“Yeah.”
“I’m on the pill. I’m clean. I have the records on my phone,” she said. “How about you?”
“I’m clean, I’ve got records,” he said, almost stuttering in his haste. “So, you’re good with…”
“Yes,” she said, squirming, her pussy clutching at him.
He didn’t need any other encouragement. He drove in, then just about passed out at the sheer, overwhelming pleasure of being inside Rachel naked. He’d never been inside a woman naked before. He was always too careful, too cognizant that someone might want his child, to try and latch onto the Chu empire’s riches. But he trusted Rachel.
It made sense that, yet again, she’d be his first.
“Oh, my God,” Rachel said, clutching onto him, her thighs holding him tight. He held her in place against the wall as he withdrew, then slid back in, the sensations making them both moan. He kept the pace easy at first, gliding in and out of her. She was so wet. “So… good…” she whimpered.
He knew what she meant. He’d never felt anything like her wet heat. He started to thrust more insistently, jarring against her as her legs wrapped around him. She reached down, spreading her folds until her clit rubbed against him, then kissed him hard.
The thought of her driving herself towards her pleasure, the feel of her mouth against his, was enough to drive him crazy. He pounded into her against the wall, and she wrapped her arms around him, chanting his name, rolling her hips, meeting his thrusts. He could feel the climax barreling towards him, and he knew that he had to wait.
“You feel so damned good,” he told her. “I want to be inside you forever.”
“Oh, God, yes.” She was bouncing now, her breathing going a million miles an hour. She was getting close, he could feel it. “Keep fucking me. Just like that.”
He pounded harder, gripping her ass, pulling her tight against him.
She cried out, a rippling cry of release. “Ren!”
He couldn’t have held back if he tried. Grunting, gasping, he emptied himself into her, feeling the contractions of her orgasm around the sensitive flesh like it was a fist around his cock.
Don’t pass out, was his last cognizant thought for a while. He held her, the water running down on either side of them.
“Feel better?” she asked, and the slim circlet of muscles inside her pussy gripped him playfully for a second.
“When I regain consciousness, I’ll let you know,” he said, and was gratified by her peal of laughter. “That was amazing.”
Slowly, they disengaged themselves, and Ren rubbed at his back. “I’m going to have to work out more to keep up with you,” he remarked.
Her eyes sparkled. “That was just round one,” she murmured.
Round one? And they didn’t have to wear condoms? He suddenly couldn’t wait.
They soaped each other up, inadvertently causing him to start getting another erection. “That’s going to have to wait until after dinner,” she reprimanded, but her eyes were still gleaming.
She was right. The hot shower – and the incredibly hot shower sex – had done wonders to improve his mood. The soup was perfect finishing touch.
“Thank you, again,” he said. “You just knew how to take care of me.”
She shrugged. “It’s no big deal. It’s a Friday night – all the restaurants would’ve been crowded anyway, and it really is miserable out. Besides, it’s no hardship.”
“What? Having sex with me?” He grinned. “Thanks.”
“Taking care of you.”
His heart seemed to skip a beat.
“Does that mean you’ve decided?” he asked quietly. “About us?”
There was a pause, and he felt himself hope.
“Not quite yet,” she said, and the hope was squashed. Not entirely, but enough to deflate his ego. “Let’s just enjoy this week, okay?”
He frowned. He’d just had amazing shower sex and was probably going to have more sex later. Rachel was here taking care of him. He ought to be happy. But there was something about those words that had him uneasy.
Let’s just enjoy this week.
Why did that give him such a sense of doom?
#
Rachel had optimistically brought the marketing strategy textbooks with her, so she could get ahead on her reading that weekend, but Ren was making it difficult. She had taken over his living room, with the books out on his coffee table. He had moved in next to her on the couch, giving her puppy dog eyes, brushing his fingers through her hair, or pressing kisses on her shoulder.
“Ren,” she scolded playfully. “I’m trying to read here. I thought you’d have work to do.”
He pouted. “I do,” he said. “But I’d rather be out here with you.”
He nibbled on her earlobe, and she laughed, shivering a little. “We’ve had sex like four times in the past ten hours,” she said.
“I’m making up for lost time.” He nuzzled her neck. “Besides, I’m not necessarily trying to have sex with you. I just like being with you. What’s that song? The one where the guy says, ‘I like me better when I’m with you.’ That’s how I feel.”
She felt her chest warm, like a comfy, cozy fireplace. “I like that you feel that way,” she said, nuzzling him back. She sighed. “I feel a little badly. I usually work at the bookstore with Hailey and Cressida on the weekends; it’s our busiest time.”
He pulled away a little. “Want me to take you there?” he said easily.
And that was exactly what he was like: thoughtful. She could tell he wanted to spend time with her, but if it was important to her, he immediately moved to action. “No, they assured me that they could survive a weekend without my help, and I’ll do the books next weekend,” Rachel said. “But you’d really take me, huh?”
“Of course.”
She smiled, then kissed him gently. “You’re a good egg, Ren Chu.”
“Don’t tell anybody.” He kissed her back, just as gently.
