by Katie Dowe
“Thank you, Peter,” she said with a smile. “Have you gotten my daughter to cook for you yet?”
“She told me she did not cook.” His eyes met hers and suddenly Karen saw it. When they looked at each other, it was as if there was no one else in the room. The electricity between them was so charged that it was tangible.
“That’s right, mister, so don’t start getting any ideas that I am going to be slaving over a stove just to get you something warm in your belly when there are so many take out options,” she told him darkly.
Her mother watched as he smiled at her gently, his eyes going over her face as he could not get enough of her. She felt humbled and somewhat petrified at the love they shared and hoped it would get a chance to blossom.
*****
“I like him,” her mother told her when they were in the kitchen tidying up and Peter was sitting in the living room having dessert. “And he loves you.” She looked at her daughter for a minute. “You have the real thing and I want to tell you that somehow it is going to work out for both of you. That man is head over heels in love with you.”
“He is not the only one.” Her eyes drifted to where he was and a smile creased her lips. “I feel the same way.”
*****
“Come in,” the deep voice called out briefly. Peter pushed the door to his father’s office open and stepped inside. The man sitting behind the massive desk looked up at his only son and continued reading the document before him. “What is it, Peter?”
“We need to talk about the marriage arrangement,” Peter told him, coming closer to the desk but remained standing.
His father put aside the document reluctantly and leaned back in his chair, his attention on him. “What about it?”
“I met someone,” Peter told him briefly, holding his gaze.
“Ah.” The single word was loaded with meaning. “Sit, please.” He gestured towards one of the chairs and Peter took a seat reluctantly. “You fancy yourself in love with this woman and believe that she is worth throwing away your company for.”
They stared at each other before Peter gave his answer. “I am in love with her and I was hoping you would see things my way and want me to be happy above anything else.”
His father gave a short bark of laughter that had no ring of amusement in it at all. “How happy are you going to be when there is no money to maintain the lifestyle you have been accustomed to? And how content will she be when she discovers that you do not have a cent to your name?”
Peter bristled with despair and anger towards a man who was so hard and cold that he would prefer his only child to be trapped into a loveless marriage than to be happy. “Who are you going to leave the company to, Father?” Peter asked him coldly, not in the least bit intimidated by him. “Michael Evans, the CFO, who spends his spare time gambling away his very substantial earnings? Or old Barrington McGregor who has been divorced three times and is drowning in alimonies? Need I go on or do you get the picture?”
“You dare to challenge me?” John Kamato’s voice had dropped to a sinister level and he stared at his son unflinchingly.
Peter returned the stare, not backing down. “I was hoping you would not see it as a challenge.”
“She might be a good screw,” he said scathingly, ignoring the flash of anger in his son’s eyes. “Hell, she might even be a great lay! But I really don’t see you giving up the company you worked so hard for a piece of tail do you?”
Peter stood up and an incredible calm came over him, replacing the crushing anger he had experienced at his father’s words. “You don’t know me,” he told him coldly. “You never took the time to do so and I refuse to be tied to a woman I do not love, no matter what the benefits.”
“We’ll see about that!” John Kamato called out furiously as he reached the door.
*****
He ploughed into her viciously causing her to cry out as his fingers dug into her smooth white flesh. He had gone to her straight from work, his blood boiling inside him. How dare he challenge his leadership! She had met him at the door with a drink in hand as was customary and he had downed the whiskey in one gulp and told her harshly to undress. He had taken her right there by the door, entering her forcefully and squeezing her generous breasts cruelly as he thrust inside her.
“Daddy, what’s wrong?” she asked him childishly, her lips trembling.
“Shut up,” he growled, feeling the disgust crawl inside him and then with a hoarse cry he spilled his seed inside her, his body shuddering.
*****
Peter paced the length of the small living room, his hands clenched at his sides. Kimberly watched him as she sat curled up on the sofa. He had called her and told her he was coming over after work, and he was going to pick her up from the store. He had done so in complete silence, and she had allowed the silence until they reached her place. “What’s eating you?” she asked him as she hung up her coat and his and went to sit on the sofa. He did not answer her for a few minutes and she waited on him to do so.
“I asked him about it, I told him I met someone and he will not see reason.” He stopped pacing and turned to face her.
“I see.” She looked up at him. For a few weeks now, she realized that it had been eating at him and she had tried to take his mind off it. “Did you expect him to?”
“I hoped he would see that I was in love with you and as my father want me to be happy.” He crouched before her and held her knees. “I hate this, Kimberly. I want to go out with you and be seen with you as the woman I am totally in love with and I want to marry you and have a family with you.”
