Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 66993 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66993 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Nyomi narrowed her eyes, those full lips curving just slightly—not in a smile. In challenge. “I’m sorry but. . .I don’t know Satoshi and Rin. I want it to be Pinky and Yoichi. I’d feel more comfortable with them.”
I scowled at her. At her audacity.
Naughty Tiger.
Granted, her fucking audacity burned through me in the most dangerous, yet erotically thrilling way.
She wasn’t afraid to push.
And the worst part?
I fucking loved it.
Still, she needed to understand something—what she would get in bed, what I would give her in rope and obedience, was one thing.
But outside of that?
I led.
Always.
I was the one in control.
Still—I had to choose.
Right now.
Push back and make her feel overruled?
Or protect the only thing that mattered more than pride—her sense of safety.
My jaw flexed.
Reo appeared again, lingering behind her. Urging me with his eyes. Time was slipping through my fingers like blood on tile.
I looked back at Nyomi.
She was watching me.
Goddamn, she is magnificent.
“Fine.” I nodded. “Pinky and Yoichi.”
Her smile was small and victorious. “Thank you.”
“Have a good night. I’ll see you tomorrow to help with your research.”
She didn’t gloat. She just nodded. “I hope everything works out and your brother is okay.”
“Me too.” I turned away from her.
I made it three steps.
And then. . .
Fuck. No.
I spun back around, the fire in my chest detonating into something I couldn’t—wouldn’t—leave behind.
Her eyes widened as I closed the distance.
Before she could say a word, I gripped her waist and pulled her flush against me.
Not roughly.
Possessively.
Like I already knew every inch of her body and had memorized it in dreams.
She gasped—just slightly—but didn’t move. Didn’t resist.
She melted.
I lowered my head and kissed her.
Not a goodbye kiss.
Not a see you later.
A kiss that claimed.
A kiss that demanded her body remember exactly what it felt like to be this close to mine.
Mmmm.
My lips brushed hers first—featherlight, soft, teasing.
Then I deepened it, slipping my tongue into her wet, yearning mouth, drinking her.
She tasted like sake and slow fire.
Her lips parted for me more, as I continued to slide my tongue against hers—slow, sensual, unhurried. Like I had all the time in the world when really, I had none.
Her hands gripped my suit jacket.
Her breath hitched.
I could feel her soft whimper against my tongue and fuck if that didn’t go straight to my cock.
I kissed her like we were already naked in some candlelit room and I was about to let her ride me until dawn.
I kissed her like I had nothing left to lose—because this might be the only softness I’d get before walking back into the hell of my fucking dark world.
My hand slid from her waist to the base of her spine, splaying wide and possessive.
I angled her hips into mine so she could feel my cock—thick, hard, and straining for her.
I wanted her pussy soaked after this kiss.
I wanted her wet, throbbing, and aching while I was gone.
I wanted the memory of this kiss to torment her pussy until I returned.
Damn. . .she’s mine. There can be no other option.
When I finally pulled away, her lips were kiss-bruised, her eyes glassy, her cheeks flushed.
I pressed my forehead to hers. “You’ll be safe. You’ll be taken home and I swear to you—I will see you tomorrow night.”
She blinked slowly. “O-okay.”
I kissed her again.
Just the corner of her mouth.
A silent vow.
I released my sexy Tiger and turned to Reo. “Let’s go.”
I didn’t look back, because if I did, I might not leave.
And Hiro was waiting.
Tied to a monster I called father.
Yet, even as I walked toward darkness, my body still burned with the taste of her.
I can’t wait to see my sexy Tora again.
Chapter twenty
Memories, the Throne, and Taiyaki
Kenji
My Rolls-Royce hummed low as it sliced through the Tokyo night, neon bleeding across the windows like brushstrokes in motion.
I didn’t speak to Reo who sat across from me.
I couldn’t because the only thing playing over and over in my mind was her.
Nyomi.
That kiss.
The way her mouth had opened for me so slowly, then responded with that hungry, molten fire I hadn’t expected. That kiss had detonated in my veins, scorched my control, rewired my goddamn body chemistry.
And now?
Now, I was heading toward my father’s trap with the taste of her still on my tongue.
My hand rested on the box she’d given me earlier in the evening—wrapped in thick gold paper, tied with an ink-black ribbon that shimmered under the passing lights.
Her second gift.
It sat on my lap like a promise.
Reo glanced at it, then back at me. “Are you going to open your present now?”
“No.” I shifted my gaze to the tinted window and took in my city.
Tokyo moved past in gold and steel. Even in the deepest hours of night, she breathed—restless, shining, watching.
Billboards flashed ads for luxury whiskey and immortality serums.
Designer boutiques glowed.
And in the alleyways between all that shine, I knew blades were being drawn, debts enforced, women stolen, and futures snuffed out before they had a chance to begin.