For the Love of Rei

by Tigra Luna LeMar

  With a smirk, he exited the kitchen to change for their day out. He didn’t know what came over him, flirting the way he did before leaving the kitchen. Flirting with his boss could only end in disaster but she is so damn sexy. No man could resist.

  He hadn’t pulled back with a busted nose. That was, a miracle indeed. He really should learn from the things Nia has done to guys who tried anything with her.

  Glancing at his reflection in the mirror, he dragged his fingers through his hair and swore softly. Still a bit damp, he decided to leave it free. He shoved the hair tie into his front pocket while praying he didn’t catch a cold from the weather outside. Hauling on a sweater first and then his brand, new coat, Raiden checked to see that he had his credit cards and some cash on him. Though she was taking him out and she was the host, he had no intention of making her pay for anything. It wouldn’t feel right if he had and then he would go home feeling guilty. Shoving a couple of traveller’s cheques into his wallet as well, he exited his room just as she was descending the stairs dressed in a tight pair of jeans hugging her hips brilliantly. Her sweater hung baggy from the neck down but clung tightly around her hips. He loved it when a woman wore cloths like this and knew they had the body to carry it off. Rochelle did it effortlessly.

  “You look lovely, Rochelle,” he admitted. He meant every word too.

  “Thank you.” She turned and looked up at him. Something flashed through her eyes but she looked away too quickly for him to decipher what. With a mental shrug, he followed her on their way into the heart of Toronto. A few flakes began to fall and he wondered how much worse it would get. There was no snow when he arrived three days after Christmas and he wondered if he’d get a chance to experience it. Every movie he ever watched about North America showed snow on Christmas day. He felt a little bit cheated when the plane lowered enough for him to see the ground and there was none. But when he felt the cold air slap him in the face stepping from the warmth of the airport, he decided against it. With this much cold who needed snow?

  The deeper they got into the city, the harder snow tumbled from the sky. By the time they hit the Gardiner Expressway leading toward the Skydome and CN Tower everything was covered in white flakes.. How the weather could change from town to town surprised him greatly. It was like his many visits to Hawaii. Sometimes he could stand on the balcony of his hotel suite and see the rain falling a distance away but where he was there would be no rain. He could smell it coming over the hills—it smelt like freshly cut grass. The traffic slowed down something fierce. They went from zipping through clear streets, to trudging through a slush covered highway.

  “I thought it wouldn’t snow this year since I’m here,” Raiden muttered staring out the window into a car beside him. The driver picked away at his nose and Raiden laughed. No matter how old he got, someone picking their nose in traffic would always be hilarious.

  “What’s so funny?” she asked.

  “There’s a car beside us—the driver is picking his nose.”

  “Ugh!”

  Raiden laughed harder but his view was cut when the other car switched lanes and sped off on the other side. He chuckled softly and turned his head to look at her. “Driving here is not boring.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Rochelle told him.

  Chapter Three

  All the way into the city, Rochelle felt like she would have a small stroke. Her fear of heights grabbed a hold and seemed to choke her. The last time she went she had a panic attack on the observation deck. The elevator operator patted her on the back until he felt she wouldn’t pass out. He then grabbed a bottle of water from a nearby vending machine for her. After chugging the whole bottle in one sitting, she sat on the floor with her back against the wall hyperventilating. She didn’t want that to happen again—not in front of Raiden. Finding parking turned into another chore. At one point she thought she found one and as she slipped her signal on some jerk sped up and pulled right into her spot. She’d wanted to get out and give him a piece of her mind, but she behaved herself with Raiden there.

  Behaving—getting increasingly difficult—ass wipe!

  It took almost one hour to find another spot to park and even then they had a horrible walk back to the CN Tower. The snow had melted and turned into brown slush by foot traffic and tires. Rochelle kept having this day-mare about a car speeding by and showering them in the cold, filthy liquid. She slipped a few times but Raiden took her hand holding her up on her feet. She blushed heatedly but felt so comfortable that when they stepped up to the window to buy their tickets and the ticket seller stared at them quizzically she didn’t even think to pull her hand from his.

