Three Hard Lessons (25 page)

Dominic gave me a seductive smile. “Want to take a bath? We’ve got lots of time before dinner.”

I followed him into the glass room, admiring the tile work over the tub. A traditional scene with Mt. Fuji and a blue wave cresting beneath Japanese characters. This place . . . it wasn’t just beautiful, it was
romantic.

“Dominic.”

He’d yanked off his shirt, but my sharp tone made him freeze.

“I know what you’re up to,” I accused.

He returned to life and went to the tap, turning on the water that flooded the deep, rectangular tub that was the size of a four-man hot tub, and continued to ignore me.

My words were supposed to be strong, but they faltered. “It won’t work.”

I thought maybe he couldn’t hear me over the running water, but he straightened and put his focus on me.

“What exactly am I up to?” He unbuttoned his pants and yanked them down, kicking them away so he was only in a pair of gray boxers.

“You brought me here to get me to say it back.”

His gaze warmed until it was hot as a sauna in the room. The steam rising from the tub didn’t help. I stood my ground as Dominic strolled up to me. There was no denial in his face. His eyes didn’t leave mine as he lifted my sweater up over my head and cast it away.

“It won’t work,” I repeated, this time stronger.

Cold fingers unsnapped my jeans and tugged them off, and he returned to stand over me. The intense gaze bore down, like he was looking for a way into my heart.

“I can’t make you say you love me.” He blinked and the aqua in his eyes darkened. They filled with determination. “But I can make you
feel
it.”

I expected him to pull me against him and kiss me, but his attack was subtler. He turned, dropped his boxers to the floor, and stepped into the water. He came back around to face me and sank down onto the ledge seat in the tub.

I was aware I was fighting a losing battle. The hour in the coffee shop had been scary as hell, but well spent. Dominic had planned this trip to get the words from me, but I’d made plans of my own. I could make sacrifices to get what I wanted.

“I went to the Imperial Palace yesterday.”

The only sound was the water splashing. The eyes fixed on me through the steam didn’t blink.

He blew out a long breath. “How was it?”

“It was nice.”

I undid my bra. It fell onto the floor silently. My heart raced and the blood rushed loudly in my ears. I hooked my thumbs under my lace panties and pulled them down. “I’m going to need a favor.”

My shaky tone made his eyes go wide with alarm. “What?”

Oh, god, was I really doing this? I’d been flooded with relief when I’d made the hard decision yesterday, but I was still nervous. “I need you . . . to cancel my ticket.”

His expression shifted from alarm, to relief, and to confusion faster than a snap of my fingers.

“You’re giving me another week?”

“No.”

His breathing picked up, faster each second. “Two weeks?”

“No.”

He must have realized I’d said
cancel
and not
reschedule
. His expression slowly shifted now to one of guarded hope. “Are you . . . staying?”

It came from me as breathless as he looked to be. “Yes.”

“Why?”

“For you.”

I might have short-circuited his brain. His eyes drifted down to the water pooling around him and he blinked rapidly, as if unable to process it. I couldn’t find the words he wanted to hear, but maybe with time I would. Plus, staying – that made a pretty big statement, didn’t it? I disliked it here, but he couldn’t go and being with him trumped everything else.

“Holy shit.” His gaze snapped back to me. “Get the fuck over here.”

Standing outside the tub, completely naked before him except for those rings, with his gaze on me and so full of love, I’d never felt more powerful. And even though I came running to him, it wasn’t because of his command. It was the crushing need to be with him. I’d barely stepped into the water and he whirled me into his lap so I was straddling him. He buried a hand in the hair at the nape of my neck and yanked me down into his desperate kiss, the hot water splashing around us.

Time slowed down as his lips pressed against mine. My hands skimmed along his strong jaw and my fingers curled in his hair, trapping his head against the tile wall. My tongue dipped into his mouth. Heat and water closed in all around.

“We’re going to flood the room,” I gasped as his mouth trailed kisses down my neck. The water was still running and the deep tub was nearly full. Hands locked on my waist so we could glide through the water close to the tap. He fumbled an arm out and shut it off, and then that arm was back, crushing me against his wet skin.

I couldn’t leave. Every time I imagined going back to my empty apartment in Chicago, I felt sick. It wasn’t much of a plan, staying with him, but it was all I had. It had to be enough. He was better at planning than I was.

His hands splayed across my back while his mouth worked steadily lower to my breasts. The caress of his soft tongue on my nipple was an electric shock of acute desire. I didn’t think I could be any more needy until that happened.

“Please,” I whispered. I shifted in his lap, letting his hard cock slip between my folds. I didn’t want foreplay. The throbbing ache for him was going to consume me.

Like the first time we’d been together, he paused just as he was positioned to take me. Those arms held me steady and his gaze kept me immobile. One of his hands drifted up through the water. He repeated his routine of cupping my face. The wet thumb brushed onto my lips.

“I love you.”

He claimed my mouth and urged me down onto him at the same moment, and I sighed against the kiss. I was trembling. The emotions snaking through my veins were overwhelming.

His slow, gentle slide inside me burned with scorching pleasure. This was like that first time, only so much more. Not because he was sitting and I was on top. It was because what we were doing wasn’t fucking. This was making love. He’d given me a hint of it before, but now he had no need for restraint.

The ends of my hair skimmed the water and clung to me, and I clung to him. I clawed at his shoulder, wanting him closer. My forehead rested against his. The tremble in me grew and stole my breath.

“Payton.” He moaned it in my ear when I went faster. “Slow. Make it last.”

