They would be. The Shiraishis were a wealthy family. They wore polished smiles, everything about them perfect. The men’s suits fitted beautifully, the women’s dresses and neat slacks a symphony of well-matched outfits, conservative, smoothly effortless.
Riku gripped her hand a little too hard. She moved close and took a sip of her beer.
Chick watched from a short distance away and he exchanged a glance with her. He was there for Riku too.
“Mom, Dad.” Riku greeted them casually. “Can I get you a drink? Beer?”
That was sheer devilment, because Cyn couldn’t imagine these people drinking anything as vulgar as beer. Probably tea from china cups or dry martinis. The man, Riku’s father, frowned. “No thank you. We wanted to see what you were doing with your time.” His face broke into a sudden smile. “We are pleased you have made a success of your life.”
Cyn didn’t understand why Mr. Shiraishi spoke with such formality. His voice didn’t have a trace of an accent. It occurred to her she knew little about Riku’s past—only what most people knew, with the tiny addition of him not contacting them much. Being out of touch. Many families lost touch over the years, a sad but true fact these days, but she sensed more. She could almost taste the tension surrounding them.
“We’d like to ask you to dinner,” Mrs. Shiraishi said. “Are you in New York for long?”
Riku glanced at Cyn. “Probably. It depends.”
On her. If she wanted him. Of course she did but she still had to get through the ordeal of showing him her bruises and confessing he’d damaged her when he fell on her. The idea made her glance away uncomfortably. Not the impression she wished to make on his parents.
“Do you remember Cyn?” Riku put his arm carefully around her shoulders. She held her breath, preparing for the impact when he pulled her to his side. Pain shot through her but she didn’t respond, other than bracing her muscles. He glanced at her smiling, but she hid her pain and put on a practiced smile.
“I went to the institute too.”
“Ah yes.” His mother regarded her dispassionately, as if examining a bug pinned to a board. “You didn’t finish the course.”
“I finished it.” She didn’t want to talk about it. “I design jewelry now.”
Mrs. Shiraishi turned her attention to the necklace around Riku’s throat. “Good workmanship but not my personal taste.” She touched her pearls. “I prefer something more classic in design.”
Anger sparked, as it always did when someone disparaged her work. That touch indicated so much more than personal taste and she suspected it was meant to rile her. “Many people don’t.” She clamped her mouth shut, determined to say no more.
Riku had watched the brief exchange but now he took a hand. “Cyn and I have both taken new paths in life.”
“You have made a great success,” his father said. “We are pleased.” As if he’d done it for them.
Cyn began to understand this family dynamic. Riku hadn’t taken the path they’d chosen for him but now he’d proven himself. They were willing to bring him back into the fold. He might prove an asset.
Vile. She hated his family on his behalf. Riku was sensitive and strong. He’d had the courage to break out to do what he wanted in life. His family kept their distance until he became a roaring success, not because they were indifferent or couldn’t understand like her mother but because they refused to tolerate failure.
She wouldn’t leave him alone to face them. She’d determined that before she’d met them and now she knew she’d made the right decision.
Chick glanced at his phone and walked over to them. Thank God. She couldn’t wait to get away, stifled by their obvious disapproval of her. The two younger women studied her silently, the younger man with speculation. He’d have to wait a long time to get into her knickers, like forever. Riku was taller and broader than the rest of his family but that might make him more awkward, not less. A bull in a china shop instead of the greatest tree in the forest.
Neither suited him but she didn’t have a chance to think of a better metaphor, because Chick had reached them. “That guy,” he said. “The one with the knife. It wasn’t a combat weapon, he wanted to give it you to wear onstage. Blunt as my dick.” He didn’t apologize, barely acknowledged the Shiraishis. They’d angered Chick too, she guessed.
“A relief.” Riku turned to Cyn, concerned etched on his face, the lines about his eyes deepening as he frowned. “I need to take you home. I knocked you down hard and I don’t want you standing around here.” He glanced at his folks. “Sorry. Yes, I’d like to have dinner with you. We’d like to have dinner. At home?”
