Chapter 17

There. 

I said it. 

Now to let the chips fall where they may. 

He smiled. 

God, he was so damn beautiful in the candlelight, that devil-may-care tilt to his lips, a lock of dark hair falling over one eye. 

“Miss Hasegawa.” He laughed. “Maybe I should call you Rika.”

I loved the way he said it, like he was savoring the taste of it on his tongue, running it along his mouth like he could extract every bit of flavor from those two syllables. 

“Let’s discuss a few things.” he asked. 

I nodded, trying to remember how tipsy women nodded. “What are they?”

“First, drop the drunk act,” he said. 

I blinked. Shit. How did he know? “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Didn’t you just see me chug that wine? Why wouldn’t I be drunk?”

He snorted under his breath. “Do you take me for an idiot? I know when a woman is drunk and you’re not even tipsy. Not to mention, your dear friend Julian was so kind as to tell me about those times you drank shochu with your father.”

I winced at his care in uttering the word “friend”. Did he know?

Still, he had caught me out. 

I could either lie or own up to it. 

Which would land me in his bed for the night?

When in doubt, tell the truth, right?

I sighed and shrugged. “Okay. You caught me.”

“There’s no way someone who can drink a bottle of shochu with her father could possibly get even the slightest bit tipsy on a few glasses of fairly weak wine,” he said in a vaguely disappointed voice. “Really, Miss Hasegawa. What do you take me for?”

Were we back to last names again? “Did I fool you even just a little bit?” 

He raised a brow at my question. “What do you think?”

My shoulders slumped as shame started to come over me again. “I thought…I thought if you refused me and I pretended to be drunk…maybe I could just laugh it off. You could chalk my proposal up to the wine and we could both act like this never happened.”

He crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat. “I’m not sure where you got the impression I was even the slightest bit attracted to drunk women.”

I eyed him, unsure of my footing in the situation. “Aren’t a lot of men?”

“I am not a lot of men,” he said dryly.

What an understatement.

“Okay.” I felt more like a fool as the seconds ticked by. “So we settled the fact that I’m not drunk. What else did you want to discuss?”

“You want to have sex,” he said baldly, and I flushed all over again. 

Jesus. Did he have to say it like that?

“I guess so?” I said hesitantly.

He gave me a withering look. “Do you or don’t you?”

I licked my lips. “Yes.”

He nodded once. “Good. I like assertive women.”

Ack. Well, that was a bunch of marks against me because I couldn’t think of a way I could’ve been any less assertive about the entire situation. 

“I’m not against the idea,” he said, and I gaped. 

He pulled out a ballpoint pen from his breast pocket and scrawled something on one of the linen napkins. 

He pushed it across the table at me, the pen rolling just behind it. 

I stared at the words, blinking several times because I couldn’t believe what I was reading. 

Then I looked at him, cold, implacable. “This is a contract.”

“It is.”

“You want me to sign a contract.”

“Yes.”

As far as contracts went, it was pretty straightforward.

We wouldn’t talk about this to anyone, or the relationship was terminated.

We would engage in casual sex and that was all it was going to end up. 

We were not in any kind of relationship. 

The second either of us experienced any kind of emotional pull, the relationship was terminated. 

“So.” The pen trembled in my hand. “This wouldn’t be the only time.”

“It could be, if you wanted.” 

“But you could have your pick of any woman,” I said, confused about the terms of the contract. “This sounds like you can have free use of my body whenever you want, but couldn’t you get that with any woman?”

He sighed. “Most women out there want something. All you want is my body. I’m sure you harbor no such illusions about our relationship. It’s just about sex with you, isn’t it?”

I nodded so much I thought my head was going to fall off. “Actually, I was thinking about just one night.”

His eyes grew hooded. “I have needs. I find it inconvenient to wine and dine a woman and then lie to her just to fuck her. But you know what I want and I know what you want. It’s ideal, don’t you think?”

It was everything I could have wanted and more. 

To do all the things to Nobuki’s body that I had ever dreamed of.

But…

“No one would know about this,” I said firmly. 

He nodded. “No one would know.”

“If anyone at the office found out, I’m dead,” I admitted. 

He inclined his head to one side. “I would prefer to keep our relationship professional at the office.”

Which meant no office hanky-panky. I felt a wave of relief crash over me. “That’s fine. I don’t want to have sex in the office.”

He smiled. “Ah, yes. You don’t want us turning into our past counterparts, hmm?”

“No,” I said firmly. “No way in hell.”

