“Well?”
“Well what?” Emmi asked.
He gestured to the trays. “Sit. Serve.”
Serve? His tone and expression made her want to serve the food and drinks right on his head, but Emmi didn’t think that would be the wisest idea, especially tonight. Emmi eased down her bruised pride and sat on her heels facing him. Emmi poured him small cups of sake and tea and placed two of the sweet-looking cakes on a delicate plate. She placed the plates on the empty tray directly in front of him.
“Have something as well,” he said when Emmi sat back, her hands resting lightly on her lap.
Emmi took one of the cakes and nibbled on it, not looking at him. She was both unnerved and excited by the possessive way he kept staring at her. He held out his small sake cup and Emmi looked at him, questioning. He indicated the bottle on the tray with a nod. Grumbling to herself, Emmi poured him another drink.
“How old are you?” she asked.
He seemed a bit surprised by the question, but he answered after eating one of the cakes. “Twenty-one.” He paused. “And you?”
“Nineteen, a couple months ago,” Emmi said, pouring herself some tea. She sipped it and winced. It certainly wasn’t the gourmet tea her mother insisted on importing from Tokyo.
Kae downed what was in the tiny cup then poured his own sake this time. “Why aren’t you married? Surely a Maeda woman would not lack for suitors.”
“Things are different back home. I was busy studying, and besides, most of the guys seemed afraid of my father.”
Kae smirked. “In Kyoto, most fathers fear me.”
Emmi rolled her eyes and reached for the sake herself. She coughed after the first sip seared a path down her throat. This wasn’t the stuff her grandparents bought at Christmas, either. Still, it was better than the bitter tea.
“So, what am I supposed to do here, Fujiwara-san?”
Kaemon’s expression hardened. “Firstly, you will not say anything about who I truly am. One word to one person, and I will kill you.”
Emmi swallowed hard and poured herself another sake. “Not a word.”
Kae ate the last cake.
Emmi stood to stretch out her aching calves then sat back down cross-legged like Kae. “So what else am I supposed to do here?” she asked, too nervous to have him confirm the most obvious answer—be his personal, unpaid hooker.
Kae shrugged. “I would advise you to stay in these rooms once the customers begin arriving in the early afternoon, unless you have your guard with you.”
“Guard? You were serious?”
“Do you value your reputed virginity?”
Emmi scowled. “I do, and it’s not reputed.”
“Then you will simply be here, provided for, until someone from your family appears in Kyoto looking for you, or until I figure out what to do with you permanently.”
Of all the things he could inflict on her, she supposed this was the best. Still, he hadn’t said he wouldn’t use her for his personal bed toy. She hated herself for not being more upset at that prospect than she was.
She took another sip of sake, then got up and went to the bedroom. She lay on her side on the futon, half curled into a ball. She looked up when she heard movement. Kae had entered the room and slid the shoji shut. He removed his wakizashi and set it beside his katana. He began untying his long hakama straps.
Emmi sat up as he let the hakama fall. He then stepped out of it and folded it into a neat square. She tried not to let the sight of his well-muscled thighs beneath his gi top distract her. “What are you doing?”
“Getting ready for bed,” he said, calmly untying his obi and removing his top so he wore nothing but a pale blue fundoshi.
Emmi looked around the room. There was no other futon anywhere. “This is my bed.”
Kae unfolded the quilted blanket at the foot of the futon. “Correction,” he said, settling himself on the mattress, taking up more than half. “I’m renting these rooms and everything in them. It’s my bed.”
Chapter Nineteen
Emmi stared at the waning lantern light flickering off the smooth glossy surface of a low table. The room was very quiet except for far-off voices and the faint chirp of crickets outside, most likely in that small garden area they’d gone through when he’d first taken her from the mirror.
If only the quiet sounds were enough to cover the voice that had been running through her mind, but the deep, sexy, oh so confident male voice insisted on replaying bits and pieces of their conversations.
‘I’m renting these rooms and everything in them. It’s my bed… You let me touch you… No other man will touch you… I could do that and more, and there isn’t a thing you or your family could do to stop me…’
Emmi clung to the edge of the futon so as not to brush against Kae in any way. When her right arm started to tingle from lack of circulation, she turned onto her left side and regretted it instantly. The fundoshi that he wore was not the kind her father and Uncle Jake wore in the movies. At least those covered them fully. This one was more like a thong that did nothing whatsoever to conceal his tight, rounded cheeks.
Damn, but Kaemon had a nice butt.
Emmi breathed a soft sigh and closed her eyes. Of course sleep would not come because of that voice in her head. His voice. So deep, so sexy… She opened her eyes and gasped.
He was facing her, staring at her with those big, dark eyes that made her want to die of pleasure. Or throw herself at him. Both very bad ideas but very strong compulsions.
“Why are you not sleeping?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I just can’t.”
He seemed to hide a grin. The rat was grinning at her because he knew why she couldn’t sleep—the nice butt… Broad chest… Strong shoulders…
Emmi flopped over to her other side.
Kaemon reached out and turned her onto her back then lifted himself on his elbow and hovered over her.
“You cling to the edge of the bed. Are you afraid of me?”