“No, at the Ristorante Veneziano,” his father said. He shot Cyn a venomous look that luckily his son didn’t catch. “We are delighted to have you both as our guests.”
A restaurant? Even one of the swishiest in town. It wasn’t right that they wouldn’t have him home and reconcile in private. Unless, she realized, they wanted to be seen with him to take some of his kudos for their own.
“My parents always do their entertaining in restaurants,” Riku murmured.
Would they have asked him to their home had he not made it clear she was invited too? Cyn wasn’t sure but she needed to leave this stuffy room. She took another drink, a deeper gulp this time. The pain took her by surprise and she coughed then whimpered.
“We are going home,” Riku said firmly and Chick nodded.
“I’ll get you a car.” He spared the Shiraishis a glance. “Always good to meet the families of the band. I’m surprised you didn’t want to catch him before the performance.”
“Pressure of work,” Mr. Shiraishi said. “You know how it is.”
“No.” Chick turned his back in order to study Cyn. “We’ll get you back in no time. Ray says get in the tub and soak. It’ll ease the injury. Take the strapping off and don’t put it back on.”
“Strapping, what strapping?” Alarmed, Riku slid his hand down her side, gently but he must have felt the heavy bandages taped around her and he definitely felt her wince. “Shit, what’s happened? What did I do?”
She closed her eyes. “Let me tell you later. I’m fine, honestly.”
Riku spared his parents one glance. “What time tomorrow?”
“Eight for eight thirty,” Mr. Shiraishi said.
“I can’t promise to be there but I’ll send word if we can’t. I’m sorry but Cyn was hurt earlier tonight. Worse than I thought. She comes first.”
She placed her palm on his chest. “No, you have to meet with your family.”
“Not without you,” he said firmly. “Come on. Thank Ray for me,” he added to Chick.
“Sure.”
Riku bent his head, nuzzled her forehead. “You want me to carry you?”
“Fuck no.”
Oh shit. She’d probably screwed up any chance she had of ingratiating herself with his parents by using foul language. For his sake she wanted some kind of reconciliation to take place. Something was wrong here.
Chapter Ten
“There’s plenty of room.”
Riku looked at Cyn wallowing in his large bathtub and groaned. “I still want you but we can’t.”
“We could. In the bath. The ice packs helped a lot and Chick found me some painkillers. It hurts if I move quickly, but if I remember and take care I can minimize the pain.”
“You have cracked ribs, woman.” He ran his hands over his face. “I cracked them.” Guilt lanced him, the pain agonizing but not as bad as hers.
“Better than getting stabbed.” She smiled and he watched her chest move as she breathed. He’d had a word or two with Ray before they left and he was specific about what he wanted her to do.
Ray had processed the information swiftly and succinctly as she’d waited in the car. “Don’t put the strapping back on. Make her sleep on her injured side, because the pressure will help to keep the bone in place. Get her x-rayed in the morning as a precaution and make her breathe deeply every so often.” He claspe
d Riku’s forearm. “You did everything you could to protect her. I couldn’t have done better.”
Riku knew Ray was telling him not to blame himself but it didn’t help. He did. He’d brought her home, undressed her and gotten her into the bath. They got the strapping and tape off when they were soaked enough to loosen.
A hot bath with the best bubbles he could find in his cabinet. He didn’t go in for froth as a rule but they obscured her delectable body and stopped him going places he shouldn’t. Except her nipples crested the surface every now and then, distracting him from his resolution. He’d get her to bed, settled, feed her and only join her later, when she was asleep. Except she looked gorgeous asleep too. He wanted—needed—to stay close to her and ensure she got a decent night’s rest.
“Breathe,” he said, remembering Ray’s instructions. “Nice and deep.”