“You know, they dropped a few bombs on me yesterday,” she said. “That stressful day I told you about? A lot of it was because of them.”
“They’re giving you a hard time?” he asked.
“No. This was… well, actually, it was good news, it was just unexpected.” Rachel bit her lip, remembering the conversation. “Hailey is moving in with her boyfriend, Jake.”
“She’s moving out of the house, then?” Ren stroked her shoulder absent-mindedly, in slow, small circles. “That’s got to be a shock. You three have lived together all these years, right?”
“Yeah. Of course, Hailey’s been staying at Jake’s for months and months now, so it’s not like it’s out of the blue. I just think it finally clicked for me how serious the two of them are.” She took a deep breath. “What really blindsided me was Cressida’s announcement that she’s asking her boyfriend of one month to move in with her. Us, I guess.”
Now he looked alarmed. “Give me his name,” he said, his voice low and deadly serious. “I’ll have a background check run. You can’t simply have some strange man move into your house.”
She smiled. “That’s sweet.” And she might take him up on it. “But we’ve known Noah for just over a month now, and Cressida’s known him online for over a year. So it’s not that I feel unsafe with him moving in. It’s just another big change, that’s all.”
Ren nodded, still looking concerned.
“I think I need to move out.” She sighed. “It’s funny. I never moved out. We couldn’t afford the dorms when I got into U Dub, so I stayed at home to cut costs, and then Grandma Frost got sick and it just made more sense to stay put. And then it just got… I don’t know. Too easy to stay.”
“You got caught up in life,” Ren said. “And things just got away from you.”
She nodded. “It’s time for me to start making my own changes. I’ll get my MBA in June, and from there… I don’t know. I’ll still be a part of the store, I might even still stay with the casino, but I feel like things need to change. I need to m
ove on. And the first step is finding my own place to live.”
He stared at her, silently, still stroking her shoulder. She finally smiled at him. “What?”
“I know we’ve only been seeing each other for the past week,” he said, “but… well. You could always move in with me.”
She goggled at him. “What?”
“Too soon?” He laughed, but it sounded a little creaky. “Yeah, that’s too soon. And possibly a little creepy.”
She thought about it. “I haven’t even decided if I want to date you again, Ren. And you’re suggesting we move in together?”
“I could write up a pros and cons list,” he suggested mildly. She giggled. “I’m a pretty good cook.”
“That was a decent grilled cheese the other night,” she admitted with a smile, humoring him.
“And I have a steady job. I’m good for rent.”
“Do you even rent this place?”
“No. That’s another pro: I own the place.” She could tell he was trying to sound like he was joking – and yet, at the same time, he wasn’t. “Although if you wanted to find someplace else, someplace closer to Snoqualmie, we could definitely get something that suited your needs.”
He was serious.
“I’d make sure that all your shower needs were taken care of,” he said, his expression turning smoldering. “And any other needs, come to that.”
Her body tightened at the thought. You’ve had sex four times. Down, girl!
“Is there anything else you’d like in a roomie?” he asked.
“Is that what we’d be? Roomies?”
“I prefer the term ‘lovers’, but we can start with roomies,” he said.
She pulled back, staring at him. “Just how serious are you?”
He sighed heavily. “I don’t want to scare you. I’m just… putting this out there.”
“Why?”
“Because I want you to start thinking of me in your future,” he said.
It’s too soon! How could he know that he wanted to live with her? Why was he so intent on getting back together with her? How was he so sure when she could barely make up her mind?
“You said it yourself: you’re going to be making some changes,” he clarified. “I want to be part of them.”
“We haven’t… it’s been…” she spluttered, then huffed. “Why? How are you so damned confident in these decisions?”
His gaze went soft, and his smile was lopsided.
“Because I still love you.”
She gaped.
“Yeah. I shouldn’t have said that, either,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I was going to be a lot cooler about this, believe me. But you do something to me. I didn’t realize it until I heard your voice again, that I’d been waiting to hear your voice for ten years. And then seeing you… God. It was like getting punched right in the gut. I hadn’t even realized how much I missed you until then.”
She felt the wall around her heart, what little was left, crumble into dust.
“So yeah, I should be cooler about all of this. And I know that you’re going to need time, and I don’t want to rush or pressure you. But I want you to know: I’m all in on this. I have all these strong feelings – that you don’t need to reciprocate, especially not yet – and they’re not going to go away.”
She swallowed as best she could past the lump in her throat.
These were the words she’d always wanted to hear.
She rested her forehead against his, and felt a hot tear crawl down her cheek. He looked at her, then pulled back, stroking the tear away with his thumb.
“I love you, Rachel Frost,” he whispered, then kissed her.
She threw her arms around his neck, kissing him back with all the passion she felt for him. He sighed against her, pulling her onto his lap, holding her tight.
They stayed like that, wrapped around each other. It felt like a communion of souls, something more soothing and more tender and more heartfelt than what they’d done previous nights. It wasn’t about sex, not in that moment.
It was about love. She could admit it to herself, if only she were brave enough.
She swallowed, hard, then pulled back enough to look into his deep brown eyes.
