A Lover's Wish

by Kadian Tracey

  “How would you know if I was ready?

  Hypothetically, speaking.”

  “Yes, of course. I would know from your eyes, the way your body moved, your lips-”

  “And what if I had you blindfolded?” she wanted to know.

  Dao swallowed hard and this time a small noise rumbled from his chest. Her questions were

  starting to carry him into a more than aroused territory “This is one more of those hypothetical things?” He smiled.

  She looked away while nodding.

  “Well, then, I’d let you do anything you wanted to do to my body—hypothetically…that is.”

  She licked her lips then and Dao noticed that he loved the way her pink tongue flowed over her dark lips. He remembered that only minutes ago that same tongue was plunged deep within his mouth. Only mere minutes before he had sucked on that tongue, allowed it to tangle with his and had gotten a wonderful pleasure from it. A shock went up and down his spine, causing him to press back into his seat. He said a silent prayer, seeking patience and strength to resist what he was thinking of doing to the woman sitting across from him.

  Chapter Seven

  W

  hen the plane landed in Guilin, Dao stopped Kianna when she moved to stand. He picked

  up the item that he bought in the airport in Hong Kong and knelt before her. Pulling a wrapped box from the bag, he held it out. “I know that you didn’t have time to do much of anything before I all but kidnapped you to come with me,” he began softly. “And I know you probably don’t have one. The sunsets in Xingping are absolutely to die for and I don’t want you to miss a second of it. Go ahead, open it.”

  She took it with shaking hands.

  He could see the way her hands trembled as she took the wrapped box from him. Her eyes shone surprise, confusion, but still he smiled. He watched as she daintily ripped through the packaging. It did his heart well to see her ripping through those papers and he ached to see her on Christmas morning, dressed in his oversized robe and ripping through her Christmas presents. His

  heart soared. The silence caught his attention and he looked to see that she had opened the box. She was staring at him.

  “This is for me?”

  “Yes. It’s not much but…”

  She flew at his chest with her present behind him in one hand as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

  She squeezed him and Dao knew then he could never let her go. He had to find a way to have her feel as much for him as he was beginning to feel for her. He hugged her back and accepted the kiss that she pressed against his lips before sitting back to pull the camera from the box. “I take it you like it?”

  “Like it?” she retorted. “I love it! I’ve never had a real camera before! No one has ever bought me anything this lovely before.”

  “This one takes both film and digital. There’s film in the bag along with extra batteries. I made sure you had enough because my family does not have electricity where we’re going.”

  “Thank you…this means so much…” “Kianna?”

  “Yes?”

  “When you smile, you are absolutely beautiful.”

  She giggled softly and pressed her forehead against his shoulder just as the pilot walked into the plane.

  “I have some bad news,” Paul spoke as he allowed his body to fall into one of the seats. “Oh, hello.”

  “Paul, this is Kianna, Kiki this is my pilot. What do you mean you have bad news? Did something happen to the plane? Clearance?”

  “Nice to meet you,” Kianna replied.

  Paul smiled at her before turning serious eyes of Dao. Dao didn’t like the look. He sat on the edge of his seat and gave his full attention to Paul. “Nothing like that, really. The Li is a bit rough today,” Paul announced. “We couldn’t find one boat who wanted to risk it. They said it’s been like that since yesterday. So until it goes back to

  normal, you’re stuck in Yangshuo.”

  Dao frowned and stood. He paced the space from one end of the plane to the next while he thought of what to do. He wanted to get to his parents post-haste, but he wasn’t willing to put his life, a boatman’s and especially Kianna’s life at risk because he was in a hurry. Resigning, he turned to face them again. “Alright. Keep an ear out for me and let me know when we can travel. Kianna, you and I will find a hotel.”

  “What about you?” Kianna asked Paul.

  The pilot simply smirked beautifully at her before standing. “I am way ahead of you.” He waved some form of a card. “I get to stay for free when I travel. I’ll see to the bags just let me know where you’ll be.”

  Dao smiled as Paul wished them a good evening and left. He turned to her and took her hand. He kissed her wrist gently, then released her hand. He did not know what to say to her. He had promised they would be in Xingping soon, but once again something happened to keep them from their destination. Reaching in, he pressed a kiss to her forehead and fell into the seat across from her.

  Picking up the phone, he dialled and listened. He spent a few minutes booking them a place to stay for the night. At one point, he pressed a hand over the receiver and spoke, “Would you rather have your own room or room with me?” He smiled. Seeing she was embarrassed, he nodded. “I guess two,” he said to her before lifting his hand. “Hi,” he began again to the person on the phone when a hand touched his shoulder. He looked up to see her there.

  “Make that one room with two beds?” she arched a brow at him.

  Dao smiled. After the room was booked, he collected her bag along with his instead of having Paul deal with them, and was happy to find a car

  waiting for them. He knew there was a reason he had hired Paul.

