His heart jolted at her assessment. Han was a predator. But the last thing predators ever expected was for their prey to suddenly turn around and call their bluff. He found himself fumbling for an answer to her accusations.
In the end, he decided to go with the truth simply because he couldn’t come up with anything else. “I will admit to being…intrigued by you…of wishing to see you again.”
“Why?” she immediately asked on top of his confession. She wielded her voice like a large blunt instrument. “So you could fuck me?”
“Yes,” he answered. The word was simple. But all the feelings behind it were not.
Yes, he wanted her right now. Yes, he wanted her from the first moment he saw her. And every day in between. Inside he churned with the want of her.
Outside, he simply declared, “As a Dragon, I’ve become unused to not getting what I want. When I don’t, it doesn’t…sit right with me as the idiom goes.”
“Obviously,” she said with a pointed look toward the chair his original date had abandoned. She then returned her eyes to him to say. “You could have texted. Could have flirted. Could have ended up here with me in the non-asshole way like Faizan did. But you don’t do that with women, do you? You don’t try.”
She picked up the glass of wine he’d ordered for Lana and shook her head. “You don’t force women, and you don’t touch prostitutes. But you treat the women you date like pros anyway—like they’re disposable.”
“Because they are,” Han answered, taking a page from her plain-speaking book.
“So basically, I’m like a clog in your system. You don’t know what to do with me because in your world, women are only there to fuck or be fucked. And I’m just walking around, doing my own thing. Thoroughly unfucked by the great Han Zhiwei.”
It was true. All of it was true. Yet, he didn’t like hearing this crass assessment of him from her mouth.
But if she’d sensed that as she’d sensed so many other truths about him, she didn’t appear to care. “Am I right?” she demanded.
“I don’t like leaving projects unfinished, no,” he replied.
She took a long draw of Lana’s wine and gave him an assessing look before saying, “Okay.”
“Okay?” he repeated, not understanding her response to his bald confession.
“Let’s unclog your drain. Let’s go upstairs to this hotel room of yours and get me out of your system.”
14
HAN
Let’s unclog your drain.
They crashed into his suite at the Tourmaline kissing, like a tsunami, one that couldn’t be stopped until they washed into the bed.
Han felt uncharacteristically desperate. The dress that was so wrong for her—he wanted it gone. But he stopped just short of tearing it off her body.
No…he had to calm down. He wanted this to be good for her, wanted her to remember their one night together when they moved on to other people.
He tamped down the bitter jealousy that appeared when he thought of her with other men. This is a temporary madness, he promised himself. She had been exactly right about her driving him crazy because she was a loop he’d failed to close. All he had to do was take her. And then this weird obsession would end.
He reared up from the kiss to command, “Take off your dress.”
The words came out as rough and raw as he felt.
She’d hesitated in the champagne room, but not tonight. At his words, she crossed her arms over her body and grabbed the dress at the waist. In the next moment, it was gone. And she looked back at him as if to say, Challenge met.
The stark dare in her eyes made his blood roar with something primal. Made him want to claim her that much more. But seeing what she wore underneath the dress made him stop short. Was that…?
He had to ask the question out loud, “Is that a bikini?”
She glanced down at the nylon with the RipSwell logos covering her breasts and privates and answered, “Yeah, this is what I wear under everything since I don’t own any real bras or panties.
“You don’t own proper underwear?” he asked, not bothering to keep the shock out of his voice.
She shrugged, completely unashamed. “I mean, what’s the point when bikinis work just as well. Plus, if you’re wearing a bikini underneath, you’re always ready to jump into the ocean.”
Han made a surprised, considering sound in the back of his throat. She was so different from the other women he’d been with. So obviously not trying to impress him.
Hunger that had nothing to do with his missed meal filled his belly—along with a wicked desire to knock her off that unbothered pedestal.
She eeped when he yanked at the bikini bottoms, sending her flying backward as he pulled them down her strong legs.
But her surprise turned into something else when he hooked her knees over his shoulders and licked her pussy.
She tasted good. So much better than anything the Michelin-star chef could have come up with downstairs. And her soft mews of pleasure made his cock hard as granite. He wanted to bury himself inside of her. But he wanted to experience her going wild for him even more. So he kept going, his tongue delving between her soft folds.
And he was rewarded for his patience when the mews turned into helpless cries, and she fell apart as he gently sucked on her clit.
His cock didn’t allow him to relish his triumph for long, though. It raged and pulsed, demanding its due.
He dutifully put on a condom and glanced back down at her.
Mistake. Jasmine was still coming down from her climax, her hands running over her strong, curvy body. The erotic picture she presented as she massaged her breasts…
If the need had been a manageable flame before that moment, it exploded into a bonfire.
Forget savoring his triumph over her. He couldn’t even remember making the decision to push in. One moment he was looking down at that incredibly erotic sight, and the next, he was buried inside of her.
She was tighter than he expected her to be. And he paused, afraid that he might have hurt her. But she scratched at his back. “Yes, go, go, go. Please, go.”
