A Lover's Wish

by Kadian Tracey

  It was too late to feel sorry. All she had to do next, was go to Xingping, help him out with his family emergency and keep her eye on his business. She would then return to Canada and get back to work. It would be just—just like it never happen.

  There, I’ve forgotten what it is already.

  Frowning at her thoughts and mentally threatening to stab her brain with a q-tip, she pushed from her bed and walked to the window. She was suddenly so cold and so alone. She wished that Jace was with her, but it was time Kianna stood on her own two feet. She could probably go to Dao and ask him to hold her, to warm her body. But instead, she stood there, staring out the window. It was going to be a long night.

  But it didn’t have to be. Kianna frowned at herself for all she had to do was go him. Where was he? Bowing her head, Kianna turned from the window and pushed her cold body beneath the sheets. She was shivering now and her teeth chattered. She had checked the A/C before and it was set perfectly so maybe the cold was all in her head. Kianna wished she had asked if she could call home. She didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but lying cold and alone in a hotel room was not the way she wanted her trip to China to be. She had to get out.

  Grabbing her room key, she rummaged through her carryon for a shawl and slipped from the room. “I’m in Hong Kong,” she spoke as she broke through the hotel front doors and stared upward at all the lights. “I might as well enjoy myself.”

  But then she remembered. It was custom to bring the host of the Chinese house you were visiting a gift. She stopped in the path of traffic on the sidewalk, trying to remember what numbers were bad luck and what numbers weren’t. She couldn’t remember. Was it six? Seven? It couldn’t be seven because that was an odd number. Panic went through her.

  Okay, all I have to do is breathe. I can remember. When was the Olympics in Beijing? The eight day of the eight month two thousand and eight!

  “Eight! Ha!” Kianna pumped a fist into the air, then stopped to flail her arms a little. Stopping in mid-flail she realized that people around her had stopped to peer at her in confusion. She bowed her eyes shyly and ducked off down the path.

  Chapter Six

  T

  he ringing telephone ripped Dao from his sleep at about six thirty in the morning. It was his pilot, calling to make sure he was awake. Smiling, he inhaled deeply, “Yeah, Paul, I’m up,” he lied and pushed himself into a sitting position. His eyes were burning like hell because he hadn’t

  gotten enough sleep. When did I even fall asleep?

  “And wake your lady as well,” Paul suggested before laughing and hanging up.

  “Smartass.” Dao dropped the phone back into the cradle and rubbed a hand over his face. He hadn’t even changed the night before. When had he fallen asleep? He couldn’t remember. Hauling himself to the bathroom, Dao stared into the mirror and the haunted eyes that shone back at him caused him to moan and turn away. He couldn’t face himself. There was too much pain, hate, utter need that glared back at him.

  Washing his face, Dao sniffed at his armpits, the old fashioned way of testing one’s clothes for

  cleanliness. Satisfied that he didn’t stink, Dao exited the room and walked the few doors down to Kianna. After knocking, he leant against the doorframe with both his hands stuck into his pocket to wait.

  His head bowed, he began sticking himself into the frame of mind that he wouldn’t be upset, needy or wanting when he saw her. This was the way to get over something. But how could he get over someone he wasn’t beside anyway? Chuckling, Dao shook his head and knocked again. This time the door opened and he lifted his head. “Morning,” he greeted with some pep to his voice. He didn’t feel that excited, but he could at least fake it. “I’m here to pick you up.”

  “I thought the plane didn’t leave until…”

  She was dressed in a towel, wrapped around her mocha skin. Dao kept his gaze glued to hers for if he had looked away, he knew that he would have grabbed her, ripped that towel away and simply ravish her.

  “Yah, but we have to check in and we all know how that goes,” he explained.

  She glanced around her nervously.

  It was as though she thought he would push himself on her so he leaned off the frame and stepped back. Dao shook his head and turned to walk away again. There are some dramas in life that one just didn’t need in their life. Why was it

  that humans make such a big deal out of things that are so small, so very miniscule?

  “Dao!” she called.

  He stopped, but didn’t turn to face her. There were certain things that a man didn’t want to see in a woman’s eyes.

  “You can come in,” her voice was soft and welcoming.

  He knew that wasn’t what she thought. He took a step away from her.

  “Please?”

  Inhaling deeply, he turned and walked back and by her into the room. Sometimes he wondered why he bothered trying to understand women. It felt to him that since the beginning of time, men have been trying that and so far they all failed miserably. Silently, he walked over to the window. “Get dressed.” He stared out the window. It would be better to say nothing at all.

  “Why are you being like this?”

  Dao didn’t move. “Being like what?” “Silent.”

  “I don’t know what to say around you, Kianna.” His voice was soft yet tight. “I keep to myself and that way there’s less of a chance of me offending you. Now please, get dressed.”

  “I can’t live like this.”

  Dao turned to face her. “Then I will get you a ticket and you can return home.” He turned toward the door.

