Lotus Flower Bomb: The Mogul Series Book Two

by Goree-Bell, Kenya

  Praise for The Mogul Series

  “Kenya Goree-Bell crafts journeys of gorgeous emotion and blistering heat. If you love powerful and intense heroes, creative and driven heroines, and fan-your-face-it’s-so-hot chemistry, then you cannot miss the Moguls series!” —USA Today bestselling author Sierra Simone

  “The same lush beauty, vividness, fabulous storytelling and vibrant life Kenya Goree-Bell brings to her historical romances, she also delivers in her new contemporary romance series. Reading RAPPER’S DELIGHT, Book 1 in the Mogul series, is like experiencing the pulse-throbbing, driving beat and drama of a hip hop opera and the swoony, passionate and sometimes deliciously dirty loveliness of a romantic saga. All in one book. Kenya Goree-Bell delivers on this first novel in this undoubtedly addictive series, and I can’t wait to see what she gives us next!” —Naima Simone, USA Today Bestselling Author

  Lotus Flower Bomb

  The Mogul Series Book Two

  Kenya Goree-Bell

  Edited by

  Manu Velasco

  Copyright © 2020 by kenya goree-bell

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  For Mom always for you

  Contents

  Foreword

  Lotus Flower Bomb

  Part I

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Part II

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Kenya Goree-Bell

  Foreword

  Thank you so much for choosing Lotus Flower Bomb! This book was started in Virginia and finished en route between hotels stay, homeschooling. This was actually the first book written in the series because Akchiro would not leave alone until i told the story of his love for Flower. I hope you love this book as much as I loved writing and I’d love you hear what you think! I wanted to take a moment to share the following content warning. This story is intended for adults and contains elements of depressions, and miscarriage.

  Lotus Flower Bomb

  She came to Japan for adventure. What she found was a billionaire who refused to let her go.

  Kenya Goree-Bell returns with book two in The Mogul Series - set in a world of intrigue and passion where fame is no guarantee of happiness, but love may hold all the cards...

  Flower Carrington is the invisible power behind Creative Chaos - and she’s in dire need of a break. Escaping the demands of her work her famous family takes Flower to Japan, where she meets business mogul Akchiro Takeda.

  Their attraction is instant, their passion all-consuming, their arrangement clear-cut: for as long as Flower remains in Tokyo, she will be Akchiro’s lover. But just as the raw heat between them blossoms into something sweeter, a threat to Flower’s family forces her to vanish.

  Devastated but determined, Flower leaves Tokyo and Akchiro in her past only to find that she has unleashed another a threat;

  a dragon hunting his lost mate...

  She soon discovers that there’s no running from an alpha who wants you for his own and no hiding from a man who’s wreathed in his own secrets.

  Despite her sudden abandonment, Akchiro is determined to find her. To take her. The question is - will he forgive her? Or will trust forever be the one thing they lack?

  You don't run from a dragon,

  You slay them with passion,

  You brave the heat and the flames,

  You conquer them with love,

  If you can get them to forgive you first.

  Part I

  Chapter 1

  “Girl, I can’t believe we actually got you to come out with us!”

  Flower laughed at her friend’s excited words as she allowed Evangelina to pull her out onto the dance floor along with her and Bridget. Flower couldn’t believe it because her primary purpose for coming across the world to Japan in the first place was to keep a low profile, get reacquainted with herself, and practice some major self-care. She had been overworking herself, and she needed a break before she had a breakdown.

  “Yeah, chick, you can’t sit on that hair all night.” Bridget flipped Flower’s long hair for emphasis and sashayed to her other side.

  “Heffa, don’t touch my hair. So jealous, dude,” Flower snapped and swerved around, looking pointedly at Bridget’s close-cropped curls, then burst out in a giggle, already feeling the blueberry-lemon martini she’d been drinking. Bridget stuck out her tongue and giggled with her, shaking her head.

  “Whoop, whoop! This is my song!” Evangelina yelled to no one in particular as she dragged both her friends despite their eye rolling with her to the center of the dance floor.

  Flower couldn’t help but to laugh as she gave herself over to the rhythmic beat of “Sky Walker.”

  “I love Miguel!” Evangelina’s hips and body swayed to the rhythm, her face lit up with delight at the cool melodic tones of the song.

  “We know!” Flower and Bridget chorused as they followed their silly friend as she proceeded to skywalk on all their haters, as the song suggested. They were fully aware of Evangelina’s love for the musician—heck, all musicians.

