Arima (Haruki Arima Duet, #2)

by Laine Watson

  “And we can’t sit in on the magic?”

  “No way, it’s a secret,” Max says.

  “I don’t know about that.”

  “Please, Dad!”

  “Fine.” Haru gives in.

  “C’mon, princess.” He gleams at me.

  They are so cute; I can only smile and gush to myself about how happy I am.

  “I’ll bring you your sundaes.”

  “You sure, buddy? You got this? How are you going to cut the cake?” Haru’s facial expression changes. “Sorry, buddy.”

  “Well, can you just cut the cake? I don’t need a knife for anything else. I promise I won’t touch them. Just cut the cake in some pieces—you don’t even have to do that. I don’t really need a knife.” Max runs toward the drawers by the fridge. He forcefully opens the silverware drawer and pulls out a spoon. Leaving the drawer open, he runs back to where he was and uses the spoon to scoop a piece of cake. He holds it up in the air. “See. It’s fine. Now go!”

  Aw, look at Haru all paranoid and stuff.

  “Okay, please be careful. It shouldn’t take you more than ten minutes to make them.”

  “I’ll be careful.”

  “Don’t break anything.”

  “Dad!” Max whines.

  “Okay, we’re going,” Haru says as we finally leave the kitchen.

  Haru glances back as we head to the den. “What do you think he’s doing where he doesn’t want us to see?”

  “I don’t think it’s that, Haru.”

  We sit next to each other on the couch.

  “He just wants to do something on his own for us. Maybe be a mad scientist and create some delicious concoction that we’d never let him.”

  He stares at me lovingly. “So, you do think he’s hiding something?”

  “No.” I purse my lips awkwardly, trying not to smile too much.

  Haru’s affectionate gaze consumes me. “You’re a great mom.”

  “Thanks,” I say, barely parting my lips, keeping my eyes away from Haru.

  “Aw, you’re being shy. I must have caught you off guard.”

  “You did. I wasn’t expecting that.”

  “You are, though,” he says, and I finally look at him. “We’re so lucky to have you.”

  His smile is pained and loving. He gulps, and his lips part slowly. “I want to ask you a question before we get married, though.”

  “What is it?”

  “Would you... I mean, have you ever thought...”

  “Haru, what is it? Say it.”

  “Do you ever think about having another kid?” Haru asks with a bit of insecurity in his tone.

  I can’t keep my eyes away from his anymore. They are too serious and vulnerable; they won’t let go of mine.

  Is that a trick question? The air is becoming too thick. I, with a sigh that takes all my breath and puffs out my chest until I exhale, say, “I’ve never really thought about it.”

  “I’ve been thinking about it. When I was over at my parents’ house, my mom mentioned it. My dad seemed interested too. He’s not interested in anything, except for cars and food. I think they’re hoping we have a baby.”

  “Oh,” I say, lowering my head to stare at the floor. “It’s not like we’re doing anything to prevent us from having one.”

  “Um...” Haru sighs, regretfully.

  “What?”

  “After I found out about Max, I had a vasectomy.”

  I gasp so hard I cough. “S—so, we can never have another baby?”

  Haru purses his lips. “I’m going to go to the doctor. I think there’s a good chance it can be reversed.” He says, staring at me with conviction. He cracks his thumb knuckles, which is strange for him to do, and turns his eyes away from me. He must be nervous or anxious. “You’ve changed everything. I want to make you happy. I don’t want to disappoint my parents anymore; I don’t want to disappoint Max. If we had a kid, I wouldn’t want to be a big disappointment to him or her either. And I definitely don’t want to disappoint you.”

  “But, Haru, that’s not what I’m concerned about. You could never disappoint me and Max, and your parents have been through a lot with you. If we had kids, you’d be a great father to them also. The question is, do you want to have another child?”

  Haru thoughtfully stares down at my lap. His answer takes a long while to surface. “If it’s with you, I wouldn’t mind it. I just don’t know if I can handle an infant or two kids.”

  “Honestly, I wouldn’t mind it either.”

