“Hai. Zaseki o henkō shite itadaki arigatōgozaimasu. Eigo o hanasemasu ka?”
He almost forgot about the woman who’d traded seats with him. A quick glance around and he noticed the older couple was gone and there were two businessmen in their seats. He never ignored the stops on the train, but he was under the spell of his very own Princess Leah and the train might as well have been gliding above the tracks.
“Hon’nosukoshi.”
He’d asked if she understood or spoke English. She responded that she only spoke English a little.
Smiling at her, Adrian stared down the aisle when he saw the automatic door swish open and took in the full vision that was Leah. She could certainly pass as a princess. Her black hair was as dark as ink and appeared to have navy blue highlights the way the sunlight from between the cars was hitting it. A halo was what it looked like. It was a sign from the universe, he was sure. She was wearing skin tight jeans with a pristine white button-down shirt unbuttoned enough that it showed the swelling top of her breast, and boots that made her legs look long and sexy and made his thoughts veer off track to what they might be like wrapped around his waist. Sure, the high heels were ridiculously impractical for travel, but they did not disappoint on fashion.
“I’m back.”
Leah waved him off before he could get up, and he watched her in wide-eyed awe as she stretched her not long enough legs over his, catching the back of the seats in front of them. Her perfectly rounded bottom mere inches away from his face. The way he controlled his hands from smacking, then rubbing away the sting, was nothing short of a mental miracle. He heard his inner voice clear as day saying, No, not yours.
When she’d finally wiggled her little ass and settled into the seat, Adrian had to look away for a second to get himself together. Their row companion made eye contact and smiled when he turned from Leah. She’d said she only spoke a little, but from her look, she had an indisputable comprehension of body language. Another pair of eyes was looking right at him when he turned back. So, clearly, the little princess next to him had the same understanding. That seat climb and now the look he was getting signaled a green light, but he would give it a bit more time since they had it.
“So, was the experience all you hoped for in there?”
“That’s a bit forward, don’t you think?”
“You were very excited about the first class train bathroom experience. I wanted to know if it lived up to your expectations.”
“You knew it was just a regular one when I walked away. Why did you let me go on?”
“Because I didn’t see any reason to steal your joy. Besides even a regular Japanese run of the mill public bathroom surpasses one back home in the States.”
“That’s true,” Leah answered. It was the most relaxed she’d been since waking up and mentally running herself through the day’s journey. What was this man doing to her? She never relaxed when she traveled – until she put her feet on the ground at her destination. When she was a little girl her brothers used to say she sucked the fun out their trips with all her questions and worries. She’d been well on her way to her normal mood or worse, when she thought her seat was taken, until the tall gentleman beside her decided he was going to change the course of her attitude. “Do you get to the States a lot anymore? I am still waiting to hear your story.”
“I do get home a few times a year. My dad and I are pretty close.”
“Come on now, don’t drag this out.” Leah gave him a soft punch to the arm.
“None of that now,” Adrian warned, taking her hand in his and holding on for a moment. Leah looked down at his large hand swallowing hers and confirmed there was no wedding ring in sight.
“Is it all right to let go, or should I hold on for safety?”
“I’ll be good.”
“Not too good I hope.” Giving her hand a final squeeze, Adrian placed it on her lap. The two of them tracking the movement with their eyes until meeting gazes once again.
“So, my mother studied abroad in America and meet my father at the university. It was a quick and sweet semester romance that they had no hopes of continuing. She couldn’t stay and he couldn’t leave. She found out she was pregnant once she got home. My grandparents were mortified. A forced wedding was at the top of my ojīchan’s list of solutions, but my mother outright refused. She had goals she wanted to achieve and she wanted to keep me.”
“She sounds like a tough cookie.”
“You have no idea. She’s a mighty little thing in a five foot one inch body.”
“So, you got all of your height from your dad?”
“Definitely. He’s six foot five.”
“I can imagine what drew her to him. Wow, they must’ve looked adorable together.”
“There are a few cute pictures I’ve seen, but I don’t think I’ve ever thought of my dad as adorable. Formidable, maybe.”
“You got two drill sergeants for parents? Isn’t it a law that one is supposed to be easy going?”
“Japanese mothers and Black fathers are not known for their easy going personalities. It’s okay, though, because both of my stepparents loved on me and were nice soft places to land if I was in hot water with Mom and Dad.”
His melodious voice was deep and resonated between them since he was intentionally speaking soft and low. It must’ve been lulling to her.
Subconsciously, Leah turned her body inwards and her hand drifted from her own lap to his. Either he didn’t notice the shift or he was playing it cool. As long as he wasn’t taking offense and didn’t ask her to move, she was doing well.
“Anyway, my dad was thrilled about me and has always provided for me, and my mom until she got married. We’ve even done the whole blended family vacation. The adults loved it, but I think my brothers and sister and I liked having our own individual dynamic. I’m the only common denominator, but things are different in each household. My mom and stepdad have all boys, so growing up was one big noisy brawl. My stepdad is a big guy, former Air Force pilot, who’s into sports and hunting and doesn’t mind the noise. With him and my three brothers, my mother pretty much gave up on clean, orderly, and quiet as a way of life.”