She closed her hands over his and looked down into his handsome face as if memorizing every feature. The way his dark hair was always falling on his forehead, the cute little dimple in his strong chin, and the mouth that always drove her crazy with need. She never knew she would fall in love like this and she knew she told herself she would be able to give him up when the time came but now she was not so sure about that.”I love you so much, Peter, and I hate that you are making yourself crazy over it. I don’t know how you feel because I don’t have a billion dollar company at stake. It’s simple for me because I know I am totally in love with you and marriage or not, that will never change. For now, I just want us to enjoy each other and not think about what is going to happen tomorrow or the next day. I want to concentrate on loving you.”
He pulled her down on him and they sat on the carpeted floor. “I wanted to lunge at him and for a moment I forgot he was my father. I saw how much he was enjoying seeing me so torn and I wanted to kill him for not being my father.” He tipped her chin up and their eyes met. “But you are right. We need to enjoy each other now and not worry about it until it is right here. I love you, Kimberly, and nothing is going to keep me away from you.”
“It better not,” she told him huskily as she took his lips with hers.
Chapter 7
“I thought you would be sleeping,” her husband’s soft sinister voice stirred her from the sleep she had been drifting into. Mitsui jumped up startled. He never came into her room and he had not touched her in years, but now he was sitting at the edge of the bed still in his shirt and tie he had worn to the office this morning. A glance at the clock told her that it was almost ten o’clock and she wondered where he was coming from, not that she cared.
“What are you doing here, John?” she asked him, pulling the sheets up to her neck. He smelled as if he had been drinking.
“Your son fancies himself in love,” he told her caustically, his amused gaze taking in the way she gripped the sheets around her.
“Maybe we should let him choose his own bride,” she ventured carefully. In all the years they had been married, she had never gone against his decision until now.
“You too?” His tone was silky soft. “Are you ganging up on me now?”
“It’s not about you, John. It’s about Peter and what he wants.”
“We have been married for a number of years and still are
. Do you think if we had been in love we would still be married?”
Mitsui listened to his skewered reasoning and felt the sadness invading her body. She had always knew there was more to marriage than what she shared with him but had not known what it was until she had been with Charles. “We got married because it was forced on us, we never had a say in any of it and because of that we don’t talk to each other. This is not a marriage, John, it’s an arrangement.”
“An arrangement that has worked so far!” he said harshly. “I am not going to allow him to mess up what I have done. If he chooses to marry someone else, he will not be a part of the company and that’s final.”
“He is your son! Your own flesh and blood. Why can’t you find it in your heart to love him and put his interests first? Is it so hard that he has found love?”
He climbed on top of the bed and came closer to her. She cringed and scooted to the head of the bed, her body trembling slightly. “Don’t worry,” he said looking at her in contempt. “I never felt anything for you before and I certainly do not feel anything now.” He got off the bed. “The arrangement stands and if you and your son do not like it you can get the hell out!” With that, he strode out the door, slamming it shut behind him.
Mitsui got off the bed hastily with trembling legs and went and locked the door, sliding down to the floor, her body trembling. How was she going to escape?
*****
Peter did not care anymore. He took Kimberly out with him and did not care who saw them together. He spent most of his nights with her. He did not have a confrontation with his father again, but he knew he was just waiting until the required year deadline before he made his move.
“How about a movie?” Kimberly wrapped her hands around his neck as soon as she had locked the door to the store after the last clients had collected their pets. He had come to pick her up as usual and they were in the store together. He was sitting on one of the tables and she was standing between his legs.
“Let’s get married,” he said suddenly.
“What?” She stared at him, thinking that she had not heard him right.
“We could do it this weekend. We could pick up the rings and go get the license and do a private ceremony.” The idea had been germinating inside his head for some time and now it had taken root.
“Do you know what you are saying?” she asked him slowly.
“I love you, Kimberly, and I am not satisfied with living with you without the benefit of a marriage. I respect you too much for that, and if anything should happen to me, I want you to be secure as my wife.” His look was pleading.
“What about your arrangement?” she asked him slowly, her heart hammering inside her breasts.
“It’s not my arrangement but my father’s and there is no way I am going to honor it,” he told her soberly. “Marry me, Kimberly, and make me the happiest man in the world.”
“I would love nothing more than to do that.” She framed his face and rested her head on his forehead. “I love you as well and you do not have to put a ring on my finger for me to know how you feel about me.”
“I want to do it,” he told her quietly. “I want you to be my wife, to be Mrs. Peter Kamato, to be joined together with you as one, I want it for me.”
“You make it so hard to say no,” she told him softly. “What if he finds out?”
“Then he finds out,” he said grimly. “What do you say?”
“I say yes, although I think it is not a good idea,” she told him breathlessly.
“Good,” he murmured softly.
“There is only one condition,” she continued. “We do not announce this to anyone until after the year is passed. We wait and see what happens. He might change his mind. I do not want to be responsible for you losing the company.”
“Done,” he said, knowing that he would agree to anything as long as it meant that she was going to be his wife.
“We are really doing this?” she asked, her eyes wide.