“That’s just as well.” There was a furrow between his winged brows. “I, too, find the idea of office sex distasteful.”

Somewhat nauseated, and with a shaking hand, I signed my signature just under his. 

“What if I just want this one night?” I asked, remembering his claim to favor assertiveness. I could do that. Just as long as I thought I was anyone else but bookwormish Rika Hasegawa about to indulge in some ill-advised sex. 

He inclined his head to one side in a graceful manner. “Then you just have this one night. Tomorrow we get on that plane and we go back to work like this never happened.”

And then he smiled, a slow, heavy smile loaded with so much meaning it was a surprise I didn’t spontaneously combust. “Although, are you sure you want this to be just one night?”

I groped along the table for more wine, but my glass was somehow empty again and the maitre d’ was nowhere to be seen. 

“Frog in your throat?” he said with a smirk. “Would you like something to drink?”

I nodded frantically and he motioned over to the waiter, but instead of wine, all I got was a glass of water.

“I’d hate for you to get drunk.” His low voice did stupid, crazy things to me. “I do want you to remember this when you wake up in the morning.”

“I don’t think you need to worry about that,” I muttered and drank the entire glass of cold water in five seconds. 

Nobuki watched me with those piercing, almost mocking eyes as though he knew a joke no one else did. “Are you ready?”

With a raised brow, I worked to channel some sophistication I most definitely did not feel. 

“Your room or mine?”

He appeared to think about this for a while. “Yours. I don’t want you falling asleep in my bed.”

I ignored the slight prick of hurt in my heart. 

This was no ordinary relationship. 

Basically, we were fuck friends and that was all we would ever be. Once I forgot that, everything would end. 

Although, to be honest, I was hoping this was a one-off. That all Nobuki had was his looks and the sex would be so disappointing I could get him out of my head. 

Maybe I’d take Julian up on his offer.

I nodded and pushed back my seat. “I’ll take a shower. You can come whenever you want.”

Then I remembered something, because if he ended up in the hallway with no way to get into my room, that was just embarrassing. 

I riffled through my clutch purse and came out with the extra card key the front desk gave me. I slid it across the table toward him, along with his pen and the linen napkin with the contract and all the sordid details. 

He glanced at his half-full wineglass. “Very well. I’ll finish this and meet you up there. Thirty minutes?”

I nodded, and practically ran to the elevators, almost too giddy to bear. 

It was happening. 

Shy bookworm Rika was going to spend one night with a prince. 

Whatever happened, well, it was going to happen. 

The elevator couldn’t move fast enough for me and when I shut my room door behind me, I allowed myself just one minute of leaning against it, my heart pounding hard against my chest. 

What was this emotion?

Exhilaration?

Disbelief?

I could hardly believe it—that much was true. 

Twenty-five minutes. 

Oh God, was there enough time?

I brushed my teeth while washing my hair, aware that I wanted to do the best I could to make this night one to remember. 

I wanted to remember the anticipation, the heaviness in the pit of my belly as I waited to be taken by the man of my dreams. 

Scrubbing until my skin verged on red, finally I decided that it was enough. 

After rubbing a towel briskly through my hair, I pulled a robe around my wet but pleasant-smelling body and checked my phone by the sink. 

Ten more minutes. I had some vague idea that I wanted to be sitting on the bed by the time he arrived. That meant blow-drying my hair was out of the question, as my hair was quite thick and even using that method it took a long time to dry. 

Still, guys didn’t get off on seeing a woman with her hair stuffed under a towel like a housewife, right? 

Biting my lips to make them redder, I rubbed the towel more vigorously through my hair. 

Five minutes. 

I looked at myself in the steamy mirror. 

Without the makeup I looked younger but hopefully more appealing. I pinched my cheeks, trying to bring a little more color to my otherwise pallid complexion.  

My hair was as dry as it could get without using a blow-dryer and I took a deep breath, trying to still the rapid beating of my heart.

I was nervous, so damn nervous, and no matter how many times I guessed as to the outcome of the night, nothing could calm me. 

Three minutes. 

“It’s okay,” I whispered to my wide-eyed reflection in the steamy mirror. “He’s just another guy. The sex is going to be so disappointing you’ll laugh about it tomorrow and then you won’t think about him anymore.”

God, I hoped that was the case. 

Not to mention, there was Julian that I still had to answer to…

Hands clenched on the counter edge, I mentally counted down from five. 

When I reached zero, I turned around and walked out of the bathroom. 

Only to be faced with Nobuki perched on the edge of the desk, his arms crossed. 