  He laughs with a vulnerable look in his eyes. “I never thought I’d consider a second child, but I never wanted a first. I do now, maybe.”

  My smile bursts. “We’ll have a baby on purpose.”

  The moment is so sweet and eternally romantic. I lean in to kiss him, and he follows suit.

  “Okay, here’re your incredible sundaes!” Max shouts, happily holding a bowl in each hand. And the moment is over. We quickly glance his way, shock striking us as we view what’s in the bowl.

  “Max? What happened to the cake on the bottom, ice cream in the middle, and the toppings?” Haru asks.

  “Yeah, it didn’t work out like that, so I mixed it all together. Cool, huh? It’s like a mountain or volcano with caramel lava flowing through it.”

  I take a bowl from his hand. He hands me a spoon out of his pocket. I smile at him and then at Haru. “That was smart.” I take my first taste of the sundae. It looks like a horrible mess, but it's delicious. “Max, this is really good?”

  “I know! I tasted some. It’s the best!” he says, handing Haru his and a spoon.

  Haru digs in. “Yeah, buddy. This is like ice-cream-shop good.”

  “Yes! So, we have to have these all the time. Like every Sunday before we go to bed, okay?”

  “Okay, it’s a deal,” Haru says.

  I nod as I spoon some of my mixture into my mouth.

  “Awesome!” Max cheers with his hands in the air. He takes off back into the kitchen as we enjoy our Saturday night dessert.

  “He did well.” Haru says, spooning some his ice cream in his mouth. “It looks like a mistake but tastes like heaven.”

  “It totally tastes like heaven,” I agree excitedly.

  Max returns with a bowl of ice cream similar to ours and sits on the sofa with us. He quickly gobbles up his dessert, almost as quickly as Haru.

  “Let’s watch the movie now!” Max insists, putting his bowl on the table, the spoon inside.

  “Sounds good.” Haru says, turning on a semi-scary movie.

  We chat a bit, forgetting about the movie. Haru steals some of my ice cream and we feed each other messily; Max laughs, trying to get in on the fun. After we’re done with our sundaes, we discard the bowls onto the table and catch glimpses of the movie, but we’re laughing too hard and being too silly to be concerned about it. After a while, Max focuses on the movie, laying down on a pillow on the floor. Haru is still being playful and I can’t help but be giggly as he whispers sweet nothings, silly nothings and naughty somethings in my ear. We act like love-struck teenagers for a long while until I cover a yawn with my hand, my eyes watering.

  “Tired?” Haru asks.

  I nod sleepily.

  Haru glances down at Max, who is asleep on the floor with an ice cream mustache and sticky hands. He sighs. “No shower for him tonight; he’ll have to get up early and take one.” Haru stands, picking Max up off the floor. Max doesn’t even stir as Haru carries him.

  “I’ll get the bowls,” I volunteer, taking our bowls off the table.

  “Thanks.”

  As we head toward the kitchen, me to put dishes in the sink and Haru to take Max upstairs, we stop, staring at the kitchen in true terror.

  “What the hell did he do?” Haru glances down at Max, who is sound asleep.

  The kitchen looks like a gingerbread house exploded or maybe a dessert bakery. There are cake crumbs on every surface, crumbled up cookies everywhere, small droplets of caramel in random places,
even dripping down the cabinets. Puddles of melted ice cream, bowls and used spoons are everywhere. It’s a nightmare.

  I can’t help but laugh.

  “I knew we shouldn’t have—”

  “I’ll clean it up.” I prepare to do so as I set our bowls on the counter.

  “Eh,” Haru objects. “Let’s get it in the morning; you have school.”

  “Not tomorrow, but I do have to go to the high school.”

  “In the morning?”

  “It doesn’t really matter, but mostly I try to do my four hours in the morning.”

  “You can switch it around now and then,” Haru tells me.

  “Okay,” I say, not realizing what he’s hinting at.

  Chapter Ten: Changing Your World

  The bedroom door opens.

  “He’s still out?” I ask.

  “Like a light.”

  “Never fails. Nine o’clock.”

  “I think he’s made it to nine-thirty a few times,” Haru jokes.

