Nicholas (Members From Money Book 10)

by Katie Dowe

  He felt himself tighten and the erection pressed against her bottom as the desire floated between them. She had been kissed before but never like this! She pressed against his body knowing that she wanted more. Before she could transmit her needs to him he dragged his mouth away from hers, his breathing ragged. He put her away from him and stood up drunkenly, his dark eyes narrowed as he stared down at her. “I can’t stay,” he said abruptly.

  “Why not?” she demanded, her awakened body shivering from the need inside her.

  “I need air,” he told her and headed for the door. Kimberly jumped off the sofa and stopped him before he reached the door. He had already put on his coat and she knew he was getting ready to leave.

  “What is going on, Peter?” she asked him, coming between him and the door.

  “I just need to go.” He stood there staring down at her, not daring to touch her. “I am sorry, this was a mistake.”

  “You are going to have to do better than that,” she told him coolly, planting her hands on her hips. She looked like a small tornado with her eyes flashing and her bosom heaving. “I am not some teenager or inept woman who is going to swallow that, so try again.”

  “I want you,” he told her tightly.

  “So have me,” she told him softly, pushing her hands inside his sweater and feeling his skin against the thin white shirt he had underneath.

  “No” he whispered achingly, reaching down to pull her against him. “You don’t know what you are doing.” He took her lips with his hungrily, pressing her back against the door, one hand around her throat. His tongue ravaged hers and Kimberly clung to him feverishly as she felt the desire flooding her body.

  With a groan, he lifted the sweater over her head and realized that she was not wearing a bra. Her breasts were very generous for her size, the nipples a dusky brown that had stiffened from desire. He bent his head and took her nipple inside his mouth, pulling it and using his tongue to massage it. Kimberly gasped and threw back her head, her body on fire! She shoved her fingers through his soft dark hair and moaned softly, feverishly as he moved over to the next one. “Peter,” she muttered, wanting him to go further. He released her nipple and straightened up to look at her. She was unashamed of her body and leaned back against the door as he looked at her, his eyes narrowed, his body shaking. She was beautiful! With a tortured groan, he let her go. “I have to go,” he told her, his expression tortured. “Please don’t ask me why.”

  She moved away from the door and allowed him to leave, her body shivering and frustrated with need.

  *****

  Peter rested his head against the steering wheel as soon as he got into his vehicle. He had not meant to touch her, but he had not been able to help himself. He was drawn to her like a magnet drawn to steel and when she had suggested they had dinner at her home he should have said no and gone to somewhere public. He had thought he could control himself around her. He was very good at not letting his emotions control him, but he had underestimated the power she was beginning to have over him.

  He turned on the engine and drove away, his thoughts troubled. He had made a commitment to another woman, and in their tradition he was as good as married.

  *****

  Mitsui noticed how distracted he was but so was she. They were not a family big on confiding in each other or airing their feelings to each other. She had noticed that he did not talk much at the dinner table, but that was nothing strange. Apart from some business discussion between father and son, nothing much was said, and she was usually left out of the conversation. She picked at her food even though it was one of her favorites: Kushiyaki (a mixture of meat and vegetables) and white rice. It was Wednesday and her usual date with Charles was tomorrow and she could not wait to see him. They called each other two times a day which she could afford to do because her husband left to go to the office from eight and did not come back until around nine. Did he realize how lonely she was? And if he did, would it matter to him? Charles had showed her a glimpse of a better life and she was craving it!

  “I think we should maybe have the arrangement in December,” John Kamato said suddenly. He had finished eating and pushed his plate away getting ready to leave the dinner table. Both his wife and son looked up at him startled.

  “What arrangement?” Peter asked even though he knew what it was.

  “The marriage,” he clarified. “I don’t think we should wait for a year to make it happen. The sooner it is done, the sooner you get control of the company.”

  Before now, Peter would have felt his heart thundering with excitement, but right now he felt as if he had been sentenced to the death penalty. “I think we should wait for the year,” he said casually, not daring to show how repugnant the idea was to him.

  “I agree,” his mother said swiftly, not looking at her son. “I think we should wait.”

  John looked at both of them for a minute and then with a shrug of his slim shoulders, he nodded and went from the room.

  “Thank you, Mother,” Peter told her and before she could say anything he pushed his chair back and left the table. What a family, she thought sadly.

  *****

  She called him the next day. He was sitting in his office trying to use work to get his mind off his troubles when she called him.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I am getting there,” he said stiffly. He had to keep her at arm’s length and he was trying to find a way to never see her again, but so far he had not come up with anything.

  “Peter, I am not very experienced, but this much I know. We are attracted to each other and the inevitable is going to happen sooner or later.” She paused. “I want it to happen, but it seems to me that you are struggling with something. I appreciate that you do not want to let me in just now, but I am here when you are ready.”

  “I can’t,” he told her abruptly.

  “Can’t do what?” she asked him, puzzled. “Are you married?”

  “No,” he told her swiftly.

