His Revenge Baby: 50 Loving States, Washington (3 page)

Kazuo’s first wife didn’t take the divorce request well. And her suicide created a further stain on their family’s story. More death had followed after that. His grandfather succumbed to cancer a decade ago, and Norio’s mother had met an untimely death when No and his younger brother were in their early twenties. And now, it seemed to No, the older his father became, the harder he chased after a past that could never be recovered.

No gave both his father and brother bows, one much deeper than the other. All while trying to keep his eyes from straying back down to the dance floor.

“I would like for us to sit,” his father said with a bow of his own and an extended hand. A command disguised as an invitation.

No sat, again doing all he could not to look at the main floor below. A western girl, his father would understand. No had attended grad school in the States after all and Western girlfriends had long been considered trendy among the elite Japanese. But a Western black girl would be hard to explain, especially after what happened with No’s disavowed
hafu
older brother.

There were, No was aware, some fathers in the world who could talk with their sons about such things. For example, his former friend Go had once taken him home to celebrate the American holiday of Thanksgiving with his family in Indiana. No had been struck by how Go’s father had listened carefully to his son’s excited chatter about the side projects he and No had been working on. Not really understanding, but asking questions anyway, because he honestly seemed to want to know more about Go’s day-to-day life in the Carnegie Mellon Robotics program. Because he honestly cared about his younger son, no matter how strange Go might come off to everyone else.

No had found the entire conversation fascinating, especially because it was not one he would have dared to have with his father, who had never understood the concept of hobby projects. How will this benefit Nakamara Worldwide?—that would have been Kazuo’s first question. Have you made this American sign over his rights to the work?

—his second. Then he would have commanded No to discontinue any extra research projects altogether unless they could be shown to profit the company.

As for his friendship with Go, the other students in their program nicknamed them Go and No for their similar interests and the amount of time they spent together,

hyper-focused on those interests. But nickname and interests aside, the truth was they couldn’t have been further apart.

Go had been born into a humble Hispanic family, while No had come to Carnegie Mellon with both a driver and personal assistant on payroll. Also, No and his father didn’t have the same kind of relationship Go and his father shared. More like the exact opposite, with No withholding as much information as possible from his father to ensure Kazuo would never have reason to think him anything less than a fellow Nakamura hawk.

But shortly after Hayato, Kazuo, and he settled onto one of the VIP area’s couches, his past and present collided.

“Our enemy in the States has suffered another setback,” Kazuo informed his two sons. Looking directly at No, he said, “I believe we should initiate talks with his parent company. Ask them to sell to RoTeku while his stock prices are low. We’ll end up paying less than our initial offer, and in this way will his lesson be learned.”

No worked very carefully to keep his face neutral at the thought of attempting to take over GoBotics while its CEO was down. As far as his father was concerned, his son Norio had zero feelings one way or the other about Kazuo’s decision to destroy No’s former project partner after he refused RoTeku’s offer to buy his company. Nor did Kazuo suspect that what happened earlier in the year had been eating Norio up inside.

His former best friend had been shot by a madwoman because of Kazuo’s behind-the-scenes machinations…

No had abandoned their friendship. Cut all communication as soon as Kazuo announced RoTeku would be putting in a bid for Go’s fledgling robotics company. It was his way of letting Go know that as illuminating as their grad school project partnership had been, he was first and foremost a Nakamura and he could never let a friendship come between his family’s company and their business interest. At least he thought he’d let go of the strange American with whom he’d shared a surprising rapport. Filed him away along with the projects they’d worked on together.

But what happened to Go earlier that year…it kept No up at night.

And on more than one occasion he’d shown up at the Umeda flat, the one he kept for mistresses, at three in the morning, choosing sex for lack of anything else to distract him from the insomnia that had been dogging him as of late. That was probably one of the reasons Carina was under the illusion that tonight might cement their status as a couple rather than end it.

Carina…

She had surely made it downstairs by now. How was the girl in the blue dress receiving his invitation?
Do not look down
.
Whatever you do, do not look
, No told himself. Instead, he forced himself to focus on the conversation with his father and brother.

“May I request time on your calendars this week?” No asked them. “I can come up to Tokyo, and I would like to discuss reintroducing the driverless car initiative to the board.”

Hayato, considered No’s proposal with a thoughtful nod. “This might be a better use of our time where robotics are concerned.”

But his father harrumphed. “If we acquire our enemy’s company, we could use his

emotion software to make our cars display a range of emotions. This would make us more appealing to our younger market.”

He could barely hear his father words over the raging compulsion to look down. See if Carina had found their target.
Do not look. Do not look,
he repeated to himself as he opened his mouth to respond to his father.

