by Imari Jade
“Stupid woman,” Dae-Hyun replied. “Now tell me about Satoshi.”
“He’s the one you need to watch the most. He and Shaundra are good friends now. In fact, I think she trusts him more than she trusts me.” He smiled weakly. “Satoshi is the type who puts others before himself. He and Ichiro are friends, which leads to yet another problem.”
“Are you sure you need a bodyguard for Mrs. Yoshida? It sounds to me that you need to hire a physiatrist to untangle this mess.”
Harper chuckled. “Yes, I suppose you’re right about that.”
“How does Mrs. Yoshida feel about Satoshi?”
“I have no idea. She talks to me about Ichiro and Yori, but she’s pretty mum when it comes to Satoshi.”
“And they don’t seem to care that she’s older than them, or married to Ichiro and carrying his babies?”
“No, Aomori is, well, you’ll find out soon enough. And as far as those babies, court is still out as to who the father is.”
“You mean she cheated on her husband?” Dae-Hyun asked.
“No, but Amaya has put doubt in everyone’s mind because no one but me knew that Shaundra was pregnant before she disappeared. Everyone thinks I’m the father.” He sighed. “Would be nice, but I’ve never laid a finger on her.”
“Poor woman,” Dae-Hyun said. “Sounds like she’s involved with a bunch of kooks.”
“The kookiest,” Harper said. “So you’re going to earn your money if you decide to take the job.”
“I’m taking it,” Dae-Hyun said. “I wouldn’t miss out on finding out how this is going to end. So let me get this straight. My mission is to protect Mrs. Yoshida and her babies from any threat, no matter what.”
“Exactly,” Harper said. “She is the most important player in this story, and I won’t let anyone, not even her husband, destroy her. Do you understand?”
“Perfectly, Mr. Kehoe. I will protect Mrs. Yoshida and her babies even if it means beating the hell out of her husband if he tries anything.”
“One other thing, men seem to fall in love with her the moment they meet her. Neither she nor I can explain this. She jokes about it, but I think it worries her sometimes. Shaundra is a wonderful woman, classy with a zest for life. She’s not afraid of her sexuality and she says what is on her mind. She’s independent and won’t ask for help.”
“And she has beautiful eyes,” Dae-Hyun said.
Harper chuckled. “The rest of her isn’t bad either. Wait until she has those babies. She’ll be beating even more men off of her.”
“Or I will,” Dae-Hyun said. “Does she know you’ve hired me to be her bodyguard?”
“Not yet,” Harper said. “I don’t want to frighten her. She just needs to concentrate on having those babies.”
“I understand,” Dae-Hyun said. “When is Mr. Yoshida due back?”
“In a couple of days, but only for a short visit. He’s flying back to Europe right after the birth of his kids to finish up his tour in Amsterdam. So you can be getting the new house ready for that time.”
“Is she sure moving out is the best thing?”
“She believes so,” Harper said. “She’s very hurt by what Ichiro did to her, and she doesn’t want to be around him until they work this out. The nursery at the farmhouse is just a front. The real one is at her new home, which she will be moving to right after Aomori returns to Europe. No one else knows about this except the three of us.”
“Do you think Mr. Yoshida will be a problem when he comes home and discovers his wife has moved out?”
Harper shook his head. “For some reason, someone trained Ichiro a little too well in martial arts. He’s competed in competitions as a child and even after he joined Aomori. I haven’t seen him in action, but I’ve heard tales that could curl your hair. I don’t think he’d harm Shaundra, but I can’t take any chances.”
“Then I better brush up on my skills.”
“He has a mean kick,” Harper told him.
“I’ll prepare,” Dae-Hyun said. “If he raises that leg to me or her, I’ll break it off.”
Chapter Three
“What are you doing here?” Amaya asked, glancing at her nemesis, Shaundra Yoshida, on the other side of the door.
Shaundra smirked at her. “If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you weren’t glad to see me.”
