Still nothing.
My fingers slid up farther, found the cold, hard metal of his zipper, and I pulled it down, unsnapping the button with a flick of my hand. His hard, thick cock fell into my hands, hot and unyieldingly stiff.
I held that long, pulsating length and squeezed gently, hearing Nobuki’s faint intake of breath.
Finally.
Then I ran my tongue down him, tasting that salty, almost bitter transparent liquid accumulating at the tip of his cock.
He shifted in his seat and I took that chance to take him in my mouth, drawing him deep, letting my tongue play along the vein.
I tasted him in the back of my throat and I worked harder, my tongue brushing more forcefully along that thick raised vein, feeling him bob and flex in my mouth.
And when he came, I drank him in, swallowing every last drop.
But still no words were spoken.
I raised my head to look up at him and found him looking down at me, his eyes dark and luminous, heated. I stood up, my knees weak.
I faced him, straddled him on that chair, and slid down his long length almost agonizingly slowly, watching myriad expressions cross his cold, handsome face.
Then I rode him, slowly at first, taking my time, listening to his deep breathing, feeling his cock flex inside me, my moisture almost taking away the friction that I wanted, needed.
Then harder. Faster.
The chair creaked under us as I tightened my hands around his shoulders, a breath hitching in my chest.
His hands were around my waist, almost painfully tight as he worked me up and down.
It was so close.
Ecstasy was right there, ripe for the taking.
And then I heard something.
Something that didn’t belong in that dream.
I was slipping away, slipping into darkness and I was lying half in, half out of damp sheets, hair plastered to my face, groping for whatever was vibrating under my pillows, all the while blaring a song by KinKi Kids I now abhorred.
“He—hello?”
“It’s Julian.”
Throat thick, memories of Nobuki’s body under mine, his eyes like hot coals, made my body stiffen as I shifted onto my back, the room semi-dark.
“Julian?” I asked, mouth mossy. “Wha—what time is it?”
“A little past seven.” He paused. “Shit, I woke you up, didn’t I?”
I managed to flounder into a sitting position, back against the headboard, and I closed my eyes, mentally cursing Julian for interrupting my fantasy interlude with Nobuki.
And cursing myself for having such a dream.
“It’s okay.” I groped along the nightstand to flick on the lamp, an action I instantly regretted as the bright wash of light made me recoil. “Is something wrong?”
“Just checking up on you,” he said. “How do you feel?”
I ran a hand over my throat, flinching as my fingers brushed against the bruises. “I’m okay. My neck still hurts, but I’ll live.”
“I was wondering if you’d like to go somewhere. I’d like to show you something.”
“Er,” I said, still halfway in between sleep and alertness. “Now?”
“I can meet you outside in ten minutes.”
Ten minutes. Just enough time to change my clothes and splash some much-needed cold water on my face.
I didn’t want to go. I wanted to fall back asleep and continue that dream with Nobuki.
Or start another. I wasn’t that picky.
But then I wouldn’t see Julian. “Yeah. That’s fine. See you then.”
“Right.”
We hung up and I shuffled out of bed, changing into a semi-loose black shirt with blue jeans. The knees looked artfully ripped at the knees, but it was because I’d had the pants for years and they had just turned out that way. I hastily pulled my hair back into a rough bun and tied Nobuki’s scarf around my neck at a jaunty angle.
Julian was waiting in his car in the pickup area, staring intently at his phone, a frown marring his handsome face.
I knocked on the window and the frown disappeared.
“Hey,” he greeted me as I slipped in, the air conditioner raising goose bumps on my arms. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”
I shook my head. “No. It’s a good thing you called, otherwise I’d be up at two in the morning with nothing to do.”
He laughed. “I know what you mean. Ready?”
I nodded, putting on the seat belt, and we left the parking lot, headed for some mysterious place Julian couldn’t tell me about.
“Heather came to see me.” I wondered what kind of expression Julian would give me. “She knocked on my door.”
He glanced at me, alarmed. “Jesus. Did you call the cops?”
“No,” I said. “I didn’t want to cause a fuss. She said she wanted to apologize and asked me to meet her in the lounge.”
His brows furrowed, hands tightening around the steering wheel. “She didn’t hurt you, did she?”
I touched a corner of the silky scarf, shaking my head.
He drew in a quick breath. “Sounds like the start of a psychological thriller. You need to get your room changed. What if she bothers you again?”
“She threatened me.” I watched his eyes narrow. “She said that Mr. Miyano was hers and told me to stay away from him.”
“Shit.” He sent me a quick glance. “Should we warn Nobu? I didn’t think she was crazy, but that sounds dangerous.”
“I don’t know,” I mused. “Maybe she has a strange way of showing her interest in someone.”
“Not sure if I’d call it strange if she’s going around strangling and threating those she thinks are a threat,” he said. “Remember what I told you to do about Nobu? Imagine what kind of hell she’d bring on you for even thinking about doing him.”
My face felt hot and I changed the subject to the day’s activity at the booth. “I saw the booth at lunchtime. There were a lot of people there.”
He grinned at me. “Yeah. I kind of whored myself out there, didn’t I?”