  “Good, because that is not a road I intend to travel down. I don’t mess with married men. So now that we have that out of the way, why don’t we have dinner at a public place this time?” she suggested.

  He wanted to say no, but he had to see her even if it was one more time.

  “I promise not to touch you,” she teased him.

  “Are you sure?” he said softly. He could not help the smile curving his lips.

  “I am sure. If you touch me first all bets are off,” she warned.

  “I will try my best not to,” he said with a laugh.

  “Okay then, we are set.”

  *****

  He was called into his father’s office shortly after. John Masato was sitting around his plain desk, reading through a document in his hands.

  “Sit.” He gestured towards one of the chairs. He had never treated his son more than an employee and as much as Peter resented it he realized that it had made him work harder to prove himself. “Before I married your mother, I had a woman I was attracted to but knew that I would never ask her to marry me because my wife had been chosen for me. I made her aware of the situation and she was contented to be the woman on the side and I took care of her. We saw each other for several months until we got bored with the arrangement and we ended it. You are probably in the same shoes I was in, and I am going to give you a piece of advice. Don’t mistake lust for love and remember what you have to lose; a billion dollar company is a powerful incentive.” He nodded and indicated that he was finished, not giving the slightest thought that his son had anything to say!

  Chapter 4

  He felt like the lowest form of a human being. He performed his duty by having dinner at home with his intended bride and suffered through, forcing himself to make conversation while his mind was on Kimberly and when he was going to see her again. He had told himself that dinner with her a week ago would be the last and then he would tell her goodbye, but it had not worked out that way.

  He had picked her up fr
om the store and she had wrapped her arms around his neck and put her mouth on his. With a groan, he had placed his arms around her small waist and deepened the kiss, right there in plain view, his body tightening with desire. “I lied,” she had told him huskily. He could feel her breasts pressing against his chest and he could not quite filter his thoughts.

  “About what?” he had whispered hoarsely.

  “Not touching you.” She nipped at his bottom lip with her teeth and he felt the shudder go straight through his body! This was not happening; he thought in despair, how could he feel so much for her in such a short time? He bore her back against the vehicle and took her mouth with his helplessly, his hands roaming her body feverishly. It was the glare from the headlights of an oncoming vehicle that brought him back to where they were; standing outside her store for anyone to see them. He had stepped away from her, his hands trembling badly and allowed her to go inside the vehicle.

  He did not say anything to her the entire time they were going to the restaurant and she had leaned back her head against the head rest and closed her eyes. He kept looking at her as he drove. He wanted her so much that he did not know how he was going to contain himself around her.

  She made him laugh in spite of himself, with some witty repartee about some of her clients and told him about her two best friends, Deidre and Simone, and how they had been friends from college. They were eating at a small unpretentious restaurant just outside of town, and at that time of the evening it was fairly empty. He loved the way the green sweater she was wearing looked against her smooth skin and her totally confident and unabashed laughter. He could not help but compare her to his intended bride and wished she was the one he was going to marry.

  “Tell me about them,” he said, forcing a smile to his mouth.

  “Deidre is full of drama and fancies herself in love with the guy she is dating.” She shook her head. “He does not mean her any good and is constantly loafing on her. Simone met someone in Tuscany and she thinks he might be the one.”

  “How about you?” He picked at the roast beef in his plate. “Ever been in love?”

  “No.” She looked at him for a moment. “Never been close until now.”

  His hands became still and he looked at her, his breathing getting shallow.

  “Don’t worry, I am not going to demand that you marry me or anything like that.” She leaned forward. “I like you a lot, Peter Kamato, and I am very attracted to you, but I have no hang ups about anything else.”

  “I feel the same way.” His voice sounded strangled to his ears.

  “Good,” she exclaimed softly. “Now let’s eat.”

  *****

  The dimensions were all wrong. He stared at the specs for a little while longer. It was the supermarket they had acquired recently and were trying to remodel it and get it off the ground for Christmas. The renovations were taking a little bit longer than expected and he was getting impatient with it. Apart from his other duties, he was responsible for acquisitions and he knew his father watched everything he did like a hawk.

  He pressed his buzzer. “Jennifer, please get the contractor on the phone.”

  “Right away, Peter.”

  *****

  “Here you go, Cassie, that’s a good girl,” Kimberly said soothingly, raising the bottle to the dog’s mouth for her to drink down the medicine. She had not been eating too well for the past few days and she had taken her to the vet only to discover that she had colic. “That’s a good girl,” she said soothingly as the dog finished drinking and went back to lie down, resting her head on her paws and looking at her with sorrowful dark brown eyes.

  “Does she look sicker to you?” she asked Brian anxiously. He was cleaning out some poop from the empty cages. It was a little after four, and some of the owners had already collected their pets.

  “I am knee deep in crap, so I am not able to answer that,” he said, complaining as he went to get rid of the stuff.

  “It’s part of the job, buddy. I did it all of last week so now this week is yours.” She glanced back at Cassie. “I am going to see if she will eat something.”