Amaya continued to glare.
“Well, aren’t you going to invite me in?”
“Are you armed?”
Shaundra laughed. “If I was, you’d be dead by now.”
Amaya stepped aside and Shaundra entered her home. She removed her shoes in the foyer.
“Is Yori dead?” Amaya asked, closing the door and leading Shaundra through the house and to the kitchen.
“No, why would you ask that?” Shaundra looked around. “You have a nice home.”
“Thank you,” Amaya said. “Why are you here?” She offered Shaundra a seat at the table. Something had to be wrong. If it wasn’t Yori then maybe something had happened to one of her parents.
“I came to check on you,” Shaundra said.
“Why?” Amaya asked.
“I don’t know. The idea just popped into my head this morning.”
Amaya stared at her. “Would you care for some tea?”
“Yes, thank you.”
Spooky. Shaundra was the last person she ever expected to see at her front door. They didn’t even like each other, had gotten into numerous arguments and fist fights. Amaya prepared the tea.
“How are you doing?”
“I’m fine. How about you?” Amaya placed a plate of cookies on the table before her and went back to the tea.
“I’ve been better,” Shaundra said. “But I’ve been worried about you.”
Amaya placed a cup of tea in front of Shaundra and then sat across from her and poured a cup for herself. “Why?”
Shaundra raised the cup of tea and sipped.
“You’re not afraid I might poison you?”
“No,” Shaundra answered, placing the cup on the table. “You’re a lot of things, but you aren’t a murderer. And the answer to your previous question is I needed to check for myself that you won’t try anything foolish as trying to kill yourself again.”
Amaya gasped. “You’re so rude.”
“Yeah,” Shaundra said. “And you have issues.”
“I hope you didn’t come all the way over here to insult me in my own home?”
“No, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately and for some reason, I felt I needed to come here to clear the air between us.”
Amaya raised her cup and sipped. Did Shaundra come to confess? Is Yori really the father of her babies?
“First of all, I think you are one selfish young woman. What did you think committing suicide would prove? You’d be dead and you still wouldn’t have Yori all to yourself.”
“I don’t know,” Amaya said. “I just couldn’t take it anymore. He’s my husband, but he’s in love with you.”
“Second, Yori is not in love with me. Yori loves you. He’s just likes to tease. Hell, the two of you have been friends for years. I’d thought you’d have him figured out by now. So why am I here? I’d just like to put your little conniving mind at ease. I have never slept with Yori and don’t have any plans to do so in the near future. He is not the father of my babies. Ichiro is.”
Amaya thought about what Shaundra just said. “Not Harper?”
“No, honey. Harper is nice, but I fell in love with Ichiro. I have never carried on wild affairs and I’ve never cheated on Ichiro. I just thought I needed to clarify this for you.”
“But you left him.”
“What would you have done? Well, you already proved what you would have done. Anyway. Ichiro and I weren’t even speaking by the time I decided to leave. He was too busy with the restaurants and Aomori, and he didn’t have time for me. I left because I didn’t want to be a burden on him.”
“But you came back.”
“Only because his
friends drug me back. My plans were to return to the United States and have my babies without him finding out about them. But the earthquake happened before I had a chance to leave.”
“So you knew you were pregnant before you left?”
Shaundra nodded. “I just wanted to make this all right. To exit out of all of your lives and go back to mine in New York.”
“Were you depressed?” Amaya asked.
Shaundra nodded again. “I still am. I don’t have any friends here. I’m separated from my kids and I can barely speak the language. I felt the walls closing in on me.”
“I know what you mean.”
“Yeah, that’s why I’m here. I felt so bad when I found out, even though I didn’t show it. So I thought I’d better come and check up on you and to try to put an end to our squabbling. I’d much rather have you as a friend than an enemy.”
Was Shaundra apologizing to her? “I’d like that too,” Amaya said. “I don’t know how many nights of sleep I’ve lost wondering if you and Yori were sneaking off meeting each other somewhere.”