The pulse thudded in my head and it got hard to breathe. “I didn’t expect you to be here so soon.”

“Should I leave?”

“No.” I managed a smile, feeling awkward in the fluffy bathrobe, damp hair sticking to my cheeks. “Can I get you something to drink?”

He stood up off the desk and came toward me. I felt like a rabbit sighted by a wolf and couldn’t help but wonder if everything had been one colossal mistake. 

What if I wasn’t ready for this? 

He reached down and one finger hooked in the belt of the bathrobe. 

My hands twitched at my sides as I fought the instinctive urge to pull away. 

This was supposed to happen. 

I wanted this to happen. 

This had to happen. 

He was close enough for me to count all the eyelashes surrounding his dark eyes. I let him pull the tie open, and shivered as the air-conditioned breeze touched my bare skin. 

I didn’t know how much he could make out with the two inches of space exposed from the gap in the robe, but I did know that I was pretty much naked and he was still clothed. 

That didn’t seem right. 

He took another step forward, one hand winding through the hair at the nape of my neck. 

But then he paused, his gaze going down to the bruises around my neck. “Does it hurt?”

I nodded, unable to trust myself to speak. 

He drew back just enough for me to sense the distance between us acutely. “Do you want me to be gentle?”

I didn’t want a gentle Nobuki. I wanted the Nobuki in my dreams, ruthless, almost callous, the master of my darkest desires.

“No,” I whispered.

Something flitted in his eyes and his fingers tightened in my hair. 

A small mew of pain left my lips. “Please.” 

His eyes glowed and I thought he was going to eat me alive. “Please what?”

“I…” I licked my lips. “I haven’t done this in a while.”

I didn’t want to feel embarrassed about my general lack of experience in this, but I couldn’t stop the faintest bit of heat from touching my cheeks.

His lips hovered over mine. 

“I think I like that.” His lips moved over mine, brushing them every time he said a word. “I think I like that a lot.”

Then he kissed me. 

Kissed me so deeply I fought for breath. 

His hand was tight in my hair, but it was strangely exciting.

His tongue plunged deep into my mouth and my hands tightened on his shoulders. 

He moved a few steps back and I followed him because I didn’t want to break away. 

My knees hit the bed and he pulled back just enough to put his hand on my chest. 

He pushed and I fell back on the bed, the robe flaring around me, hiding nothing. 

It didn’t even occur to me that I should’ve covered myself as he pulled roughly at his tie and it slithered from his fingers before he got to work on the buttons of his shirt. 

All through this, his eyes never left mine. 

“Wait.”

His fingers didn’t stopped their movement as he got halfway down the shirt, exposing just a touch of sun-kissed skin with every button worked out. “Why?”

I sat on my knees and crawled to him. “I want to do it.”

His movements stilled and his lips curled up in a strangely savage smile. “You?”

I nodded.

He raised a brow, but his hands dropped away from his shirt and I took his place, my eyes level with his bare chest and the pale pink nipples that made my own tighten from the shadows of the robe that was somehow still around my shoulders. 

With trembling fingers, my pussy practically pulsating with heat and the need to be taken, I undid his belt and worked the front of his pants open. 

He was hard and heavy as I put a hand around his member and squeezed, marveling at the silken length. 

This was better than my dreams. How could that be possible? 

A fine tremor went through his body and he threw his head back, the strong column of his neck exposed as I squeezed again just to feel his cock jerk in my hand. 

I couldn’t believe this was happening. 

A drop of liquid collected at the tip of his cock and I rubbed at it with my thumb, smearing that slippery substance around the dark pink tip, making his cock flex again. 

With a bravado that I definitely wasn’t feeling, I knew there was only one way to progress and the robe was just getting in the way. 

I peeled it off and went down on my knees, bringing my shoulders low enough so that I could take his cock in his mouth. 

I couldn’t help but wonder what he was seeing. 

A woman spread out before him, her long hair winding around her pale body, mouth moving up and down his engorged penis, her rear raised and exposed for all to see. 

But there was no shame. 

There was no room for shame in my head. 

I lived for that moment, for that cock in my mouth, to bring him the pleasure I had always dreamed of bringing him in my dreams, to have his hands tighten in my hair as he worked me up and down his cock, the taste of his cum thick and not unpleasant in my mouth. 

This was real. 

And I didn’t want it to end. 

His hand jerked in my hair and he pulled back, his cock erect and engorged with blood. 