  “Is this because of the kiss?”

  He stopped in his tracks. “It never happened, remember? How is this because of something that never happened?”

  “Then maybe I should go home because you’re a disagreeable jerk that treats women like crap for no reason!”

  “I see. Well good news, Kianna Sanderson, you just got your wish, report to the front desk once you have gotten dressed. Your ticket home will be waiting for you.” He placed some money down on a table in the room and glanced at her. Dao frowned and walked out the door, closing it behind him.

  There were certain things he did not need at the moment with what was ahead of him. It felt strange for him. He was giving her space, being a gentleman and yet she accused him of ill treating her. What more could he have done? He stayed out of her reach. He didn’t speak unless spoken to. All he wanted was an assistant to keep track of things for him while he was out of the country. That was it. He had no intentions of fighting with anyone, except maybe his mother once he told her she was moving back with him, away from her beloved China.

  Kianna felt utterly defeated. She saw what he was trying to do, but she wasn’t used to being around someone and not speaking to them. He was staying away from her—giving her space, but she didn’t feel like she wanted it. What did she want? She wanted him to hold her like he had on the plane, and kiss her. She wanted him to touch her, whisper to her, protect her from the sadness that now swept through her. As she heard the door click shut behind him, it took a while before she even thought to move from the spot that she was glued to. Her brain wasn’t communicating to her legs.

  She was going home. Just like that. He had given her such a wonderful opportunity and hadn’t asked for anything in return. She had cut into his time to get to his family and he never complained. He never once talked back to her. Rubbing a hand over her face, she became unglued and rushed to put her clothes back on. Kianna then breezed to the elevator and stood there, jabbing her fingers against the down button over and over. When it didn’t come as fast as she wished, she stomped her foot in frustration like an insolent child and began pressing the button over and over.

  The ping sound finally came and she rushed into the elevator, shoving past those who exited. They spoke in utter disbelief at her rudeness, but she simply frowned and smacked the lobby button. Once more the damn metal abomination that was the elevator st
ood there with the door open. She wanted to go down—now! She jabbed her finger into the close door button over and over until the door slid shut.

  All the way down to the lobby, she paced the small space of the elevator. What was she going to say to him? Would she be on time? So many thoughts rushed through her mind that she wanted to wince and cringe into a corner. But she had to be strong. If not, she would then spend the rest of her life wondering what the possibilities would have been. Bursting out the elevator once the door opened, she caught Dao leaving the hotel via the front door. “Dao!”

  He stopped and turned.

  She instantly saw the confused look in his eyes. “What now?”

  “I don’t want to go back.” “What?”

  “I do not want to go back,” she spoke in shaky Cantonese. “I want to go with you.” She saw the arch to one of his brows and knew he was shocked that she had just spoken in his native tongue. She lowered her eyes shyly. Instead of leaving though,

  she felt his finger against her flesh, pushing her chin up softly.

  “You speak Cantonese?” he questioned in his native tongue.

  “A little,” she whispered in English now. “I learnt from the internet mostly, on chat groups and forums. I am never sure if what they taught me was right.”

  “That was perfect,” he whispered. “What do you mean you don’t want to go back?”

  Kianna thought about it, translated her answer from English into Cantonese, and replied, “I want to go with you, to see your mother. I even got her a present—eight of them actually.”

  He smiled, a soft lift to the corner of his lips, showing perfect, white teeth. “Very well,” he replied and took her hand.

  “Wait, I have to get my bags,” she stopped. “Don’t worry about it—I’ll have Paul take care

  of it.”

  True to his word, he grabbed his cell phone and after explaining to Paul what he wanted, he took Kianna’s hand again. Walking back to the counter, he had her ticket cancelled and they exited the hotel to a waiting limo.

  As the car moved from the hotel, via the shuttle route back to the airport, Kianna kept her eyes focused on him. He was reading from a paper that was in Cantonese from his lap. She couldn’t read

  the official language when it was written, but she could read the words when they were spelled out with English letters—somewhat.

  She trailed her gaze from his forehead, down over his eyes to his nose. Then ever so slowly, she stared at his lips, down to his chin, then back to his lips. There was an infatuation she had developed for them. She allowed her eyes to caress from one side of his sensuous mouth to the next—then back again. Oh how she would love to just move across the small space and have him kiss her. She dragged her eyes back and shivered visibly.

  “Are you cold?”

  She jerked to face him. Had he seen her staring at him? “No,” she lied. “I was just thinking. That happens when I think.”

  He smiled at her before leaning forward and draping his jacket over her shoulders nonetheless. He then took his seat and glanced back down to his paper.

  She pushed back into the plush seat and tried to shut her brain off until they reached the airport. His jacket smelt of him—hot, musky absolutely him. Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore. She had to say something, even if it caused another argument. “I don’t want to forget.”

