Lilli was seated in the back of a car, weaving its way up a Japanese mountain. Wait, that wasn’t right. Lilli blinked her eyes open to find herself under a fur blanket, but not in Japan. And she was lying on a soft couch, not her Japanese client. Drooling into a throw pillow instead of No’s shoulder.

She was blissfully comfortable. So why did her heart ache with the memory of being sick as a dog in the back of No’s car? And why did the image linger in her bones, even as she sat up and stretched her now well-rested body?

Bathroom, then coffee, she thought, pushing the memory away.

But her mind remained fuzzy as she made her way up the stairs. Her heart caught between the present and the past as she entered the guest room…her room from now on…and really more like a suite since it connected to a nursery next door and came with a bathroom that Lilli made a beeline toward. Only to stop short and laugh when she saw what was on top of the bathroom counter.

Apparently remembering how out of it Morning Lilli could be, Evening Lilli had thoughtfully placed the ovulation kit, open and with all its pieces laid out, on the bathroom’s long stone counter. Smart.

Still, getting her pee in the cup, dunking in the tester stick, then inserting the pee stick in the tab felt like an awful lot of work. And to think she’d have to do this every day until she started ovu—

Her thoughts cut short when she saw the happy face on the stick.

Okay. So now the plan was to find No, tell him I’m ovulating. Then coffee? Lilli bounced the thoughts around and around in her still-tired brain. Also, she’d need to move it in order to get Ruby into her leg before it was time for school. Maybe Mrs. Santos could make her a bowl of cereal or something? So many things to do…and Morning Lilli was feeling overwhelmed.

Lilli wished she’d thought to ask Uta some follow up questions about what to expect after the happy face showed up. Would she need to rush off to wherever the concierge practice was located with her ovulating ovaries and a cup of No’s sperm? Or maybe she’d be expected to wait for the blood tests to come back? What exactly was the plan?

Lilli walked back down the stairs. Only to stop again when she rounded the corner to find…

Ruby and No, talking at the kitchen table.

Whoa, she thought, wondering if she’d stumbled into an episode of the Twilight Zone. She’d never known her niece to need anything less than four hard shakes and a couple of threats to get out of bed this early. Usually, Lilli had to put Ruby’s leg on for her, attaching it to her niece’s prone body while telling the thirteen-year-old she really, really had to get up or they were definitely going to be late. But here was Ruby, leg already on, having a rather animated conversation with No. Too bad it was in Japanese.

Japanese that abruptly cut off as soon as Lilli arrived at the kitchen door.

“Oh, hey, Aunt Ana,” Ruby said. Voice dull as the bowl of white rice in front of her.

She and No were eating a traditional Japanese breakfast, Lilli noted, her eyes traveling over the salted salmon, rice, miso soup, and tamagoyaki—a rolled Japanese omelet sitting in plates and bowls between them.

“Hey, Ruby,” she replied, her eyes shifting from her niece to the man whose face had gone equally sour upon her entrance. But whatever, the dream lingered...

“Ohayo!” she greeted No, deciding to try with him even if he hated her now.

And maybe things were getting better between them because he answered with a super slight bow of his head, before turning to say something else to Ruby in Japanese.

“What?” Ruby answered in English. “But she not Japanese.”

“She is your aunt,” he answered Ruby, also in English. “An older, respected, member of your family. Whenever she enters the room, you will stand and bow.”

“Oh, she doesn’t need to—” Lilli started.

But Ruby was already climbing down from the chair and saying, “Ohayo!” while giving her a pretty respectful bow with her hands clasped in front of her.

“Okay…thank you,” Lilli said, because her niece had literally never bowed to her in her entire life, much less greeted her with an Ohayo—an naturally super upspoken Japanese word that even Ruby couldn’t make it sound surly. “Am I supposed to bow, too? Because I never quite got that down…”

“It is not necessary,” he answered. Then he said to Ruby, “Your car will be here in less than twenty minutes. It is your responsibility to be dressed and ready to go by then and to say goodbye to your aunt before you leave.”

Nobody was more shocked than Lilli when, instead of throwing a fit or protesting, Ruby simply bowed to them both and disappeared around the corner that connected the kitchen to the stairs. Lilli listened to her climb the stairs, then turned back to No with a, “Who the hell was that alien disguised at my niece?” comment poised and ready to go on her lips.

Yet when she looked toward No, he was already making moves to leave the table.

“Wait,” she said, holding a hand out towards him but not daring to actually touch him. “Can we talk before you go?”

No turned to face her with a hard hawk-like blink, clearly resigning himself to granting her request.

“I, um…got a happy face,” she told him.