“Bastard.” She grimaced and took a deep breath. Her breasts peeked above the water again and he tried not to look. Like he’d try not to look if an embarrassed elephant sat in the room. Impossible.
“Nice and easy.” He was a bastard for thinking of sex when she was suffering. They didn’t know if she’d fractured or bruised her ribs yet. Riku wanted to rush her to the nearest hospital but Ray told him they wouldn’t do anything anyway, it was only for information and the treatment was the same, so they’d keep the appointment in the morning.
He wanted to howl his distress to the moon. He’d hurt her.
“Okay.” She gasped after a few breaths. “Any more of those and I’ll get dizzy. Can I get out yet?”
“Are you hungry?”
She shook her head. “Not one bit. I should be, I guess but no. Not thirsty either, before you ask. Why are you so eager to get away?”
“I’m not. Just making you comfortable, that’s all.”
Her eyes turned sultry. “I can think of one thing that would make me comfortable.”
“No.”
He’d never seen her pout before. Interesting. “But if we’re careful…”
“How the fuck can we be careful?” He sprang to his feet and took a few steps then came back. His clothes lay crumpled and disregarded in a corner of the bathroom, looking like the newspapers they imitated.
The only thing he’d taken care with was the necklace, which he’d laid on his dresser in the bedroom. The rest had gone and he’d showered efficiently, using the one in here, never taking his attention from Cyn as she lay in the bath.
He’d seen to her needs first, naturally. He’d needed the excuse of the shower to recover from the sight of her, especially the swelling and incipient bruising spreading over her chest. He must have fallen more heavily on her left side, because that already showed dark purple, nearly black in places.
Shit, that had to hurt. If Ray hadn’t applied the ice packs so assiduously it could have looked much worse. Her breathing made him happier, because although uncomfortable she did it without effort that screamed danger to him. Happier was relative. Happier than furious and distressed, maybe.
He thrust his fingers through his hair, shoving it out the way and turned back to face her. “Cyn, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t,” she said, so mildly he realized she was holding her anger back. “Don’t say that again. It wasn’t your fault. You were protecting me and for all we knew that could have been an assassin.”
She gripped the side of the bathtub, her knuckles gleaming white. A tendril of her hair fell from the messy knot he’d bundled it into at her request. Guess he wasn’t too good at doing women’s hair. He could do his own but hers was finer and softer than his. “I’m just glad Chick found out why he was there.”
“But not how he got through. He’s still working on that.” Security at venues could be very difficult because it was different every time. He was sure nobody had behaved negligently but he trusted Chick to take care of that aspect. “The first thing I thought about was you.” No consideration for himself or his own safety. He hadn’t given a fuck about that as long as Cyn was safe.
And he’d hurt her. He couldn’t get over that part. The fan hadn’t caused the injuries marking her skin and he hadn’t damaged her ribs. Riku had.
“There’s one way you can make it up to me.” She still wore that sultry expression. Oh fuck, he was a monster for wanting her now.
“No, Cyn. I’ll tuck you up in bed and bring you some food.”
“I won’t eat it.” She was behaving like a sulky schoolgirl but the sexiest one he’d ever seen. Pouting was the least of it. She shifted, her breasts cresting the foamy water, making his mouth water.
“You will.”
“I will if you come here and join me.”
He told himself he could hold her, just hold her and ensure she was okay. Make her feel wanted and secure. That was what she really wanted. Anything else was out of the question.
He’d stripped off his T-shirt without thinking and shed his jeans with the same lack of thought. He slid in the tub, careful not to splash too much but he’d filled it high for her and now the contents threatened to surge over the side with his weight displacing them. Reaching for the plug, he let out some water and aware of her regard, glanced up to see her watching him. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you want to eat me.” Ah shit, he could have bitten his tongue out. The connotations of what he’d said made him flush hot and cold, despite the water’s warmth.