I shrugged. “It’s not my business to say otherwise.”
“Were you jealous?”
I snorted and crossed my arms. “It’ll take a lot more than that to make me jealous.”
He laughed under his breath and the conversation faded away into comfortable silence as we drove through the rapidly darkening sky.
Chapter 15
It was almost eight when he got off the freeway and another fifteen minutes before I smelled salt in the air. “We’re at the beach.”
The sign read “Redondo Beach – Two Miles” and I felt positively giddy as my excitement rose.
“Yeah.” He turned into a small side street where I saw the ocean between gaps in the beach front houses. “I thought you might appreciate this. I should’ve brought you here last night instead of that party.”
My hand went up to the scarf. “You didn’t know.”
He made a small sound in the back of his throat and then turned into the driveway of an attractive two-story house with a red roof and a surfboard propped next to the door.
The windows were dark and I looked at him as he cut the ignition and undid his seat belt. “Where are we?”
He grinned. “Mi casa.”
I blinked. “Come again?”
“My house.”
I stared at the house again and got out of the car. The sound of the door closing echoed throughout the quiet neighborhood.
The house was one of the larger ones on the block with big windows, a wide green lawn, and a waist-high wrought iron fence that screeched as Julian walked through it to the front door, keys tinkling in the night.
The smell of the ocean was almost intoxicating and I took a deep breath, letting it stay in my chest for as long as I could before releasing it.
He unlocked his front door and then stood aside for me, one hand at his hip. “Welcome to my humble abode.”
The sounds of the waves crashing against the
sand was obvious and I peeled off my shoes at the edge of the white carpet that separated the living room from the hall, my feet sinking into the thick, soft depths.
“Your house is immaculate,” I said with some surprise, noting the pale blue walls and the off-white furniture with a minimum of knickknacks. The house smelled pleasantly of sandalwood. There was a large wide-screen TV across from a fireplace, with a white leather sofa between them. I walked past them, drawn to the sight of the ocean through the large bay windows in the back of the house next to the kitchen in a little breakfast nook.
There was a patio out back and I opened the sliding doors and stepped onto the wooden floors.
The door slid shut behind me and Julian came to stand next to me, one hand on the porch railing. The glow of the full moon reflecting off the dark waves was almost hypnotizing.
“Sometimes it’s like you’ve never seen the ocean,” he said.
“I saw it a few times as a kid,” I replied, fingers resting lightly on the wooden hip-high railing. “And when I went to college, I was partying with my friends. Then I went to work at Shokogan. I’ve been too busy to think about the ocean.”
“I guess I take it for granted,” he said. “I lived here my whole life. The only time I was away was when I went to Japan.” The corners of his eyes crinkled. “I wish I could see it from your eyes. I’m not saying I’m bored with the view, but it’d be nice to get a fresh look at it.”
“I wish I could show you, make you feel the way I do,” I said quietly.
He moved slightly and then he was around me, hands next to mine, his breath warm on my ear.
I shivered, but I didn’t stop him.
I didn’t want to.
“Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?” he asked in a low voice that did things to the pit of my stomach, made it feel like butterflies were fluttering around. “The wind blowing the hair from your face, I think I can almost count the stars reflected in your eyes. Now that’s something I wish I could show you.”
Had I heard that line in a movie, I would’ve cackled like a jaded old crone. But at that moment, coming from him, every word seemed to be magical, free of artifice. “I wish I could see it. I wish I could believe you.”
“Yeah,” he whispered and I shivered again. “Me, too.”
He pulled away abruptly. “Come inside.”
“But the ocean—”
“I’ll open the windows,” he said, already half inside. “We’ll have someplace to sit, you can see and hear the waves, and I’ll get you something good to drink.”
“Shochu?” I asked somewhat wistfully, and he laughed.
“No, but maybe something just as good.”
That something just as good turned out to be an expertly mixed martini, although I did make a face at the olive, which he then speared out with a toothpick and ate it himself.
“Not a fan of olives?”
I was sitting at a picture window, legs up on the cushions, with another open window near me and the salt air tangy on my mouth.
He turned off the lights, choosing to light a few tapers of white candles which were placed in strategic nooks that kept them from getting blown out by the wind.
“It’s beautiful,” I said, the martini glass almost forgotten in my hand. “You can see the stars. It’s impossible to see them in Tokyo. It would be wonderful to live here.”
He leaned against the kitchen counter, a bottle of beer next to his elbow.
“You could, you know.”
I blinked at him through the semidarkness, not sure if I heard right. “Sorry, what?”
His movements were silent, graceful as he came to my side and sat down on chair from the table next to me.
“I said you could.”
I licked my lips, tasting the tangy saltiness of the ocean on my tongue. “How?”
He reached for me.
His thumb traced a soft line along my lower lip.
It was an infinitely tender gesture and my chest started to hurt.
“Rika, it has been just…” He took a deep breath, his chest moving powerfully. “Amazing. I met you a week ago, but I feel like I’ve known you forever. To be honest, I’m having a hard time admitting to myself that I’m losing you on Saturday. That’s so soon.”
I didn’t know what to say. “Julian, I—”
He shushed me with the simple expedience of putting his finger over my mouth. “Let me talk.”
