A Lover's Wish

by Kadian Tracey

“You all but kidnapped me.” She smirked. Dao nodded. “I deserved that.”

  “But seriously.” Kianna smiled. “I can see it in your eyes.”

  “The phone call I got earlier was from my parents. Well my mother at least. She never calls me. I always call her because it’s really expensive for her to call me and I don’t want her spending too much money because of a phone call. In order

  for her to call, she has to travel on the Li River and I don’t like her doing that alone. She told me that my father had an accident and they don’t think he has much time.”

  “I’m sorry—”

  “Thank you. So we’re heading to Yangshuo. I know it’s a little bit out of your life, but I would really appreciate you with me so that I can still do a little business while I’m there.” He arched his brow for the look she was giving him was starting to scare him. Moving close to her, he knelt before her. She was shaking slightly, but her gaze didn’t leave his face. Dao was scared. “Kianna!” He took her hands. Her fingertips were freezing. Lifting her fingers to his lips, he blew against them before burying her smaller hands inside his. “Kianna? Speak to me.”

  “Yangshuo…”

  He was stunned because the way she said it was the exact same way a person from Yangshuo would pronounce it. The emphasis was on the right letters and he wondered how she knew to do that. She couldn’t have gotten it by him saying the word once. “Yes.”

  “Your parents live in Yangshuo—Xingping?” “Yes, to be exact.”

  “Your parents live in Xingping.”

  “Kianna, you said that already. What’s wrong? I can let you go back to Toronto once we get to Hong Kong if you’d like.”

  “No.” She shook her head and looked down into his eyes. “I saved for years to go to China. Then there was a family emergency and I gave the money to help. I never thought I’d be able to save up enough to go because it’s so expensive to travel.”

  “Well now you are going.” He smiled. “I’m sorry that it’s under such dire circumstances, but you will get a chance to see some things while there.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered. “But we are going to China to make sure your parents are well—not for me to go on vacation.”

  Dao watched her. There was a strength in her voice and eyes that caused his heart to throb sweetly within his chest. He was still holding her hands. When she bowed her head and looked at where he held her, he let her go and moved back to his seat. But his gaze never left her, even after she went back to her book. Tilting his head, he glanced at the cover and blushed before turning to look out the window. She was reading one of those romance novels that his mother would read when he was younger. Even today, he would get them specially translated into Cantonese and

  shipped to her. They would make her sound so happy.

  At that moment, Dao wondered what kind of men Kianna dated. Did she like them to touch her tenderly or roughly? Was she a romantic person? Turning his head, he looked at her and for that moment, his depression was gone. His gaze caressed her face—with the full lips, sad brown eyes, proud nose. While his gaze travelled down her neck, over full breasts and lower, his mind came to one conclusion—any man she dated was lucky.

  He said nothing. Dao took his pleasure from watching her read. From time to time, she would gasp and flip the page quickly. Other times, she would smile or giggle softly.

  “Our flight is fourteen hours, roughly,” he spoke.

  She looked up.

  “I didn’t mean to interrupt you, but would you like to talk? My brain is going too fast and I need to hear someone’s voice.”

  She smiled and closed her book. She stuck it beside her in the seat and crossed her legs.

  Dao bit back a moan. Nothing she did was overtly sexual, but just that alone—their simplicity turned him on more than he even thought was possibly.

  “What would you like to talk about?”

  “I don’t know. Tell me a little about yourself.” “There isn’t much to tell. I’m an only child now,

  both parents are gone. My brother was killed in a car accident when I was seventeen.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s alright, really,” she replied. “It happened over ten years ago.”

  “What do you like to do?”

  “Nothing lately. I haven’t had the urge to do much of anything. But before, I loved the theatre, reading, trying to learn different languages— geeky things like that.” She chuckled. “I told you there wasn’t much.”

  Dao nodded. “Thanks for the warning.” A smile was on his lips. “This may be none of my business and if it is, please tell me and I will respect your answer. Are you seeing anyone?” He watched as she looked away from him and reached for her book again. He assumed she didn’t want to talk about it so he nodded and looked back out the window. He had crossed the line, but for some reason he wanted her to look at him and answer to the negative. The thought of her being with another man angered him. He chuckled to himself before getting up and turning to leave the main area.

  “Mr. Zhi?”

  “It’s Dao—please.”

  “Dao—no I’m not seeing anyone.”

  The relieved smile that swam over him shocked Dao. It was a good thing he wasn’t looking at her when she spoke for she would have seen it.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I was going to leave you to your book,” Dao replied. Wiping the smile from his face, he turned around to look at her. “I thought that was what you wanted. Did I think wrong?”

  “Yes,” her voice was soft and she stood. She walked toward him.