  “Oh, Flower, here you go! I know this is your jam!” Bridget called out over the beat as “No Limit” came on. Flower nodded, and they all hurried to form a line to do the steps of the dance they saw in the video. This had been their routine since they met in college. Delighted laughter coursed through Flower. This was just what she needed. She was in serious threat of becoming a hermit since she moved to Japan. At the time it was a much-needed reprieve from her previous lifestyle, but she saw now she needed to get out a little more. Hips swirled, shoulders popped, and Flower couldn’t help but stick her tongue out then bite her bottom lip. “Look, she’s doing it!” Evangelina laughed, nudging Bridget, who looked over her shoulder at Flower in time to see her do her signature move. Flower waved them off, laughing. This was the most fun she’s had in a while.

  “I love you crazy girls!” She told them.

  “We love you too, just stop being a stranger,” Bridget crushed her against her ultra-thin frame. “God, your boobs feel like pillows.” She groaned against Flower’s ear. “Girl, move!” Flower gave her playful push heading back to the bar.

  “Hey, I want to touch them!” Bridget pouted, trudging after her.

  “Nope.” Shaking her head, Flower went back to her seat at the bar, making sure as she did that her, or rather Evangelina’s, bandage dress didn’t ride up and show her panties.

  “Come on, have pity on me! You see, I have nothing up here, at least let me see what they feel like.” Bridget eased into the high-back barstool next her. “I wish I had that freaking body.”

  “Stop begging Flower to touch her boobs! She hasn’t let you do that since sophomore year, and that was after a year of begging. Bridge
, you make enough money now to get your boobs done if you don’t like them.”

  “Your loss, Flower.” Bridget huffed then leaned over and looked past her to Evangelina. “You want her boobs, too.”

  “Yeah, but I let her have them because she’s so short! You’d think with brothers so tall she’d be taller but nah. FADE and Ghadi took all the height and left their sisters—deficient. Sad.”

  “Oh, no, you didn’t! Did you hear her say, ‘Sad’ like that?” Flower looked to Bridget for confirmation of the betrayal.

  “Yep. Fucking traitor right there.” Bridget nodded then waved to the bartender and turned to give Evangelina a look of disgust.

  “Man.”

  “Man.”

  They all peeled with laughter. Bending over the hilarity of the moment. Again, Flower promised herself she would do more than just hide out in Japan, for fear of being recognized as the sister of two of the biggest rap moguls in the world. Nope. Self-care included having some fun and experiencing life.

  She just needed to find grace before she went back to grueling six-day workweeks, no scratch that—there would be no more six-day weeks. And she would learn to delegate. She’d have to. Creative Chaos was on the verge of going public, and once it did, she would not have a choice. She’d have a board of directors to answer to, though she, Ghadi and FADE would have the controlling votes. She still would have more people to whom she was obligated. But that was a year away, and she needed this reprieve, and then she was going to take her shot and more if she dared. She had so much more in her than being the COO if her brothers’ empire.

  She was proud of them, of that there was no doubt, but she had her own dreams and aspirations of a career in film, and she wanted to forge her own path. Being in Japan would give her the time and much-needed distance from her family to finally break free. Her brothers knew her heart, and she knew they would support her no matter what, just as she had for them.

  The bartender came over and poured them another round of the blueberry-lemon martini, jarring her out of her musings.

  “This round is on me, guys,” Flower sing-songed and moved to give the bartender the black card she had surreptitiously eased out of the inside pocket sewn into her dress.

  “Kekko desu, your bill for the night has already been paid.” The bartender bowed slightly, declining the payment with a warm smile.

  Flower’s spirits plummeted. Someone must have recognized her, she surmised, casting a quick glance around the crescent-shaped bar. What better way to get into the world of men like her brothers than to try ingratiating yourself with their sister? The tactic was nothing new to Flower, and she was long since inured to the blatant motives behind anyone’s false generosity toward her. That is why she always paid her own way and had done once she realized as a kid of twelve when her brother FADE shot to superstardom that people would do anything to get near him.

  “Do you want to go before they come over here?” Evangelina cringed, aware of how Flower felt about such gestures, having been one of her best friends for years.

  “Who was it?” Bridget interjected, looking like she wanted to do battle.

  “The gentleman prefers to remain anonymous.” The bartender seemed dismayed by their reaction. Flower could guess few people would question such generosity, especially in the face of the enormous tab they were running. She wanted to offset some of the costs to her friends. She had money to burn, having lived frugally in a small but elegant apartment. Her brothers would have asked her what she thought she needed to pay penance for if they ever saw it. But living lavish required staff and new staff talked, then the next thing you knew, your face was splashed all over the tabloids over some nonsense that was only barely true. So low-key was the way she wanted it for now.

