“What are you doing here?” he questioned.
* * * *
It had taken Rochelle almost twenty hours but she made it. She almost passed out when the plane lifted off. It is a fear she never thought she could over-come but each time she flew she felt ill.
She turned around to look at him. Beside the fact that he looked sexy without his shirt, he looked tired.
“I wanted to see you—can I come in?”
“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.” Raiden tilted his head. He stepped aside anyway. Rochelle walked by him and into a surprisingly beautiful home. She removed her shoes like Maylee told her and placed them neatly to the side on a mat. She spent the few minutes it took her to book her flight, secure a hotel in Osaka and pack a few things, to have Maylee shout Japanese etiquette at her. Rochelle prayed she retained all the information so she wouldn’t offend anyone. She turned to face him until he led her into the living room. He picked up his shirt and slipped into it, leaving Rochelle feeling cheated.
“I asked you a question.”
“And I told you. I didn’t come all this way to argue with you. I hoped you would want to do this.” She held out the letter that she folded and unfolded so many times that it fit in her palm perfectly. Without pressure keeping the sides down, the letter simply unfolded itself. He looked down into her hand as if it had sprouted horns.
“I didn’t write that so you’d come running back. I wrote it to tell you how I felt so you wouldn’t be left wondering. I just wanted you to know.”
“I know,” Rochelle whispered. “I’ve missed you, Zero. Everything in my house smells like you—my office isn’t the same anymore. I keep seeing you up against the door with me on my knees. I read your letter and it broke my heart. I tried to move on but the last few days have been torture.”
She stared at him but he turned his face away from her. It seemed like he was rejecting her and she didn’t know what to do. She reached out and held onto his arm. “Zero—”
He pulled from her and she reached forward again.
“Zero, I need you.”
“That’s not enough.”
“I know—but right now that’s all I have. I know you don’t love me—”
He swung to face her so violently that she gasped and jerked backward. “And how would you know that? How do you know what is happening inside me—how do you know what I am feeling? You cannot begin to understand. My family expected me to marry a Japanese woman. I expected to marry a woman of my culture. But I never felt for any of them the way I felt for you. I never wanted any woman to be in control—ever. But with you…” he stopped and lifted his head as though trying to find the right words. “I gave you my body and I longed to give you my soul. But my heart, I had no power over that.”
“No one loves anyone that deeply within the short time I’ve known you.”
“Did you come all this way to insult my intelligence, Rochelle? Do you think I haven’t lain here, on this sofa wondering how that could be? I’ve spent hours trying to figure it out. At first I thought it was lust, just a stupid infatuation. But then I thought of you with another man and it damn near killed me. Each and every time I saw you looking at him the way you looked at me—on that table, on your knees, in his arms—I wanted to die. It won’t go away, Rochelle. Now, you’ve asked me to let you go and I am trying—at least give me the chance to do that.”
“I don’t want to lose you, Raiden. I can’t.”
“Then what do you want me to say? What do you want me to do?”
The pain on his face startled her. She could see the hurt in his eyes. She wanted to reach out and take him in her arms. Bowing her head she inhaled before looking at him again. “Hold me?” she whispered, daring not to meet his gaze. “Look at me like you did when you picked me up in your arms in the CN Tower. I want you to smile at me the way you did when I cooked you Miso. I want you to touch me like you did before.”
“I can’t. I can’t smile at you when you already have my smiles. I gave them to you so you could be happy.”
“Zero, I’ll never be happy until I have you. Don’t you understand? What I need is for you to love me—not to tell me you do because that’s what you think I want to hear. I want you to take time, really make sure you love me.”
“So until then what do I do? Pretend I don’t love you? Rochelle, you can leave now. You can come back when you think it’s the right time for someone to love someone else. I will not be with someone who wants me to reject how I’m feeling.”
Rochelle stared at him, tears welling up in her eyes. When the first one toppled down her cheeks, Raiden looked away from her and walked from the room. She stood there, alone and vulnerable, shaking slightly. She took a seat on the sofa behind her and tried drying her eyes. She remembered what he had written in the letter.
I made you cry and the truth is I would rather cut my right arm off than hurt you anymore. Gomennasai, Koibito— I am sorry.
She took a deep breath to settle her emotions. She dried her eyes with the backs of her hands. When she felt like she could control the tears, she exited the room and found him in the kitchen. She stood at the door watching him. He had both hands braced against the counter with his head bowed. His lovely, dark hair hung in his face. She could tell he was trying to reel himself in. “Raiden.”
He didn’t look at her.
“I’m not crying, Raiden, I promise.”
Slowly, he lifted his eyes to her.
“Why do you look away every time I cry?”
“I know the tears are because of me—and seeing you cry breaks my heart.”
The truth behind his words tore at her heart but she inhaled and held the breath in order to keep from crying. She stepped forward and took his hand, pressing the palm to her heart. “I can make you a promise right now, Raiden. I can promise you that I would be a good woman to you. But I can’t be that if you keep pushing me away.”
“I can’t allow you to, if you keep telling me I don’t love you. How can you look into my eyes and say that I don’t?”