“A happy face,” he repeated.

“Yes. Uta, the nurse, gave me an ovulation kit—do you know that word, ovulation?”

He shook his head, his face pursing into a heavy frown.

Of course he didn’t. Because that might have made this situation a little less awkward…

“Ovulation is, um, the fertile window for my cycle. When I’m most likely to get pregnant. The happy face lets me know when that time is happening. So…yeah. I guess you’ll need to, um…you know…” Lilli made a jerking off motion with her hand, “…into a cup. I’m not sure if Uta gave you a kit, too.”

“She did,” No finally answered after a long moment of incredibly awkward silence. “However, this is earlier than expected. I have many meetings today in Portland.”

“I know, bad timing, right?” she agreed. “And I’m pretty sure they probably wanted me to start taking something before we did the procedure. Maybe we should call the office and tell Uta to hold off until my next ovulation cycle? You know, give ourselves some time before we move ahead…a month to clear our schedules so it’s easier for both of us to drop everything when I…ah, get another happy face.”

No considered her words, his jaw ticking as he looked to the side. Then he said, “You do not have work today.” A statement, not a question.

“No. But you do, and I like I said…I don’t want to rush you.”

“Sensei?”

They both looked up to see Ruby in the doorway, dressed in jeans, sneakers, and an athletic tee with a Korean boy band on the front of it. “I’m leaving now.”

She bowed to them both, but Lilli couldn’t stand the formality. “Let me walk you out, sweetie,” Lilli said, wrapping an arm around Ruby’s shoulders.

As it turned out, they were actually a little early and had to wait for Dallas to arrive with the car. “I’m off today, so I’ll be here when you get home. Maybe we can watch some anime after you’re done with your homework? I bet if we can get one of those TV remotes to work, we’ll have access to some pretty cool channels. And if not, I’ll make sure to ask Mrs. Santos for the wi-fi password, so we can get online.”

“I can’t,” Ruby answered, from underneath Lilli’s arm. “I have to do exercises Nakamura-sensei give me after school.”

“Oh, okay,” Lilli answered, more than a little perplexed. “What exactly did you two do this morning again?” And did it involve some kind of brainwashing? she wondered silently

But before Ruby could respond, Dallas pulled up with the car.

“Hey, Dallas,” Lilli said when he rolled down the passenger window.

“Hey,” he answered as Ruby scrambled into the back seat. The two seemed to have already established that it wasn’t in Dallas’s job description to get out and open doors for kids.

“Say, Lilli…I was just wondering if Nurse Uta gave you her number,” Dallas said, leaning over in the front seat. “And if so, can I get it off you?”

“You want Uta’s number?” Lilli asked. “But why?”

Dallas’ eyes cut to the Cadillac Escalade’s back seat which, unlike the Japanese town cars, didn’t come with a partition. “You really want me to explain this in front of the kid?”

“Oh,” Lilli answered, her eyes going wide. Then remembering the rules at her job she said, “Um, I really can’t give you her number. That would be a violation of her privacy. But the next time I see her, I’ll mention you want it.”

“Yeah, do that for me…” Dallas smiled, half-cocked, as if he were already imagining all the things he’d be doing with the stout German. Then he reached into his back pocket, “And if she don’t give you her number, make sure you give her mine.”

He extended his business card towards her. “Tell her I’m not so bad once you get past the tats, okay?”

“Okay,” Lilli agreed. Though, she was seriously wondering if she’d entered some other dimension. First Ruby was being polite, and now the man who’d yanked her off of No’s electric fence was asking her to give Uta his number and put in a good word for him?

What the hell was going on here?

Still, Lilli waved as the dark SUV ferried Ruby away down the long driveway, figuring she might as well go with it.

However, she had quite a few questions prepared for No by the time the Escalade disappeared from view. She headed back inside—only to nearly run into Mrs. Santos who was coming out the front door in her coat and with a big black purse tucked beneath her arm.

“Hey!” Lilli said, “What’s going on?”

The housekeeper shook her head. “Mr. Nakamura said I wouldn’t be needed today, that you and he had made alternative plans. I was going to go visit my daughter and new grandbaby up in Mt. Vernon for the day, but if you need me to stay…”

Lilli was unprepared for the housekeeper’s offer. It never occurred to her that she had enough power in the house to tell No’s staff what to do. Especially after he’d already issued a command.

Feeling uncomfortable, she shook her head. “No, no! Of course, you should go visit your grandchild, Mrs. Santos! We ah…we have an…appointment, and I can easily order something to eat tonight.”

“Good, but if you need anything, here is my number. Just text or call.”

