Scandalously Expecting His Child(26)

                Not that anyone would believe it. The Japanese weren’t given to expressing their emotions, even with their closest people. It was probably because she was a gaijin and a friend who had no contact with his close circle that Hiro felt safe to show her a side of him he’d never show his compatriots and kin. Of course, there was also that life-changing experience he’d shared with her, making her closer to him than almost everyone. Certainly closer than the woman of his dreams, whom he’d finally taken a step toward. If a very belated one.

                Scarlett didn’t understand why he’d never taken it before. He’d tell her why if and when he saw fit. Or not. She’d be there for him, as he was for her, no questions asked.

                “I broke my code of honor. I compromised hers, showed her disrespect and exploited Kuroshiro’s trust in accepting my tribute and bringing her to my home. It was a total disaster.”

                Hiro’s deep voice was strangled, choking off the measure of joy his call had given her. He was really taking this badly, was calling to share his self-recriminations because they’d become too much for him to bear alone.

                She wished she could tell him he should at least feel no remorse on Raiden’s behalf. He had not only kissed her but had sex with her. But though Raiden was a major concern to him, what so agonized him was what he thought he’d done to Megumi.

                Deciding to go for the heart of the matter, she asked, “Did she respond?”

                That seemed to surprise him so much, it aborted his agitation, made him sound scandalized as he said, “Is that all you have to say? What’s the difference if she did?”

                “It makes all the difference. So did she?” Only his deep, disturbed breathing answered her. “Let me put it another way. Did she resist you?”

                A heavy exhalation. “No. She melted in my embrace, as I always dreamed she would, gave me her lips to worship.” An exasperated exhalation. “But that was no response.”

                She groaned. “Hiro, Hiro, don’t you know anything about women at all? That was her response. Surrendering to you, letting you claim her as you will.”

                She’d done the same with Raiden. Heat surged through her with the memories of what Raiden had done to her, the unimaginable pleasure he’d given her when he’d taken her like that, devoured her without preliminaries, as if he couldn’t wait, couldn’t breathe if he didn’t have her. It had always been intoxicating when she’d met him kiss for kiss, touch for touch, taken what she’d wanted, which had always been all of him. But her utmost pleasure had always been to submit to his dominance, as she had last night.

                “But afterward, she looked...shocked.”

                She barely held back from moaning with the pangs of renewed hunger as she focused on her distressed friend. “Of course she did. You’ve never shown her signs you have emotions for her, then suddenly at her engagement party, you drag her aside and devour her.”

                “I did show her my emotions,” Hiro protested. “Every time I saw her for the past six months. But my father was Yakuza, and I thought that might be why she’d never consider me.”

                That was the first time Hiro admitted his late father had been a member of the Japanese mafia, and she wouldn’t probe further. “Did you make any actual advances before last night?”

                “I invented ways to see her as frequently as I can.”

                “Did she realize that? Or did you hide your intentions so well, like you did last night, she didn’t realize you set those events up with the sole purpose of seeing her?”