The Flavor Of Love

by Shiree McCarver

  “Wow, this is great,” Etta exclaimed and moved about, opening the frosted glass door cabinets to look at the wares inside.

  “How did you get up here?”

  An angry heavily accented voice sounded and startled Etta. She let go of the cabinet door she was holding and it closed itself slowly without slamming. She was too stunned to find that she wasn’t alone. She turned to find an older Asian woman and a young Asian woman standing in the middle of the penthouse. They must have come from the balcony.

  “I asked you a question!” The older elegantly clad Asian woman spoke again.

  “I…I…Keigo asked me to come up and wait for him.” Etta managed to say once she got her wits back. “I’m sorry. Who are you?”

  “I’m Keigo’s mother,” she answered. “And this is his fiancée. If you are his maid, then you must be new because you aren’t dressed properly. Don’t worry; I will see to it that you have a proper uniform.”

  Etta gasped and jerked backwards as if someone had just punched her. She hadn’t got past Keigo’s fiancée to be insulted by being assumed to be the maid. How was it possible? He told her time and again there had been no one since Claire and now here his mother stood with this drop-dead gorgeous Asian woman that he was to marry.

  “Oh, God. She trusted him with all her secrets and fears, not to mention her body and her most of all her heart. How could he be so cruel to make her fall in love with him knowing he was beholden to someone else? Someone his mother most likely approved of. She didn’t want a scene and she didn’t want to be Keigo’s excuse to break another woman’s heart. She had to get out of here.

  “Are you okay?” The younger woman asked.

  “I,” Etta murmured. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be here.”

  She made a speedy exit thankful the elevator doors were still open. The doors closed once she reentered and automatically descended. There were tears in her eyes. She winced as she replayed what had just happened in her mind. She felt a familiar numbness. It reminded her of how she felt when the realization that Neil was never coming back. Weird, she always thought only death could hurt her that bad. Now she realized that when you loved someone, truly loved them, you were vulnerable to be hurt by them whether they were dead or alive.

  “Why? Why did you do this to me, Keigo?”

  Etta was relieved when the elevator doors opened and she didn’t see any signs of Keigo. There was no way she could have faced him at that moment. She rushed out the doors they entered earlier.

  “May I get your car for you, Ms.” A valet attendant came forward.

  “I’m sorry I don’t have a car. Can you get me a cab, please?”

  Etta numbly slid into the back of the cab and gave him her address. She didn’t look back.

  ***

  Keigo whistled as he entered the elevator. After speaking to the hotel manager, he was let into the hotel safe to remove an antique cut platinum engagement ring he had purchased on a whim because it was a bargain and it was a great investment. He suppose in the back of his mind he always hoped to someday be blessed to find love again.

  Afterwards, he stopped by the hotel florist and purchased a ridiculously huge bouquet of assorted roses. He figured they could use the petals in the tub before the night was out. This time he was going to propose properly. Afterwards, he would spend the rest of the night dousing any leftover fears that Etta had before or after they were married.

  Keigo felt as if Etta saved him from becoming a lonely, bitter and cynical man. She gave him hope. Now he had to get her to the courthouse to marry him before she turned skittish again and ran from him.

  The elevator door opened. “Baby, I’m home. I--” Keigo’s chin dropped in surprise. After he recovered, he stepped out of the elevator. “Okāsan? Risa-chan? What are you doing here?”

  “Nande! Why?” His mother raised her voice at him. “Nande sonna-koto suru-no? Why do you do things like this?”

  “Etta!” Keigo called out. “Etta? Where are you?” Keigo ran towards the bedroom.

  “Yamete-yo! Stop!”

  Keigo came up short at his mother’s voice and turned to look at her.

  “That woman isn’t here,” Tamiko Kyou sneered.

  “Keigo, I’m sorry. I had no idea that you weren’t expecting us or why I was asked to come here until after I got here.”

  “Risa! Have you no pride? You have the right to be in this house; that woman does not!”

