“These people are your family and friends, yet you want to pretend to be romantically involved with someone even though you’re not?”
“I just want a break from being talked about, you know?”
“Oh, do I. Don’t forget I’ve been a great source of amusement and ridicule for your crowd ever since I was a kid.”
“Look, Kento has the same ratty backpack as he did last year.”
“Maybe we should all chip in and buy him a new one.”
“Can you believe no one picks him up from school? He takes the bus.”
“The bus? Ew.”
He’d had to endure the teases and taunts. As a boy, he wasn’t invited to the extravagant birthday parties with the clowns and the pony rides. When he was a young teen, pretty girls snubbed their pert noses at him in the school hallways.
“That wasn’t my crowd, as you say,” Erin defended herself. “That was my family’s.”
“In any case, I was thrown into the center of it.”
“Did you ever tell your parents what you went through?”
“No, of course not. It was out of the love my parents had for my sister and me that they insisted we go to the best private schools in Seattle. We’d sit at our kitchen table, the four of us, year after year filling out the financial assistance and scholarship forms that could make it possible.”
“I remember your parents as very kind.”
“I did everything I could to help them. I studied hard to excel in my academic subjects. Played sports and the violin. Volunteered my time at hospitals and interned at tech companies. Everything I could to be a desirable candidate for whatever tuition aid we could apply for.”
“I don’t think back then I really considered just how different our home lives were. We’d kind of created our own little world, you and me, right?”
Yes, they had been more an oasis for each other than they’d ever realized.
“In one respect, it all paid off. I graduated high school with many honors and received acceptance at high-ranking universities. You know at Rainier U, I was invited into prestigious fraternities and social clubs.”
“I remember you said you never felt truly welcomed.”
“The positive outcome of all of that negativity was that I got tough and worked even harder.”
“If it’s any consolation, when I was with you was the first time I’d ever really chosen the company I kept. I’d never connected with anyone like we did.”
Her words echoed in his chest. Perhaps she was saying something he’d always wanted to hear. Although her lament didn’t make him forget what had happened between them. Kento was not a person who was capable of forgetting. Indeed, it was remembering that drove him. Motivated him. And it would continue to do so.
“That wasn’t enough for you to stand up to your parents, though, was it? Instead, you stayed behind their shield.” There. He’d said it.
“What are you talking about? You’re the one who left. Without even a word.”
Kento hadn’t meant to get into a rehash of the past. He supposed he was just incapable of bull. Her saying that when she was with him was the only time she’d chosen her own companion had sent fire up his spine.
There was nothing to reconsider. Or process. His intention was merely to see Erin again, to be near her, so that his soul and mind could say a formal goodbye. Her nonplace in his life was like a sickness. All he wanted was the cure.
What are you talking about? You’re the one who left. Indeed he was, but she knew why.
Kento had a strange niggling. Was it possible that he remembered things differently than what had actually transpired? Digging into historic record wasn’t what he’d come to do, yet it itched like a bug bite begging to be scratched.
He turned his head toward her, the moonlight glistening off her hair like her locks held tiny sparkles that only he could see. He’d forgotten many things about her. Like her exact height, which he could see was perfect to lay her head against his shoulder. He’d forgotten those graceful fingers that now held his jacket around her shoulders. The fingers that she’d thread through his when they walked down the street. Bags too heavy with books and electronics, sometimes he’d show off for her by carrying both of theirs. More glorious than he remembered were her pillowy lips, which under the stars looked especially ripe for the claiming. If there was any chance of him surviving the weekend, he’d have to get thoughts like kissing her against a tree out of his mind.
When the funky beat of a popular song crashed sound into the hush of their walk, they realized they’d been outside for a long time.
“Deejay,” they said in unison.
“We’d better go back in.”
* * *
Several heads turned when Kento and Erin returned to the welcome dinner together. If she’d thought of it, she’d have gone to the ladies’ room to stall so that Kento could have walked in alone with her arriving a few minutes later. As it was, she felt the scrutiny of many eyeballs. One thing she did know was that when he flattened his palm against her back as he guided her back to the party, she had to fight to keep her facial expression neutral because her body sizzled from head to toe.
Darn him for being able to cause that response in her after all this time! Outside, in the dark, when he’d startled her by coming up from behind and placing his jacket around her shoulders, her body’s sense memory instantly took her back. How much she’d always craved his touch when they were together. After they’d part to go to classes or some other business, she couldn’t wait to get back into his arms. His close embrace became quite simply her favorite place to be. He’d always held her tightly, possessively. Even at twenty-one he was sure and solid, a take-charge person who had the fortitude to persevere no matter the obstacles. She hadn’t envisioned his future career at the time, but creating and helming a massive corporation was not hard to picture, even then.
“How dare you make me miss dessert,” he joshed. He was right; waiters were already clearing the empty dessert plates. The remnants of a milk chocolate tart with salted caramel sauce looked delicious.