  He walks toward me, eyeing me sexily. His lips touch mine. Suddenly, Haru has moved me to the middle of the bed. I love this feeling of not knowing what he’s going to do, but knowing he’s going to do something. I swallow my tongue because of the instant arousal. I pucker my lips as he stares at me.

  “Haru... Max.”

  “You know we haven’t really made up, princess.” he ignores me.

  “Yes, we have.”

  “We haven’t, not until you’ve had multiple orgasms.” He cracks his neck, closes his eyes, and tosses his head back, slowly stretching his body.

  That almost sounded like a threat. That thought arouses a naughty smirk on my face.

  His eyes fall upon mine. “Why don’t we try something new, princess?”

  “Something new?” I inquire, wildly intrigued and frightened at the same time. Probably the best feeling in the world—the teasing of something unknown mixed with the safety of familiarity thrills me.

  “You want to know me a little more, so I’m opening up and letting you in,” he says in a sexy, mysterious whisper. “Let me go as far as I want to with you.”

  “Huh?” I peep, my heart racing, and he hasn’t even touched me. I want to scream out, “Do whatever you want,” but I don’t.

  “You can tell me to stop if you don’t like it.”

  I’d probably never tell him to stop—and mean it. I’m as still as a board on the outside, but my petals moisten, and my heart jumps out of my chest, anticipating Haru’s next move.

  He doesn’t let me answer. I don’t know what I would say. He takes off his shirt, exposing his defined body. The firm physique that moved me so effortlessly, now on display for me to see. It’s so hard not to drool over his perfection. I manage, though.

  I get hotter and hotter.

  He lays me back, and I give no rebuttal. Before I can think any further, Haru shimmies my pants off my hips and discards them on the floor. As his warm hands caress my body, he takes off my panties with his teeth, his lips tickling my skin as he does. He lowers his lips to my delicate, soft folds. I quiver with excitement.

  It’s so different when he doesn’t talk. When he’s completely focused on me and not Kathy, I am complete putty in his hands.

  His warm, slick, delightfully playful tongue works its way around my pearl. As the tip of his tongue circles it, I muster a sharp inhale. Just as I start to squirm with excitement, he lowers his tongue to my folds. He laps me up, every stroke of his tongue delivering a lightning bolt of pleasure through my body.

  After a few minutes of pleasure, he lifts his head and his eyes meet mine. All I see is burning passion in those eyes. The mere knowledge that he wants me makes me even wetter, gets me there without him having to do anything. I lie, sprawled out on my back, waiting for him. He towers over me, pulling off his belt.

  He fastens my hands behind my head.

  “Haru...” My voice trembles with fear, with excitement, and my breath follows suit. I twitch underneath him, hoping I’m not showing too much eagerness. I want him so badly.

  Is this the something new?

  “This way you won’t be able to get away from me,” Haru deviously whispers with a smirk.

  My heart beats fast as he reaches to the floor for something.

  “Haru.”

  “Shh!” he commands.

  He uses his T-shirt to blindfold me, leaving me to wonder what would come next. My breath quickens. He’s gentle and rough at the same time. As much as I want to scream and run away, I want to stay and see what Haru will do to me.

  He works himself between my creases and eases inside of me. His vast magnificence makes me shutter. I want to open even wider and let him in. It’s always like this, but this time, as he pumps his hips back and forth in a long and smooth rhythm, it’s more mind-numbing.

  I hear it more; my body feels it more. Every time we clash together, waves of pleasure flow through my body. My head goes completely blank—no thoughts of being a mother, cleaning the kitchen, my internship, the wedding—nothing. Only pleasure.

  As scared as I am of what will come next, I am ten times more thrilled.

  As his pace quickens as his thrusts becomes more forceful.

  One hand around my throat, cutting off the blood flow. I let out pleasure-filled whimpers as he goes hard and fast inside of me. I get lost, and Haru is ready to burst. As much as he can feel me about to orgasm, I can feel him. He lets out a grunt when he fills me up with his liquid. After feeling him release inside of me and the pure fear and arousal, I have no other choice but to do the same. A medley of pleasure of all kinds races through my body. I inhale sharply, crumbling to the bed, legs weak and mind slate clean.

