Total pages in book: 152
Estimated words: 154368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 617(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 617(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
No oils to not interfere with what?
Once I washed up well, I turned off the water and grabbed a towel.
When I stepped out, two of Hiroko's assistants were waiting. They didn't speak—just gestured for me to stand still while they patted me dry with clinical efficiency.
One of them checked my arms, my legs, my back. Looking for something. Residue, maybe. Whatever might be left on my skin.
Hiroko appeared in the doorway, studied me for a moment, and then nodded. "Good. You're ready."
I wrapped the towel tighter around myself. "Ready for what?"
She didn't answer.
I rolled my eyes.
Zo was waiting in the main room with an arsenal of red leather spread across the chaise.
"Finally." He clapped his hands together. "Let's make you fuckable."
I laughed despite myself. "That's the goal?"
"Baby, that's always the goal." He held up a piece of red leather—panties, barely there, with straps that would sit high on my hips. "Tonight, we're doing dominatrix chic, but making it fuckable. Powerful but pretty. Dangerous but delicious. Honey, we want you to walk in and his cock explodes."
He tossed me the panties.
I caught them.
He clapped again. "Put those on. Drop the towel. We don't have all night."
I looked at Hiroko. At her assistants. At the pet still crouched in his cage, watching nothing but his mistress.
Zo rolled his eyes. "Girl, nobody in this room cares about your body except me, and I've already seen everything. Multiple times. From multiple angles."
Fair point.
I dropped the towel and stepped into the panties. The leather was soft—buttery, expensive—but it still felt foreign against my skin.
Zo circled me like a shark, tugging at the straps, adjusting the fit.
"Good. Good." He grabbed the matching top—a red strappy thing that was more harness than bra, with leather bands that would cross over my chest and wrap around my ribs. "Arms up."
I raised my arms.
He slipped the top over my head and began fastening the buckles at my back. His fingers were quick, practiced. He'd done this before. Maybe not with leather fetish gear, but the principle was the same.
I whispered, "Do you know what we're about to do?"
"Me?" Zo snorted. "No. Why would I know? I'm just the talented and very sexy stylist."
"Hiroko won't tell me anything."
"Then she won't tell me either." He tugged a strap tighter. "I just know it's going to be freaky. This whole island is freaky. That man in the cage over there is freaky."
He lowered his voice. "He purred at me earlier, Nyomi. Like a cat. I almost threw my martini at him."
I bit back a smile.
Zo stepped around to face me, examining his work. His eyes traveled down my body—the red leather stark against my brown skin, the straps accentuating curves I sometimes forgot I had.
Then his gaze stopped.
At my hips.
He tilted his head and squinted. "Nyomi."
"What?"
"Those hips are spreading."
I looked down. "What? No, they're not!"
"Girl, I know your body. I've been inside your body. Those hips are wider than they were six months ago." His eyes narrowed. "Are you pregnant?"
The room went quiet.
I felt Hiroko's gaze snap toward me. When I looked at her, her eyes had widened. Just slightly. Just enough.
"No. First of all, Kenji and I have just started having sex. It hasn’t even been that much time." I shook my head. "I'm not pregnant. I'm on birth control. The pill."
Hiroko's expression didn't relax. "I would double up."
I blinked. "What?"
"If the Dragon wants you pregnant, you will be pregnant." Her voice was matter-of-fact. "No birth control will stop him. His bloodline has survived for centuries. It has survived wars, famines, and assassinations. It survives because when that bloodline chooses to create an heir, an heir is created."
I stared at her.
Zo burst out laughing. "I bet his sperm comes with a flame torch. Could you imagine? And like, the sperm probably has several swords. Actually, a full security detail."
He mimed tiny warriors swimming. "They probably take out the other sperm on the way to the egg. Eliminate the competition."
"Zo." I pressed my hand to my forehead. "Please."
"I'm just saying!" He held up his hands. "That man's genetics are not playing fair. You better double up on everything. Triple up. Get a chastity belt."
"I'm not pregnant," I said firmly. To Hiroko. To Zo. To myself. "I take my pill every day. Same time. I'm careful."
Hiroko inclined her head. "Then you have nothing to worry about."
But something in her tone suggested she didn't quite believe me. Or maybe she just didn't believe birth control could stop the Dragon.
Knots formed in my stomach.
The assistants checked my hair and made sure my braids were all still in the bun that the other stylists had done earlier.
Hiroko watched. "Good. We can't have your hair down tonight. That would be unsafe."
Unsafe.
There was that word again.
Nothing on my skin. Hair pulled completely back. Whatever this scene was, it required me to be. . .on a high level of alert.