And that was how Lilli found herself in possession of not one, but two business cards as she went back into the house…only to find No was no longer in the kitchen.

Okay, well shit, she thought to herself, not sure what to do now. Should she wait down here for No to do his business? Go upstairs and twiddle her thumbs? Would he be coming with her to the doctor’s appointment? Or maybe the doctor was coming here?

Lilli needed to know what the hell was going on. She liked having a plan. So she decided to go find him. But he wasn’t in the living room, his office, or the home gym-dojo hybrid. Finally she decided to go back upstairs and knock on his bedroom door.

Her knock didn’t get an answer.

She knocked again. And…nothing.

Finally and against her better judgement, Lilli risked a quick peek into the room, calling out his name, “No—I mean, Norio? Or Nakamura-san? Whatever you want me to call you. Are you in here?”

As it turned out, it didn’t really matter how she addressed him because he didn’t answer. And yes, this is where Lilli should have definitely closed the door and walked away. But she couldn’t stop herself from wandering in a little further. Because the room was a beautiful example of modern Japanese design. Monochromatic and minimalistic—it was done up in a soothing blend of browns, grays, and blacks, and featured a wide Japanese-style platform bed, along with a narrow gray couch beneath the wide lake-facing window. The room, like No’s office, was crisp and tasteful, and Lilli was drawn deeper into the room, wanting to see more. She rounded the half wall behind the bed and entered the bathroom.

And yes, this space, too, had obviously been remodeled to appeal to both Eastern and Western sensibilities. The shower was the American ideal, featuring gorgeous stonework on its walls and a shower head so large, it probably felt like rinsing off in a small downpour every time you stood underneath it.

Next to the shower stall was a Japanese bath set deep into the floor. It was so much larger than the one at the samurai house or the one in her apartment that it, too, felt Americanized. Nevertheless, the design was still simple and tasteful enough to be recognized as thoroughly Japanese.

Of course this was all well and fine but she still had no clue where No had gone.

Shit.

Maybe he’d already left for work, figuring she’d been right about not rushing things. Or maybe he’d already done his business in a cup and left it someplace for her to find in the house? She had no freaking clue, and wasn’t about to get one since she still didn’t have No’s contact information.

This is ridiculous, she thought as she made her way back down the hallway to her own room to take a shower in her decidedly more Western bathroom and figure out what to do with her day off.

Lilli knew No had his own particular…way of doing things. But they were trying to make a baby together. The least he could do was give her some way to reach him so they’d could—

All coherent thought shut down when Lilli opened her bedroom door and found No inside. Standing by the window. Naked. So naked, she could see what she’d previously assumed to be a back tattoo, actually extended over his buttocks and down the back of his legs, not ending until just above the depression where his knees joined with his haunches.

No turned when she opened the door, but that only made things worse. Now Lilli could see him fully. The lean muscles beneath his tight skin. The long piece of flesh hanging between his legs, no sock cock. He was already hard and ready.

Waiting.

The word floated into her foggy mind, startling her into clarity with its truth. He’d been waiting for her here the whole time. Waiting to…

Lilli swallowed. Looked away.

“I thought this was supposed to be a cup and baster sort of thing,” she said, working hard to get the words out rather than stare at the beautiful man in front of her, or his beautiful tattoos.

But though she wasn’t looking at him, Lilli could feel his eyes on her, assessing her before saying, “You thought wrong.”

Just three words, but those three words made her entire body clench. With need. With anticipation. But…

“I, um…” she struggled to find the words. To hold on to her convictions. “You should know this is not who I am anymore. Yes, I agreed to have a baby with you. But not like this. Because I’m not an Osaka Charm girl—at least not anymore.”

Lilli glanced up to see how he was taking her rejection. But No’s face remained neutral, unreadable, and he continued to study her as if she’d said nothing at all. As if he was still the hawk, and she was still the rabbit, no matter what she said.

But she insisted, “Seriously, you should probably take that…” she circled a hand in the general direction of the long penis she was trying really hard not to look at…or remember the way she’d discovered it hit a certain spot inside her just right when she angled her hips just so…

“Um…yeah, I think you should go put your specimen in the cup,” she finished breathlessly, interrupting the movie reel of lewd memories flickering through her mind. “Because this is not a good idea—it’s just not.”

More silence, then he said, “Thank you.”

“Thank you?” she repeated. “Thank you for what?”

“Sex with you in Japan was…” he looked away before continuing, “…difficult. I’d often find myself not wanting to embarrass myself with you. It was hard for me to hold back because I desired you too much. Liked you too much. So I gave you the power, satisfied just to watch. But then I discovered your betrayal. And now…” He turned his piercing hawk gaze to her face. “However now, liking you too much is no longer a problem. So thank you.”

