Blossoms of The Heart

by Khardine Gray

  Sure, I knew there was a lot to talk about, and maybe we should have already. Every time I went to ask her about her ex-husband I stopped myself because I didn’t want to upset her. I wanted her to just be with me, in body and in mind. Didn’t want her sparing a thought for him when she was with me.

  But this morning had to be about him.

  I knew I’d said I’d leave her alone, but fuck I’d lied because I knew that even if I did mean to that I’d never be able to.

  It was so much the better though that she’d come. Now I knew just how much she wanted me.

  Now was also once again, not the time to bring up her asshole of an ex.

  “Let’s consider this a tardy, which you’ll still have to make up for.” Time to make her feel good. I smiled down at her and her face brightened.

  “Come here,” she said, beckoning me to lean forward.

  “Great kiss, but I need more.”

  She stepped back and brought her finger up to her chin, thinking. “What about a lap dance?”

  Shit, I wasn’t prepared for that, or for the image that popped into my mind. She couldn’t do that to me here. I’d have to take her home.

  “I’ll take that for later. What can you do for me now?”

  Again she thought, then looked about us checking we were still alone.

  Satisfied that we were she started undoing the buttons to the cute little blouse she wore. The salacious look on her face made me go hard instantly. Once the soft silk fabric lay open, she undid the clasp to her bra, unleashing the heftiness of her beautiful tits. Her nipples were already pointed, telling me she was turned on, too. The sexiness in her smile turned up and I found myself unable to move. Women like her were naturally sexy and didn’t have to do much to get attention, but when they tried, the effect would turn any man into a drooling buffoon.

  She moved back towards me, breasts moving too, and those delicious nipples enticing me. She pressed her hands to my chest.

  “I’m sorry I was late, Tai,” she purred, kissing my chest. “Forgive me.” She placed kisses along my neck and down my chest, kissing the dark fabric of my shirt.

  It didn’t matter that I was fully clothed. My skin still burned with the heat from her lips. My knees wobbled as she bent down and placed a kiss on the bulge of my erection that threatened to burst through my jeans.

  I took her hand and pulled her into the room, taking her back to our spot.

  A truly sexy smile filled her face as I pushed her up against the wall. She pushed back against me grabbing my belt buckle.

  “Me first.” She cooed.

  My lips parted as she tossed her hair to the side and got down on her knees before me.

  “Jesus Phoebe.” I didn’t know if I’d be able to last but I wanted what she had to offer. Her mouth around my cock. Those lips. Just like last night.

  She smiled up at me then undid my belt and my zip, pushing my pants down and moving my boxers to release my cock.

  I had to steady my breath when the little minx ran her hands up and down my shaft then secured her hot, wet, mouth over the head and took me right in.

  I groaned into each suck as she tried to take all of me in, sucking and sliding over my shaft, teasing my balls with her fingers.

  Shit I was going to cum right here, but I didn’t want to finish like this.

  Later, I’d have to get her to do that again later.

  Right now I wanted to be inside her.

  With desperation I reached for her and she released my cock, licking the pre-cum from her lips.

  “Later, finish that later. I need you now.”

  I picked her up before she could answer and placed her on the table with the stationery boxes.

  I backed off her blouse so I could see her tiny frame more, but I wanted her to keep on the skirt today. Today’s skirt was even shorter than yesterday’s and sexy as hell.

  She giggled as I kissed her and nibbled on her breasts. They looked too good to be left alone.

  When I reached for the condom in my back pocket she stopped me.

  “I’m on birth control.” She breathed, holding my gaze.

  My eyes widened. Sex without a condom. I’d never done that.

  God, this woman was going to kill me.

  I leaned in and tightened my grip on her waste, unable to control myself.

  “Bareback fucking?”

  The sexy, sexy seductress smiled up at me , slid her hands up my chest and leaned in close to my ear. “Bareback fucking.”

  I growled, losing my mind.

  God damn I fucking lost my mind by gripping onto her hips as she arched her back and I slid right into her sweet pussy. She sucked in a breath and moaned throwing her head back.

  Damn I felt that too. The pleasure was different this time because of the skin to skin contact.

  I tried my best to go slow, to savor the feeling but that wasn’t going to happen.

  I wanted her so badly my body took over.

  I’d never wanted anyone like that before, as if I needed her to survive. She cried out again when I pounded into her, going deeper and faster. Fucking her.

  Animal hunger took over. That raw, primal need to possess her, have her. Make her mine.

  “Fuck,” I cried when a fireball of electricity raged inside me. It pummeled into the tempo that bound our bodies together, soaring to the peak of explosive contentment.

  I thought I was going to black out from it.

  Fuck, me of all the people.

  The climax hit us at the same time making us both cry out as it gripped us within its claws of passion.

  I held her against me, holding her close to my heart, close to my soul. Never wanting to let her go.

  How could that have been better than yesterday? Nothing had been better than yesterday, ever, until today.

  “Tai.” Her hot breath tickled my skin.

