Chapter 9

We ended up back in the car, and half an hour later I smelled salt in the air and heard the seagulls screeching over the thrum of the car motor. “Oh my God. The beach. You’re taking me to the beach. I used to go as a child all the time, but with work, I never found the time.” I laughed, exhilaration filling my body. “I forgot how much I missed the ocean.”

He smiled at me and then turned into a small side street, where I got to see the dark ocean in all its wonderful, beautiful glory. 

I was quiet, transfixed by the sight of the waves crashing on the sand. 

“Pretty cool, isn’t it?”

I nodded, wordless. 

He drove for a little while longer and we stopped in a small parking lot near a loud, bright pier with carnival rides, the smell of fried dough thick in the air. 

I got out as he turned off the ignition. He had to close the door for me because I was so distracted by the sound of the waves and the seagulls. 

I leaned against the rugged wooden fence separating the length of sand and beach from the sidewalk and the parking lot, and took a deep breath of the ocean smell. I didn’t even mind that I was also smelling the exhaust from a passing truck. 

It was a beautiful night, balmy, the moon large and luminous, hanging low in the dark, starry sky. 

Julian came next to me, and I could smell that subtle fragrance emitting from the folds of his clothes. 

“I didn’t know you loved the ocean so much,” he said. “If I had, I would’ve brought you here first thing.”

I opened my eyes, took another deep breath, and faced him. “This is enough. Thank you so much. This is…this is so lovely. I’ll never forget.” 

He walked around the fence and motioned to me. “Want to sit on the sand?”

I spared a glance at the prominently placed sign a few meters away from us, saying no loitering and that the beach was closed from the hours of eight until five. I knew it was past eight. 

Julian saw me looking at the sign and then snorted. “Oh, come on, the cops aren’t going to give us a ticket for sitting on the beach. That’s just to stop homeless people and druggies from falling asleep and getting swept away by the waves.” He motioned to me again. “Come on. You’ll love it.”

Anticipation making my fingers thick and clumsy, it took a couple of tries to slip out of my pumps. Carrying them in one hand, I followed Julian to about halfway down, feet sinking into the sand that still held the warmth of the sun that had gone below the horizon an hour ago. 

This close to the waves, it was hard to hear the traffic. I took a seat next to him, not caring about the state of my clothes. 

I raised my knees and wrapped my arms around them, shoes discarded next to me, bare feet digging into the soft sand. “Thanks again for bringing me here, Julian. I love the ocean.”

Both of us sat in silence, with the waves crashing on the surf and the squawking of seagulls in the distance. The faint tinkle of the Ferris wheel wove through all that sound like a single silver thread in a tapestry of darkness. I breathed it all in, shelving this memory to be put in a place never to be forgotten. 

Julian cleared his throat, momentarily jarring me from the serenity of being surrounded by such beautiful, peaceful nature. 

“Nobu should’ve brought you here.”

“That would require him to be thoughtful.” I laughed. It sounded stilted and fake to my ears. “And that doesn’t come easy to him. I get it—he’s not a bad person—but, God, he’s infuriating.”

“I know.”

I tightened my arms around my knees. “I shouldn’t care so much. Why should I care if he goes out early with Heather? It’s his right.”

“Mmm,” replied Julian. “Remember what we were talking about? In the restaurant.”

“What?”

“You know. The thing about you falling for him.”

“Oh,” I said faintly. “I don’t want to talk about that.”

He leaned back in the sand, propping himself up on his elbows. “That’s why I brought you here. You can’t exactly have a heart to heart when the person at the next table is constantly complaining about his acid reflux.”

I giggled despite myself. “He wouldn’t stop, would he?”

A corner of Julian’s beautiful lips twisted up. “No. But you need to.”

I stopped laughing. “Need to?”

“Stop denying this thing you have for Nobu.” The moonlight turned his eyes into clear, transparent sapphires. I had never seen anyone with such pretty eyes. “It doesn’t take a genius to see that you feel something for the guy. I mean, I’ve known him for over ten years. I know how girls get around him. They’re all drawn to his arrogant attitude. They can’t seem to get enough of it.”

My arms tightened around my knees. “Not me. It wasn’t his arrogant attitude. I hated him when he acted like such a jerk.”

“Why do you like him? Is it because of his looks? Remember, we promised each other honesty.”

I looked up at that endlessly starry sky, the wind lifting the hair away from my neck and shoulders,. “Mr. Miyano is a very good-looking man. You’d have to be dead not to react to him.”

“Go on.”

I rubbed my cheek on my knees and continued, my voice slow and halting. “Actually, I think…I think the first time I realized he wasn’t such an asshole was when he thought I was sick. While I went to lunch, he bought me medicine and left it on my desk. An asshole wouldn’t do that.”

“No, guess not,” agreed Julian. 

“And when we were trying to find him an executive assistant, there was this woman who came in, an absolute stunner who said she knew all about men, that I knew nothing at all. That when it came down to it, Mr. Miyano would believe everything she said, as opposed to me, because men were stupid around beautiful women. Or something like that.”

Julian’s brows went up. “That’s pretty ballsy. What happened?”

“She didn’t know Mr. Miyano was listening in. He surprised her and told her if she ever tried to apply for another position at the company again, he would do everything in his power to stop her application.”