She needed this, he suddenly realized. It had been a long time. And she wanted him. Wanted him as badly as he wanted her.
That new understanding unleashed something inside of him. And he rode her, wild and unbridled as an animal.
At least he did at first.
Something reined him in, made him come up on his elbows so that he could watch her as he moved inside of her. Han savored her expression when another orgasm began to visibly rise.
As good as it felt to finally be inside her pussy, Jasmine’s expression as she fell apart struck him as even better. Her face was all longing until suddenly it filled with utter shock. She grabbed onto his arms, her short nails biting into his skin. As if she was afraid of what was happening to her, afraid she might fall apart if she didn’t hold onto him. Then she came underneath him, her core gripping him so delicious and tight.
He understood the reason for her fear in the next moment. The way she clamped down on him as she came—it sent him over the edge before he was ready. Stars filled his vision without proper warning as a zap of white heat pulsed through his cock.
Typically, he began a focused thrusting action into his conquest after making sure his partner came, finishing the job with stamina and grace. But with Jasmine, he lost control. His hips bucked wildly until suddenly, his entire body seized.
He didn’t just come. Instead, he exploded, emptying into the condom as if she’d reached a hand into his body and pulled out his soul.
He came forever. So long, he began to wonder if he had only imagined being with all those other women before Jasmine. Maybe he’d never actually come before, and this was his entire lifetime of stores.
But eventually, he finished and collapsed on top of her, completely drained.
They lay like that, breathing together in wordless awe.
Until Jasmine asked, “Okay, that sex was so good, r
ight now, I’m like. Hey, if he crushes me with his bodyweight and I die underneath him—totally okay. Stuff happens, you know.”
He rolled off her with a laugh.
And he couldn’t say he hated it when she grabbed on to him unexpectedly and ended up sprawled across the front of his body, like a soft, curvy blanket.
“Seriously, that was awesome,” she said, her voice breathless. “Mahalo, dude. You did that.”
A light, unlike anything he’d ever felt, filled him up at her compliments. “Thank you, too,” he answered, his voice as warm and soft as she felt on top of him.
A questioning look came over her, and she extended her neck.
Han’s body understood what she was trying to do before his head. His hand came up of its own accord and pulled her the rest of the way, closing the gap between their lips as they shared another deep kiss.
“One night stand accomplished,” she said when he finally let her up for air. Then she wriggled playfully on top of the erection that had resurrected as he took her mouth.
“Did it work?” she asked, her eyes bright and teasing. “Am I out of your system?”
Her question had the effect of the ice baths Han sometimes undertook back in Rhode Island after a rigorous workout.
No. No, it hadn’t worked.
This wasn’t about feelings. It wasn’t about sex even. It was about conquering her, clearing her out of his system so that he could focus on other things. But the usual done feeling that accompanied getting what he wanted from a conquest was nowhere to be found.
Jasmine…
Jasmine, with her swimsuit underwear and her refusal to cater to him and her reckless mouth, had been the best sex he ever had. So good, he’d immediately wanted to feel that way again. How could that be?
Again, panic rose inside him, along with the feeling that he was dealing with a ticking bomb. Women were disposable. They were fun for a few hours, but they didn’t stay. They weren’t supposed to stay.
“Yes, it worked,” he told her—not because it was true but because it should have been. “You may use the shower if you wish. But after that, you should go.”
JAZZ
You should go.
All the warm and fuzzy feelings from that amazing sex popped like a bubble inside of me.
Making me feel stupid for thinking the answer to that question would be no. Hadn’t his original date told me the deal in that downstairs bathroom?
He doesn’t let girls spend the night—that’s his policy. But he makes having to take that middle of the night Uber ride home worth it. Believe me.
I’d finally caught the big wave. I’d paddled hard to meet it and jumped on it on my terms—just sex. No feelings. Bet.
But then, I’d made the rookie mistake of letting myself rest, of turning my board toward the beach as opposed to watching out for dangerous incoming waves on the horizon.
I rose from the bed, feeling as dirty as he had insinuated with that gracious offer of the shower. I quickly gathered my clothes and all but ran to the bathroom suite. It was gorgeous. Marble and wicker and full of Polynesian charm.
But I didn’t stop to marvel at any of that. Instead, I stared at myself in the mirror, naked and tousled. Vulnerable. That had been the best sex of my life. I’d felt so happy and complete afterward. And I finally understood why mortal girls gave up their human worlds to be with Fae Kings.
Magic…
For the first time since I found out about my father’s diagnosis, it had felt like something in my life was going right. That the stars had aligned to give me exactly what I needed on Valentine’s night.
But then he dismissed me just like he had Lana—you know, the woman I’d thought I was out of her mind to hand over her pride so easily to him?
Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry, I commanded myself until the emotions brimming in my eyes finally receded. Because you know what? I deserved that wipeout. I deserved everything I was feeling now because I’d let my guard down when I knew…I knew better.