  Dao could not move away. He thought maybe she wanted to walk around him, but his feet wouldn’t move. Still, he stood in her path, but she didn’t try to get around him. Instead, she braced a palm against his chest, pushed up onto her tiptoes and brushed her lips gently against his. He growled and reached for her hair. He tangled his fingers in it, then pulled her lips roughly against his. When her lips spread for his tongue, he readily drank from her heat, sliding his tongue against hers and growling his satisfaction. He bit against her lower lip and pulled before sucking the pain away. He took her lips again, this time he conquered her, tasting, kneading, moulding their mouths together. When she finally pulled back, Dao was out of his mind with arousal, but let his hands fall away from her. “What—what was that for?” he questioned, pulling her lips back to his

  again. She tasted so good, his mouth watered. He was drunk with her scent.

  Kianna Sanderson had just done something completely out of her league. Kissing someone by just taking what she wanted was never something she would normally do, especially with her boss. But Dao’s lips were calling to her and she couldn’t resist. Inhaling deeply, she pulled way from him and stumbled into her seat again.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered. Her body was still pulsating sweetly from the kiss. It was a short kiss, but it was the most wonderful kiss she’d ever experienced. It was so wrong, but it had caused her heart to hammer in her chest. All she had to do was behave herself and not maul her boss because she thought he was so sexy. Burying her face in her hands, Kianna inhaled deeply.

  “Kianna?”

  His voice was soft, husky. She didn’t look at him. How could she look him in the eyes after what she had just done? She felt his hands on her, trying to pull her hands away, but she fought him back. He was stronger, however, and her hands fell away.

  “What are you sorry about, Kianna?” his voice showed genuine concern. “We’re two consenting

  adults. We shared a kiss—one that I thoroughly enjoyed. Why are you sorry?”

  Kianna couldn’t speak. The words that she wanted to put forth died in her throat. He had said he enjoyed her kiss and she knew then he was toying with her. He had to have been. How could he—Dao Zhi—have wanted a kiss from her? She rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath.

  “Talk to me.”

  “It didn’t happen,” Kianna spoke strongly. “It never happened.”


  “Kianna I don’t—”

  “There’s nothing for you to understand!” Kianna interrupted too harshly. “It never happened.”

  “Alright,” Dao stood from where he had been kneeling before her. “The fact that we both just went out of control and had you not pulled back when you did, I would have gone too far—it never happened. If that is what you want.”

  “It is.”

  “Very well then…”

  Kianna felt sick to her stomach. She hung her head in shame and when she looked up to explain to him what had happened, Dao was gone. This situation was out of control because she didn’t want to get involved with another man. She has no idea what men are good for her and knew that Dao’s family would not accept her. How could

  they? She’s black, slightly overweight and had a temper. She loved to do for herself, on her own sometimes and in Asian cultures, it was all about the family. If you wanted to buy a car, it was a family decision. Kianna couldn’t live with that. She had her own rules to live, her own life and she couldn’t let some man and his family take that away. “Ugh,” she got out.

  “Ms. Sanderson,” the stewardess called.

  Kianna looked up and was surprised to see that the food cart was out. She smiled, not feeling really hungry, but they had made her the food and it would be sad to waste it. She thought back to what her mother would have said should she have all that food thrown out.

  “You know, Kiki,” her mother would have said softly. “There are millions of children in the world who would give their right hands for that food. Don’t waste it.”

  Kianna pressed her lips into a thin line and moaned. “Thank you,” she whispered with a nod as she was served. At that point, Dao came back and sat down. The stewardess served him a light snack at first and after he was finished that, she came back with heavier food. Kianna even went as far as having a half of a glass of wine. She was wound up tighter than a taut rubber band. The wine didn’t help so she frowned, cleaned up her own plates, then snuggled beneath a blanket and

  stared out the window. It was extremely dark outside now. It surprised her that she was up higher and should be seeing stars, but there were none.

  Pulling out her book, she snuggled into the soft seat and began reading again. But she couldn’t concentrate. She kept on reading the same line over and over. All she could think of was Dao’s hard body that was pressed into hers. She had wrapped her curves around him. The kiss told her that he wasn’t weak—not by a long shot. He had taken control and given her such pleasure. He had dug his fingers into her hair and moaned when her tongue passed over his. No man had ever seemed to get quite as much enjoyment out of kissing her than Dao had. He had seemed almost dazed when the kiss ended. Sighing, she slammed the book shut.

  “You alright?” Dao’s voice came through her haze.

  “Fine,” she answered a little too sharply, but didn’t apologize. Kianna hit the button on the side of her seat, sending the back down into a recline position and pulled her blanket over her head.

  Chapter Five

  T

  he Hong Kong International airport was just like Dao remembered it. It was like something from

  a futuristic movie. The building alone was a work of architectural genius, but Dao would never admit that. His friend, Claude, would never let him live it down. The two had debated over it for years and Dao had always thought the money could have been used for something more important.

  Deep down, he knew the building was impressive. There were places to do some serious shopping and entertaining. Anything you wanted, it was there. Layover at that airport was never boring. They still had another leg to their flight from Hong Kong to Guilin and even then they would have to float the rest of the way. It was still dark and it wasn’t a long ride to their second destination. It would take a few hours for the jet to be refuelled, but he was still iffy on speaking to

  Kianna. He wanted her to approach him about the issue on the plane first.

  “Kianna,” he spoke to her as she stared out the glass window at the planes.