  “Phoebe…we can’t go back up to work. I can’t.”

  She shook her head. “Me neither. I want more.” She looked up at me and smiled.

  “Me, too.” I bent down to kiss her.

  I wanted more too.

  Chapter 26

  Phoebe

  That’s how we were for the next month.

  In this bubble of our own where the only things that mattered was us.

  I’d never experienced so much happiness in my life.

  Never dreamt that I could feel this way about anyone.

  It was how we would have been if we’d gotten together years ago.

  Or…

  Maybe not.

  It was various things that happened to you in life that shaped you. Defined you. Made certain things more special. Like us now. Being without each other made me want him more.

  Every day I felt like I couldn’t get enough and when I had him I still wanted more.

  I really felt like I had everything and everything would be okay as long as I had him.

  Today we spent most of the morning in bed and now we were on the beach kissing.

  It was Saturday. A most welcomed break from work and trying to sneak off to be with each other while we should be working.

  I’d had to let poor Scott down on our date weeks ago, which I shouldn’t have planned but he understood. I never said it was because Tai and I were together but I figured it was kind of becoming obvious by now that we were.

  Akito and Mitsuke knew of course. We didn’t have to tell them.

  But by them knowing, or rather Akito, I had to keep my focus because truth be told I hadn’t done much work on the damn journal.

  That I’m here for business mantra I tried was lost on me now and I had to try hard to remember that I was in Japan for work, not frolicking around with Tai whenever I wanted.

  “You’re worrying about something baby.” Tai pulled back and smiled.

  Missing his lips I went for him again but he pulled back once more teasing me.

  “Hey, I don’t want to stop.”

  “What are you thinking about?” He raised a br
ow.

  “The journal.” I confessed.

  “Princess it’s Saturday. Forget the journal.” He chuckled pulling me into his lap.

  “I feel bad that I haven’t done more work.”

  He tugged on the edge of my t-shirt. “Phoebe we have time. Lots. You’re nearly done aren’t you?”

  I didn’t tell him I’d gotten stuck again the other day. I winced.

  “No.”

  “Right, we’re not talking about this anymore. Monday is for things like that.” He raised his brows and pulled me closer. “Weekends are for us. We still have a lot of catching up to do.”

  Because we didn’t do much talking when we were together.

  “I know.”

  “I want to take you somewhere. You can’t be here and just work. I know you’re here to do that but baby, this is Japan.”

  I smiled and wrapped my arms around his neck.

  “I can’t believe I’m here. It’s good to be back, and be here with you.”

  “And mine.” He added with pride.

  He’d taken to calling me his the other day.

  “Forgive me I completely forgot that I was yours.” I laughed.

  “Don’t let me have to put my mark on you. Tai’s girl.”

  God, I would have given anything to be called that when I was younger.

  And, there was that feeling of having everything again.

  “Do I get to call you mine?”

  He took my hand and held it close to his chest. I pressed my fingers to his bare skin loving the feel of his corded muscled beneath my palms. He was shirtless just the way I liked him.

  “What do you think princess?”

  “I don’t know, you have to tell me.”

  He tweaked my nose playfully and lifted the little pearl hanging from my chain.

  “I’m all yours, every piece of me. Tats and all.” That wicked smile filled his face.

  “Okay Phoebe’s guy.”

  “Yup, that is me.” He laughed, but then concern filled his eyes. He took my hand again and brought it back to his chest. His heart beat rapidly and he pulled in a breath.

  “What’s up?” I asked when he started to look a little uncomfortable

  “I wasn’t going to say anything, but I feel like I should. You can tell me to mind my own business, and I won’t be offended I swear. Mitsuke told me something a few weeks back.”

  God, I totally forgot. I was expecting this conversation, but I was so wrapped up in him that I didn’t even register that we hadn’t talked about my failed marriage yet.

  “She told you that I got married and now I’m divorced.” I filled in.

  He looked surprised. “Yeah, she told you she spoke to me?”

  “She tells me everything.”

  “We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

  We should definitely talk about that. I could talk to him about that, at the very least. It would give some context to what happened to me.

  “I want to.”

  “You sure, because when she told me I truly wanted to kill this guy who I’ve never met.”

  “It’s okay. But thanks for wanting to protect me.”

  “Always, baby.” He gave my hand a gentle squeeze. “Phoebe when you first came back we played twenty questions. How comes you never told me you got married? It’s a pretty big thing to leave out.”

  He was right. Completely right.

  “It was the worst time in my life.”

  “But it must have been good in the beginning, right?” He seemed genuinely interested to know that. “I just want to imagine you having some kind of happiness.”

  I shook my head. “No. I was never happy. I married him because I thought it would make my mother happy. You know what she’s like. Always on my back about everything. There wasn’t anything that I did right in her books. She hated it that I chose to study archeology and be like my dad. She introduced me to Jason, that’s his name. And I played along.”

  I thought about people who have arranged marriages. Most of them learn to love each other. I thought that would happen to me.