“That’s a lot. I mean it was crazy just having two brothers. I can’t imagine your poor mom not having another girl in the house for balance.”
“She traded peace and quiet for her four protectors. I don’t think the woman has carried anything heavier than her own purse since she got married. Now, at my dad’s house things are a lot quieter. My stepmom is an English professor and my dad is an attorney. My little sister is four years younger than me and our brother is way behind at ten years younger. There was almost no yelling around our house and roughhousing was a big no-no. I shoved my sister a little too hard during tag one time and she fell and scraped her knee, and let’s just say I never repeated that behavior.”
He noticed her breathing got deeper and her uh-huh and non-verbal responses had all but died. Crossing his legs, Adrian held on to her hand as she shifted in closer and pulled her legs into the seat. Glancing at his watch he had to decide how to stay connected to his little Tokyo express beauty.
Chapter 4
The electronic announcement warned of their imminent arrival into Tokyo Station. They had about thirty minutes and as peaceful as she looked, when he looked down at her head resting on his shoulder, he had to wake her up. The train didn’t hold in any one station very long and they still needed to dart across the station to catch their connections.
Leaning in and whispering, Adrian rubbed her hand as he called her name. “Leah, Leah, honey, it’s time to wake up.”
“Oh, my goodness. How long was I asleep? I’m so sorry. I don’t make a habit of falling asleep on strangers.”
“Well, I don’t have a problem with my wife leaning on me.”
It was impossible not to smile at his mischievous look and waggling eyebrows. Stretching away from him, Leah reached for her bag prepared to make another straddling exit but was surpr
ised when he stood up and reached into the overhead for a small bag of his own.
“This way, kireina,” at her puzzled look he explained. “It means beautiful. I can’t believe you haven’t learned that word yet.”
“What, do you think I’m vain and shallow? I’m a work in progress, but I’m not that bad,” she answered feeling the heat rise in her cheeks. She hadn’t blushed this much in forever.
“Not what I meant. I just didn’t think I was the first one to call you that since you’ve been here.”
He was a sweet talker. When they got back to their seats, Leah started putting her things back together for a speedy exit.
Her body language was tense again and she seemed annoyed, and Adrian couldn’t figure out why. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, it’s fine. The damn airline just sent a message that my flight was going to be leaving early. Seriously, what the hell? People schedule things at a certain time on purpose. If I wanted to be on an earlier flight I would have picked one. Complete assholes!”
“Whoa! Leah, how much earlier did they say?”
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll never make it because my train to Narita is already getting in at race to the finish line time.”
“Don’t assume the worse. Airlines say the flight is going to leave early and most of the time it still doesn’t happen. You’re on a large transcontinental flight that’s probably completely booked or even overbooked. The extra time they gained and sent you will likely be used getting all those people boarded. There’s nothing you can do about it now anyway, so don’t let it ruin what has been an extremely pleasant ride.”
Letting out a sigh of exasperation, Leah flopped back in her seat crossing her arms and legs. Watching her physically and emotionally close off to him, stirred Adrian’s call to action. He understood her being worried about missing her flight, but she had plenty of time to make other arrangements before Christmas. Plus, this mini-meltdown wouldn’t serve her in trying to get anywhere with the gate agents. Frustrated travelers were a dime a dozen and the gate agents held all the power. His decision made, Adrian got up to get her suitcase down and gathered his things as well. It looked like he was headed to the airport. Unbeknownst to her, he had the means and connections to turn the problem into an amazing holiday and he decided he would treat her to it, even if she was a brat the entire time. He could deal with that later.
“Since you haven’t taken the journey through Tokyo station before and certainly not dragging a packed suitcase—”
“It’s on wheels!”
“Like I was saying, since you haven’t had this unique experience yet, I’ll drag the suitcase and get you to your gate. I can navigate that terminal in the dark. I do it a couple of times a month and I’m not in any hurry. I can even carry you piggyback style. I have really long legs, remember.”
He was hoping to get a least a little chuckle, but she had her phone out and was giving off twenty-five percent attentiveness and a hundred percent attitude. The tones went off and the announcement came on. They were pulling into the station.
“Listen, I know you’re pissed but pissed isn’t going to get you home any faster or solve any potential problems, because they are only potential. Come on. Let’s go. We need to be at the doors when they open, so we can start moving toward the escalator.” Adrian held out his hand to her.
“I can walk. You don’t need to hold my hand like a child.”
“Right now you’re acting like one, but I was offering because it’s packed and there’s at least a foot difference in height between us. I don’t want us to get separated. It’ll just slow us down.”
She uncrossed her legs and let out another of her weary with the situation sighs. Her exasperation was more inward now though. He was still being so helpful and she was being the brat Eric was constantly threatening to throttle and the royal bitch Luke said he hated being around. It was only a half an hour ago when she found this gorgeous, gargantuan man so sweet and such good company. He hadn’t done anything to change her opinion. He wasn’t even the reason she was feeling so irritated. If she had to call her mother and tell her she wasn’t going to make it home for Christmas, she would absolutely never hear the end of it. Her mother would be an emotional wreck for the holiday and her brothers and father would hate her for it. Eric might finally do what he’d been threatening for years.