  She’d get back to managing her brother’s empire in a while, but she liked how she was living now. Anonymity had its privileges too, and it seemed like she was still invisible to the world. The person who bought their tab didn’t want them to know who he was, and that was unheard of in her world. People wanted you to know they’d done you a solid so they could get a return on their investment.

  “Wow.” Flower turned to look between both friends, who both blinked in astonishment. “I guess one of you guys has an admirer.” She lifted her glass to toast them.

  “Why can’t it be you?” Evangelina challenged, kissing the air in Flower’s direction.

  “Because it never is, and if it is, it’s suspect.” Flowers rolled her eyes and took a sip of her drink.

  “That’s why your ass is still a virgin at twenty-six.” Evangelina shook her head.

  “No, her crazy-ass brothers are why she’s still a virgin at twenty-six,” Bridget, not to be outdone, chimed in, “Those two would go straight Conan the Barbarian on anyone who dared step to their sisters. Nobody has time for that drama!”

  “Hey, I’m not a virgin, and I’m feeling so judged right now.” Shaking her head, Flower laughed at the ridiculous argument that had been going on for the last two years.

  “That one didn’t count. There was no penetration. You’re still a virgin,” Evangelina said with all the calmness of the-last-day-of-the-school-year preschool teacher.

  “There was…” Flower began.

  “A flaccid dick is not penetration,” Bridget chirped, before pursing her lips and taking another delicate sip of her cocktail while making sure to exaggerate the batting of her eyelashes.

  “There was penetration.” Placing her glass down carefully on the table, Flower lifted her hair for a moment to get some air on her neck before allowing the heavy tresses to fall back into place. She loved her hair, but it was thick and heavy, especially when she was on the hot seat about her nonexistent love life with her two best friends. Who didn’t have love lives of their own, so who were they to talk? Shaking her head at this crazy realization, she was determined to ignore them and their bad advice.

  “Ummhmm.” Evangelina pursed her lips in disbelief.

  “I’m going to need to see a doctor’s note.” Bridget finished the rest of her martini with a final swig.

  “Very unladylike,” Evangelina grimace at her friend.

  “Whatev’, preacher girl.” Bridget waved her away. “Let’s go back and dance!” she sang in her Lady Gaga voice.

  Flower and Evangelina finished their drinks with more unladylike swigs and followed their friend onto the floor to the now bumping Janelle Monáe’s “I Like That,” another one of Flower’s favorite songs.

  They stayed on the floor most of the night, only taking brief stops to the restroom and for a couple more martinis, thanks to their anonymous but very generous benefactor. Tonight was proving to be a win on so many levels. Flower had finally taken her friends up on their offer, and tonight would go in the books as one of the best she’d had in Tokyo so far. “We haven’t even begun to show you all this city has to offer,” Bridget told her with Evangelina nodding excitedly beside her when she made the remark as she straightened her dress heading out of the ladies’ room.

  Though she started out a little self-conscious about the dress Evangelina lent her, Flower felt sexy and cool in it. It showed off her albeit short curvy legs and hugged her breasts. The back was out, but from behind you could only see glimpses because of the length of her hair, which after eight years of being natural reached past her waist even when not straightened. She could feel her hair swaying behind her, and she knew she looked hot.

  “You keep looking like that and you won’t be a virgin for long.” Bridget winked at her dancing around her clapping her hands to the beat.

  “Hush.” Flower laughed, continuing to dance for herself, loving the feel of the music and the energy of the room. She watched her two gorgeous friends dance together, watching their bodies slide against each other, almost touching but not, knowing that their generous benefactor would be more than happy with the sight should he look down upon them right now. Both girls, though not model tall, had slim athletic builds, Bridget kept her hair short, cropped close
in a pixie while Evangelina had a high curly afro. Their bodies twined in a mix of tawny gold and smoky brown. Their movements were mesmerizing, so sexy, and they knew it. Flower could see the mischief in their eyes as they drew stares from some of the people and open lust from others.

  “Well, we know who definitely aren’t virgins.” She smirked, shimming around them.

  “Come here, pseudo-v.” Evangelina pulled her into the dance just as the music moved to an up-tempo Kendrick Lamar beat.

  “Oh, that’s my jam!” Bridget yelled, and they formed their dance line again.

  Chapter 2

  “Dude, that was so much fun!” Bridget grabbed Flower and Evangelina as they exited the club. The cool night air brought goose bumps up all over Flower’s body. She felt her nipples harden against the coolness of the night air and moved to cover herself. “Promise that you will come out with us again sooner rather than later,” Bridget stopped short and demanded.

  “Yeah, promise. And I mean pinky promise because you know your little tiny ass will be looking for a way to renege if we don’t.” Evangelina pulled away from their three-way hug to stick her pinky finger out to both women.