  Kianna took a while, just standing outside the hotel and looking up at the building. The hotel was built a little ways in from the street, but there was a beautiful courtyard in the front. A gorgeous waterfall stood in the middle with clear water flowing. The ground was gold in colour and as Dao took her hand in one of his and their bags in another and led her toward the front door, she couldn’t help the way her jaw dropped.

  The building itself was high, so high that as she counted the floors going up and lost count at twenty seven, then tried again. Soon she couldn’t look up anymore because the sun was glaring down into her eyes. She winced and clung closer to his side.

  Stepping through the front doors ahead of him was something else. It was as though she had stepped into a whole new world. It was a world filled with glamour and cool, serene colours. Everything was more beautiful than she thought, than the pictures that had gone tattered in her diary as she had stared at them too much. Leather chairs, plants, pictures of dragons, waterfalls, people, the dragon boats! Everything was too

  much for her and she began panting for air to refrain from crying.

  “Are you alright?” Dao whispered close to her ear.

  She nodded, but that simply pulled the tears and they toppled down her cheeks. A large fingertip caught one of her tears.

  Dao kissed her eyelids. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

  “It’s so beautiful,” Kianna felt like a blubbering mess, but couldn’t help it. “I can’t believe I’m actually here.” She looked up into his smiling eyes and the look he gave her caused her to nod. She wanted to tell him, prove to him that she was indeed going to be fine.

  He read her eyes for a bit before inhaling and leading her to the front desk

  In the gorgeous room, Kianna sat on her bed, fingering the camera that Dao had gotten her. She ached to use it to take her first picture, but nothing seemed worthy of it. She had aimed it a few times out the car window on their way from the Liangjiang International Airport, but nothing. She knew she was being picky, but it was the first picture her brand new camera would ever take. It was the first present that a man had ever gotten her. Other women would want jewellery, cars, expensive things, but Kianna was perfectly happy

  with the camera. It meant more to her than any amount of money in the world.

&
nbsp; The sun was setting and everything was silent in the room. She hadn’t expected that. She thought Dao would like to talk business with her, but figured he was too worried about his father for conversation. Getting up, she walked out of the bedroom to find him and what she found, took her breath away.

  There, standing on the balcony overlooking the rough waters of the Li was Dao. He was shirtless and Kianna swallowed nervously. His back was muscular, strong. His skin looked smooth with nothing but one scar to tarnish the perfect view. But she liked that. A man that was smoother than she was didn’t sit right with her. The sunset flowed against his skin, causing it to turn into a light, caramel colour. Licking her lips, she lifted her camera to her eyes. “Dao?”

  “Mhmm.” He inhaled and turned to look over his shoulder.

  Kianna snapped her first picture then, lowered the camera to grin.

  “I know there had to be something better you could have taken your first picture of.” He turned to face her fully.

  “Have you seen yourself against a sunset?” Dao smiled. “Can’t say I have.”

  Kianna placed her camera against the table beside her and walked out to the balcony. She said nothing to him. All she did was press her palms to his hard chest and caress downward slowly. She enjoyed the way her skin looked against him. She was going giddy from the way the heat of his flesh singed her hands. Her mouth watered at the steady beat of his heart when her hand moved over it.

  “I was just going—”

  She tweaked his nipple and he sucked some air through gritted teeth.

  “To see if you were hungry.”

  “Uh-huh,” she whispered absentmindedly before leaning forward to kiss his neck, then down under against his pulse. “Very hungry.” Kianna felt it the moment his heart quickened. His arms still didn’t move around her so she continued her nervous exploration of his body. She sucked against one of his nipple, swirled her tongue around it and grazed it with her teeth. She felt his body jerk and assumed she was doing something wrong. Moving her hands to Dao’s hips, Kianna took a deep breath and moved in closer. Sticking her tongue out, she trailed it down his chest and over his hard stomach before straightening and looking up into Dao’s face. Dao was gritting his teeth and he was holding so hard against the rail that his knuckles turned white. Instantly, Kianna

  felt as though she had done something wrong. “I—”

  “Please, don’t say you’re sorry.”

  “Why won’t you touch me? Why are you just standing there?”

  Dao chuckled softly. “Trust me, Kianna. If I touched you right now, I would have you facing downtown Guilin while I enter you from behind. Is that what you want?”

  “I don’t know. I just want to explore you,” Kianna admitted. “I want to feel your heartbeat against my lips, to taste the heated mass that’s your skin.”

  Dao smiled down into her eyes and reached to tangle his fingers into her hair.

  He brought her lips up to his and drank from them. Kianna released a sigh she had been holding and allowed her arms to circle his waist. But the kiss didn’t last. His mouth was then against her neck, sucking, licking, biting. She whispered his name as his mouth trailed over her pulse and up to kiss and suck at her chin.