Oh, he was enjoying this way too much. She could tell by the gleam in his eyes.
“No,” Emmi snapped.
She turned her head to the side. Kae turned her face back toward his. He stared at her again for a long time without saying a word.
Emmi became extremely conscious of how close he was. She could feel his bare chest brushing against her upper arm. And he was next to naked. Thank goodness she had the yukata on under her hakama.
Damn, but he turned her on.
She was doomed.
“You don’t have to be afraid,” he said at last.
“I’m not.”
He chuckled. Damn him.
“I could have taken you any number of times these past few days.”
“Why didn’t you?”
‘Why didn’t you?’ Her practical side informed her obviously insane side exactly how dangerous that question was.
Kae seemed as surprised by the question as she was. “Did you want me to?”
Say it and die, slut girl. “Um, no, not really.” Oh yeah, that’s convincing…
“Then you would never want me to do this,” Kae said before gently stroking his fingertips across her cheek. “Or this,” he added, allowing his fingers to trail down into the vee of the yukata top.
“Um…no. You, uh, shouldn’t do that.”
He grinned.
She felt a quiver between her legs. Oh yeah, she was doomed.
“Ah, I see. Then this is most certainly an unwelcome thing,” he said an instant before covering her mouth with his.
His kiss was slow, his lips whisper-soft against hers. He teased her upper lip with the tip of his hot tongue and did the same to her bottom lip. He eased over to kiss her jaw, the side of her neck, the lobe of her ear.
Emmi tried her best not to squirm or sigh. She valiantly pretended she did not make that dirty little moaning sound when he licked his way back down the side of her neck then to the base of her throat. She felt hot and cold and tingly and very, ver
y uncomfortable in certain parts of her anatomy that she was trying not to acknowledge.
Kae stopped suddenly, raised himself up, settled back on his heels and gazed down at her again. Emmi was all too conscious of the fact that, although he wasn’t much older than she was, he was a very experienced man. He was looking at her the way such a man looks at a woman he plans to have.
And she knew she wasn’t going to protest.
He reached out, pulled her into a sitting position, then unbound her hair from the ponytail. He combed through her hair with his fingers, all the while peering deeply into her eyes. He caressed the sides of her neck. His touch was skilled, and the roughness of his fingertips scratchy but exciting. He slid his hands to her shoulders. Oh so slowly, he eased the front of her yukata apart and tugged it loose enough to pull it down past her shoulders and free her arms. His gaze slid over her as his hands had done, and when he let his hands caress her again, Emmi closed her eyes and consciously let the soft moan escape from her lips.
Emmi allowed him to peel back the yukata, let him undo the hakama straps and tug it free. She gasped when he pulled open the yukata all the way, letting the cool air hit the burning flesh of her lower half.
“Beautiful,” he whispered before kissing her navel. He then licked and kissed his way down each of her thighs and back again.
Emmi squirmed and opened her eyes as a moist heat pooled between her legs. She reached out, touched Kae’s broad shoulder, and stroked her hand over as much of his chest as she could reach.
He smiled at her. She smiled back.
He cupped her cheek with his palm and kissed her softly—his lips a whisper against her own.
“So beautiful, like a perfect sakura blossom.”
Joy filled her heart, and Emmi slid her hand into his hair, coaxed him down for a deep kiss. He kissed her fiercely, eased himself over her and pressed his hips toward hers. She was nervous at the feel of him pressing against her through the thin fabric of his fundoshi and her panties, but knew as surely as she knew her own name that Kae would do nothing to hurt her.
Though driving her mad seemed to be another thing entirely. When he tugged the bra down, she pulled her arms free of the thin straps and gave herself over to the whirlwind of sensation.
Apprehension washed over Emmi when Kae slid her panties off, but it vanished the instant he kissed her—slowly, almost reverently. When he looked at her, she knew she wanted him completely.
He shifted to lie beside her. With his right arm around her shoulders, he pulled her closer. His free hand stroked, caressed, and turned her into a trembling mass of want and need. She’d masturbated before but it didn’t compare to this.
She opened her eyes and smiled up at Kae with sheer joy, more than ready for what would follow.
He pulled her to him, kissed her slowly, and touched himself as they kissed. He did what he needed to do. Without her.
“Kae? Why?”
“It’s nothing to trouble yourself over.” He sat up and wiped his palm on the blanket bunched behind him. He looked at her and kissed her forehead. “Sleep now. It’s very late.”
Holding in tears, Emmi turned onto her side. Surprisingly, Kae didn’t get dressed and leave. He stayed there, snuggled close, pulled her into the curve of his body and tugged the blanket up over them both. Emmi lay awake trying to make sense of what had happened. What she’d done wrong.
Chapter Twenty
She woke to the feel of Kae’s kisses along her jawline. Almost purring, she opened her eyes and smiled as the last vestiges of sleep fell away to reveal Kaemon’s handsome face. Last night had been real, not just a pleasant dream.
“Good morning.”
“Good afternoon, actually,” he teased before flicking his tongue at the base of her throat.
She sat up and realized she was wearing her yukata, though she had nothing underneath. She also noticed that they were in a different room from last night. This room was bigger and much fancier in its few furnishings.