He stared at her. When Rochelle thought she would die if he didn’t do something, Raiden reached out and lifted a hand to the back of her neck. His fingers caressed her while his gaze never broke contact with hers. He pulled her into his arms and buried his fingers in her hair. Rochelle felt his body exhale and she couldn’t stop the tears seeping from her eyes. She clung to him tightly, burying her face to his neck beneath his chin. She caught his shirt against his back in two fists, holding on as if she thought she would die if she released it.
He kissed the side of her neck and whispered softly to her in Japanese, a language she didn’t understand but had every intention of learning.
“Aishiteru, Koibito. Wagakokoro.”
Rochelle didn’t care. At that moment she knew exactly where she wanted to be—trapped between Raiden’s body and a counter. In his arms, again, where everything seemed right with the world. Her body trembled while he continued whispering to her. He lifted her face and kissed her eyes shut. He dropped soft kisses over her brows, sending torrents of fire through her. He focused on her with tender and sweet caresses. His mouth roamed over her nose and finally—something she had wanted since the moment he disappeared in the yellow abomination of a taxi. He took her lips gently, more tears flowed from her eyes and her arms snaked around him once more.
“Rochelle…” he whispered. “Please be…” even as he whispered to her he undressed her. He ripped her shirt from her body and tossed it over his shoulder as he pleaded with her.
She sighed, feeling the air against her naked flesh knowing and craving what was coming.
“Be sure.” His mouth trailed down her neck.
This felt like heaven. She buried her fingers in his hair, trying to move his mouth to her nipples. She needed him to suck on her, taste her, remind her why her body trembled into orgasms each time she thought of him. But he took his time. He moved at his own pace; ate at her skin, licked her in places she never t
hought would turn her on. Finally he came to her nipples. They were already hard—she could feel it. Then his mouth engulfed her breast.
“Rai…” she managed. Her knees buckled beneath her and Raiden wrapped his arms around her. He picked her up, placing her on the counter. He smirked at her, sending her whole body shuddering and she reached for him. He took her wrists and moved them behind her. He left her, for a second, grabbing a piece of her tattered shirt. He used it to restrain her hands behind her back.
“Oh my.” The thought of her control being taken away from her turned her on. She shuddered and licked her lips. Raiden gripped her pants with both hands and tugged. The sharp sound of her new, name brand jeans ripping caught her attention and for a brief moment she wanted to cry. Then she remembered what Raiden could do to her body and knew he would make up for it all.
“I hope you brought clothes with you.” He laughed, reaching in and removing her panties. The red lace soon became a red piece of tattered cloth and his tongue replaced her panties.
“Oh God…” She wanted to reach in and bury her fingers in his hair. She wanted to trail her nails over his abs. She tugged at the piece of shirt binding her hands while her hips gyrated against his tongue. “Eat me—please.” Never in her wildest dreams did she ever think she’d beg for it. But Raiden had a way with her body like no other man. He had a certain way he licked at her clit, pulled her pussy lips together and sucked them. The pull of his mouth on her most intimate area left her half sobbing and delirious.
Without thinking her tongue hung from her mouth, curling in the ways his moved over her clit. She ached to claw at his shoulders, pull his hair but she couldn’t. Her chest heaved, her neck lost all strength to hold her head up and soon she rested backward on her elbows shouting her release to the ceiling. Raiden’s tongue flowed over the tender bud again and again, even as she soared through her climax. When he lifted his head and wrapped an arm around her, she knew there had to be more.
He untied her and lifted her gently from the counter. Without a word he carried her into the living room. His eyes glazed over with desire—she could see it each time he looked at her. He turned her from him gently. “Don’t move.”
She whimpered. The hard tone of his voice aroused her even more. She heard the sound of his zipper. She wanted to feel him hot and throbbing between her lips. But knowing Raiden, he had other plans.
“What happens if I do move?” she whispered cheekily, wiggling her ass at him.
He slapped one butt cheek and she moaned. “Oh!” Needing to feel it again, Rochelle moved from where he placed her to the other side of the sofa. He reached forward, kissed her bum before spanking her hard against each cheek. She whimpered. “More.”
Oh no! Now I love getting spanked? When did that happened?
Raiden did have other plans. He spanked her until she heaved with arousal. He slapped her ass until she gushed against the sofa. She slumped forward and he pulled her back to all fours.
He loved tasting her after such a long drought. He licked his lips and to his satisfaction he could still taste her. While she faced away from him, Raiden stripped slowly, watching her ass dance sensually from side to side. He walked up to her and inserted a finger at first, feeling her hot, tight and wet around the digit. He moaned raising the finger to his lips and letting his tongue taste her. He guided his hard cock to her entrance, clutched her hips and drove into her forcefully.
“Raiden!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Is that what you wanted?”
“Deeper!”
Pulling fully from her, he guided himself once more and pushed forward roughly. That sent more pleasure through him than anything he could think of. He groaned, gyrating his hips, withdrawing and plunging deeper. He loved the little gasps and purrs she made when he hit her spot just right. When she came around his dick, her back arched, her knees buckled to the sofa and her head fell forward. Panting, he held his head back squeezing his eyes shut. It couldn’t be over so quickly—he did not want it to be. But he had gone without her for so long that his body didn’t want to wait.