  Dao didn’t look up right away. He looked up in a fashion as though he wanted to finish reading

  the sentence he was on, then arched a brow He folded his paper and put it away, then faced her again. Still he didn’t speak.

  “I’ve never been kissed before,” she confessed. The shock in his eyes mocked her and she looked away. “Well not like that. The men—er, man—I’ve been with never really had the time to kiss me like that. Also I never had much time—for dating, for boys, anything. I mean, I barely had time to go to school. I was always working to pay for my travelling…” She trailed off and looked up at him again. “I had this urge to press my lips against yours and when I did and you spread your lips to me, I couldn’t pull away. I needed you…”

  “Why did you want to forget your first real kiss? Was I not satisfactory, Kianna?”

  She blushed. “I don’t know. You could say that I have nothing to compare it to. But it made me go hot and cold all over. My knees shook from the delicious shock of it and it confused me. It scared me.” Silence from him again made her want to scream. He was looking at her with that look in his eyes again. It was the same look he had after pulling away from the kiss on the plane—a dark look that sent steam surging through her body. “Say something. Please. Anything at all.”

  “Would you like to have something to compare your first real kiss to, Kianna?”

  She nodded without thinking.

  “Then I’m going to kiss you,” Dao explained, while undoing his seatbelt. “You will definitely have something to compare it to.”

  He moved toward her like a predator—silent, lethal, graceful. She moaned just because of the way his eyes glued to her. They were heated, strong, dark and she began leaning forward in anticipation. When his arm went behind her neck, he gently pulled her close. Weakly, she shivered and watched his lips lower to hers.

  This time, the kiss was even better than the first. This time, his lips formed against hers. Their tongues danced and tangled with each other. He tasted absolutely divine to her and when his tongue withdrew and plunged into her heat again, she whimpered and wrapped her arms around his neck. His arms went around her back and pulled her tightly against him as much as their cramped quarters allowed. Then he did something that made her sigh contently, Dao pulled back and sucked against her lower lip before dropping a kiss on her upper lip. When she moaned, he pulled back.

  “I would never force you into anything you’re not ready for,” his voice was soft, husky, sexy. “But I will take what you give to me—on the condition that I feel that it is what you truly want.”

  “Doh je,” Kianna whispered before bravely taking his lips in a small kiss.

  “You’re very welcome,” Dao replied.

  “Mister Zhi,” the driver’s voice came from the small speakers. “We are here.”

  Nodding, Dao looked up. He hadn’t realized they had even stopped. He was caught up in the kiss that had curled his toes and caused his eyes to roll back into his head. He gave her a small kiss against her forehead before pushing out the car before the driver could walk around. He took her hand and led her from the limo, paid the driver and entered the Hong Kong International Airport once more for their flight from Hong Kong to Guilin.

  “Stay here for a sec, would you?” Dao got the perfect idea. When she nodded, he took off down the wide hall, dodging through the crowd to the gift shop. It took him a couple of minutes to find what he wanted, but eventually he returned with a bag and they silently checked in.

  Situated on the plane, Dao sat with his long legs crossed, watching Kianna silently. She was once again buried nose deep in a romance novel. He wondered if the men inside those novels were the kind of men she liked. They were the strong men

  that loved so fiercely that it hurt. He remembered his mother explaining that to him. There was always a part of him that wished he could be that kind of man for a woman some day. But he was not perfect.

  Tearing his eyes away, he glanced out the window. It wouldn’t be far to Guilin and soon they would be on a boat heading into Yangshuo— Xingping via the Li River. He could feel his body begin to change as he got ever so close to home. He could feel the stress of the big city melting away and the feeling of living the way his culture dictated once more. The sense of eating fried crap to real food swam through him and his mouth watered at the thought.

  “Can I ask you a question?”

  Her voice came to him as a shock for he didn’t expect her to speak. She had looked so enthralled by her book that he had expected her to keep reading until the private plane landed again. “Sure.” He looked at her.

  “A
nd you will be honest with me?”

  A smirk graced his lips. “Always.” He kept eye contact with her, but she didn’t speak for a while, just continued looking at him. “Did I say the wrong thing?”

  She shook her head. “No. I’m just rethinking my question.”

  “It cannot be that bad. Let’s hear it.”

  She cleared her throat and closed her book completely. She placed it beside her in the seat. She uncrossed her legs, rubbed her palms against her thighs and levelled her gaze on his, “This is hard for me so just listen until my question is complete, then answer. Okay. You’re a guy right?” Dao smirked. “The last time I checked.” He was going to ask her to come and check just to make sure, but he figured that would be pushing a joke too far. Instead, he waited to hear what she said to

  that.

  “If I were to come to you, as a guy that is— hypothetically—if I were to come to you and strip naked and ask you to make love to me, would you?”

  That stunned him. Her question caused him to bite back a growl and crossing his legs became harder than he ever thought it could be. He was aroused, immensely so, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. “If you were ready and I was sure you meant it.”