“I think I still love you, too,” she breathed.
His arms around her tightened.
“Then stay with me.” His words were like a hammer ringing down on steel. “Keep seeing me. Let’s see where this can go.”
She closed her eyes. “All right. We’ll see how far this goes.”
It was like going into freefall. Her stomach dropped, and she felt dizzy and woozy and, frankly, terrified.
So she held him tighter, and prayed that all this would work out.
Chapter 10
She loves me.
Ren was up at six, unable to sleep any longer. He felt like a race car filled with nitrous, full of nervous energy and ready to explode. Ever since Rachel’s admission on his couch yesterday, he’d been wandering around in a cloud of euphoria. They’d made love tenderly on the couch – yes, made love, it’s official – after their mutual confession. He’d helped her study a bit, and they’d half-watched Ready Player One. He’d even found The Mummy Returns on TV, and they’d chuckled through it as they ate some stir fry Rachel had whipped up from the vegetables and meat he’d had in his fridge and freezer. Then he’d carried her to bed, where they’d had sex that was by turns scorching and sweet. She’d fallen asleep naked, the little spoon to his big spoon, and he’d breathed in the scent of her hair and stroked the silk of her skin, and had felt thankful that he’d managed somehow to get her back into his life.
Now, he was making her French toast casserole, one of her favorite breakfasts. He was lucky enough to have a French loaf and some eggs, so he was assembling it and letting it sit for a few hours while she slept. She’d probably think it was ridiculously decadent, but he didn’t care. He wanted to spoil her.
His cell phone buzzed on the kitchen counter, and he frowned. It was six in the morning. Who the hell called at six in the morning?
He sighed. It had to be his family. He hoped it wasn’t a medical emergency. That said, he somehow doubted it would be.
He answered it on the second ring. “Hello?”
“Ren.” It was his father, as he suspected.
“Dad? Are you all right? Is something wrong with Mom?”
“What?” his father asked, disconcerted. “Of course I’m all right. And your mother is fine, she’s right here with me.”
“Well, it’s six o’clock in the morning,” Ren said. “I thought it might be urgent.”
His father coughed. “Right. We were just about to get on the plane and head back to Seattle. I forgot about the time difference.”
His parents barely seemed to need sleep. His father ran on pure adrenaline, it seemed. His mother supplemented it with high grade coffee and willpower.
“We need to talk to you,” his father said. “We talked with the factory last night.”
“It was Saturday,” Ren said, then realized there was no point. “What did you decide?”
“You’re going to need to go to Zhuhai.”
“We discussed this,” Ren reminded him. He thought of Rachel in his bed. It was a long flight to China. He’d never entertained the idea of joining the Mile-High club, but with Rachel…
“For about two years, we’re thinking,” his father added.
Ren froze. “Wait. What?”
“I’m also thinking of establishing you as Chief Operating Officer, and replacing Peter,” his father said. “Your mother and I discussed it, and we think you’re ready. You’ve made good decisions, and there’s no reason we can’t move leadership for the Electronics Division to Zhuhai.”
“But Dad…”
“There’s a software developer in Macau that could replace the one we’re using,” his father kept going, rolling over Ren’s protests. “That kills two birds with one stone. Jian can handle the American operations as your
right-hand man.”
“Dad!”
His father finally paused. “What?”
“You’re talking about me moving completely out of the States,” he said slowly. “You’re talking about uprooting my whole life.”
His father sighed. “This isn’t about that girl, is it?”
You’re goddamned right it’s about “that girl,” Dad!
Ren gritted his teeth. “She’s part of it, yes.”
“You know that we need to take swift action on this,” his father said, in a firm voice. “You also must realize that this is not a whim. This is the next logical step.”
The damned thing was, it did make sense. And if Rachel wasn’t in his life, he’d do it without blinking. It would annoy him, but it wouldn’t occur to him to question it.
But Rachel was in his life now. He felt a trembling sense of panic skitter at the edges of his nerve endings. How was she going to take this kind of news?
“We’ll discuss it more tomorrow, at the office,” his father said, and it was like a king making a final decree. There was no room for discussion. Just like Jian’s reassignment and Meili’s transfer, these were marching orders. As a good family foot soldier, he was expected to comply.
He felt a wrenching sense of loss.
“There’s got to be another way to do this,” Ren said.
“What?”
“I mean, I don’t have to move all the way over there.” His mind was whirring with possibilities. There had to be a way to escape this trap. “I’ll put in extra time here, and we can get someone in place there, a liaison, that can manage the factory. And there are plenty of developers here that we can work with – Seattle’s crawling with them. There have got to be other options than me moving across the ocean.”
His father went silent for a long fraught moment. Then he let out a breath.
“Ren,” he said quietly. “This is not up for discussion.”
Ren felt his heart sink.
“Your mother wants to talk to you,” his father said, and Ren heard the phone shuffle from one hand to another.
“Ren?” his mother said. “I was afraid you’d take the news like this, which is why I thought we should tell you as soon as possible. I told him we should have called you last night.”
Ship of Fools Page 14