  She jerked slightly, but turned to face him.

  He felt as though he had forced himself on her and it was a horrendous feeling. “I’ll stay away. But we have some decisions to make.”

  “I didn’t mean to kiss you,” Kianna spoke.

  He held up a hand to stop her. “It never happened, remember? Wasn’t that what you wanted? How can you be sorry for doing something that never happened?”

  Kianna nodded.

  “That’s what you wanted,” Dao whispered. He found his voice cracking with the feelings behind it. He was hurt that she did not want to remember his kiss. He could not have done it that horribly. He did not push the issue. “It’s dark out but it’s not a long flight to Guilin. I wanted to know if you wanted to spend the night at a hotel tonight and then start fresh in the morning. That way we won’t have to spend too much time in Guilin, but catch a boat directly to Xingping.”

  “But you want to get to your parents. We don’t have to stop. I can handle this.”

  He tilted his head to one side, impressed. But he couldn’t let that affect his decision. Inhaling deeply, he walked by her and stared out the

  windows. Nodding for no reason, he turned to face her. He pulled out his cell phone and paced away from her as he spoke into it. When he was finished, he walked to the counter to find out when his plane would be able to leave in the morning. With his departure time in his head, he walked back to Kianna. “Our flight leaves tomorrow morning at nine. Our hotel room waits.”

  Turning away again, he expected her to walk with him. When he glanced back, she was keeping up with him, but her arms were wrapped around herself. Shaking his head, he held open the airport’s door for her and allowed her to climb the stairs into the shuttle bus ahead of him. Her scent was still intoxicating.

  While her scent swirled around his head, he remembered her soft, sexy lips and the way they moulded against his. She was perfect for him, for his body, but he knew it was too early to spring that on her—he would never spring that on her. She had made it perfectly care that she wanted nothing to do with him other than a boss–worker relationship. Their kiss never happened just because she wished it so. He smiled to himself trying to remember the last woman who had rejected him. There weren’t many. All of them wanted his body because of the way it was built,

  others wanted his money, and the rest wanted both. But Kianna was different.

  He knew that. He craved that. But there was a time and place for everything and maybe this lifetime wasn’t the time or place for her to be with him. That was a sad thought. It gripped him painfully, but he merely winced and carried on. He could have been a good man to her if the fates hadn’t conspired against him.

  Dao didn’t sit beside her, but across from her. Reclining into his seat, he folded his arms across his chest and closed his eyes. It would be a few minutes before the shuttle got to the hotel. He had a bit of time to think about what he would do if his father didn’t make it. He didn’t want to, but he had to prepare for the worse. He would have to get ready to try and talk his mother into leaving China. There was no way he would leave her there by herself—no matter how much she kicked and screamed. How could he? A part of him was angry that they hadn’t left when he had asked them to. He went away, struck it rich mostly so he could get them to live a better life with only visits to China. Neither of them wanted to—they didn’t even want to leave Xingping! Well his father didn’t want to and his mother stuck with the old man to be a good wife. By leaving, she would spread dishonour on their home and the Zhi name.

  “You and your damn honour!” Dao had growled when his mother had explained her reason for staying. He could not understand that. He did not get the need to stay in a place where they could barely make ends meet when he could give them so much more. He then tried getting them a bigger house, maybe in Beijing, anywhere but Xinping. If they were to get hurt, it was hard to get medical attention to them. Even worse so bec
ause they were older by then. But his parents loved each other. No matter how much they may pretend sometimes that they didn’t, Dao knew that his father would willingly die for his mother. The bus stopped and he stood.

  “We’re here,” he spoke to Kianna and watched as she stepped from the bus. The two walked into the hotel. Speaking softly to the lady at the front desk in fluent Cantonese, Dao took the keys from her and walked Kianna to the elevator. They travelled to the fifteenth floor and then to her room door. He handed her the key to her room. “Goodnight, Kianna.”

  Taking the key, she let her arms fall to her sides. “Aren’t you coming in?”

  “No,” he spoke simply and turned away. “Goodnight.”

  “‘Night.”

  As he stood at his window and stared out into the night, Dao wondered what kind of news he would get from his mother once he got home again. He didn’t want to hear that his father was dead, but a bad feeling was surging through him. Rubbing his neck, he turned his head away from the window but no matter how much he tried to get away from the thought, he couldn’t. Frowning, he removed his jacket and flopped down against the bed. He didn’t even know why he got a room for himself because he would never get any sleep. Rolling his eyes, he rolled over and faced the wall.

  “This is nuts.”

  He was gone. Just like that. Kianna spent the night sitting on her bed with her knees pulled up beneath her chin. Everything had slowly wound itself out of control just because his luscious lips, beautiful eyes and hard body called to her and she couldn’t resist. He had tasted like magic. When Dao’s tongue flowed over hers, she felt as though she was the most beautiful person on the planet. Then he had tangled his fingers in her hair and pulled her in, savagely feeding from her mouth. He had growled and that must have meant he had enjoyed the kiss—with her. But why couldn’t she face the fact that he had taken pleasure in it?