She was quiet for a moment, as if thinking about it. “You know what? It used to excite me, but it doesn’t anymore. There have been so many changes in the industry that now it just feels stressful most of the time.”
“Hmm.” He didn’t want to tell her how she should live her life—they were both adults. But he hoped she could see what he’d just pointed out.
“Crap.” She turned her head, looked into his eyes. “I’m burned out on reporting, aren’t I? I should be teaching dance full-time.”
He shrugged. “That’s your decision to make, not your parents’ or anyone else’s.”
She gifted him with a sweet smile. “Thank you, Ken.”
“No problem.” He watched her as she turned back around, then snuggled down into his embrace again. They lay in silence for a few moments, with only the sounds of their breathing to fill the room. He thought about what she’d just revealed to him and how he’d been so guarded with her. Now that they’d made love, he felt that the last barrier between them had fallen. She’d shared her body and soul with him, and it didn’t seem right to go on hiding things from her.
She seemed to sense his thoughts, because she asked, “What is it?”
“I feel like... I can trust you with my family’s story. But this has to be strictly off the record. It can’t make it into your article under any circumstances.”
She sat up, turned her body in his arms. “I would never betray your trust, Ken. Besides, I’ve already turned in my draft article.”
Looking into her eyes made it easy to believe her. Giving her a squeeze, he began. “When my mother was in that car accident, she was carrying a child.”
Nona’s hand went to cover her mouth. “Oh, my God. There was no mention of that in anything I read. I’m so sorry.”
“My father purposefully hid my mother’s pregnancy from the public. He was still a trusted adviser to the commissioner at the time. Though he’d left the position, he was still in the public eye. You should know that the baby was delivered before my mother’s death, and that the child survived.”
Her eyes grew wide. “So you’re not an only child?”
He shook his head. “I have a sister, Miyu. She’s just turned twenty-one. No one in my life knows about her, not Lynn, not my bandmates.”
Her brow furrowed. “I don’t understand. Why was your father so determined to hide your sister’s existence? And why were you?”
He drew a deep breath, released it. “Because Miyu is not my father’s child.”
Nona tensed. “Oh.”
“My mother had an affair during the last year of her life. Miyu is the result of that affair. Rather than suffer the embarrassment of having people know that my mother was unfaithful, my father made sure to keep Miyu’s birth a secret.”
“I’m still confused. Why not raise her as his own, without telling anyone she was fathered by another man?”
“Two reasons. One is resentment. My father wasn’t terribly interested in raising another man’s child. The other was practical. Miyu isn’t fully Japanese. Her father was black, so...” He didn’t finish the sentence because he knew he didn’t have to.
She blinked several times, her face conveying surprise and amazement. “Wow. This is a pretty wild story, but it does explain a lot. Now I understand why you are so private.”
He nodded. “I raised Miyu. She’s fifteen years younger than me, and my father was very distant with her. Miyu lived with us in my father’s home, but that was about as much as he was willing to do for her. When I left home at eighteen, I took Miyu with me. With the help of our housekeeper, Frances, I made sure Miyu had everything she needed until she went off to college. I love her, Nona. Even though my father never grew to love her, she is my sister, and the last link to my mother.”
She brought her hand up to stroke his jaw. “I understand, and I admire you for taking on the responsibility of another person when you were still a kid yourself.”
Her praise brought the smile back to his face. “Thank you. I’m sure your boss at the paper would salivate over a scoop like this. But my father is old and not in the best health. I’m not sure he could handle it if this were to get out.”
“I promise, this won’t go any further than me.” She tilted her head, pressing her lips against his.
When the kiss ended, he slid down in bed, taking her with him until he was lying on his back with her straddling his waist.
She opened the kimono, a wicked smile lighting her face.
He reached over and flicked off the lamp, plunging the room back into darkness.
Chapter 12
“I’m telling you, he’s amazing.” Nona spoke into the receiver so that Hadley could hear her. The cell phone reception around her house was dicey at best.
Sheba, curled up on the floor by the sofa, snorted in her sleep as she shifted positions.
“I believe you, Nona. You don’t have to shout.” Hadley laughed on the tail of her statement.
“Sorry. You know how the reception is in my house.” Holding the phone to her ear with one hand, she held a glass of iced tea in the other hand. In her bunny slippers, she padded to the couch, stepped over the dog and settled in for an evening with her favorite Thursday night television shows. In order to get more comfortable, she pushed aside her still-open briefcase, filled with her papers from work.
“I can’t believe you slept with him already. It’s only been two weeks.”
“Whatever. The loving was so good, I took a sick day from work today.”
“Damn, girl. You needed recovery time? It’s like that?”
“Hell, yeah!”
“You are such a mess, Nona.”
Nona scoffed. “Hadley, have you forgotten who you’re talking to? I remember all the wild mess you pulled in your early twenties. Who was that guy you took home on your twenty-second birthday? The one with the fro-hawk and the leather pants?”