I nodded mutely, and when he took his hand away, I almost regretted not licking it to see if it was salty as the ocean outside.
“Rika, how do you feel about me? About us?”
I bit my lower lip, thoughtful. “I have a hard time with the language, but when I’m with you, I’m happy. Comfortable.”
His teeth glinted white. “Me, too. I feel comfortable around you. I feel like I can relax. And it’s going to be hard…to not be able to feel like that when you leave.”
My throat swelled.
Good Lord, he wasn’t going to…
“Rika,” he said, taking the martini glass from me and replacing it with his hands. “I want you to stay.”
I blinked again. “Stay? You mean…”
“I don’t want you to go with Nobu. You can stay here. Or somewhere else. Anywhere. I want to explore the possibility of…you know. Being with you. On a more permanent basis.”
My head whirled. “But my job—”
“You can work with me. You’ll get paid more, you’ll get more respect. Our branch office is right off the boardwalk. You’d love it there, I know.”
It was tempting.
So damn tempting.
My hands tightened in his. “Julian, this is…I mean, I don’t even know what to say.”
He shook his head. “Don’t say anything just yet. You have time. You have a few days, right?”
“But, I mean, my family, getting a visa to work here, it’s so much work,” I protested. “I’m not saying you’re not worth the effort, but—”
“Leave it all to me,” he said confidently. “I’ll do all the work. All you have to do is stay here. Give me—us—a chance.”
And it would have been easy, so damn easy to give it. To look him in the eyes, bring his hands up to my lips, and tell him yes, yes to everything. He was so comfortable to be around, and his kisses made my chest tighten. So there was something there.
I wanted someone like Julian to love me.
Why, then, did a pair of haughty, icy dark eyes taunt me from the deepest crevices of my mind?
“Does Mr. Miyano know about this?”
“No.”
I couldn’t hide my smile. “You are such a great guy, Julian. I can’t believe you would go through all that effort for me.”
“You’re worth it.”
I saw the truth reflected in his eyes and my chest swelled.
But I shook my head. “No. I can’t do this to you. You know how I feel about Nobuki. I can’t go to you with another guy on my mind. That’s not fair. Would you be satisfied with the knowledge that I dreamed about another man? You told me a few days ago that I need to get Nobuki out of my mind, by all means necessary. I’m going to do it. I can’t give you an answer without finding out the answer to that question, Julian.”
He nodded, his thumb tracing circles around mine. “I know. And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m okay with that. I want you to figure out what’s going on between you and Nobu.” A corner of his lips twisted up. “Besides, I’m way too good of a guy to end up with a woman who wants someone else.”
I put a hand on his stubbled cheek and my mouth on his.
I meant to pull back after a moment. I meant to give him a simple, closed-mouth chaste kiss.
But then my hands were running through his soft blond hair, tasting his flavor, tasting the salt from his lips, and he was kissing me hard, harder than when we kissed on that beach half a lifetime ago.
I was weightless as he lifted me and carried me through the semidarkness.
I to
ld myself this was what I wanted. I knew this was going to happen the second he brought me here. To say anything to the contrary would’ve been disingenuous.
But I couldn’t let myself relax in his arms. Which made me wonder; how the hell was I supposed to seduce my boss if I couldn’t even allow myself to have sex with a guy who had feelings for me?
I wasn’t used to this. I wasn’t used to being so open, sexually or otherwise. It was hard to fight almost twenty years of living with the idea of the “white bride” and the significance of being a virgin for one’s husband. I tried my best to bury the stupid inhibitions because they didn’t belong here.
Here was me and a man who made my pulse quicken just looking at him.
I was lucky. So very lucky.
He put me somewhere soft, and I had the vague idea that I was in a bed, presumably his bed, a huge affair with soft sheets and softer pillows, but I was too busy kissing his mouth, tasting every inch of him to pay much attention.
Our lips separated as I peeled off his shirt and I tasted the sweet saltiness of his skin in my mouth, on my tongue. Senses whirling, heart pounding hard enough to make me feel faint, I couldn’t get enough of him.
His hands moved down to the hem of my shirt and tried to lift it up, but I pulled back, breathing hard.
“Wait.” I put a hand on his bare, warm chest. “Wait.”
He stopped, his eyes wide. “What?”
“I want to do it.” I scooted to the edge of the bed and put my feet on the smooth wooden floor.
He looked a little lost, but I directed him to lie down in the middle of the bed, and he did as instructed, although he still appeared confused.
I liked that look on him.
Not being sexually experienced, crazy dreams aside, it was nice to be the one in control. Taking advantage of my position at the foot of the bed, I pulled the shirt over my head and let it slither to the floor. The hair tie fell off and my hair cascaded down to my shoulders.
He watched me, his eyes hooded, head pillowed on his arms as I slipped out of my jeans, having to do a little shimmy to get them off my hips. I was grateful I chose to wear a matching underwear set, a lacy lavender bra and panties that left little to the imagination. Trying hard not to think about Nobuki, I pulled off the scarf around my neck, trusting the shadows to hide the bruises.
A One Night Affair (Kissing the Boss Book 2) Page 17