“I do.” Using the hand on the side of the bath, Cyn pulled herself over to his side. She swiveled around and he hastily replaced the plug before she nestled against him. Opening his legs, he let her slide between them, her back to his chest. He didn’t attempt to hide his erection. She must have seen it as he climbed in. He was no saint. Just a man trying to do what was right.
“You feel good.” She said it with meaning, as if she hadn’t given up.
“I’m happy to hold you,” he lied. Not convincingly, considering his cock was becoming more uncomfortable by the minute.
She laughed, then stopped abruptly. Knowing the cause, he made a soothing noise before following up his advantage. “See? You can’t even laugh without hurting.”
She tilted her head to gaze at him. “Then don’t make me laugh. Make me sigh. That doesn’t hurt.”
Sitting up, she kissed him. He could do nothing except cup her cheek and return the kiss. Fighting her wasn’t working. He wanted her every time he saw her and a primitive instinct deep inside, one he’d never given free rein to before, urged him to take her, make her his. Concentrating on tasting her, on relaxing her with his kiss, he tried to suppress the feelings so unworthy of her but it didn’t work. It only got worse. She rubbed against him, moving her back against his cock in a way guaranteed to drive him wild with wanting her.
He tore his mouth away from hers. Panting, he watched her, her bright eyes darkened with passion. “How can you want me when you’re in so much pain?”
“The painkillers are working.” He doubted she was pain free. “I feel much better for the bath, and the ice packs kept the swelling down. Please, Riku. I’ll let you do all the work.”
“Too right you will.”
Bending to the inevitable, he flipped the tile at the side of the bath aside and found the pack of condoms he kept in the compartment. He heard her chuckle and turned back to her. “What?”
“I doubt they were for me.”
“No. Do you mind?”
“That you weren’t a saint in the years we spent apart? I saw it for myself. I didn’t like it but I had no hold on you.”
He loved her honesty. He needed to tell her something but it might stop her wanting him. Wait, that was a good thing, he told his wayward cock. He wanted her to rest, didn’t he? Inwardly he groaned. “I did prefer them in twos before you.” He left his hand loosely on her waist, waiting for her to shake him off. “It was less intimate.”
“Playtime,” she murmured.
“Exactly. I wanted exercise and play, nothing else.”
“You’re more than play. You always were.”
“Anyone else?”
He hadn’t expected that question. He thought. “No. Not like you.” Shit, she’d trapped him. He’d meant to use the two girls thing to distance them. His last, pathetic try at putting her off the idea of sex tonight. He tried again. “Do you want that?”
“What, to share you?” She stared at him in amazement. “No fucking chance. How about you?”
“I don’t want to share you either.” Fuck. He didn’t, he wasn’t saying that to mollify her. What was worse he didn’t want anyone else. Girls always crowded around him. He put it down to a combination of his size and his profession. Women tended to prefer their men big and rock music always attracted the edgiest, most interesting women. As well as its share of bimbos but the world needed them too. “Cyn, what are you doing to me?”
“The same thing you’re doing to me. You said let it ride. Is that still on?”
They had to but Riku was finding it harder to remember their different lifestyles and separate ambitions. Their previous affair had been hot and heavy but when it came to the crunch she’d walked away, or rather, not come to him. Not knowing the result of her final audition, he’d accepted what his colleagues had told him—she’d left that last audition, quit and never came back, leaving them to conclude she’d failed.
He’d made a place for her in his new life in Paris, waited for her but instead she’d sent that fucking email followed by that fucking letter. Chickened out, refused to come and tell him. He thought that then and he’d had no reason to change his mind since he’d reconnected with her. She wouldn’t follow through, even if he asked her.
The time they had now was all they had, all they’d ever have. In a series of swift motions, he tore the wrapper open and sheathed himself. “Come here.” He lifted her, careful to keep his hold away from her bruises. She took a sharp breath but didn’t object.
He brought her on his stomach, freed a hand to hold his cock steady and slid her down his wet front to impale her body on his.
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