Hadley quieted for a moment before she answered. “Oh. You mean Snake.”
“Snake? Come on, girl. You never found out his real name?”
“Listen, the way he lived up to that nickname, I didn’t care about his real name.” She laughed aloud.
Shaking her head, Nona turned on her forty-inch flat-screen television. “See what I mean? You are in no place to judge me, missy.”
“I guess you’re right. I’ll stop teasing you, because I want all the juicy details of your encounter with your drummer–slash–architect–slash–master athlete.” The sound of Hadley’s gum chewing filled the line.
“I’m not telling you anything until you quit popping that damn gum in my ear, girl.” She waited.
The sound stopped, then Hadley spoke again. “All right, Mom.” Hadley always called Nona that when she thought she was being bossy. “So, what was it like being with a...you know...?”
“A Japanese guy?” Nona completed the sentence for her.
“Well, yeah. I mean I’m not one to stereotype or anything but, I mean, what was it like?”
Nona settled into the cushions of her sofa, tucking her feet beneath her. “To be perfectly honest, it wasn’t that different from any other guy I’ve been with.”
“Lies you tell. The way you were giggling when you first called me, I know this man is working with something spectacular.” Hadley’s tone conveyed her absolute surety that she was right.
Rolling her eyes, Nona acquiesced. “I’m not about to tell you all his business. But what he was working with was more than enough to satisfy me.”
“Ooh!” Hadley squealed in her ear. “Girl, tell me more!”
“No. I’m not telling you anything else, nosy.”
“You’re no fun.” Hadley pouted, as she often did when she was denied gossip.
Nona didn’t care. She was still in the throes of bliss fr
om what she’d shared with Ken. It was special and something she wanted to keep to herself. Hadley would get over it.
“Whatever. Anyway, did I tell you about Marques?”
Nona’s brow crinkled as she flipped the channels on her television. “The guy you met when we were in Vegas last year? What about him?”
“Girl, he called me a couple of days ago. I was at the office, sitting at my desk. Savion and Campbell had gone out to lunch, but Savion came back while I was on the phone.”
“Oh, Lord.” She knew something crazy was coming as soon as Hadley mentioned her brothers.
“Do you know that fool snatched my phone, yelled at Marques, then hung up on him? It was a hot mess.”
“How did he even know who you were talking to?”
“He didn’t. He said I was smiling so hard it must have been ‘some dude.’ I’m telling you, they want me to be single until I die.”
“Did you get him back?”
“Sure did. Popped him right upside the back of his square head. I love my brother, but he gets on my last nerve sometimes.”
Nona couldn’t hold back her laugh. Having been around Hadley as long as she had, she was quite familiar with the overprotective antics of her older brothers. “They’re going to come around one day, I promise.”
“Hopefully that day will come before my ovaries shut down production.” She groaned. “Look, let me get off the phone. Mama is calling me. Later, girl.”
“’Bye, Hadley.” She disconnected the call and lent her full focus to the television.
About twenty minutes into her show, she frowned. She’d missed a few episodes, and now she had no clue what was going on. She could tell something about the show’s dynamic had changed, and one of her favorite characters was inexplicably missing from the episode. Annoyed, she turned off the TV and got up, careful not to step on her still slumbering pup.
A few minutes later, she was back on the couch with her journal and a pen. She realized that in the digital age, journaling on paper would probably be considered old-fashioned. Regardless, she enjoyed the feeling of peace she got from venting on paper. No one even knew she kept a journal, so it was the perfect place for her to record her innermost thoughts and feelings. There were some things she didn’t even want to tell Hadley but still wanted to work through. Those were the things that went into the pages of her journal.
With her pen in hand, she jotted down her memories of the previous night. Staying over at Ken’s house hadn’t been her intention, but the passions brewing between them had finally boiled over at the gym. Now that she’d given herself to him, she felt the shift in their relationship. So far, she had no regrets. They’d shared a night filled with ecstasy, and she knew she would never forget it. He’d awakened something in her, something that had been lying dormant for years.
Her pursuit of her career at the newspaper had left her very little time for dating. She’d seen a few men over the past decade, but not that many. She’d only reached the physical stage of the relationship with two of them. And until now, it always seemed that once she’d slept with a guy, her attraction to him started to fizzle.
With Ken, things were very different. Now that she’d been with him, all she could think about was when she’d get the chance to make love to him again. He’d been gentle and considerate, yet strong and powerful when she’d needed him to be. Her body tingled at the thought of his caressing hands and the kisses he’d placed over every inch of her skin.
She also wrote down the story he’d told her about his family, because she was still processing that. The tale he’d told was a lot to take in. He’d been right when he described how excited Huff would be to know the sordid details of the Yamada family’s past. But she’d promised not to reveal his business, and she intended to keep her word. He’d trusted her with something he’d never told anyone else, not even his bandmates, whom he considered his closest friends. To honor the trust he’d placed in her, she knew she had to protect his secrets.