  Inside she stopped to take in a breath—to prepare herself for the rise so high above the city that even skyscrapers looked like ants below. If you can see the top of a thirty-four story building and it looked like a tiny pin’s head, there was a problem. That meant you were too high. Human beings are not supposed to be that high in the air.

  “You’ll be fine.” Raiden rubbed her back.

  She looked into his eyes and shook her head. “The last time I visited I had a panic attack. It was not pretty. I had all these people staring at me like I had just punched their babies or something stupid like that.”

  “We don’t have to do this. I mean you could just take me somewhere and have your naughty way with me—I wouldn’t complain.”

  Rochelle eyed him and managed to laugh when he winked at her with a smile. She knew what he was doing—trying to take her mind off the fact that an elevator would carry her up one hundred and forty six storeys.

  “No—” Rochelle breathed in and out deeply. “I should do this. You are my guest and it is what you want—not what I want. And besides, they say the only way to overcome a phobia is to face it.”

  “That’s not always true. Facing a snake when you’re afraid of it could get you killed. But still, it’s not really about what I want. What if I don’t want to go up there?”

  “Then I’d say you’re lying.” She lifted her chin. “Come on—I can do this. I really can.”

  “Gimme your hand,” Raiden whispered close to her head. “Don’t think about it. Just think about me.”

  That’s dangerous.

  The moment those words left his lips Rochelle could see him stripping for her, flipping his hair from his face while rising like an Adonis out of a swimming pool. She saw herself burying her fingers in his hair and moving his mouth to her breasts. She could see him crawling across the floor to her, spreading her legs and...

  “You all right? Are you breathing?”

  Damn it!

  Rochelle nodded and when the elevator came, she stepped in clutching his hands tightly. Her breathing quickened when he simply pulled her into his chest.

  “Breathe,” he reminded her. “Slowly. Don’t hyperventilate.”

  Rochelle allowed herself to be lost in his voice trying to block out the fact that the only thing holding her up were some wires and a piece of metal. Raiden held her tightly against his body. She pressed her face shamelessly into his neck, breathing in his scent and shaking. She didn’t know why she was putting herself through it again. He had given her the chance to opt out but she didn’t want to look like a fool in front of him. She wanted to look strong and be a woman that he could look on with admiration. But how much admiration would he be looking at her with as she shook like a leaf in his arms?

  “It’s all right, we’re almost there,” he whispered against her head.

  She knew that to be a lie. She likened the ride to walking the damn green-mile and seemed longer than before. The first time she took the ride it had been with Maylee. Finally the elevator stopped and Raiden led her out on the Sky Deck. He looked down into her eyes and smiled. “See?” he asked. “It wasn’t so bad and you did it all without freaking out.”

  “Easy for you to say.” Rochelle pouted, turning away. “You weren’t having a slight heart attack every time the damn elevator shook. You do know how high up we are, ri
ght?”

  “Hey, a phobia of heights can sometimes leave people locked in their basement apartments for life with nothing. You are in the CN Tower, at the highest part. Be proud of yourself. Now let’s go look around and I promise we won’t go on the glass floor if you don’t want to.”

  Rochelle finally smiled and Raiden smirked at her before walking toward the doors to enter the centre of the Tower. Rochelle found herself relaxing more and more around Raiden.

  He is tender and sweet.

  He took her hand, leading her around, sometimes asking her questions about the history of the tower and how long it took to construct. To her surprise, she remembered a lot from the last time she visited and had watched the small documentary in the basement. He tried talking her onto the glass floor but Rochelle refused. She already tempted fate being that high up. The last thing needed was to stand on glass she didn’t trust. Glass broke and mistakes can be made about the strength of it. He picked her up, screaming and flailing and carried her onto the glass floor.

  “Don’t look down,” Rochelle told herself.

  “Of course not.” He laughed.

  When he said that, Rochelle couldn’t help herself. She glanced down and screamed. People around laughed so hard she thought they would pop a lung.

  “Zero, if you drop me!” she warned.

  “Don’t you think I’m strong enough, Rochelle?”