  I’d thought Jason was good looking and charming. We could carry a conversation and seemed to get on. It seemed that since we’d gotten past that hurdle things wouldn’t have been so hard.”

  “You shouldn’t have had to play along.” He looked upset.

  “No. I know that now. He cheated on me constantly.”

  “And, that’s the part that makes me want to kill him. He never realized what he had.”

  “I think he would beg to differ. There were plenty women who were at his feet waiting to be swooped up by him.”

  “Phoebe, there is only one of you and that makes you treasure to me.”

  He stared straight into me looking at me with those autumn colored eyes.

  I glanced down at my hands and brought them together to stop them from trembling. I wished that I could bask in the compliment but I couldn’t. I didn’t feel anything close to treasure.

  “Tai.”

  “No. Look at me.” He took my hand again, but this time brought it up to his lips to kiss. “Phoebe. I mean it. Every word. I mean it. You’re treasure to me, and I wish like hell I could have told you that years ago. Maybe it would have meant more.”

  “It means a lot now. It does.”

  There was so much more to my story. More to tell, more to worry about. More I didn’t want to think about.

  Not yet.

  “I’m so glad you divorced his cheating ass. Glad you didn’t stay.”

  Tears pricked at the back on my eyes and one ran down my cheek.

  “I’m sorry.” He caught it and kissed my hand again. “We can stop talking about that.”

  “No, it’s okay. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. There’s… it was just a terrible time, and more to the story that caused me a lot of pain.” That was my way of setting the scene, even though I didn’t have the strength to elaborate.

  “Fuck him. Forget the son of a bitch.”

  “Yeah.”

  Tai gave me something I’d always missed, and even when I felt undesirable, he had the ability to eradicate that from my mind.

  I just wished he could do the same with everything else. Eradicate the last few years and all that had happened to me. Make me that girl again I used to be when I last saw him.

  Before things went wrong.

  It may have been understandable to push my talk about Jason to the back, outside the scope of us.

  But talking about my failed marriage brought to the forefront of my mind that I was going to have to elaborate on that story one day. I’d have to tell him everything else. The accident and its effects.

  I just hoped that when I found the courage to tell Tai he wouldn’t think I was damaged too.

  He lifted my chin towards him and I welcomed those lips to mine like a burst of air.

  Tai

  I had to hoist her over my shoulder, cave man style and drag her away from work kicking and screaming.

  Literally.

  She’d worked non- stop Monday to Wednesday and I decided I wouldn’t suffer through it another day.

  I’d already asked Akito for the day off. To which he agreed.

  I planned a trip to Kyoto where we’d be staying for the next few days.

  She talked about going with Mitsuke but I stole her away for himself before that could happen.

  I loved Kyoto and we’d never been together.

  With its centuries old history and cultural sites the place ticked the box of perfect getaway for both of us. We truly enjoyed it together.

  We did everything there was to do. We found our Zen at Ryōan -Ji’s Rock Garden, made a wish at the shrine in Fushimi Inari, visited all the temples and museums.

  But I saved the best for last.

  Dinner by candle light at the restaurant my parents celebrated their thirtieth wedding anniversary in. That was six years ago.

  They’d hired out the whole restaurant for their friends and
family.

  Needing a break from all the celebrations and Neo and Tai comparisons I’d ventured outside to this little spot Phoebe and I dined in now.

  It was in a gazebo by the river. Back then I thought it would be a nice place to bring a date. But it would have to be a woman I cared about deeply.

  It was funny that through the time I was with Candace I never remembered that I wanted to do that.

  But Princess Phoebe brought that memory back full force.

  I was happy. This woman changed me, becoming more obsessed with her than anything else.

  She was the woman I deeply cared about. In fat these days I was beginning to think that the word care was an understatement.

  She was more to me than just a woman I cared about, and boy did she ever look beautiful as we dined underneath the stars.

  We were joking around about the journal. I’d suggested the reason she couldn’t read it was because some evil yōkai was stopping her.

  “Tai that is ridiculousness.” She laughed.

  “Nah, think about it. You just said all the letters jumble.”

  “No, that isn’t what I said,” she giggled. “I said there are characters from different languages just thrown in and it distorts the meaning.”

  “Same difference, so the yōkai will make you think all manner of things. Like instead of it saying something like… you should walk the cow, it’ll say you should kiss the cow.”

  “I think they put something in your drink.” She burst out laughing.

  “No, no, I’m right.”

  “And I should kiss a cow?”

  “No you’re lips are mine baby. I pity the cow who thinks he can kiss my woman and get away with it.”

  “You are too much, you know.”

  I looked at her and could imagine us just like this years to come. Talking and laughing. Being happy.

  “Phoebe…”

  “What?”

  “You should stay in Japan.”

  She smiled. “Should I?”

  “Hmmm hmmm.”

  “Are you asking me to stay, or do you just think it’s a good idea because I like it here?” Thick lashes fanned over her high, exotic cheek bones. She was seduction in every essence of the word.

  “Stay for me, as in stay because I’m asking you to stay.”