I looked up at him, and saw his chest moving up and down as he ran a shaky hand through his dark hair. 

And I reveled in it. 

Loved the power that I had over this man who could reduce me to a shivering pile of nerves with just one look from his ice-cold eyes. 

“Not yet,” he ground out, his eyes glowing in the darkness. “That would be a waste, wouldn’t it? Especially if you think this is going to be the first and only time we ever fuck.”

Hearing such uncouth words coming from his beautiful mouth was a thrill all on its own. I savored the sounds, knowing the memory of how he looked down at me with such heat in his eyes would keep me warm on even the coldest nights. 

He got on the bed, coming toward me on his hands and knees. I pushed myself back on my elbows until he was above me, his head level with mine. 

Bracing himself on one arm, he loomed over me, fingers stroking along the line of my lower lip. 

“You have beautiful lips,” he said. 

I stared at him. “Are you sure you should be saying that? I just might start believing you.”

His lips curled up and then his fingers slipped in my mouth. 

I sucked on them as eagerly as I had sucked his cock, and after a moment, he pulled his fingers out, replacing them with his mouth. 

I felt his fingers slide down my naked torso, eliciting a line of goose bumps in their wake. They crept past my thighs, dipping in between them, brushing against my heated core. 

A cry slipped past my lips, swallowed by his mouth. 

“Relax,” he whispered. “I won’t hurt you.” He smirked. “Much.”

Then his wet fingers slipped into me, and the sudden intrusion made my hands clench into his upper arms. 

God. It had been a long time since I had been fucked.

So long. 

And I didn’t even know how much I missed it until now. 

He shushed me, his mouth on my temple. “Just relax. Close your eyes. Don’t worry about anything. Just feel. Feel what I’m doing.”

As if I could do anything else. 

First one finger, moving slowly in and out of me. 

Then two. 

I whimpered, my face pressed into his bare chest, as his fingers quickened and that familiar throbbing sensation flooded through me. 

My toes curled into the sheets and I pressed my hips against his hand. A wild, savage sound left my mouth, sounds I never thought I was capable of making. 

“Don’t stop,” I begged. “Please, don’t stop.”

His fingers went faster and then the world was awash in shades of black and white as Nobuki brought me to the most explosive climax I had ever experienced in my life. 

I bucked against his hand, my cry muffled against his hot chest, my hands convulsing around his arms. 

I couldn’t move, could hardly breathe, as his fingers slowed and my climax slid down my thighs and soaked the sheets. 

His fingers withdrew and my cunt clenched on emptiness. My eyes opened blearily. 

He held up his dripping fingers and I felt a sudden wash of embarrassment at the lack of expression his face. “Wait, let me get a—”

Then he slipped those fingers in his mouth and the bottom fell out of my stomach. 

His eyes slid shut and I watched him lick my release off his long, elegant fingers. 

“You…you didn’t have to do that,” I stammered, but was secretly thrilled. “I could’ve gotten a towel or something for you to wipe your hand.”

He ran his hand between my thighs and rubbed his fingers on my lips.  

I opened my mouth and drew deep on his fingers, tasting myself like the ocean on his fingers, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I licked his fingers clean. 

All the strength was zapped from my limbs and he seemed pleased at my weak attempts to sit up. 

“Where are you going?”

I blinked. “To…wash off?”

He let out a snort and rolled on his side, where the evidence of his yet to be satisfied lust seemed to pulse. “You are selfish, aren’t you?”

My face colored. Oh crap. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Miyano. I didn’t—”

He shut me up with the simple expedience of putting his lips on mine. “When we’re alone, Nobuki. Call me Nobuki.”

I nodded numbly. 

He rolled off the bed and riffled through his pants. 

Meanwhile, I was trying to summon up enough strength to lift my head off the pillows. “What…what are you looking for?”

He came up with something square and shiny held between his fingers. “Now it’s time to satisfy me, don’t you think?”

His low, gravelly voice made my toes curl in unadulterated delight and I grimaced at the condom package, wondering if I should tell him. 

“What?” he asked, seeing me eye the foil square.  

“I, um, I’m not a fan of condoms.” I looked away. “I think the latex irritates me.”

He raised a brow. “That is rather unfortunate. I have no intention of getting you pregnant.”

His words were a jolt to my already battered senses. Good Lord. Pregnant with Nobuki’s child? That sounded like an absolute nightmare. 

“Actually,” I said, wondering how he was going to take this, wondering if the night was going to end like this, “I’m on the pill.”

“For how long?”

“Almost ten years, I think.”