Shaundra chuckled. “No.”
“Thank you,” Amaya said. “For coming. I know you shouldn’t be traveling.”
“No, I shouldn’t, but I’ll be on lock down for a few weeks so I’m enjoying my last few days of freedom.”
“Are you still angry at Ichiro?”
“Yes, but believe it or not, I do understand. He’s never been with anyone other than me and he got tempted. Still, it hurts.”
“Maybe the two of you can see your way past this. He’ll be home in a day or so. You need to tell him how you feel.”
“I don’t know if I can. I won’t know if he’s lying to me or telling me the truth. I don’t know how many times I’ve told him to just tell me if he wanted someone else. I would have understood and stepped aside.”
“You’re a better woman than I am,” Amaya admitted. She sighed. Maybe she had misjudged Shaundra. What a wasted year. All the time she’d spent hating her they could have actually been friends.
“I have to go,” Shaundra suddenly said. She struggled to her feet.
“I think you’ve gotten fatter,” Amaya teased.
“Laugh all you want. Wait until your turn comes around.”
Amaya rose. “Ooh, not for a long time. I can barely deal with myself.” She showed Shaundra to the door and watched her slip back into her shoes. “Are you sure you should be driving yourself around?”
“No, but I’m fine. I need to go home and finish packing for the hospital.”
Amaya opened the door and Shaundra waddled out.
“Life is important, Amaya, and it’s only on loan to you. Don’t fuck up a good thing. If you feel like you can’t handle it, call me and I’ll come over and give you a good, swift kick in your ass and bring you back to reality.”
Amaya nodded. “I’ll try to remember that. Thank you for visiting.” She watched Shaundra get back into her car and drive away. Amaya closed the door. Maybe I need to go back to bed. This had been one strange day.
****
“Hello, beautiful.”
Tricia Morrison looked up from the book she was reading. She scowled. “What do you want?”
Damien Kehoe smiled down on her.
Tricia tried not to let it affect her since she’d fallen victim to that smile before. Damien was trouble with a capital T.
“Why do you want to be like this?” Damien asked. “You know how I feel about you.”
He stared at her with those amazing green eyes. The lashes swept his tanned cheeks, making her panties dampen. Tricia gulped. He was pretty fine for a white guy. “How many females on this campus have you fed that line to this week?” Tricia asked as she watched the tiny humor lines emerge around his eyes and mouth. No, no, no must not look at the mouth. Oh, shit. She looked. Her stupid, treacherous heart did a full gallop as she gazed over at the rest of him. Tall, blond, gorgeous, and single. There should be a law against one person packing so much deliciousness.
“I can honestly say that you’re the first one I’ve told this to today.”
He sat down in the seat next to her and she got a whiff of his cologne. Wicked. He smelt like sin. Her favorite scent. “Why aren’t you studying? Don’t you have exams?”
“I’ll study later after our date?”
“What date?” Tricia asked loudly.
A couple of the other students shushed her. She supposed they had the right since they were in a library. Every time she went off with him somewhere, she ended up fighting off his advances or getting into trouble. Her grades were slipping and she feared she wouldn’t be able to graduate on time if she didn’t get her act together. Last semester, the dean personally threatened to put both of them on academic probation if they didn’t straighten up.
“An evening drive along the coast, followed up by dinner and perhaps a little dancing.”
Ooh, so tempting. “Sorry, I need to study.”
Damien ran his middle finger up her arm, tickling the dark hair. “Awe, come on, Brown Sugar. Where is your sense of adventure?”
Tricia moved his finger away. “Don’t call me that. You’re just horny and looking for a little play.”
Damien smirked, but did not deny the accusation. “You say that like it’s a bad thing. I can rock your world if you just let me.”
He could also get her expelled, pregnant, and in trouble with her mother. “No, not a bad thing, but definitely not what I’ll be doing this evening. Have you even picked up your Economics book? I heard the test is going to be a killer.”