Looking up, she held her hands up in surrender and gave him a little smile. Hopefully, it would make amends. She was really starting to like him and didn’t want to leave her poor behavior as his last impression.
He stared her down for a few seconds and then gave her a wink. “What, do you want my hand to fall off?”
Leah reached out her hand and took his. “You weren’t holding it out that long.”
“It’s a line from one of my dad’s favorite movies. Lady Sings the Blues. Diana Ross and Billy Dee Williams. A 1970s classic movie. Wow, you are clearly a lot younger than me.”
“I’m sure Mom and Dad know it, possibly even Eric. He’s really into old-timey things.”
They both laughed as they made their way to the doors. Most people were getting off here as it was where you could connect to trains going in every direction. One hand held on to Leah and the other to her suitcase. She was holding on pretty tightly considering her level of protest earlier.
“Relax. I promise it’s going to be okay.”
“Yeah, how do you know that?”
“Because my father taught me that in times of trouble either your money or your winning personality could make all the difference. I happen to possess both in tremendous amounts.”
“And a great deal of modesty.”
“Confidence. Hard won confidence built from hard work and not ego.”
The doors opened and she felt herself being propelled forward. She picked up her pace automatically to stay in step. It felt good to just follow. All she had to do was hold on to his hand and keep up. There wasn’t a need to read signs or stop to struggle through asking questions in her broken Japanese. Adrian had her and was taking care of things. It was nice to have that feeling back, even if it was only for another hour or so speeding through a train station.
Chapter 5
Leah remained tense the entire ride on the Narita express. This was no luxury train. Even though they both had upgraded tickets, it was still a commuter train. It was more crowded and there wasn’t any attendant there to answer to her every need, but it still beat stateside city transit in most places. She tried to engage Adrian in small talk, but he was focused on getting them seated, her luggage stowed and then he was furiously typing away on his phone, doing what she didn’t know. She was just glad he got her a window seat when he changed her ticket to match his newly acquired one.
For his part, Adrian was happy that he was able to thwart her chatter. He hadn’t wanted to be short, but he didn’t want to answer any of her questions until he could be certain he had a solution on hand. He was sure his silence hurt her feelings, but he was equally certain that his ability to make it up would erase the bad taste his behavior left in her mouth. He’d been messaging with his father and then his father’s assistant from the moment he sat down. Having eschewed the use of the company jet unless absolutely necessary once he was done with college, he knew the man would have no problem with his request. He also texted his own assistant and let her know to stock his fridge and have the housekeeper pop in to make sure things were freshened up. Since he’d been at his mother’s place the last two weeks, he knew the only thing in his house was alcohol and a few snacks. If Leah somehow made her flight or he managed to finesse her onto another commercial one it would all be for naught, but he’d built his life around being prepared.
Slipping his phone in his jacket pocket, he heard her use the softest and smallest voice since they’d met. Her small hand on his forearm was doing more than getting his attention. The overwhelming sense to take that hand in his and make anything troubling her better or erased all together was consuming him. Givin
g in to that impulse, he did sandwich it between his much larger hands and gave her his undivided attention.
“Look, I know you’re irritated with me, but please say something. Will a blanket ‘I’m sorry’ work until you tell me exactly what I did wrong?”
“You don’t need to apologize. I do. I was being short, but I get hyper-focused on doing something and don’t always multitask well. I apologize. Being sorry wasn’t allowed in my house. Well, not in my father’s house. His rule was: ‘There are enough sorry people in the world. Adrian, I need you to be something different. Be something other than sorry. Always apologize for misstepped actions, but don’t ever be sorry.’ The man was a real poet.”
“That was still more words of advice then my father has ever given me. He’s sweet, but relating to a girl child was never his strength. I love him though, because of him I can talk sports with most guys. I mean any sport. Want to know something about football – American or European? How about cricket, tennis, basketball? I even know about curling, and outside of the folks who play that sport, I don’t think anyone knows those rules.”
“He sounds like his own brand of interesting.”
“I loved spending time with him and he wasn’t going to play with Barbie dolls, so I adapted. I tagged around with him and the boys and I rarely admit it, but I even learned to enjoy some of those sports. Not curling though, I really just don’t get that.”
“That’s funny, but I don’t think that’s what you were about to tell me.”
“No, the apology was, but I got sidetracked by your dad. And the apology wasn’t just for what I didn’t know I did to irritate you, but also because I was less than honest on the other train. I am a bad traveler, but that isn’t the complete reason for my less than stellar first impression. I’m being a bitch and making myself crazy about getting home when it’s honestly the last place I want to be right now. I’ve been psyching myself up for the last few weeks, hell, for the last few hours, but now that it’s imminent I’m more stressed than ever. I can’t be there now. Not for the holidays, not for anything in the moment. There are some hard truths waiting for me and I’m in no hurry to deal with them.”
12 Naughty Days of Christmas 2018 Page 27