I rinsed off after I got a hold of myself. The body wash smelled like jasmine and had a hand-drawn picture of my mother’s favorite flower splashed across its front. The luxurious scent covered up my latest mistake with the ruthless triad dragon. But it clung to me even after I toweled off, mocking me as I put back on the bikini and then the flower vomit dress and cardigan.
So no, I wasn’t surprised by how things turned out when I opened the bathroom door. But I was surprised to find Han right outside when I came back into the suite's main room.
He’d pulled his boxer briefs back on, and he had a look on his face that reminded me a little too much of pity.
“Jasmine…” he started to say, taking a step toward me.
First rule of self-defense, never let them get too close.
I held up a hand to keep him from advancing. “Don’t. I don’t want to talk about this with you. I get it.”
He started to speak again, but I cut him off. “I’m going to pay you back. I don’t care if I have to work my fingers to the bone. I’m going to pay you back so that I never have to see you again. Here, take this. I don’t want it anymore.”
I pulled the phone out of the crossbody purse my mom loaned me and tried to hand it to him.
But he just looked at it, and that soft pity dissolved from his eyes. “You haven’t paid me back yet. And until then, the terms of our deal are still the same. If I call, if I text, you answer it.”
Son of a…
Apparently, Han was one of those horrible assholes who somehow always managed to get in the last word.
And you know what, he could have it.
I walked out without another word. But his phone burned inside mom’s bag as I left. And it continued to do so for the next two months, knowing that he could call me. Anytime. Because no matter how huffy I got about it, until I paid him back, I still owed him a year and a half of…how had he put it when he showed up at the Broken Billionaire’s villa?
“Two years of doing what I say. Whatever I say.”
So I braced myself for the call that could come at any second. But he didn’t call me. More months passed, and the phone didn’t light up with an unknown number. Not even once.
Good. Great. That left me free to work even harder. I gave up my dawn solo surfs and added a Waikiki sunrise class to my roster. I also bought some water-proof LED lights, sent a prayer up to the insurance gods and added a night surfing class for my advanced students.
When I wasn’t teaching, I was marketing—talking to hotels, handing out postcards in Waikiki, tacking flyers to electric poles—whatever it took to get more clients.
I even contacted Brad’s father and ate all the crow before asking if I could teach at the summer camp he ran up on the North Shore.
I worked as hard as I could and squeezed in sleep, not when I needed it, but whenever I had a chance.
Which is why I didn’t appreciate it when the doorbell rang just as I was settling in for a midday nap. Mom had just taken Dad to the physical therapist on her day off, so it was on me to answer it.
But my irritation turned into shock when I opened the door.
Han was standing on my parent’s front porch, his expression grave.
“Something happened,” he told me before I could ask what the hell he was doing here. “We’ve had a falling out with the 24K. And you’re going to have to come with me.”
15
HAN
She was here. Here in his space. It had been years since Han invited a woman into his private abode. And he had never asked one to stay for more than a couple of hours.
As he watched Jasmine move around his penthouse, he didn’t quite know what to do with his hands. He still couldn’t believe it was over—his obligation to Kuang. The mission to kill Mika Hayes. His old plan to simply complete the Golden Circle deal and return to Rhode Island.
This new plan was much riskier, dangerous for reasons that went beyond Kuang Jr.—whose territories he’d decided to claim for The
Silent Triad now that they were no longer a valued business partner of the 24K.
That was why he’d invited the bomb into his house. Both to bait Kuang Jr. and to keep the snakehead from making a move on her now that his dad had fallen out with The Silent Triad. She was a key piece in this chess game he’d decided to play with the 24K Dragon’s oldest son. That was the only reason he’d risked bringing her here after what happened between them on Valentine’s night. The only reason.
Still, Han couldn’t quite get over it. Jasmine was here. Here. Walking around the main room of his open-plan penthouse and stopping in front of the glass doors that led to a lanai with a private swimming pool.
He tracked her every move inside his domain, feeling much like a lion who’d invited a doe into his cave without expectation of dinner.
“How long am I supposed to stay here?” the doe asked after she was done with her self-guided tour. “A couple of days? A week?”
Victor and Phantom had demanded to know the same thing when Han called to tell him that he wouldn’t be decamping from Hawaii, even though Victor had made an enemy of Kuang by calling off his engagement with the 24K’s daughter. He answered her the same as he answered them, “Into the foreseeable future.”
“Into the fore…” Jasmine let out a sound of disbelief. Then she narrowed her eyes at him. “Dude, if you wanted to fuck me again, you could have just gotten the ‘no freaking way’ back at my house. All these dramatics aren’t necessary.”
Han pressed his lips together to keep himself from immediately responding. Not just because she’d insulted him with her accusation, but also because she wasn’t entirely wrong.
Jasmine had become a problematic snag in the back of his head over the last couple of months. The sex hadn’t worked. Hadn’t made him want her any less or—how had she put it? Unclogged his drain. That she had guessed that so easily made the blood simmer in his veins.
HAN: Her Ruthless Mistake: 50 Loving States, Delaware (Ruthless Triad Book 4) Page 10