  He had an awful feeling his entire world had just turned upside down. The bouquet of flowers lowered in his hand and hung by his side. He slid the black ring box into his jacket pocket.

  “Okāsan, Mother, what have you done?”

  “What I should have done a long time ago. I’m here to help you do the proper thing you should have done years ago before you married Claire. Marry Risa, the woman your father and I chose for you.”

  Keigo stormed forward barely keeping his temper in check. He reached out and grasped his mother wrist. “You’re coming with me and you better hope to God it’s not too late to make amends or I will be dead to you and you will never get to see your grandchildren.”

  ***

  Etta noticed all the cars along the rode and wondered if Auntie Loo was throwing another one of those speed-dating parties. If so, she didn’t want any part of it and if possible she hoped no one spotted her so that she could have the next few days alone before they figured out she had returned.

  She realized she’d left her suitcase and things in Keigo’s car trunk. Her house was dark and she wondered if her mom returned to Oakland to be with Toby and the new baby or if she was home. She had an urge to walk around the block to her house to see if she was home, but she really wasn’t up to talking about Keigo to anyone. Etta was so numb she couldn’t even cry. At least no one would know how stupid she had been to actually think that he wanted to marry her.

  She couldn’t hate him. She had wanted him and for a moment he was hers, or so she thought. Etta opened the screen door and placed her key in the door. With shaky hands, she pushed the door wide.

  “SURPRISE!”

  Etta’s mouth dropped wide. Her heart raced with fright and then it all sunk in. Everyone was there. Her family, her friends; that’s the reason Reko, Marco, Carla and Nan were in such a hurry to get away. Her house was decorated like a church cathedral. There were flowers everywhere and in front of the fireplace a long red walkway of material was draped. There was even a minister.

  Her mother knew she would never agree to another big wedding at the church, so she obviously had brought the church to her.

  “Etta, baby girl,” Fay came forward with Frank Tutillo by her side. “Dear, are you all right? You look a bit feverish.” She peeked behind her. “Where is Keigo?”

  “Mommy,” Etta whimpered. She could barely hear her because of the loud ringing in her ears. What was wrong with her? She heard muffled cries of her name as her eyes closed and she dropped to the ground in a faint.

  ***

  Etta released a long deep sigh and opened her eyes. She didn't remember undressing and going to bed. She turned over and hit a warm solid body. The tantalizing smell of aftershave was familiar. It was Keigo. She wondered how long she’d been asleep. It was dark in her bedroom except for the light coming from the adjoining bathroom casting shadows in the bedroom. It was enough that she could make out Keigo face and the fact that he was naked and sleeping in her bed with her.

  Why was Keigo sleeping in her bed instead of at home with his “fiancée?” What happened to all those people that were gathered in her house? What a mess, she fretted.

  Lying on her side with her hand tucked under chin, she watched Keigo sleep. A swath of black hair fell casually on his forehead. He was in need of a shave but it only added to his rugged features. Even in sleep he exuded a strength that she admired. She had been so proud of him driving the car and she still was. Even if there was another woman he was supposed to marry, she still loved him with all that she was.

  When she ran
, she was feeling childish in her vulnerable state. Etta figured being pregnant did that to a woman. She was going to tell him, but she wanted to wait until she could visit a doctor and have official proof. Regardless of his effort to try and understand, she knew he was still a bit skeptical of psychics and their abilities. But everything in her knew she was carrying Keigo’s child.

  Etta was already developing new senses of awareness that come when the Chirac women are with child. It must be a boy because she hadn’t felt sick or it may still be too early in the development for her to have the side effects. Regardless of her love for him, she didn’t want him to stay with her out of obligations.

  If he loved this woman his mother called his fiancée, would he be here naked in her bed? “Oh Keigo, what are we going to do?” She asked softly, not expecting an answer from his sleeping form.

  His eyes opened slowly and looked deeply into hers. “You’re marrying me as you promised,” his sleep filled voice answered.

  “Keigo,” she breathed his name.

  “Why did you leave me, Etta?”

