In Deep Kimchi (40 page)

“It’s a man thing. In Yori’s eyes, I am now a man and he doesn’t have to look after me anymore.”

Shaundra smirked. In her eyes, he had always been a man.

Chapter Twenty-One

“Don’t cry,” Ichiro said as he and Shaundra walked around assaying the damage to her home.

Shaundra wiped her eyes. “What am I supposed to do? I’ve lived in this house for twenty years.” There were so many memories of the kids growing up there.

“Sell it.”

“And do what?” she asked.

“Move to Japan.”

Shaundra laughed. “You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, but I am,” he said taking her arm and leading her out to what was left of the front porch. “I thought that was a given when you accepted my proposal.”

“That thought had crossed my mind, but I was still a bit groggy from the medication.”

“It would be perfect. You could still write and I could still perform with Aomori.”

Shaundra stopped walking and unwound herself out of his arms. “Where would we stay, and don’t say the farmhouse.”

“Why not? Yori will be moving out shortly, and Satoshi and Takumijo have always wanted their own place. We’ve lived together for fifteen years and now it’s time for us to part. The farmhouse would be perfect for when your grandchildren visit.”

The fact she could not give him children still pained her.

Her pulled her to him. “You know I don’t care about that,” he said as if reading her mind.

Shaundra lowered her head. “But you might change your mind in the future.”

“I don’t think so. I want to selfishly have you to myself. But if you really must have a baby in the house, there are other alternatives like adoption and surrogacy. As for me, I am okay about not over populating Japan. I have an older brother and two sisters to carry on the family genes.”

Hell no she didn’t want to raise any more children. “You have siblings? How come you never told me that? I thought you were an only child.”

“Yes, I have siblings. My two sisters are younger than me.”

They began walking again. “Have you discussed any of this with them?”

“Yes, and they can’t wait to meet you. My brother is going to manage my restaurant until I am able to take over and my sisters have agreed to act as hostess and waitress. They’ve always wanted an older sister.”

“I’m old enough to be their mother. I don’t think they will like hanging out with me.”

“Of course they will,” he said, kissing her on the forehead. “They will love you just as much as I do.”

“You have this all mapped out. Most young men your age don’t give a damn about their futures.”

“Masaaki and Mr. Niigata made sure of that. They knew I wanted to be a chef since I was a child so they suggested that all of us take business classes while we were in college. Just made sense to get a business degree since I plan to open up a chain of restaurants before I’m thirty.”

They walked away from the damaged house and got back into the limousine. The security guard followed them inside. Shaundra didn’t even mind them being there since she wasn’t sure she was safe from Aomori’s fans, or her own.

“My kids are going to have a fit when they find out that I’ll be moving to Japan.”

“They’ll get over it,” Ichiro assured her. “You’ve done your job. It’s time to cut the apron strings and have a life. So it’s settled. You will return with me to Osaka once our tour is over.”

“That still leaves me without a place to stay until then. I can’t keep renting a hotel room.”

“Masaaki is working on that. After all, we’re going to need a place to stay here once we’re married. Possibly a condo so we’ll have it when we fly back to New York for concerts and to visit.”

Shaundra gulped. “Fly?”

“Yes, I thought you’d gotten over your fear.”

“Nope. I came back here high on Valium. That’s probably what saved me from being harmed in the explosion.”

Ichiro patted her hand. “You’ll get used to it. We have many states to hit before our tour is over.”

“You expect me to go on tour with you?”

“But of course. We’ll be on our honeymoon.”

What in the hell is he talking about
? They wouldn’t be married for a while.

“The wedding will be next weekend. It has all been arranged. It will take place before our concert, with the reception following at the after-concert party.”

“This weekend? Are you crazy? That doesn’t give me much time to get ready. There are people who need to be invited.”

“You’ve been married before. Nothing has changed. Everyone who needs to be invited has been invited. The invitations went out this morning with the concert tickets.”

“What about my mother? I might want her to be there.”

“She sends her love, but says she’s not getting on a plane for you or anyone else. Hmm, now I see where you get your fear from.”

“Why so soon?”

“Because I love you and I don’t want to wait forever to make love to you.”

“If that’s the reason you’re in a hurry, you do have a hotel room.”

Ichiro looked over at her. “I’ve waited this long. I can wait one more week.”

One week, darn
. She hoped she could hold out that long.

* * * *

Shaundra didn’t think that it was possible to be so happy.

“Damn, this place is packed,” Juanda said as she and her husband found their seats in the N. Y. Juanda had rounded her up a babysitter for the evening so they could attend the wedding and the concert.

“You should have seen the people at the Tokyo Dome. It was filled wall to wall with screaming fans,” Shaundra explained.

Clarence and Earl slipped into the seats next to her, followed by Harper, Charlotte, Dorothy, Jackson, Riley, Kenshin, and Mr. Niigata. Tricia sat closer to the front with her friends in order to gawk at Satoshi.

Three groups performed first including Satoshi’s friends in the all-girl group, which Shaundra forced herself to pay attention to. They were really good, but not as good as the men. Aomori took the stage around nine that night wearing black suits, black ties and white shirts. Each suit jacket was cut just a bit different to show off some wonderful feature of its wearer.

 
Ichiro wore a black hat that covered all that long hair and a pair of sunglasses to shield those baby blues from the glaring light. They sang a couple of fast songs, which made their fans sing along to and clap. Juanda was impressed by their dancing styles and surprised that Takumijo had choreographed every step. “He’s not just big, he’s talented,” Shaundra told her.

Both Satoshi and Yori sang ballads and then the group stopped to perform some skits that required the audience participation. They disappeared to do a wardrobe change, and then Ichiro returned alone, dressed in a white tuxedo. The young women in the audience went wild after he had let down his jet black hair. He sat down at the piano and a spotlight beamed down directly on him. “This is a new song I wrote for someone special in the audience.”

The screaming crowd went wild with each young woman hoping that he meant her.

“It’s called
Cherry Blossom
.” He began to play. The introduction music was lovely. He started singing and the sound and words sent chills through her body. His sexy tenor voice sang the love song from the heart. At the end, he said, “To my lovely bride, Shaundra. I love you.”

The crowd continued to scream and applaud. They shouted his name. Juanda squeezed her hand. “That pretty boy really does love you.”

The lights came up a little and the rest of Aomori returned to perform
Romanticism
. An hour later, she and Ichiro danced their wedding dance to Barry White’s
I’ve Found Someone
.

* * * *

The only thing that would stop them this time would be if one of them had a heart attack. The clothes fell away from their bodies as they ran into the honeymoon suite. They were down to their underwear by the time they reached the bed.

Shaundra reached up and slid Ichiro’s briefs down his hips, revealing a very healthy erection. She made him sit down on the side of the bed, unbuttoned her bra, took it off and tossed it to the floor. She reached up and removed the band from his hair and released it. It floated down in waves around his shoulders and down his back. Shaundra buried her fingers into it. Satoshi was so right. It was indeed soft, and the best thing she’d ever felt.

Ichiro pressed his face into her abdomen and kissed her belly right below her navel. The next thing she knew, she felt his hand move up to the waistband of her panties and slide them down her hips to the floor.

Shaundra removed them and then stepped back so he could get a good look at his first naked woman.

“Your body is lovely.”

“Thank you.” She approached the bed. “Give me what I want, Mr. Yoshida. Let me see that hair against my pillow.”

Ichiro scooted up to the pillow and lay down. The hair spread out like one of his geisha fans.

“Damn, it doesn’t get any better than this,” Shaundra replied as she climbed up on the bed and joined him. She went to work, making a mess of him all night long.

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