“Any specific reason why?” He smirked. “Or were you just being prepared?”

My cheeks flushed. “My menstrual cycle is too irregular. My doctor recommended I take them to become regular.”

“I see.” The condom package crinkled between his fingers. “Do you have proof of this?”

Oh Jesus. 

Luckily, my essentials bag was on the nightstand next to us, and I fished around the small bag until I found the half-finished packet and showed it to him. “See?”

“Mmm.” His eyes narrowed. “And your last sexual partner?”

Practically melting in mortification, I muttered, “Two years ago.”

“Your last pap smear?”

What the hell was he, my gynecologist? “Three months ago.”

“And it was clear?”

I started laughing; the entire situation just seemed so ridiculous. “If you think I’m going to give you a venereal disease, I think you’re safe, Mr. Miyano. I’m about as clean as a person can get. Furthermore, I think I should be asking you for your bill of health.” 

His jawline tightened as though I had offended him. “Despite what you might think, I don’t sleep around and when I do, I am extremely careful. Or would you like to call it quits now?”

The idea of quitting now was almost too much to bear. “If I end up with something, I expect you to take full responsibility.”

The condom package dropped from his hands and he rolled me under him, pinning me beneath his lean body.

“Don’t worry.” His breath was hot on my ear and I shivered. “If you do, as you say, end up with something, I’ll foot all your medical bills. In addition, you are more than welcome to tell everyone you know that I have syphilis. Deal?”

I struggled to retain some mien of self-control. “You’re quite magnanimous, Mr. Miyano.” 

“Nobuki,” he said. “Call my name.”

The breath hitched in my throat as I felt his cock push against my slippery entrance. “Nobuki,” I said hesitantly.

He slipped in, just the tiniest bit. “Say it again.”

“Nobuki.”

Another half inch. “Again.”

My fingers dug into his arms as I rolled my hips, trying to get more of him inside me before I went totally crazy for the want of him. “Nobuki. Nobuki. Nobuki.”

With every time I said his name, he pushed himself farther and farther inside me until I thought he couldn’t go anymore, until I was full of his pulsing cock. 

“Thank God you’re on the pill,” I heard him murmur next to my ear. “Having sex with a condom is like eating ice cream with a hockey mask on.”

“You believed me easily enough,” I managed to say even though all I wanted him to do was keep moving. Why did he stop? “What if I was lying?”

He snorted. “You? Lie? You can’t even look me in the face without blushing right now.”

He had me there, and I bit my lip as he continued that excruciating slow movement of his hips that was steadily driving me crazy. 

“Please,” I pleaded against his lips. “Please. More. Harder.”

He paused, and then smiled. “You shouldn’t have said that.”

Somehow he went even slower, and my fingernails dug into his back, as short as they were. “Nobuki, please.”

“I like that. I like watching you beg. Beg me to fuck you. Go ahead. I dare you.”

If it got him to move faster, I was prepared to do just about anything. 

Words were easy, almost too easy. 

I opened my eyes wide, and met his almost casual gaze. 

“Please fuck me.”

A small part of me marveled that I could say something so crass and not want to bury my head under a pillow, but then his hips picked up the pace and it was all I could do to hold on tight as he fucked me hard and fast. 

The headboard rocked against the wall, but I didn’t care as I wrapped my legs around his waist, meeting his thrusts with my hips. I wished I could draw him even farther into me, that hot, solid length moving between my legs with agonizing precision. 

All the muscles in my body sang as everything vanished in a blur of sound and color. I concentrated on the feeling of his cock rocking inside me, the taste of his sweat tangy on my tongue as I nipped his neck, and the sound of his breathing as he fucked me as though his life depended on it. 

“Don’t stop,” I pleaded, feeling that elusive climax hovering just beyond the horizon. If I reached out, I could have touched it, I was so close. “Please don’t stop.”

“I have no intention of stopping,” he ground out and lifted my hips, fitting me more securely against his groin. 

My arms tightened around his shoulders, our skin slick with sweat as both of us fought for release. 

I found it first and came violently, screaming into his mouth, jerking against his unrelentingly body. 

I was in heaven. 

I was in hell. 

I was somewhere where time didn’t exist and everything around me was sensation. 

Then he was pounding into me, his cock jerking as he, too, found his release. His body convulsed over me, and a hoarse groan left his lips as he emptied himself into me. 

Warmth flooded through me and the last thing I remembered was his lips pressing on my forehead. 

And then I surrendered to the dark warmth.

Willingly.