  “That’s not the point—the point is if you drop me I just may die and then I’d haunt you. And trust me, I wouldn’t be the nice, moaning ghost. Oh no! I’d be the ghost from the Ring movie.”

  Raiden laughed. “Threatening me with a good time are you?”

  She whacked him in the arm and he brought her back to solid ground. He placed her down and she giggled burying her face into his chest. “That was not funny.” His arms came up about her shoulders and caressed soothingly.

  “Yes it was.”

  A man walking by interrupted. “Congrats, man.” The man eyed Rochelle knowingly and she turned to see Raiden grinning like an idiot.

  “Thanks, man,” he replied.

  Rochelle eyed him sternly.

  “What?” Raiden arched a brow.

  “What was that all about?”

  “You don’t have to be fluent in English to understand the language of man. He saw you, and wanted to congratulate me on catching you.”

  Rochelle’s cheeks grew warm. She wanted to tell him he did not catch her but she couldn’t speak. She gasped and walked off with him calling after her. She knew he was still laughing. She wasn’t angry that the man thought she was dating Raiden. She just didn’t want him to know that. Saying she had been impressed with the way he picked her up without breaking a sweat would be an understatement. Raiden Rei was strong. She was plus size, plain and simple but Raiden scooped her into his arms like she weighed nothing. She never had a man do that. All the others were scared she would be too heavy. For that moment, even though she could see the ground below his feet and he held her atop glass—something that should shatter from that much weight on it—she couldn’t help but feel sexy. She felt like one of those girls in the movies where their men picked them up and twirled them—or carried them over the threshold.

  “Would you hold on a minute?” Raiden called after her. “I’m sorry he thought you are my girl.”

  “You didn’t even correct him!” Rochelle tossed over her shoulders just as Raiden caught up with her. “And for the record you didn’t catch me. If they are going to believe we’re…the least you can do is tell them I did the catching.”

  “Is that a bad thing? I’m not used to any of this. I mean in Japan if a man thinks you have a lovely woman, you thank him. It’s a compliment.”

  Rochelle stopped and glared at him. “You do understand he thought we are—that we are...”

  “Knocking boots?”

  “Zero! What do you know about knocking boots?”

  Raiden smirked. “I am thirty-six years old, Rochelle. When a man and woman like each other very much—”

  “Stop!” She held up her hands. “I give up! I do not want The Talk from you in the middle of a tourist attraction.”

  Raiden laughed. “What’s next?”

  Rochelle didn’t know the answer to that question. She could feel her body still radiating from being in is arms. Inhaling deeply she said the first thing that came to her mind, “Let’s have lunch at the restaurant.”

  “I’m game.”

  He took her hand and without even thinking about it, she allowed him to lead her. She watched him follow the signs to the entrance of the restaurant. After their host introduced herself and offered them a menu and something to drink, Rochelle sat alone with the handsome Japanese man across from her. She bowed her head and lifted her menu to cover her eyes. She wasn’t really reading it—she was too busy praying that she would not leave a wet seat after getting up.

  She could feel Raiden’s eyes boring through the menu at her. When she couldn’t stand it anymore she lowered her menu to reveal her eyes only. “Stop that.”

  “Stop what?”

  “You’re staring.”

  “You don’t want me to stare?”

  “No.”

  “All right.”

  She lifted the menu again but quickly lowered it. He stopped looking at her. Paranoia is the first stage to schizophrenia right?

  He had a smirk on his lips and she wanted to smack him. She didn’t have time to do it though because their waitress showed up with their drinks.

  “Could I have a glass of XOXO?” she asked the waitress.

  The petit woman nodded and turned to look at Raiden who returned to staring.

  “Sir?”

  “Um, this is fine for now.”

  The waitress nodded and hurried off again.

  * * * *

  Raiden couldn’t help himself. When he looked at her, he saw something he had been looking for. He felt her happiness when he picked her up in his arms but he could see surprise in her eyes at the same time. The way she laughed and pressed into him made him extremely aroused. He was glad he wasn’t’ wearing a towel for he would have tented it. When the man complimented him on her his ego soared so high that he could have sworn his head would have exploded. But her reaction surprised him. Any other woman would have been flattered but not the ebony beauty sitting across from him.