I wanted to, but couldn’t. Each push of his cock claimed me over again, making me his. My hand slapped against the cold wall behind him, and I dragged it chattering down the tile. His left hand seized my breast and he sucked at the pert nipple just above the waterline. The ring on his hand. Oh, shit. I closed my eyes but the image was seared in my brain. How did I get so lucky? That he’d chosen me that night, and he’d chosen to give me all this.

His heart was pounding in his chest and I could feel it mirroring mine. He approached the edge of his orgasm as I did, threatening to send us over. I’d never wanted anything as much as I did this man who pushed and tested me, but also wanted to give me anything I wanted. There was no demand to come for him. This moment was much deeper than our silly power play.

Yeah, he couldn’t get the words out of me, but he was absolutely right. I
felt
it.

Dominic’s hands drove me down on him in a final thrust that threw us both into oblivion. His quiet moan echoed off the tile. And me? The bliss was so out of this world I couldn’t find oxygen. My mouth hung open and I barely made a sound. I closed my eyes and banded my arms so hard around his head, surely I suffocated him against my heaving chest.

The water rolled in waves, back and forth, diminishing with each pass, until it was smooth again.

“God, there aren’t words,” he said, muffled against my skin, “for how amazing that was.”

“No,” I panted, “there aren’t.”

I released his head and leaned back in his arms, still trying to catch my breath.

“You’re serious about staying, right?”

I nodded and rose off of him, the water sloshing in the tub again as I sat beside him under his arm. “I’m going to need another favor, though.”

“Just name it. Whatever you want. Anything.”

I gave a pained smile. “I’ve probably got enough to cover another month of rent in Chicago, but that’s it.” I leaned my head back against the tile. “All my money’s tied up in my car.”

“How much is left on your lease?”

“Until April.”

“We can figure out what to do after that, but I’ve got you covered until then.”

I bit my lip. “I’ll pay you back.” Though I had no idea how.

His deep laugh filled the glass room. “Forget it. I don’t want your money.” I scowled, but that only made his grin wider. “Think of it this way, you’re repurposing the money from the plane ticket, and I’ll still be coming out ahead.” His eyes gleamed. “Way fucking ahead.”

When our fingertips were pruned and the water became cool, Dominic helped me out of the tub. We toweled off and he gestured to the two robes hanging beside the sink. One was a manly, deep blue, and the other a black and white floral print. Only they weren’t robes.

“
Yukatas
,” he said. “Or maybe kimonos. I can never tell the difference.”

It was clear which one was mine, so I pulled on my bra and underwear, and slipped my arms into the sleeves of the soft fabric. Beneath it on the hook was a thin belt and a wide yellow sash. We had to watch a YouTube video on his iPad to figure out how to put them on properly. Of course the ultra-traditional inn would have WiFi. We had to help each other get dressed, and Dominic couldn’t keep his hands off of me so it took forever.

“We look like stupid
Gaijins
,” I laughed when it was done.

Even with my best effort, Dominic’s was lopsided and looked ready to come undone any second. Not that I was complaining. Our host confirmed it when she delivered our dinner and did a double-take.

“You need to turn your obi to the back,” she said, alarmed for me. “Wearing it in the front means you are a prostitute.”

I couldn’t contain my snort of amusement. “Wouldn’t want anyone to mistake me for
that
.”

Dominic didn’t seem to find it as amusing as I did.

We ate the delicious meal at the low table in our kimonos, discussing the process of applying for a temporary visa. I’d gotten so good at using the chopsticks, I was able to snap mine around Dominic’s when he leaned over to steal a bite out of my bowl.

“Get lost.”

“Come on, Mrs. Ward.” His playful smile was distracting. “Share with your husband.”

“Okay, I’ll fake share with my fake husband.” I pushed his chopsticks away. “It’s not my fault you already ate all of yours.”

I couldn’t stop him, though. His sticks snatched up a hunk of noodles and they disappeared into his mouth a half-second after. I shouldn’t have been surprised. He always got what he wanted.

“Was that your plan all along?” I asked him abruptly. “Did you bring me here to get me to stay?”

His blue eyes widened. “No. I was going to ask for another week.”

“And those three words.”

His expression went serious. “Yeah. Look, I didn’t think I had a prayer of getting you to stay another week, but I was gonna try.” He set his chopsticks down and they tinged against the bowl. “You don’t seem to hate it like I did when I first got here, but I know it’s not easy for you.” He took a deep breath. “You don’t have to say those three words tonight. You already did.”

“So, I’m off the hook, huh?”

He gave a sly smile. “For now.”

chapter

TWENTY-TWO

TEN DAYS LATER

I’d spent hours at the US Embassy and gotten nowhere. The visa application was supposed to be submitted three months prior to the stay and filed from outside of Japan. My caseworker was fairly certain I was going to have to leave within ninety days of entry to Japan and go through the process properly.

Three months? No thanks.

But I was beginning to hate it here. The looks of disdain from strangers when it was clear I didn’t speak Japanese, and the long, lonely hours when Dominic was stuck late at work. I didn’t regret my life-changing decision to stay, but my resentment toward Chase Sports and the stupid contract they held over us grew thick.

I rode the train back to our apartment, my shoulders sagging in defeat about the visa. Dominic had joked that we could get married. “Hell, we already have rings,” he’d said. The scary thing was I wasn’t sure he was joking. Faced with the prospect of me leaving, he’d do whatever he had to. But it’s not like he was a citizen of Japan, and getting married might only make the visa application process more difficult.

I texted him that I was in a bad mood and no way was I cooking tonight.