application and found a suitable match for your 1Night Stand.”
“Oh, my God, anonymous sex? You?” Cindy’s jaw hung
open.
“It gets even better, my dear.”
“What?” Cindy took a sip of her drink.
“I didn’t ask to be with a man.”
Cindy choked. “Holy crap, I thought you were totally straight.” She arched a brow. “Next time you drop a bomb like that, wait until I’m done taking a drink. That came out my nose.”
“Sorry about that,” Gwen giggled. “I’m not seeking a woman.”
“I’m confused. You’re gonna have sex, but not with a man, and not with a woman?”
“Oh, I’ll be seeing a man—actually, I’ll be seeing two of them.”
“Two guys?”
“Yep.” She grinned.
“At the same time? Shut up!”
“Oh yes. I’m gonna be the center of attention for once. I’m having a ménage à trois.”
“No.” Cindy tossed back the last of her amaretto and shuddered.
“Even if he hadn’t been a complete ass, Jamison never could have given me what I need in the bedroom. No one man could.”
Chapter Two
“This isn’t such a good idea, Tatsu.”
“Little brother, we have to get a date soon.”
“But surely there’s another way…?”
“Trust me. I don’t need to remind you of the consequences if we ignore the signs much longer.” He plopped on the side of his bed and took a long, fortifying swallow of his latte.
“No, you don’t.” Shrugging his shoulders to loosen his tight muscles, Yong sank back in the armchair and placed his cup on the table beside him.
“Besides, with an ordinary date, we’d be obligated to explain, but our one-night stand comes with no strings attached. She won’t even know how to contact us afterward.” Not that she’ll want to. She’ll probably be so freaked out, she’ll move to Ecuador to put more space between her and us.
“So, how does it work?”
“Madame Eve arranged a match for the night, and then we can get back to normal.”
“How did you find the service?” Yong was puzzled.