Grinding his teeth he reached forward, pinching one of her nipples forcing her to cry out. She reached back and dragged her nails against his bare thigh just as he plunged in her again. When he erupted, Raiden didn’t have the strength to pull from her. He pushed in and his whole world exploded. His body jerked, spasms send his mind fleeing his body. He loved every sweet, painful moment of it. He wrapped his arms around her and fell downward, pulling her with him to the sofa.
They lay there, silently panting for breath. Raiden kept his eyes shut afraid that should he open them she would vanish and he would be left with Daitaro or Nia staring at him like he had gone insane.
“Zero?” Her sweet voice called to him and he moaned.
“Shh—I don’t want you to disappear.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“You aren’t a figment of my imagination?”
She laughed softly and he felt her press a kiss to one of his nipples. He felt it harden instantly. When her tongue passed over it, his eyes flew open to see her grinning at him.
“See? I’m still here.”
“Good.” Raiden moved them to the ground. “Because that little lick you just gave me made me hard again. How about you help me out a little?”
When she licked her lips, flipped her braids from her face and climbed to all fours, Raiden bit his lower lip. Her gaze locked with his as her hand wrapped itself around his already hard cock. He stuck his tongue out at her in a licking motion. She gave him what he desired and bowed her head licking the swollen head of his dick.
“Oh yes, baby, that’s it.”
Chapter Nine
The moment Raiden opened his eyes he felt the pain in his neck. He hadn’t slept on the ground in a very long time. Glancing at the clock on the far wall he swore under his breath. It is after lunch and Daitaro and Nia must be going out of their minds. Normally, he would be in the office before everyone else. He tried to get up, thinking last night was all a dream but Rochelle’s warm body cuddled against him proving otherwise. On queue the telephone started ringing. Although he wanted to get it he knew he couldn’t leave Rochelle on the floor. He tried waking her by shaking her gently but she simply moaned and shifted into him even closer. Smiling, he pressed a kiss to her head before scooping her into his arms. He carried her down the corridor and laid her against the bed. He removed her mangled pants from her body with a smile on his lips. The first time he kissed her that day a feral feeling tore through him. He hadn’t given any regard for her clothing—he needed to taste her, feel her tighten around his cock. He pulled the sheets up to her neck and sat on the side of the bed. He stared at the now silent phone, took a deep breath and reached for it.
His company’s number appeared on the caller ID and he arched a brow—seventeen times. He stopped counting. Taking a look at Rochelle’s sleeping form he smiled wanting to crawl into bed with her but left the room to return Nia’s call—he knew it was either her or Daitaro.
“Moshimoshi! Emiko-San Ai!” Nia answered the phone. “How may I help you?”
“Hi, Nia.”
“Zero! Are you all right? I’ve tried calling you.”
“I know. I stopped counting after seventeen times. I really wish there is a way to hang a sock over the phone line.”
“I got worried and sent Daitaro over there.”
Raiden palmed his forehead and moaned. “That’s a bad idea. I have a guest.”
“A guest? Who?”
Raiden tilted his head to peer down the corridor to ensure Rochelle was still in the room. When he didn’t see her he walked further into the kitchen. “Rochelle. She’s sleeping now. I should have called but things kinda—look I haven’t had a chance to be alone with her and Daitaro coming over isn’t something I’m ready for. I didn’t want to just toss her into meeting my family.”
“You wanted to kinda ease her in, huh, I’m sorry, Zero. I’ll try ca
lling his cell phone and—”
The door bell rang.
“Don’t bother. He’s here. I have to go.”
Rushing to grab pants, he hauled them on before answering the door. When he pulled it open Daitaro simply stormed in shouting at him, “Did you hear the phone ringing?”
“Keep your voice down or you’ll wake her,” Raiden warned.
Daitaro’s brow shot upward. “Wake who?”
“Rochelle.” Raiden closed the door and lead his brother into the kitchen. He stopped only briefly to peer down the hall to make sure Daitaro and his big mouth didn’t wake his woman.
“She’s here?”
“Yes. I didn’t even know she was coming. She showed up last night at my door.” Raiden prepared some tea and the two sat down. “When I heard the door bell I thought either you or Nia were checking on me.”
“So what happened?”
“What do you think? We argued for a while, she cried and I just lost myself. Seeing her upset breaks my heart more than I ever thought possible—but then I took her into my arms and everything just seemed to melt away.”
Daitaro held up a hand. “Whoa! Don’t need a play by play. I’m just glad I didn’t get here sooner.”
Raiden laughed softly and bowed his head. “I think I speak for myself and Rochelle when I say, so do we.”
“Zero?” Rochelle’s voice called and he looked up.
“In the kitchen, Koibito.”
She walked into the kitchen, thankfully, wrapped in one of his sheets. He had all but shredded her clothes. He saw her blush as she walked into the kitchen. He could only imagine the thoughts going through her head. She stood behind him looking around at Daitaro. What an embarrassing situation for her. Raiden turned, pulled her around and into his arms with her back against his chest.
For the Love of Rei Page 12