  She wallowed deeply, “I was scared that once you showed up, you would confirm what your mother said about that woman being your fiancée,” she admitted honestly.

  “Have I ever lied to you?” He reached out and lightly fingered the braid resting between her cheek and shoulder. “You should have stayed and allowed me to straighten things out,” he uttered in an accusing tone.

  “Yes,” she agreed. There was no reason to argue the point. She had been wrong to leave. He was her man and she had put her claim on him and no other woman had the right to tell her otherwise, not even his mother. “She called me your maid.”

  A deep scowl puckered his eyebrow. “Who? I know Risa wouldn’t have said such a thing. It must have been Okasan.”

  Etta nodded.

  “Sweetheart, why didn’t you tell her who you were? You’re going to be my wife. You need to start thinking that way because it’s going to happen and it’s happening tomorrow.” His fingers slid sensuously over her bare arm.

  “Huh?” Her eyebrows lifted.

  “If those idiot friends of mine had let me in on the surprise, I wouldn’t have gone to my place. I would have brought you here and we would be married now,” he said with more than a little agitation.

  Etta reached out and laced his fingers with her own. “Then it wouldn’t have been a surprise,” she grinned at him.

  “What the hell I need a surprise wedding for? I’m not the one allowing my fears to keep me from having a traditional big wedding that everyone is determine to attend,” he reminded her.

  Etta felt her face grow warm in the darkness and left the comment alone for now. “So tell me about this fiancée, Miss Short and Lovely.”

  Keigo’s teeth flashed white in the darkness. “Risa,” he supplied.

  “Yeah, her.”

  “Our meddling parents declared us engaged when we were six,” he said with quiet emphasis and a shake of his head. “We are like brother and sister, but we can’t get our parents to understand this. We keep in touch and have lunch to catch up on things from time to time. It’s just that my mother wouldn’t know this. She lives in Japan and Risa lives in Seattle. The both of us had fathers that worked for the Japanese Embassy and basically spent most of our time in the States. I was the only one in my family born on U.S. soil and I suppose at that time, my dad saw great things for me and declared me a U.S. citizen.”

  “How did Risa feel when you chose to marry Claire?”

  Keigo shrugged his shoulder. “She attended the wedding with the same guy she is engaged to now. He is an American born Japanese descendent.”

  The more Etta heard, the more she felt relief that Keigo was everything she believed him to be.

  Keigo continued, “Reko had contacted my mother as part of the surprise, and she made Risa believe that she was coming to participate in the surprise for us and had her to meet her at my home instead of letting Reko know she was going to attend.”

  “So, it was a last ditch effort on your mother’s part--”

  “To force her wishes on me, regardless. Etta, I love my mother but she doesn’t have that kind of influence on me. She’s has all my older brothers to dictate to. All of them are very traditional and all of them live in Japan and are married to women that were chosen as lucrative matches for the family namesake.”

  “I’m sorry for not waiting to hear your side of things,” Etta brought his hand up to her face.

  “Now tell me what the fainting was about? Are you feeling better?” He released her hand to caress her hair off her brow.

  Etta started to tell him her secret, but decided she would save it. It would be a wedding present. “I was tired, but I’m rested now,” she assured him. “How did you end up on babysitting duty,” she asked playfully.

  “You’re my bride and that gives me automatic rights.” He leaned in closer and pressed a tender kiss to her brow. “I left my mother and Risa in Reko’s charge. They are staying at my place. Your mother and Auntie Loo, I believe, are housing the others that came in from out of town.”

  “So, tomorrow is the big day.” She nuzzled her nose against his. “Should we be sleeping naked together the night before our wedding?”

  “Probably not.” He nibbled the corner of her mouth. “But, I can’t think of anything less traditional than this. Besides, I didn’t want you to worry about something happening to me on the way here.”

  “Thank you for thinking about me,” Etta said sincerely. She rose on her elbow and sat up to brace her hand on his shoulder and urged him off his side onto his back.