  “Dao,” she managed while licking her lips. The wet heat of his mouth was driving her absolutely insane. She was whimpering, shaking in his arms as though he had suddenly dipped her in hot water, then in cold. She fought against him, to be closer to him. She pulled at his jeans, clawed at his back and groaned when his teeth nipped against

  the tender spot below her ear. Her knees buckled, but his strong arms held her up. Spinning, he pressed her against the rail while he continued his meal of her skin

  Dao loved the feel of her skin against his tongue and he made a note to make it a habit to taste, lick at her often. He sucked at her neck, earlobe and chin. He nipped at her shoulder blade, pushing her robe out of the way. He took great pleasure in it when it pooled at their feet to reveal a beautiful red tank top with a pair of jeans shorts.

  He fought to move slowly and soon he was kissing at the swells of her breasts that had drawn his attention. Holding against the small of her back, he used his teeth to pull one tank top strap from her shoulder. She was whispering something to him in English, then Cantonese, but he was too far gone to know what it was. But even then, those words built his desire, haunted his senses and tore at his soul.

  With the strap off, one of her beautiful breasts sprang into view and Dao growled in utter satisfaction when his mouth engulfed the ebony orb. There was nothing more beautiful than a woman’s breast, but with Kianna, he had never had the pleasure of tasting any like hers. He took

  his time, savoured every feel of her body as it writhed beneath him. Dao had patience, licking her, making her whimper and scream his name to the Chinese evening. Moving his mouth across, stopping to drop a kiss between her breasts, he bared the next one to his eyes and took the nipple between his lips. Squeezing down just barely enough to cause a bit of pain, he then sucked it away.

  “Yes,” she groaned out. Her fingers found his long hair and they tightened.

  When Dao released the breast, he slumped downward, pulling down the tank top as he went, kissing her stomach, tasting her belly button and having her cry out. When the shirt pooled to the ground, Dao set to work against her shorts. He undid the button and kissed at her stomach again. Unzipping, he pulled the shorts down, then reached for her thong. When she was fully naked before his eyes, Dao did not feel worthy. “I have to ask you something.” Dao looked up into her pleasure dazed eyes.

  “Anything…”

  “Are you a virgin, Kiki?” She went silent.

  Dao thought she wouldn’t answer. Her eyes were hollow, dark and unreadable. That scared him. He moved to stand up again, but she moved.

  She pulled away, stepped away from her clothes. “Yes.” She darted into the hotel room.

  Chapter Eight

  H

  er body had opened up to him and Kianna loved every moment of it. His mouth roaming over her skin, his fingers grazing her skin was enough to make her cry to the night around them. But knowing that he knew that she had never been touched by a man before, he would want out and she couldn’t say she blamed him. What kind of man wants to have sex with someone who had no idea what she was doing in bed? Frustrated, she slipped into another robe that came with the room and tied the beautiful material carefully around her body. Scooting into her bed, she brought her

  knees up to her chin and pressed her eyes shut. “Kianna.”

  Dao’s voice grated against her pride and her bed sank down slightly to show he was sitting against the edge. He touched her arm slightly and she jerked away.

  “Kiki, being a virgin is nothing to be ashamed of,” Dao explained.

  “Why’d you have to ask that, huh?” Kianna demanded.

  “Because I needed to know.”

  “Other guys would have just been happy they were getting some!” Silence tore through the room at her comment and she felt the bed give. Looking up, she knew she had stuck her foot in her mouth again, but didn’t know how. Sitting up, she watched as he walked to the window and stared out it for a while. There was nothing out there, no lights—nothing. But still he stared. She remained silent, trying to think of what could be going through his mind. Still he didn’t speak and she thought her mind would explode with the silence. With her lips pressed into a thin line, she pushed from the bed.

  “Do you really think all I want from you is sex?” Dao questioned.

  “I-I…”

  “Kianna, listen to me.” He still faced out the dark window. “I don’t want just sex from you. Never from you…”

  She watched as he turned and walked toward the door, “Where are you going? Your bed is here?”

  “To get some food,” was the simple answer.

  There was a strange silence that followed his exit. It was the kind of silence that left a person holding their breath, waiting for som
ething to

  happen—anything to happen. The silence was interrupted by a slam of the room’s door and she knew he had left. The sound of the door caused her to gasp in fright.

  Slowly, she got up and walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. Stripping the robe off, she allowed it to fall to the ground and stepped into the shower. With the water flowing over her, she finally cried. She cried not because of the fact that she had hurt Dao again without meaning to, but because she felt so useless. She felt as though her life was passing her by and she had no idea how to grab a hold of it. Dao could be the one. Then again he may not be, but he the way he touched her couldn’t be a lie.

  Kianna knew she should learn to take chances and Dao would be the ultimate test. He had so many opportunities to have taken advantage of her, but didn’t. If he had been any other man, he would have taken her in the plane when she had kissed him, or after the other kisses they had shared. He could have forced himself onto her on the plane, in the cars, that night in Hong Kong.

  But the big one came when she thought about how close they had come to making love on the balcony. He could have not asked her at all. He could have just taken her, but he was worried about her. Dao had asked the ultimate question

  disregarding the fact that a man never asked such a question.