  *****

  “This is nice,” Mitsui said with a soft smile as she snuggled closer to Charles and closed her eyes. It was Thursday and they had met as usual and he had cooked her dinner, some pasta and ground beef, and they had practiced the dance routine they had learned earlier in the week. She had rested her head against his broad shoulder and felt as if everything was going to turn out okay.

  He lifted her head and looked down at her. “I want to kiss you properly.”

  “I have been waiting for that,” she told him her heart racing.

  He took her lips with his gently, his movements unhurried and she felt as if he had opened up a slow gentle flowing stream inside her. For years, she had been subdued and constrained and not allowed to show her feelings. Sex with her husband the few times they had been together had been mechanical and lifeless, a duty performed because she had to and she had endured it like a dutiful wife. Now with Charles she felt as if she had come home and this was where she belonged. She opened her mouth underneath his and moved against him wanting to feel his wonderful body next to hers.

  He lifted her up and carried her slight frame to the bedroom, closing the door behind them before laying her on the bed, looking down at her before joining her.

  *****

  “Cassie died,” she told him mechanically. He had called to find out how she was and she had told him.

  “Hey, I am sorry. Do you want me to come over?” he asked her instantly, and she almost told him yes, wanting to feel his arms around her.

  “I have to go to my mom’s for dinner,” she said with a sigh. “Oh Peter, I knew she was ill but I kept hoping she was getting better and I wondered if I had taken her home like my mother said I should she would still be alive.”

  “Stop blaming yourself, you did the best you could.”

  “Thanks. See you tomorrow?” she asked him.

  “Try and keep me away,” he said softly.

  *****

  “Mom, I cannot eat a single thing else,” she protested, refusing the second helping of fried chicken and potato salad her mother was heaping onto her plate.

  “Eat, you look too thin,” she insisted, going back to sit at her end of the table. “I know you are mourning but you also need to eat.”

  “I miss her so much,” she said with a sigh, automatically picking up a drumstick and taking a bite.

  “I know,” Karen said sympathetically. “Now tell me about this young man you have been seeing and why have I not been introduced to him.”

  “How did you know?” Kimberly looked at her startled.

  “I am not some old and doddering woman who does not notice what goes on around her,” her mother said mildly. “You look different and you hardly have time to call or come and see your mother. Now that usually means that a man is in the picture.”

  “It’s a thing,” she said reluctantly. She put down the half-eaten drumstick and looked at her mother. “He is struggling with something and I am waiting for him to tell me what it is.”

  “How do you feel about him?” Her mother got up to get them some orange juice.

  “I like him a lot and I haven’t felt this way about anyone else.” She shrugged eloquently. “I am just seeing where it is leading.”

  “What about him?”

  “I think he feels the same way.”

  *****

  He knew they were going to make love and he had shed all of the thoughts flooding his mind about why he should stay away from her. She needed him, he argued with himself, she was grieving her pet and she needed him and there was no way he was going to stay away when she needed comfort. It was Friday night, the day after Thanksgiving, and she had spent the day with her mother and felt a little better when she went home.

  He arrived on her doorstep promptly at eight with a bottle of wine and a stuffed dog that looked a lot like Cassie. She wanted to cry right
then and there at his thoughtfulness. Instead, she put her arms around his neck and dragged his head down for a kiss that shook both of them to the core. “Kimberly.” He gathered her up in his arms and carried her to the couch, only stopping long enough to put the things he had brought on the table.

  “I want to feel you,” she murmured, pulling his corded sweater over his head, followed by his white t-shirt. His chest was smooth and muscled and his waist narrow. “I don’t care about anything else, I just want to feel you.”

  With a groan, he took her lips with his, deepening the kiss and digging his fingers into her thick hair. He stopped kissing her and pulled her sweatshirt over her head, his eyes narrowed as he looked at her unfettered breasts. He bent his head and took a nipple inside his mouth pulling on it hungrily. Kimberly arched her back against him feeling the pull straight to the core of her. He moved to the other nipple sucking it into his mouth, his tongue flicking over it and fanning the fire inside her.

  He lifted his head to look at her. “Are you sure?” he asked her thickly, his eyes on her passion filled face.

  “If you stop now, I am going to kill you,” she told him huskily. She took one of his hands and placed it over her breast. “I am on fire for you.”

  He picked her up and took her into the tiny bedroom where he placed her on the bed and finished undressing her. She watched him as he bent down on the side of the bed and pulled off her panties. His fingers parted the lips of her vagina and he ran a finger between them watching her reaction. She squirmed and arched her body as his finger touched her mound before dipping it inside her again. She opened her legs to him and he thrust his fingers inside her over and over again. He wanted to please her and let her know what was coming. “I can’t stay away from you, please help me.” It was said like a prayer and she had a feeling he was talking to himself. He pulled out and finished undressing and stood before her. She stared at him shocked and surprised as she noticed his erection. She knew she had to tell him now.