“We are.” He started unbuttoning the dark-blue shirt she was wearing, pushing it off her shoulders so that it fell to the floor. The shutters were drawn and the only light in the place was a light in her office so no one could see them from outside. She had on a nude-colored bra and her large nipples were stiff against the silk of the material. He unhooked the front clasp and her breasts sprang free for his eager gaze. “I want you swollen with my child,” he told her thickly, using his hands to cup her breasts. “I want to see my son or my daughter feeding from them, but first I want to feed from them.” He bent his head and pulled on one nipple with his teeth. Kimberly groaned and grabbed his head, tunneling her fingers through his dark springy hair. He was busy unhooking her denims and she stepped out of them leaving only her matching panties. He reached inside it and touched her there causing her to cry out as the desire spiraled inside her. His fingers reached inside her with urgent thrusts and she moved against them, her body swaying against his. He brought her swiftly to her release before pulling out his fingers and taking out his throbbing erection. With a groan, he lifted her up and entered her from behind his hips lifting as he thrust inside her, his hands on her hips as he brought her down on him. Kimberly sobbed as she felt him deep inside her touching the very core of her. He stood up and turned her around so that she was half lying on the desk and holding her hips firm he thrust inside her, his body clenched with the fire burning through him. He felt himself harden even more as her movement became more frantic and her bottom slapped against him. He spilled his seed inside her, his body covering hers and his hands moving to her breasts cupping them as he called out her name again and again!
*****
They confided in her two best friends because they wanted them to be witnesses. They also told her mother who asked them if they were willing to face the consequences of being found out. “We are,” they answered at once.
“Then I am happy for you.” She hugged hem both. “But because it is a secret, Peter, does not mean it cannot be a proper wedding with cake and something to eat.”
It was the first Saturday in April and it was a lovely spring day. Her dress was a lemon-green silk and was fitted at the bodice and flared out at the waist. Her hair was braided in many tiny braids and gathered on top of her head with tiny rosebuds all over. She was wearing a dazzling diamond necklace he had bought her and matching bracelet and she had on matching pale green heels that gave her several inches in height. He wore a black tuxedo with a sprig of tulip in his lapel. She was carrying a bouquet made up of dahlias, tulips, and larkspur, and her makeup was so minimal, it looked like she was not wearing any. The ceremony was performed at a chapel far in the countryside and the wife of the minister provided the musical interlude. Her friends and her mother stood at the altar with them as they said their vows.
In less than two hours, they were husband and wife, and he placed the beautiful diamond solitaire on her finger. They would not be wearing it in public, only whenever they were together.
“I know it will work out,” Simone told her, hugging her friend tightly, the tears glistening in her eyes. She had worn a floral dress that looked great against her skin and Deidre had worn a purple dress. “You two are too much in love for it not to work out.”
“Thanks.” She hugged her back.
“Nothing is impossible as long as you are in love,” Deidre told her, kissing her on the cheek. They went back to her mother’s place where they had a delicious meal of fried chicken, coleslaw, potato salad, sweet and sour chicken, and beef broth. In the middle of the table, there was a three-tier vanilla icing cake that her mother had made.
“Thanks, Mom,” Kimberly said tearfully, giving the woman a hug.
“It’s the least I can do,” she told her daughter gently. “He is a rare find and no matter what, he is worth fighting for.”
*****
He wanted to take her somewhere for their honeymoon, but she had told him she was content staying in the apartment with him and drinking wine and making love by the s
immering heat of the fire. Even though it was spring, it was still very cold outside and it had snowed just two days ago.
“My wife,” he murmured, pulling her between his legs as they sat watching the flames.
“My husband,” she said softly, leaning back against him. “I can’t believe it.”
“Whatever happens, I will never leave you.” He placed his chin on top of her head. “I was wondering if I should have told my mother.”
“You think she would have been on our side?” She looked up at him curiously. He had told her what his mother had said to him some months ago.
“She looks preoccupied and happy sometimes, but apart from saying hello to me at breakfast, she never said anything to me again. I feel sorry for her. She is trapped into a loveless marriage and will never get to know what we share,” he said heavily.
“You should try talking to her and maybe she would want to meet me someday,” Kimberly ventured.
“I will see how it goes. In the meantime, I just want to enjoy my wife and not think about anything else.” He turned her around and looked at her exquisite face. “I saw you walking towards me today and I wondered if I was dreaming,” he whispered.
“I can assure you that this is very real,” she whispered, opening her mouth as he placed his on hers. His hands were gentle as he stripped off her clothes and made love to her to the sound of the wood crackling under the flames.
*****
“When are you going to tell him?” Charles asked her quietly. They were at his house on Thursday afternoon after jazz class, and he had made them supper. He had asked her to marry him and she had told him she could not do it. She could not divorce him.
“Is it about the money?” he had asked her when she told him.
“I have been married to him for over thirty years and I feel that I owe him something,” she had told him miserably. Since the night he had been inside her room and told her what he thought of her, she had been feeling more and more that the marriage was definitely over but how could she leave?