“Hey, you came outside on your own volition. I just happened to be out there,” she shot back to him with a smile.
“You ensnared me with your shivering shoulders. What kind of best man would I be if I didn’t give you my jacket?” Although she’d returned said jacket to him once they got back inside, Erin could still sense it on her, around her, as distinctly his. Intoxicating.
“Can you forgive my shoulders?”
“I’ll consider it. If they get me cake.”
Bridesmaid Divya, who was jumping up and down for no explainable reason while waving frantically at Kento, called out, “When’s my dance?”
He leaned to get very close to Erin’s ear, so near that she could feel the warm stream of his exhale as he whispered ever so lightly, “Cake.”
His voice coated her, sweet and thick as the caramel sauce. Not missing a beat, as a waiter walked by with an untouched slice of the tart on a plate, Erin relieved him of it and handed it to Kento.
“That’s my girl” was his response. Erin’s jaw dropped at his word choice as she watched Divya continue to bounce up and down like she was on a spring.
His girl.
She was his girl. Until she wasn’t. Five thousand miles away kind of wasn’t. She could never forget the desertion. Especially when he’d never explained why he went. Outside, he’d made reference to her hiding behind her parents, but he hadn’t explained specifically what he meant.
“Can I get a shot of you two?” the photographer, Billy, gestured to bring Erin and Kento together for a photo. As he posed them, Kento took hearty bites from his tart, making mmm sounds that were ridiculously sexy. Once they were in position, Erin took the plate from him, which was met with a frown that made her grin.
“Do I have cake on my face?”
&
nbsp; She inspected the area around his exquisite, sensual mouth. Had there been even the slightest crumb, she would have had the opportunity to brush it away with her fingers, an activity that sounded delightful. She’d almost melted into liquid when he’d merely wrapped his jacket around her.
Billy requested, “Look at me, please.” The best man and maid of honor conceded and smiled their brightest and best. The photographer shifted them again for the shot he wanted. He then brought over Lucas and Christy for some photos of the foursome.
When they were done, Lucas took Erin’s hand and said, “May I dance with the maid of honor?” As she accompanied the groom to the dance floor, she saw the three bridesmaids lunge toward Kento. Fortunately, he quickly took Christy’s hand to follow Lucas’s lead. The four of them began to dance to an upbeat song. At the deejay’s urging, other guests joined.
“Dumped her like a sack of laundry from what I was told. Sent her running right back to Mommy and Daddy Barclay.”
Erin overheard a couple dancing near them and could hardly believe the glee in their voices at her misfortune. Kento heard it, too, and shot them a scowl. This was why she had come up with the pretend-boyfriend idea. If people were going to gossip, let them marvel at how fast she’d found another man so soon after her breakup rather than continue to make fun of her about Harris.
A romantic ballad began. Lucas brought Erin a respectable distance to him and they began their dance. Within a verse or two, though, the photographer appeared and wanted to do some shots of the bride and groom dancing together. That left Erin and Kento standing on the dance floor. He raised his palms up in surrender as if there was only one option.
With a cute bow from the waist, he asked, “May I?” Not waiting for an answer, he swept his arm around her waist and pulled her to him.
Her body met his, a divine joining from a muddled dream she’d had so many years ago. Docile, she got lost in his muscular chest, his shoulder span so broad and arms so long she felt completely enveloped. It was almost as if in his embrace she could finally breathe again. Being so close together, as their maid of honor and best man roles were going to necessitate, she’d need to gird herself against his allure, to remember that moments like this were fake. He’d already broken her heart once before, and he would be jetting off forever in just a few days.
After they’d danced a little, she replayed the conversation they’d had outside. She tilted her head back to ask him, “What did you mean before when you said that I stayed behind my parents’ shield?”
“When your parents decided that the way to get me out of the picture was by making it worth my while, you went along with it.”
“Get you out of the picture? Worth your while? You’re the one who left for Tokyo without a trace.”
“I was angry. And frightened. I think my feelings were justified. There was nothing to say.”
“You were angry about what?” She was getting tired of this cryptic conversation. Here she was in Kento Yamamoto’s arms after seven long years, and he was making references to things she didn’t understand. She glanced away from him and spotted her mother at the edge of the dance floor. Erin noticed how rigidly her teeth were clenched. Her fists were balled. Even though it was perfectly legitimate for the two of them to be dancing together, Bunny was absolutely livid at the sight.
“We can be honest at this point, Erin.” He brought her attention back as he swayed them in dance. “I know you knew about it. They told me they had discussed it with you and that you were in agreement it was for the best. It made sense. Your parents’ social stratum has entrance criteria that I was never going to meet. They were right.”
“What are you talking about?” What on earth had happened that day before he’d stood her up at the bakery? Despite repeated questioning, her parents had denied that anything unusual had transpired, so she never got any further insight into what happened.