“Where are we?”
“Aneko’s room. I had to dress and move you when the workmen arrived to redecorate the other rooms.” He grinned. “You’re quite the sound sleeper.”
Emmi blushed and lowered her gaze. Within seconds, her thoughts began to spin.
Aneko’s room meant that the mirror was nearby, and she looked up, calling a triumphant “Yes!” in the back of her mind when she noticed it resting atop a small chest.
But all thoughts of going home faded the instant Kae tilted her face back toward his with a gentle prod of his fingers. Home became the last thing on her mind when his lips touched hers. A steady delicious heat built deep inside her, but then he pulled away and stood.
He walked across the room. She felt stupid for her disappointment. Obviously that Aneko woman was bound to walk in any second. Of course he wouldn’t want to pick up where he’d left off last night and really make love to her.
Emmi broke off from her thoughts when Kaemon came back to her with a blue-green kimono, a yellow obi and tabi socks and black wooden geta.
“Put these on. I want to take you out.”
“Okay.” She looked around. “Where is my underwear, my bra and panties?”
“You’ll get them back soon enough.” He flashed a wicked grin that made her want him even more than she already did.
Emmi stood. “What are you up to?”
“Nothing at all, Emiko-san. Nothing at all.”
“Liar.” Emmi kissed him lightly. “Is there someplace I can bathe first?”
Kaemon nuzzled her neck. “Would you like me to wash you?” he teased before nipping at her ear.
Emmi shivered and gave a light laugh. “I would, but then we might never go anywhere.”
Kae pulled away. “True, and we have important places to go.”
* * * *
“So you have news for me, Yamazaki-kun?” Hijikata Toshizou asked as his chief inspector slipped into the room.
“Some, Hijikata-san.” He knelt and presented his superior with a paper copy of his report.
Hijikata scanned the page, his hard gaze intense. “So, it would seem that our troublemaker may very well be telling the truth. A brother of the Maeda lord arrived in Kyoto yesterday to meet with Matsudaira-sama.”
“Yes. And I didn’t have time to write it in, but I just received word that the girl is expected to appear before Prince Asahiko tomorrow evening.”
Hijikata folded the report and tucked it into his sleeve. “There is something about her I don’t trust. What of this other relative she mentioned traveling with—Yamauchi? He must be of the mother’s family.”
“I haven’t been able to find any information yet. He could well be a close family friend, and she uses uncle as a term of endearment.”
“Perhaps. Still, she’s hiding something. I’m sure of it.”
* * * *
Nervous, Emmi stepped from Aneko’s bedroom, where she’d gotten dressed, into the adjoining reception room where Kaemon waited. She couldn’t do much with the obi other than the fairly simple square-shaped back knot that she’d learned as a child. And while she couldn’t get her hair into the typical style of a Japanese woman of the time, she got it as close as possible and put it up with the pretty pins Kaemon had given her. She just hoped for the best.
Emmi watched him a moment, staring so intently out the far right window.
“I’m ready,” she prompted.
He turned then froze. His soulful dark eyes widened as he scanned her from head to foot.
“I look awful, don’t I?” Emmi lowered her head. “I don’t know how to tie a fancy obi alone, and I know my hair is all wrong—”
She broke off when Kae tilted her chin with a featherlight touch. He grazed his thumb over her bottom lip and gave her a soft, gentle kiss.
“You look beautiful. Simple and elegant.”
Emmi breathed a dreamy sigh and smiled. “I do?”
“You do,” he said with a warm smile.
She believed hi
m, but disappointment and doubt flowed through her when he failed to hold or kiss her again as she hoped.
“Let’s get going,” he said, heading to the door.
“I meant to ask,” Emmi said, catching up. “Where is your…friend, Aneko?”
Kae replied without turning as he led the way out of the brothel through the more private rear entrance. “I gave her money to go shopping.”
“Oh.”
Once outside, Emmi walked slightly behind Kae as her common sense began to lecture her worse than her mother ever had.
That Aneko is his official woman. He obviously supports her like a wife if he sends her out shopping and rents her those fancy rooms at that place. The lecture paused for a moment before closing with a bang. He rented you the bargain basement with the worn floor mats and crappy food.
* * * *
Kaemon glanced back a number of times as he led the way to Gion. Emiko was so oddly quiet that he was afraid he’d lost her in the crowd. As they continued on, he wondered what had her so preoccupied. Could she be wondering what punishment her family would hand down now that they had arrived in Kyoto?
Apparently they had forbidden her to come on the journey, so she had set out on her own. But why? From what he had gathered, Maeda Takehito was here for a meeting with the Matsudaira brothers. Saadaki was the new Shoshidai, and Katamori Kyoto Shugoshoku—the official Protector of Kyoto.
Was she simply anxious to see the capital? She certainly was headstrong enough to set her mind to come, but surely she’d seen Edo a few times, so this large city couldn’t hold that much of an attraction.
However, what if there was another reason her uncle had come? What if he had come to arrange a marriage for her? A marriage she opposed. Yes, that would certainly make her sneak off to arrive before him then try to dissuade him.
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