What Men Want - Chapter 32

She slipped into his bedroom, swallowing convulsively at seeing him on the bed, his back arched, his hand moving underneath the sheet as images of her writhing underneath him, sounds of their moans assailed her full force.

She slammed the door behind her, breathing a sigh of relief as it had the desired effect.

He sat up, his eyes glazed and unfocused, zeroing in on her.

The image of her standing there, wearing her flowery pajamas, superimposed on the image of her in his dream, naked under him, her skin flushed pink and glistening with sweat.

“What are you doing there?” he asked hoarsely. “Come back to bed.”

Kaori gulped. “Ryo?”

On the bed, the sheet riding precariously low on his stomach, not really disguising his impressive erection, he blinked. Shit, this is real.

In less than a heartbeat, the image of her naked, gazing at him with languid eyes, was replaced by Umibozu wearing lingerie, and all signs of excitement under the sheet were gone.

So that was how he did it, Kaori mused. Wasn’t that interesting?

He cleared his throat. “Can I help you?”

“Well.” She shrugged. “I could ask the same thing.” She glanced down at his lap, where everything was back to being meek and docile.

He hitched the sheet higher. “What do you mean?”

She smiled. Was he shy all of a sudden? “Oh, I don’t know. Is there something I could help you with? Aren’t you the one who keeps telling me it’s better to feel something and hold it in your arms instead of dreaming about it?”

He sighed. “Look, Kaori, it’s late, and I’m tired. I’m not in the mood for riddles.”

She nodded. “Fine. No more riddles. No more lies, either.” And, wondering just where she’d suddenly gotten the guts to do it, she shucked her pajama bottom. She was wearing panties underneath, but still. It was a bold move. Especially seeing the state her panties were in.

Ryo scooted back on the bed, and in his mind, Umi was joined by Mick in sexy lingerie. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Telling the truth.” She sat on the foot of his bed, tucking her legs underneath her. “Remember how I hit my head.”

A violent tick worked in his jaw.

“I guess you do. Well, there’s something I didn’t tell you.”

He was immediately alert as he grabbed her wrist. “What?”

“I only told the doctor that attended me and Mick.”

He quickly let go of her wrist, his eyes blank.

“Really?” She glared at him. “You’re jealous, because I told Mick?”

“I’m not jealous,” he snapped.

“I didn’t really mean to tell him, but circumstances being as they were—”

“When you were alone with him in his apartment,” Ryo said sullenly.

“Do you want to know why I was alone with him in his apartment?” she asked.

“Not really,” he mumbled.

She sighed. “Ryo. I thought we established last night that nothing happened between Mick and me and that you believed me. Make up your damn mind!”

“Fine!” he snarled. “He already told me you supposedly had a dream about me dying and panicked. I told you thousands of times that panic can kill. You have to focus.”

Kaori closed her eyes and counted to ten. Patience. A person needed patience when dealing with Ryo, no matter the circumstance. The man liked to go off on his tangents, and God help anyone who tried to follow him.

“My bump on the head had an unexpected side effect,” she said over him.

He snapped his mouth shut, and she was assailed by mental images of her bleeding out, drooling all over herself while staring into nothingness, strapped onto a hospital bed with machines beeping around her, dying...

“Stop it!” she snapped. “Just stop it!”

“I’m not doing anything,” he whispered, his eyes concerned. “God, Kaori, what is it? I can take it.” Probably. “We can deal with it; no matter what, I’m sure we can manage. Just tell me.”

“I can read minds.”

He blinked, then sputtered. And roared with laughter.

She calmly stared at him until his laughter died down to mere chuckles and he grinned at her.

“Are you done?” she asked.

“You’re funny, Kaori-kun.”

“And you’re pathetic, Saeba,” she clapped back. “Having the literal woman of your dreams under your roof and doing nothing about it. Pretending not to give a crap while chasing other women.”

He blinked. “Are you drunk?”

“No, I’m completely sober. But I had my eyes opened tonight for the first time. When will you open yours?” She leaned toward him, speaking softly. “What are you afraid of, Ryo? That I might balk? If I haven’t so far, I won’t now. Besides, I promised I wouldn’t last night, remember? Only last night you didn’t exactly tell me the whole truth, did you, Ryo? Tell me, did you always imagine me before going all mokkori on another woman, or is that a recent development?”

“What are you talking about?”

She tapped her index finger against his forehead. “Why do Umibozu and Mick have to wear my underwear? Couldn’t you put something else on them? I’ll never be able to wear that bra again. And it’s my favorite, damn it!”

“What are you talking about?” he repeated.

“I’m talking about what’s in your head at the moment,” she calmly explained. “Do you want me to tell you what was in your head when I came through the door? How about all the previous nights since I woke up at the hospital? That’s what woke me up the night I went to Mick’s. Your dreams. Your erotic dreams. I thought you dreamed of another woman, and it broke my heart. And then I tuned into someone else’s dream, someone who really wants you dead, and I’m not being melodramatic; here, I saw you die, and I couldn’t take it, so I ran out of the house and went to Mick’s. Then I had to tell him the reason, and I decided on the truth. Because truth is always the best alternative. You should really try it sometimes.”

She looked at him expectantly, but he was utterly silent. Even his mind was silent. No images or thoughts as he stared at her. He stared at her so long that she started to fidget.

Well, she had her answer, didn’t she? If he’d planned on saying something, he would’ve said it by now. She blinked to keep tears at bay. Fine! She also had her pride. And there was no reason for her to stay.

“You’re such a coward,” she whispered, slid off the bed, grabbed her pajama bottoms, and made to leave.

You’re right. I am a coward.

The thought stopped her at the door, made her turn, despite herself.

He stood by the bed, the sheet tucked around his waist. “I didn’t say anything, yet you turned,” he said softly. “You really can read my mind, can you?”

“Not all the time,” she told him dejectedly. “It must be something about you shady types. You, Umibozu, and Mick have the ability to make your mind go blank sometimes, and I don’t hear anything.” She shrugged. “Like in Mick’s apartment. It felt like there was a black hole behind me.”

He cleared his throat and looked down at his feet. “I wanted to kill him,” he muttered.

“What?”

He looked at her straight into her eyes. “I wanted to kill my best friend because he’d had you; he’d seen you naked, while I only had you in my dreams.”

Her heart fluttered in her chest.

“And then I wanted to fuck you so long and so hard until you forgot Mick Angel even existed. Until you forgot every other man existed but me.”

Kaori could feel her cheeks flame, but there was no chance she’d look away. This was the moment. He either cleared up everything or it was over for them before it even began.