  “Would being my girlfriend be that horrible?” he questioned her without warning.

  “Yes! I’m your boss.”

  “Not for long—”

  She looked down at the table while closing her menu and he knew a lecture would follow. Raiden placed his menu flat against the table and folded his arms waiting.

  “Look.” Rochelle faced him. “I can’t fraternize with my workers. That wouldn’t look right—”

  Raiden raised his hand and instantly their waitress rushed over. “I’d like the bill please.”

  The waitress hurried off again. “What are you doing?” she wanted to know.

  “You can’t fraternize with the hired help, right?” Raiden asked simply. “I am putting you out of your misery.”

  She moaned but he continued, “There are no hard feelings, Rochelle. You’re right. I am your employee and the sooner I remember that the better.”

  The waitress came back with their bill, and without looking at it, he handed over his credit card. “Raiden don’t...”

  “Sir?” the waitress questioned and he nodded. When she left again he stood up and left her at the table, and followed the waitress. He accepted the machine to sign, gave a tip and when it was through he saw Rochelle standing silently at his side. That was how they drove back home; in silence. There he stopped to face her.

  “I will have the first set of assignments finished by tonight.”

  “You don’t have to do those till Monday.”

  Without replying he climbed the stairs locking himself in his room and pulling out his work. Why’d he let himself fall for Rochelle? She is out of his league by far. Daitaro
used to always warn him about falling for women who he had no chance with, but he couldn’t resist Rochelle. Her body made him pray for things he had never imagined he would. He wanted to lift her legs apart and taste her—that thought made him moan hungrily. He allowed himself to wonder what she would taste like, hot and dripping over his tongue. He bet she tasted like cinnamon and fire.

  Grunting, angry at himself, he laid his material out on the floor with half finished sketches by Jeffrey and eyed them thoughtfully. Allowing the characters to speak to him, Raiden stood over them, walking around the boards without touching them. He listened, eyed them and when he finally felt motivated, he went down against the floor and began his work. He outlined them all with pencils before applying his inks. He worked well into the darkness when the moon shone through the window. He worked through hunger and bathroom breaks. Raiden only stopped to flip the lights on and that was almost on automation. When he finally stood up, he had the first set of images on the new ideas Jeffery gave him to complete for Hayes. Holding the boards up, Raiden went over every detail carefully. Daitaro had often called Raiden a perfectionist when it came to his creations. That was true and he wouldn’t deny it. He knew they could never be perfect but they had to be damn close.

  He wondered what was happening back at Emiko. He wanted to be seated in his office at that moment, away from Rochelle and the arousal throbbing between his legs. He wanted to be safe in his own house where he didn’t have to worry about saying something that would offend anyone. But he wasn’t anywhere near his house—out of his country. He moaned still glaring at the pictures before him. They would be used in a new, special edition, Manga serial that Hayes created. Therefore he drew everything to Jeffery’s specifications with a little bit of his flair—of course. By the end of the exchange, he would have to have the whole series drawn and ready to go.

  Placing them down, he walked into the bathroom and stripped from the day’s clothing. He searched the pockets of his pants carefully before folding them neatly in a pile on the ground. Stepping into the shower was almost torture. He turned on only the cold water and when it hit him in the chest he could have sworn his heart stopped for a few seconds. He gasped sucking in air but when he looked down his cock still danced up at him—almost mocking him. He frowned and rubbed a hand over the tender, throbbing head and moaned. He wondered if it would be bad to touch himself while fantasizing about his boss. Nothing would give him greater pleasure than to have her ease his pains—with her hands, her mouth, her pussy. He wanted her to sit across from him, naked with her legs wide. He wanted to watch the liquid dripped from her while he stroked himself. Feeling like he was doing a horrible thing, he released his arousal, finished his shower quickly and stepped from the tub. He slipped into a new pair of pants and top before carrying the boards down the stairs. He found Rochelle in the living room and without speaking, he laid the boards out on the coffee table before her and walked from the room. He stopped in the kitchen as his cell phone rang.