Just so we understand each other.
She’d only heard the last of it, what her father said. What had there been to understand? Her parents probably assumed she and Kento would separate after graduation. He wasn’t their kind, as they always categorized people. They were going to uphold their moneyed little Seattle orbit. But Kento was ambitious and hardworking, and she’d hoped her parents respected that she cared for him. She had been sure that he at least had known that she did.
“You walked in on the conversation. And must have known what it was about. You certainly didn’t ask any searching questions about it.”
“You never gave me the chance,” Erin snapped back. Although nagging in the back of her mind, suddenly, was the same question. Why hadn’t she asked more questions? Tried harder to get to the truth? “I do remember that when I came back into the room, you were rigid and eager to leave. The air was thick enough to cut with a knife.”
She’d sensed that something was wrong. Kento had always had little patience for her parents and she rarely left him alone with them, so it wouldn’t have been surprising if they’d said something that offended him. They’d probably made some kind of elitist statement that went against his grain. She hadn’t read that much into his bad mood at the time. Just as she’d decided not to be concerned that the kiss he gave her at the door wasn’t his typical, full of decisiveness and heat. It was distant, perfunctory, impersonal. She didn’t know it then, but it wasn’t a good-night kiss—it was a goodbye.
“Afterward,” she continued her account, “I asked my parents what you three had been talking about, but I never got a direct answer.”
“So you let it go at that. You didn’t fight for me.”
“I didn’t know I needed to. You never explained, either.”
“They told me you knew.”
While they continued to dance and hold up appearances, both were becoming palpably upset.
“Knew what, Kento?”
“About your parents’ proposition.”
“Huh?”
“They wanted to make sure I fully comprehended that I was just a college fling for you. Now that we’d graduated, you’d be beginning your adult life, and that didn’t include me. To make sure I got the point, they offered me a very large sum of money to go away and never contact you again.”
“They did what?”
“You heard me.” Erin’s eyes opened wide. Her heart pounded a thousand beats a minute. Snippets of that day flooded her brain. What her parents had told her was not the truth.
“They twisted it all around to make you look like the bad guy,” she eked out in a constricted voice. “When I found out you’d left, they had a told you so attitude.” Saying that he was just the sort to flee without an explanation. Exactly the person they worried he’d be. They’d lied to their dumb, trusting daughter. And they must have told different lies to him.
Offered him money! And told him she was in agreement about it! Erin was sickened at what her parents had done. She glared back to where her mother had been standing, but Bunny was no longer there. Erin’s head spun like a top. Her arms fell from around Kento’s neck. She had to get away again, couldn’t stand being in the fishbowl of the dance floor. She needed to be alone to absorb the shocking news he had just delivered. “I need to go to my room,” she muttered and bolted off, leaving him standing alone. Behind her she heard three loud voices rise above the music.
“Kento!”
“Kento!”
“Kento!”
CHAPTER FOUR
“GOOD MORNING.” KENTO waved when he saw Erin walking toward him in the lodge’s lobby the next morning.
“Good morning.” Erin shot back a wan, tired smile. “I got your message. You’re right, we do need to talk.”
With a few hours until their wedding party duties began for the day, he’d hired a car to pick them up to take them to island’s harbor, where he’d arranged to have a boat waiting for them.
In her jeans, athletic shoes a
nd waterproof jacket, she was dressed appropriately for the boat ride. Last night she’d been an elegant maid of honor in that burgundy-colored dress. She was just as pretty in her casual gear. He hadn’t forgotten how lovely her face was in the early-morning light, yet it was even more striking than he had remembered. Her skin looked as smooth as velvet, and although those translucent eyes hadn’t had enough sleep, they were still mesmerizing in their honeyed, crystalline uniqueness.
“Are you ready?”
She nodded.
After the car ride to the harbor, he helped her onto the boat. Once they made their way into the cabin, the first mate presented a breakfast of omelets, toast and sliced fresh fruit, all served on fine china with a silver pot of coffee. “Please signal if you need anything further, sir.”
“This is nice,” Erin said as she speared a wedge of cantaloupe from her plate.
“After everything we talked about last night, I thought it was a good idea for us to get some privacy. None of that was anybody’s business but ours.” With emotions flying, he’d worried that one of the gossip hounds would perceive the tension between them and start some kind of rumor. They both had enough eyes on them already. Especially as Erin had left the party with a sudden need to be alone. And not to mention the state of near swoon he’d been in dancing with her. Confirming that she still smelled like cream and the two of them melding into the single unit they used to be.
But now in the safety of the boat’s cabin, Kento wanted to get it all cleared up and out in the open. At last. “So, last night, discussing your parents’...offer to me...”
“I know my parents are ruthless,” she jumped in. “I’ve seen how they conduct business dealings. But I can’t believe they’d sink so low as to offer you money to get you out of the picture.”
Wedding Date with the Billionaire Page 5