Damien sighed. “The economy of the world is already a mess. What can that book teach me?”
“Well, you need it to graduate, and aren’t you a business major?”
Damien put his finger to his lip. “Shush, don’t tell anyone. Anyway, I plan to go to work at my dad’s publishing company when I graduate, so I don’t really have to study.”
Tricia frowned. It wasn’t like Damien couldn’t get good grades if he tried. He just didn’t try. “I’m sure your father expects you to do some work when you start working for him, and it would be nice to at least earn your diploma. It would look so nice hanging on the wall of your plush New York office.”
“True, but what does any of this have to do with our date tonight? I’ve found this great steak and lobster restaurant I’ve just been dying to try. And you need to eat.”
Well, she had missed lunch cramming for another test and there weren’t any other guys beating a path to her door offering her steak and lobster. “Dinner, but no dancing,” she said. “I have a test at seven in the morning.”
“Okay, no dancing,” Damien agreed.
“Steak, but no sex,” Tricia added.
Damien smirked at her.
Her stomach clenched. He had the sexiest smirks. “I’m serious.”
“Yeah, I know you plan to stay a virgin until you’re married.” He paused. “I’ve made reservations for eight.”
Tricia looked at her watch. It was nearly six. That only gave her an hour or so to find something to wear and to dress. She closed the book. “I need to shower and change.” She stood up.
Damien grabbed her hand. “Do you need someone to wash your back?”
Tricia slapped at his hand. “No, but you can carry my books and walk me back to my dorm room.”
Damien rose, gathering her books while she slung her book bag over her shoulder.
“Are you sure Shaundra Morrison is your mother?” he asked as they walked out the library.
“Pretty sure,” Tricia told him with a smile. “She’s taught me a thing or two about men.”
****
Damien helped Tricia out of the front seat of his sports car and closed the door.
“I love the beach,” Tricia squealed.
Damien smirked. “I know that.”
Summer had finally ended and it was cold in New York, but there were still a lot of people on the beach. He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the sandy shore. �
�What made you decide to come here?” Tricia asked as they watched the tide come in.
“It’s peaceful,” Damien said. “I’ve always liked the water, since I was a child.”
True, and he had a darn good body to show for all the swimming he did for the college swim team. She sighed. If only he put that much effort in his studying.
“Would you like to go for a swim?”
“Are you kidding? It’s November and the water is too cold.”
“My father has a heated pool at his townhouse in Manhattan.”
“We’re at the beach and it will be late by the time we make it to Manhattan.”
“So?”
She didn’t know why she bothered. She was just going to end up there anyway. “Maybe,” she said.
Damien squeezed her hand affectionately. “Have you heard from your mother?”
“Not in the last week or so. The last thing she told me was that she’d hired a nanny for the babies.”
“Can you imagine her having a baby at her age?”
Tricia shook her head. “No, but she loves Ichiro. Sometimes that takes precedence over common sense.”
“Isn’t it dangerous at her age?”
Tricia sighed. She really didn’t want to discuss her mother. This was a beautiful night and a bright white moon gleamed on the water. And she was holding hands with a sexy, cute blond. “Yes, but she has a good doctor and Aomori looking after her.”
“No, they’re not,” Damien replied. “They’re in Paris.” He chuckled. “They just got their asses arrested a couple of nights ago and their manager had to bail them out of jail.”
“No! What happened this time?”
Aomori was infamous for being arrested and being involved in scandals.
“Apparently, they were in some strip joint in France and gambling when the place got raided. I think they were in a fight too.”
Tricia smirked. She’d bet her bottom dollar Satoshi started the fight.
“Didn’t you used to date one of them?”
They’d gone out a couple of times, but she didn’t consider it dating. And all the while she suspected that he had the hots for her mother. “Yes, Satoshi.”
“The one who plays the piano?”