Lilli was about to say she still didn’t understand. And ask what his dislike had to do with him providing a specimen.

But then she could no longer ask questions. Because No moved. So fast, that one moment he was on the other side of the room, and the next, he was kissing her roughly. His lips laying bald claim to hers as he turned their two bodies around with her still in his arms.

She didn’t realize he had positioned her at the edge of the bed until she was falling backwards. Didn’t get that the kiss had only been the first part of a ruthless attack, until the scrubs she’d fallen asleep in last night started coming off.

“No, you are no longer an Osaka Charm girl,” he said after he’d completely exposed her breasts and started pulling her pants down her legs. “In truth, you never were the woman I thought you were, because you were lying to me the entire time. But not about this…”

Yanking her forward by her legs, he positioned his naked cock right above her most intimate crevice. Lilli’s panties were the only thing between it and a full-blown invasion, and before she could think not to do it, her hips instinctively circled, wanting more, despite her earlier words…

And No smiled oh so wickedly down at her as he agreed with his earlier statement. “Iie, not about this.”

“Or this…” He leaned forward between her legs and cupped her heavy breasts. Squeezing hard enough to send sharp pulses of desire straight to her womb, but not so hard that she came uncontrollably like she had the night before. Either way, he was clearly reminding her how easily he could send her over the edge.

“Please…” she begged, not knowing what she was begging for. “Oh God, this is such a bad idea.”

“Or this…” he answered, continuing his torture as if she’d said nothing at all.

He reached underneath the waistband of her panties, and his cold black eyes finally began to burn hot. Not because she was already wet. But because…

“You kept yourself clean for me. That is…unexpected.”

With deft fingers, he explored her neatly waxed crotch. Waxed because she liked the feel of being bare down there, or at least that’s what she told herself when she began setting up regular appointments in Seattle.

Yet Lilli knew there was more to it than that. Especially when a deep groan fell from her mouth, and her hips began to move instinctively in an obvious attempt to get herself off like she had in Japan.

But then, as if reading her mind, No removed his hand with a, “Remember, we are no longer Japan.”

That was all the warning she received, before his head dipped between her legs, his tongue delving, taking, taking.

Wait, her brain protested feebly, all rational thought struggling to surface in the fuzz of the druggy kisses he was give her below. But then his tongue curved down and his nose pressed up…and the sudden shock of pleasure muted any further thoughts Lilli might have had.

Oh God, oh god, his tongue! Deft as his fingers, and even more thorough. Relentless in its attack. His whole mouth seemed to engulf her sex, tongue hooking inside her as he feasted on her mound

. Her hips soon began to buck, her hands grabbing his head, not to push him away, but to pull him closer.

So good. So good. She never would have guessed her pillow prince would be so good at this.

“No…! No…!” she cried out. Calling his name, not protesting.

But it might as well have been a protest, because he raised up, taking away the warmth of his mouth. Only to replace it with the warmth of his entire body.

Her mother had intentionally become pregnant with Doug. A last ditch move to keep the college baseball player boyfriend she’d thought was slipping away. Doug had definitely been a game saver.

But Lilli had been unplanned. A surprise pregnancy that occurred eight years into a failing marriage. Her birth had ruined everything. Caused her father to leave, and apparently brought her mother nothing but misery until she finally kicked Lilli out of her house.

So Lilli knew what an unplanned pregnancy could do. To a relationship. To a childhood. That was why she’d always been careful. So careful. And her caution had more than paid off. Thanks to her insistence on using condoms along with birth control, she’d never even had so much as a pregnancy scare. Not ever. Because she’d never once had unprotected sex.

But this meant that in every way possible, she was totally unprepared.

When No pushed his cock into her, the tip immediately finding that spot she had to purposefully angle to get to by herself before, she screamed. The feel of him inside her was so intense, the pleasure so keen, Lilli found herself gasping, “Stop! Stop!”

Because the feelings…they terrified her. He terrified her. What was going on here? He’d shoved her off a cliff, she realized in a panic. And now she was hanging on by a branch.

And, and…

“Please, don’t…I can’t…” she gasped, babbling. Not really knowing what she was saying, or what she wanted. Only that this…him…it was too much.

Maybe it was the same for him, too. Because suddenly he was no longer braced above her. Instead, his chest pressed into hers. Then she heard his voice in her ear, admitting, “I must take a moment, as well. As it turns out, I do not hate you enough yet.”

His confession made her laugh out loud. Then she made a confession of her own: “I’ve never been with anyone like this before. I’ve always used condoms.”