  As I lie exposed on the bed with Haru next to me, I don’t know the next move. He slowly takes my blindfold off.

  “Wow, I thought that would last all night. I didn’t assume an hour into it, I’d bust like that.” He laughs sexily. My arms quiver, and I whimper a little not knowing what to think. I stare at him as I take deep, loud breaths. I want to dig my nails into his skin and hold on for dear life. I wiggle my wrists slightly, wanting to be untied, but only if we’re done, if there’s more—I want more.

  “Oh, sorry.” He unbuckles the belt from around my wrists.

  This is cruel, maybe. I’ve never had an orgasm this deep, this long, this intense.

  As soon as I can, I rush to him; my arms fall around him. I want to touch him, be next to him and feel his body.

  I close my eyes as I lie on his chest, calming myself with his touch. I press my fingertips into him, and my body. His skin, the fact that I haven’t been able to touch it this entire time, makes it feels so much better. It’s almost as if I orgasm again, my flower still contracting.

  He lets out a breathy sigh. “I haven’t done that in a long time. Never felt so good. You’re so sexy when you don’t know if you’re scared or turned on.” He chuckles lazily.

  He does know! “You could tell?”

  “Of course. I know exactly what I’m doing: changing your world. You change mine; I change yours. Did you think we had gone as far as we could, that making love couldn’t get any better?”

  I have to take another breath. My eyes veer to floor.

  “That’s a hard question to answer,” I admit. “Part of me did think that, but part of me always knew there was more.” I glance up into his eyes.

  He lays me down and hovers over me, staring deep into my eyes.

  “Don’t worry, princess,” Haru whispers. “Keep changing my world. I’ll keep changing yours until we live in the same one.”

  Chapter Eleven: The God of Spring

  The closer we get to the end of this semester, the more anxious I become. I still have a paper to write, a final I need to study for, and the hopes I can finish this internship out with high marks.

  I’ve found myself a wedding planner, who I love—Darby. Yes, she is making me pay her.

  She is visiting, staying in our guestroom for the weekend. It’s our fir
st official wedding planning meeting.

  We sit in the den around the table with warm cookies, cold milk, and lots of wedding stuff.

  “So, you’ve had a month to have some sort of plan. What do you have so far?” I ask Darby after reaching for a cookie and taking a bite out of it.

  “Okay. I downloaded a wedding planner app.”

  “What do you have?” I say, my eyes narrowing.

  “An entire theme, concept, and colors.”

  “Okay, what is it?” I ask, dryly.

  She cocks he head to the right and parts her lips with a frown, “Could you be a little nicer. Most wedding planners cost far more than a trip to Tahiti and a promise to pay for my wedding dress—if I ever get married.”

  “That’s what you asked for, that’s what you’re getting.”

  “Fine,” she pouts. “First, you’re having a destination wedding.”

  “What is that?”

  “It’s when you go somewhere else to have your wedding and take the entire wedding party and invite your guests to wherever you want to have it.”

  “What?”

  “It’s great. You and your wedding party get to have an awesome time, and whatever people don’t come to the wedding, they send a gift. It’s win-win.”

  “So, where is it? Tahiti?”

  “No!” she shouts, raising her hands in the air. They drop beside her and she sighs, “Whether you believe it, I am taking this seriously. I’m still looking to see if I can find a place that supports the theme of the wedding.”

  I guess I should stop being so rude—I just want to know what it’s going to be like.

  I never thought I’d be getting married, let alone to someone as amazing as Haru. I’m a little nervous.

  I sigh and try to ignore my heart beating a little faster. “So, what is the theme?”

  She stares down into the area rug and smirks a bit. She takes a while to say whatever’s on her mind. Finally, she takes a deep breath, “I thought a lot about this. I was thinking something along the lines of Modern Olympia.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah, but with a lot of different mythologies. I wanted to create, I suppose, your own world for you.” She glances up at me with soft, affectionate eyes.