She stifled a yawn as she continued to jot down her thoughts. What he’d said about her teaching dance, and his advice to follow her passion, still echoed in her mind. Working at the paper just wasn’t the same as when she’d first started. Her mother would freak out if she knew her daughter was even entertaining the idea of teaching dance full-time. Nona wondered if she would ever have the courage to walk away from the job she no longer loved in favor of the one that filled her soul with joy.
Sheba’s scratching at the door got her attention. Realizing the dog needed to go out, she closed her journal and tossed it onto the couch. “Okay, girl. I’ll let you out.”
As she walked away to open the door for the dog, she didn’t look back to see where her journal landed.
* * *
Ken walked into the kitchen, headed for the sink to wash his hands.
His sister, Miyu, stood nearby, chopping green onions atop a silicone cutting board.
As he shook his hands dry before grabbing a paper towel, some of the droplets hit his sister.
Miyu rolled her eyes. “Can you not throw water all over my kitchen, please?”
Ken wiped his hands, then tossed the paper towel into the trash can. “Stop being so dramatic, Miyu.”
“Keep it up and I’m not having you over for dinner anymore.”
“I’m your big brother, and you can’t get rid of me.” He leaned down and kissed her on the cheek.
She smiled. “Just help me get this stir-fry ready, would you?”
He decided to stop teasing her for the moment. His growling stomach reminded him that he’d never get to eat if they didn’t finish cooking.
The two of them worked in convivial silence to put the finishing touches on the teriyaki stir-fry they were making. The galley kitchen in Miyu’s apartment wasn’t terribly spacious, especially compared to the one in his house. But getting around the space was easy since his sister was so compact.
Ken stood almost a foot taller than Miyu. At twenty-one, she was the same height she’d been since the age of sixteen: five feet, four inches. She was petite, and she’d let her wavy black hair grow so long that it almost overpowered her tiny body. It reached her lower back when it was down, but at the moment she had it piled on top of her head in a messy ponytail. Crystals of the brown sugar she’d used to make the homemade teriyaki sauce clung to her hands. The sugar was only a shade darker than her rich olive skin. He stopped stirring the vegetables and shrimp to watch her as she stood on a step stool to pull down dishes from her upper cabinets. Even with the step stool beneath her, she still had to stretch to reach the plates. He chuckled, because he knew it was pure stubbornness that kept her from asking him to get the plates down for her.
Eventually, she sensed him watching her. Turning her big brown eyes in his direction, she said, “What?”
“Nothing.” He went back to stirring the food.
“Ken, why were you staring at me?” She set the plates on the counter as she climbed down from the step stool. “And if you give me some goofy speech about how much I’ve grown, I swear I’ll give you such a smack.”
He looked down at her. “Where? You can’t reach me from down there.”
“Maybe not, but I can give you a pretty good kick in the shins from down here.” She pursed her lips, lifting her foot as if she intended to let him have it right then.
He abandoned his wooden spoon, leaving it in the wok as he darted away, moving out of his sister’s reach.
Laughing, she moved to the stove and took over the stirring. Lowering the heat, she jerked her head toward the dining table. “It’s almost ready. Set the table, goofball.”
He gathered the plates and silverware she’d left on the counter and took them to her small table. Once he’d set them up, he returned to the kitchen to get the pitcher of chilled green tea from the refrigerator.
A few minutes later, they were seated at the table, enjoying the stir-fry and each other’s company.
“So, how are things in the exciting world of pharmaceuticals?” Ken forked up a helping of shrimp, vegetables and rice as he waited for Miyu’s answer.
“Great. You know I love my work, and as much as you tease me about being a nerd, we both know I’m doing something vitally important.” She was a recent graduate, having received her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from North Carolina State University the previous month. Due to an internship during her senior year, she was already working in an entry-level position for a Charlotte-based medical company, NuVeda. The company made several types of medicine but specialized in chemotherapy drugs. “Fridays are usually pretty crazy in the office, but hey, we’re saving lives.”
“No argument from me. Your work is definitely important, and you know I’m proud of you.”
She smiled. “Thanks. By the way, how’s Hiro?”
“He’s doing okay. I’m trying to get him to rest more, but you know how stubborn he is.” While Miyu always referred to Ken’s father by his first name, she still cared enough about him to ask after him whenever she and Ken saw each other, and Ken appreciated that.
“I wonder if he knows we have that in common.” She made the comment between bites of stir-fry.
Before he could say anything in response, Miyu’s phone pinged in her pocket.
He watched her take the phone out and look at the screen. She read something there, and her smile broadened. Her cheeks flushed slightly as she tucked the phone back in her pocket.
His brow hitched. “What was that about?”
“None of your business, goofball.”
He gave her his sternest look. “Miyu.”
She rolled her eyes. “His name is Kevin. We had a couple of classes together these past couple of school years.”
“And?”
“And, what?” Miyu took a drink from her glass of tea.
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