She felt, rather than heard, his breath catch before he slowly released it and answered, “This is my case, too. Only ever with condoms. And now, I fear I will lose face if we don’t hold still for a time.”

He was afraid, too. Probably not nearly as scared as she was, but still…they were in this together, she realized. And somehow that made it better.

Made it so she could say, “Okay, okay, I can do this…” as she readjusted herself under him, opening her legs wider to accommodate the much deeper penetration that came with him on top.

Lilli climbed back onto to the ledge. Back onto safe ground. She was okay now. She was okay. She could do this…

And apparently he could, too. No re-braced himself on one lean arm above her, his hand clamping around her thigh as he curled her leg around his waist. Then he dropped his head and began rolling into her, body pistoning like a well-oiled machine.

And…oh, God…oh God…she’d lied to herself. She wasn’t okay. Couldn’t be okay

…almost as soon as he began seriously fucking her, she became consumed with need. Her greedy hands grabbing onto his buttocks the way he used to grab on to hers when she was on top.

“No! No! No!” A seeming protest, even as her nails clawed at him, drawing him closer. Each thrust too deep, but not deep enough.

Desperation washed over her in waves, and her body began to thrash beneath his, but No kept his machine-like rhythm, and then…

Lilli was flying back over that fucking cliff. And this time there was nothing for her to grab on to. Only No, who didn’t stop. Who captured her scream with his mouth and just kept going as she fell. His bare cock thrusting deeper and deeper until…

The hot wash of his seed flooding inside her, dialed an already 100% intense situation up to full on nuclear armageddon. And a second orgasm shot through her.

This whole situation was insanely fucked up. But there was also something so primal about it. About getting bedded by someone who wanted to put his baby in you. Destroyed by an act bigger than the both of you.

At least he was feeling it, too. Japanese streamed into her ear. None of which she understood. So Lilli made up her own translation, matching his words to her feelings. I’ve never in my life felt anything like that with anyone but you. What the hell did you just do to me?

Yes, it was slightly biased, but it felt as true as anything she’d ever told herself, until she finally stopped coming. Collapsing with him on top of her, both of them spent and wrung all the way out. Unable to fully process what they’d just done together. And perhaps even more troubling, completely unable to care either way.

He needed to let her rest. He knew that. She was obviously exhausted, sprawled beneath him on the bed, looking up at him in a daze like he was little more than a dream she was having.

But the sight of her…

He stood. Easily, because they’d never quite made it all the way on to the bed. He’d thought the position would give him some perspective, but it turned out to be a mistake.

From this vantage point, he could see just about everything. Her heavy breasts and wide hips were laid out before him, a buffet awaiting a hungry diner. Then his eyes found her dark sex, the part of her she’d kept smooth despite not having been with him for so long…

No’s cock pulsed to hard life again at the sight of her naked mound covered in his load. And the next thing he knew, his hand was on her. Smearing what had spilled out of her over her sex until it glistened. Then he used his thumb to push a glob of the pearly substance into her still engorged clit.

Ana moaned, her entire body pushing into his cruel thumb, even as she asked in a weak voice, “Why are you doing that to me? Oh God, why?”

Why, indeed.

Watching her body awaken with just a touch of his hand did things to him. Turned what had only been a thought, quickly discarded just a few moments ago, into an intention that could not be ignored.

His samurai control abandoned him. No had to have her again. Couldn’t not have her again.

And perhaps she realized how deep his new intentions ran. Because she gave no more protests when he grabbed her hips and turned her over.

No more words.

Just a collapsing of arms beneath her bountiful chest as he pulled her hips into his. An aching moan as he pushed back into her, this time covering her back as his body rippled over hers with an urge so primal, it took all good sense away.

It didn’t help that she seemed as completely caught up in the unbridled lust as he was. He’d told her she was no longer allowed to call him by his nickname. But she screamed it out just a few moments later, shuddering with a climax that also sent him over the edge.

His cock jerked, a bolt of craven pleasure shooting up his spine as he seeded her a second time. Silently cursing himself for his intense need, even as he flooded her womb with more cum. Breeding her, making her his in a way that a contract with an escort service could never accomplish.

He hadn’t apologized to Go or anyone else he’d cancelled meetings with while waiting for Ana to return to her room. Apologies were a weakness. Every Nakamura knew that. But he did end up apologizing to Ana a few times that day. For taking her body over and over. For making a mess of them both with his insatiable desire.

For serving up his revenge hotter than he’d ever intended. For this, he silently apologized to her in Japanese. But he didn’t, couldn’t, stop. Not until they were both too exhausted to go on. A heap of body parts on Ana’s bed.