  “I’m always thinking about you, Etta.” His voice deepened with emotions. “I’ve hardly been able to think about anything else since I met you. I love you and you’re everything to me.”

  Etta came up on her knees, put one leg between his and separated his lean muscular thighs. Her eyes feasted on his body bathed in the pale light shafting in from the bathroom. “I love you too, Keigo and I’m starving.”

  “You want me to run out and get you something?”

  “I dare you to ask a chef such a question,” she feigned, wounded by his suggestion with a pout on her full lips. “What I’m hungry for you can’t find at any restaurant,” she paused and thought about it and said. “Well, you can because there are plenty of men that work at restaurants, but of course you don’t so--”

  “Etta, you’re talking too much. If you’re trying to seduce me, you’re failing miserably—ah!” He gasped and let out a shivering sigh.

  “Funny, it feels hard to me,” she commented stroking the length of his erection with tight fingers. “So you must have a thing for talkative women.”

  “Shit that feels good.” He hissed through clinched teeth as his hips moved to meet and withdraw with her stroking motions.

  She continued squeezing him with long even strokes alternating the moment with the rapid hard and fast speed. Leaning down, her lips slashed over his open mouth. She allowed her tongue to match the movements of her hand. When he released a curse, she released his kiss and trailed down his throat, nibbling the cords and licking his Adams-apple. Etta was hungry for him and from his response, he was hungry for her.

  Etta pulled a small nub of a nipple between her lips and fluttered her tongue across it and grazed her teeth against it before moving lower over his rib cage. Just a half-inch above his navel the dark rouge head of his erect penis stood at full attention. The veins were noticeable, giving her a map of all the sensitive spots to run her tongue along.

  “Oh Etta…oh Etta, yes baby,” he released a loud groan. Keigo's hips came up off the bed to meet her wandering mouth.

  Etta sucked on the veins in his penis and avoided his ultra sensitive head and testicles during her adoration of the shaft. Between her legs, she felt herself pulsing and she alternated her position so that her pussy was in his face. She grinned with cock in hand, pleased that he needed no further urging.

  “Ahhh...Ahhhh...Ohhhh
!” she keened as his mouth suckled her wet pussy. Etta pushed into the sensation he was causing. His fingers were pressing against her hair-covered mons while he sucked her clitoris. She rotated her hips against his face for a moment of self-indulgence before returning to his cock with her hot mouth.

  She licked the dewy drops from the head as the tip of her tongue worked at the opening. She slowly lowered her mouth to accommodate as much as she could and eased back up slowly. Her thighs quivered from what he was doing to her body. She suckled him rhythmically. They took turns. The harder she tugged on his penis, the harder he sucked her clitoris.

  Etta released his penis with a loud “pop.” “Oh, Keigo…Keigo, I’m going to come,” she warned him and for her troubles received two fingers in her weeping opening.

  “Yes…yes…yes…oh…fuck, yesssssss!” she wailed her orgasm. Etta’s thighs involuntarily started to shake so bad she flopped down on his face. She could hear his muffle laughter as she rode the waves of ecstasy.

  She felt like a limp rag doll as he stacked the bed pillows and guided her over them with her head towards the headboard of the bed. She felt very exposed with her butt up in the air and her well-lubricated vagina open to him. She felt his tongue one more time on her before the bed dipped while he came up on his knees behind her. One hand rested on the small of her back as he used his other hand to guide his penis.

  Etta released a raspy cry and came again as he entered her pussy from behind in one deep stroke until she felt his testicles slap against her. He leaned forwarded and through gritted teeth, blew his hot breath into her ear as he asked, “Are you okay?”

  She couldn’t speak. All she could do was grunt and wiggle her ass against him to indicate she wanted him to continue. Etta felt sweat gliding down her back. She didn’t know if it was hers or Keigo’s as he bent over her. She reached out with both hands and grabbed onto the headboard. Her knuckles grew white from the pressure she applied as he began long, deep agonizingly slow strokes. She squirmed at a faster pace, feeling a bit uncoordinated as she urged him to speed up.