Chapter Sixteen

LOGAN

The warm shower water cascaded down my body. Sixteen hours on a plane, even an expensive private plane, doesn’t make for the freshest smell. It was nice to be able to stretch and wash up a bit.

We’d both managed to get our separate naps in on the plane, so that helped a little with the jet lag, even though Emily was still wrapping her head around losing a day. Just part of the fun traveling around the world.

I wondered if Emily was in the shower at the moment, letting that water run down her glorious body, tracing the path of her sweet, feminine shape. I sucked in a deep breath, hardening at the thought. Damn, but would that woman be the death of me.

The trip might have been a mistake. I understood that. For all her flirting with me, I still wasn’t sure if she was interested in me the way I was now interested in her. In her mind, she might be having a fun trip to Japan with her billionaire friend.

No matter. We both had our own rooms to help her not feel too much pressure from spending more time together. But without Juniper around, we had a better chance of something happening, something I wouldn’t regret, something I couldn’t help but look forward to.

In an hour, I was taking her out to dinner. I turned my neck back and forth, trying to relieve some of the tension there.

I let out a laugh. I was more nervous about Emily than about my business deal.

 

* * *

 

I knocked lightly on her door, and she opened it with a smile.

“Feeling better?” I said.

“Much. But I’m very hungry.”

“I hope you like sushi.”

Emily laughed, the sound having an almost musical quality to my ears. Or maybe it was just jet lag. “I think they’d run me out of the country if I didn’t.”

We headed down to the lobby. I’d hired a private driver for the entire trip, but I’d chosen a less conspicuous vehicle, a nice Lexus instead of a limousine. It wasn’t as if I wanted to show off by hiring the man, but I wasn’t exactly an expert on driving around Tokyo.

The driver opened the door, and I waited for Emily to slip inside before following her.

I rattled off the address in Japanese. I wasn’t fluent, and I’d made sure to hire a chauffeur who spoke English too, but my experiences in Japan had taught me that showing a little respect for their culture and language went a long way.

Emily sat quietly, drinking in the sights around her, the towering buildings blocking out the very sun, the surge of controlled humanity, waiting their turn at crosswalks and flowing together when it was their time.

There’s a difference between living in a big city and seeing a metropolis. I loved Nashville, but it was only a big city. Tokyo was like some sort of shrine to urban living. Still, something about the flavor of the city stopped it from oppressing me in the way I’d felt in some huge cities like New York.

I didn’t know what it was. I was just glad to be able to share the experience with Emily.

A ten-minute drive later, my driver let us out in a densely-packed commercial center. I helped Emily out of the car.

“I’ll call you when we’re ready,” I told the driver.

He nodded and drove off.

I opened the door and waved Emily in. She stepped inside, and I followed.

The chef moved from behind the counter to shout, “Irasshaimase!”

I offered the chef a nod before sitting on a stool in front of the counter. Emily sat beside me.

“Hawkins-sama?” the chef said, furrowing his brow. “Is that you?” It took me a second to adjust to his accent.

I nodded and grinned. “Konnichiwa, Sato-san.”

“I prepare what you want,” Sato said. “Right away.” He hurried off to grab some fish cuts from the back.

“You come here often enough that the chef knows you?” Emily said, an amused expression on her face. “Just how often do you come to Japan?”

“Not all that often.” I shrugged. “I came to Tokyo a few years back, found this place. Loved the food, but the place was having some trouble.”

“Oh?”

“Sato had a lingering bout of illness. He wasn’t able to work the long hours. He was about to close.”

“What happened?”

“I decided I didn’t want my favorite sushi place to close, so I helped him out with his medical bills.” I motioned around. “And I bought the building for him.”

Emily gasped. “Seriously? You bought him a building?”

“It wasn’t that expensive. It’s not that big. He made me take a partial controlling interest in his business.” I shrugged. “It all happens electronically as far as that’s concerned, so it’s not like I have to be here, and it ensures I get my sushi for free when I come to Tokyo.”

Emily leveled a gaze at me, a faint smile on her face. “So, you’re saying it wasn’t charity?”

I offered her a grin. “Well, in this case, charity and my self-interest came together.” I gestured to the restaurant. People filled the tables happily eating their sushi. “The owner is a good man. He just had a run of bad luck.”

She nodded. “It’s how I was raised you know.”

“What?”

“Charity and good works in the name of family, city, and church.” She shrugged, a distant look on her face for a moment. “Mama was surprised when I decided to go off to college. She thought I’d follow directly in her footsteps, helping out with her charity functions, that sort of thing.”

“Why didn’t you?”

She had just opened her mouth to reply when Sato emerged from the back and placed a bottle of premium sake in front of us along with two porcelain cups. I poured our sake, holding the bottle with both hands, and we both took a sip.

Emily smiled warmly. “I’ve never had this before.”

I inhaled the nutty aroma of my drink before taking another sip. “Well, I’m glad I can introduce it to you in Japan, then. Please continue your story.”

“My story?”