I ran a hand through the sand, letting the grains fall through my fingers. “It was alarming. Shocking, even. I didn’t think he would stand up for me. But he did. Why? I still ask myself that from time to time.”

He whistled. “Sounds like something he’d do. He always hated injustice.”

My face colored as I remembered water dripping down Nobuki’s neck, soaking into the neckline of his shirt. “Once, I threw a cup of water in his face.”

Julian laughed out loud. “You think that’s the worst thing a woman’s thrown at him?” 

I grimaced. “It sounds funny now, but I was terrified then. I thought he was going to fire me.”

“He didn’t.”

“If he had, I wouldn’t be here.” I propped my chin on my knees. “I offered to pack my stuff and hit the road, but he apologized and said it was his fault. Then he asked me to be his executive assistant and now…here I am.” 

“So he’s shown you a softer side and you’re fascinated by it.”

I bit the corner of my lip. “I know nothing’s going to happen between us. I’m the secretary. He’s my boss.”

Julian . “Do you know how many office flings involve the boss and his secretary?”

Belatedly, I remembered Aimi and Mr. Abe and the sounds they made doing the nasty. Then I remembered my dreams of Nobuki and I doing the same thing. 

Julian leaned toward me, his gaze intent on my face. “Your face is red.”

“It’s nothing,” I scoffed. “Quit looking at me like that.”

“Have you been having naughty daydreams about our dear Nobu?”

I couldn’t meet his knowing gaze so I settled on staring into the ocean. “I’m not saying a damn thing.”

“You are such an innocent thing.” He chuckled. 

“I’m not innocent,” I snapped. “I’m almost twenty-eight, for crying out loud.”

The laughter died instantly on his face. 

“You’re not innocent?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and even though we were separated by almost two hands’ length, I still felt like I wasn’t nearly far away enough from him. “Let me rephrase that. I—”

He pushed himself up and I fought the urge to shy away from his looming presence. “So, what if I were to…”

And then he was right there, his hands infinitely soft on my skin as he tilted my face up to his. 

The kiss was soft, hardly qualifying as a kiss. 

“What if I were to do something like this?” he whispered, his mouth brushing mine with every syllable. 

I was transfixed. I couldn’t move, not to save my life. 

Caught in the spell of his blue eyes, I didn’t try to break out. 

“How can I talk about Nobuki?” I asked, feeling myself drown in the ocean of his eyes. “How can I talk about someone else when I’m around you?”

He withdrew just enough for me to see the surprised tilt to his brows. “Is that what this is about? You don’t want to talk about Nobuki because you’re afraid of hurting my feelings?”

I couldn’t meet his piercing gaze, so I looked away. “I respect you too much as a person to talk about another man. I feel guilty when I even think about Mr. Miyano around you, Julian.”

His thumb brushed a tender path down my cheek and I leaned into his touch, wanting to be close and yet I was aware of a certain reticence in his movement. “And you don’t think you’re innocent? Rika, I don’t care. Some guys might get jealous, but I’d like to think I’m comfortable enough in my own skin to not get all butt-hurt about you talking about your boss.” 

His lips tweaked up. “Although, I have to admit, I am a little sad you have these naughty dreams about Nobu and not about me.”

I was getting so flustered. It was embarrassing but I couldn’t seem to do anything about it. “This was before I met you. Besides, I think you would be pleased to know I haven’t had dreams about him since we came here.”

“Oh?” There was a mischievous glint in his eyes as his lips traced a line across my temples. “Since you got here? Would I be correct in assuming perhaps my presence had something to do with that?”

His lips settled on my earlobe, nibbling softly, and my fingers went around his shoulders, squeezing hard as the sensation of his tongue against that soft part of me brought a mew of pleasure from my lips. 

The sudden crash of a large wave almost licking all the way up to us brought me back to the present and the fact we were in a very public place.

I hastily pushed him away, trying to calm the rapid beating of my heart.

“Wait,” I managed to gasp out. “Not here. This is…I mean, we’re out in the open.”

Julian withdrew. I thought there was regret on his handsome face, but maybe that was my ego speaking. “No one cares.”

I stood up, legs trembling just the slightest bit, as I dusted the sand off my clothes and my butt. “I do.”

He gave a look of contrition, although I was sure that was more for my benefit than anything else. “Of course. I’m sorry.”

I snorted. “Don’t be stupid. If I wanted you to stop, I would’ve stopped you. Which I did. And you did. So thank you for that.”

He watched me from his spot on the sand, the breeze going through the short strands of his golden hair. “Can I give you some advice?”

“That would depend on a multitude of things,” I said sharper than I meant. Mostly I was embarrassed that a single nibble on my earlobe had almost dissolved me into a puddle of pleasure. “What kind of advice are you talking about?”

“Well, you don’t have feelings for Nobu, right?”

I stared at him, horrified. “Are you kidding me? If he fell off that pier over there, I would not be the first person to jump in after him.”

He nodded as though he understood. Maybe he did. “But you think he’s good looking, don’t you? You wonder what it would be like to fuck him.”

My face blazed at his frank use of words. “You don’t mince your words.”

He shrugged. “Life’s too short to mess around, going around each other like we’re afraid of our own shadow.”

“That’s very philosophical.”

He laughed. “Hardly. You ready for that advice of mine?”

“It depends on what kind you want to give me.”

His gaze fixed upon my face. 

“Why don’t you sleep with him?”