“Why you went to college instead of becoming a socialite like your mother?”

Her cheeks were red, but I wasn’t sure if it was from the alcohol or from embarrassment.

“My parents are wealthy.” She sipped her drink. “Not billionaires, mind you, but I didn’t grow up concerned about money. I thought a lot about it, though, and I wanted to work, even if I didn’t have to.” She shrugged. “First, it was about being able to make my own way, but then, it was about making sure my daughter didn’t grow up thinking hard work isn’t important.” A rueful smile appeared on her face.

“What is it?”

“Mama likes to talk about how our family blood goes back deep into the history of Tennessee. That’s true, but it’s also true that family didn’t escape from the Great Depression with a lot of money. My grandparents did all right, but my daddy worked hard to make the family comfortable again.” She shrugged. “I think Mama’s a little insecure at times. She remembers what it was like to have the status but not the money, even it was a long time ago.”

Sato returned to the counter again. Rice, dried seaweed, and fish had all been set up. He grabbed his knife and began cutting. A few slices later, he started wrapping a sushi roll.

I gulped down the last of my sake. “And what do you think?”

“I think everyone has their own problems.” Emily sighed. “Mama at least spends most of her time working on charity projects. When I married Lionel…” She grimaced. “You don’t want me to talk about him.”

I poured myself some more sake. It wasn’t like Emily was going to be familiar with the customs concerning it, so I didn’t blame her for not refilling my drink.

“I want to know more about you, so if that involves talking about him...” I shrugged.

She gulped down her sake. I refilled her cup.

“All he cares about is money, not helping anyone else. He’d act nice at society and charity events we attended, but he’d tell me how stupid it all was. What a waste of time. He doesn’t care about anything other than his own needs.”

“Well, can’t cure stupid.” I shrugged again.

Emily chuckled quietly.

Sato arrived with a huge sushi platter with two small plates on the side.

“Domo arigato,” I said to thank him, handing Emily one of the plates.

He gave me a slight bow and then moved to the other end of the counter to talk with another customer.

We fell into silence as we ate our sushi. I watched her, thinking over the years she’d wasted with Lionel, a man so stupid and selfish he never even realized the treasure right in front of him.

 

* * *

 

Two hours later, we stumbled off the elevator and headed toward our rooms. Even though I’d had more sake than Emily, she could barely walk. Probably I drank a lot more regularly than she did, given that I was a businessman who needed to wine and dine people to close deals.

I fished out her key to slide across the door pad. The door beeped and clicked open. With my arm around Emily’s waist, I guided her into her hotel room.

“You’re so nice,” Emily said, her words slurred. “And you smell good, too.”

I chuckled. “Glad to know my cologne isn’t wasted.”

She pulled out of my arms and wrapped her arms around my neck. “And handsome. Really damn handsome. Kiss me.”

Red covered her entire face. I regretted not telling her to pace herself with her sake.

“Maybe you should lie down,” I said. My eyes drifted down. Her top button had become undone at some point, showing a hint of cleavage.

I might not have been as drunk as Emily, but I’d downed more than a few cups of sake. Alcohol clouded the edges of my thoughts, and even stone cold sober, it was hard to keep my thoughts away from what she’d look like flushed, lying underneath me, her great breasts heaving with her labored breathing.

Reluctantly, I reached up and pulled her arms off me. She stuck her bottom lip out.

“Why?” she whined. “I thought you liked me.”

I nodded slowly. “That’s exactly why.” The alcohol cut through a lot of my restraint but not all. “I do like you. I’m attracted to you, but I’m not going to do something with you when you’re drunk, and you might not even remember it.” I grinned. “When we’re finally together for the first time, I want you to remember it for the rest of your life.”

Emily stumbled over to her bed collapsed into it. “You’re too nice to me.”

I walked over to put a blanket over her. “You deserve it.”

She murmured something to herself and closed her eyes. I unlocked the door between the room from her side, before making my way back out into the hallway and into my room to unlock it on my side as well. I pulled the door open.

Emily was already snoring at this point, which summoned a chuckle from me, but I wanted to make sure she could call me if she needed me.

The memory of her arms wrapped around me and her body warm against mine lingered. The sake and my own arousal were burning me up, so I hurried into the bathroom and turned on the cold water in the shower.

Torture. Delicious torture. I decided it had been a mistake to bring Emily. The only time she’d shown much interest in anything more than friendship was when she was drunk, the one time I couldn’t make a move.

Still, I couldn’t help but imagine squeezing those huge breasts of hers and sucking on one. I groaned and all but ripped my clothes off. Once naked, I hurried into the shower, welcoming the cold spray, the shock pushing against the lust rippling through me.

Every conversation with the woman made me want her more. She was a good woman and a good mother who cared about her community. Her bastard ex-husband had ruined her, set up walls that she might not truly come down for years. I despised the man for what he’d done to her.

I took several deep breaths as the chilly water dripped down my face. At least I wasn’t hard anymore. I only hoped I could concentrate on my business meeting the next morning.