But then he had to look, because shouts rang out from below.

“Who do you think you are, man!? Huh?!?! Touching her like that!?” Doug Tucker was drunkenly yelling at a Dominican player.

No fighting
was one of the Nakamura Hawks staunchest rules, yet No predicted what would happen even before Tucker took the swing. The typical algorithm of American stupidity and machismo combined with too much alcohol after a season of mandated abstinence.

He watched Carina pull the girl back from the melee as a large brawl broke out.

And unfortunately, he never got his wish to “interview” the girl that night with Carina acting as hostess. His personal security detail quickly escorted him out of the club in one direction, while his father and brother went in the other. There were too many people at the event, some who might have snuck in phones with cameras. Better for them to be as far from the club as possible than pictured on tomorrow’s news.

A call put in to Osaka Charm by his second assistant had been even less fruitful.

“Yes, we have several girls we can send to Nakamura-sama,” they’d told Miyuki. “Can you describe the one he saw that night?”

Miyuki had, and apparently the woman from Osaka Charm had been confused.

“They say they have no girls on their roster with big hair,” she’d told No. “Maybe you mean long hair? Or perhaps she was wearing a wig?”

Hai
, perhaps…

“They have promised to send over all the black American girls they have for a special request interview,” Miyuki told him with an apologetic bow. “Did you wish for one night with this girl or would you prefer another long-term assignment?”

And that was how he ended up putting in a special request for a six-month mistress of a different sort.

He’d felt like a rather strangely cast Prince Charming as he interviewed every single black woman from Osaka Charm. His hopes rising every time the door opened, only to be let down when a woman with little difference, save skin color, from the ones he’d dated in the past, entered his office.

One more. Just one more remained. One so unsuitable that his first assistant, Riyu, had proposed sending her away without being seen.

But as it turned out, the very last woman was exactly who he’d been looking for. His Cinderella. He realized this as soon as the girl from the club walked into his office, naked and nervous. And every bit as arresting as he’d found her that night.

He watched her take in his space. His windows, his office furniture, and then finally…

Her eyes landed on him.

“It’s you!” she gasped, recognition flaring.

Chapter Three

LILLI COULDN’T BELIEVE IT. The man sitting behind the desk was the one from the club.

She still remembered him clearly from that night. So tall and lean and almost regally handsome. His nearly black eyes had seemed as cold and disinterested as a hawk’s, even as he closely watched the interplay between Lilli and the blond Australian.

Not his girlfriend, per se, but another Osaka Charm escort it would seem. Maybe he had a thing for blonds? She couldn’t help but wonder after recalling the selection of other candidates in the waiting room. Maybe the agency had made a mistake in sending her over…?

But instead of immediately dismissing her, the enigmatic man answered, “Yes, it’s me.” Then, “Who did you think it would be?”

“Um, your father,” she admitted with a grimace. “I mean, the agency made it seem like this would be a job. Like, a serious job.”

“You do not think this is a serious job?” His eyes darkened. “You would have preferred my father?”

“No! Oh, God, no! I was so trying to figure out how I was going to do this with him if I got hired,” she answered frankly, before recalling that frankness was not necessarily appreciated in situations like this.

During her time in Japan, she’d found that the Japanese took their familial relationships way more seriously than Americans. She knew enough to realize this guy probably wouldn’t appreciate her insulting his father…as he interviewed her naked self.

“I mean, it’s just that you’re so young and handsome, and…”

She trailed off, another too-late voice reminding her the Japanese, unlike Americans, didn’t necessarily value beauty over age. Here, in a country with so many beautiful people, it often seemed to her as a Westerner looking in, that the power and money that came with age tended to trump good looks as far as the desirability scale was concerned.

But this guy…

As embarrassed as she felt standing there naked in front of him, she couldn’t stop looking at him. Couldn’t stop from admitting, “I wasn’t expecting you. It’s kind of a pleasant surprise.”

God, could this situation be any more excruciating?
And the way he was looking at her… studying her body so closely, she wondered if he was so displeased with her heavy breasts, wide hips, and—insert shudder here—unshaven vagina that he couldn’t even be bothered to interview her.

But he was the one with all the power, and she was the one asking that he do her the favor of picking her to fuck for the next six months. So she tried again, “My name is Ana. Ana Granger. It’s very nice to meet you.”

True, she’d told Ruby and all the other Japanese kids at the international school to call her Ana—easier than dealing with all those tongue-twisting L’s in her name.

However, that wasn’t the first name most people knew her by, and the Granger part was just a complete lie. But whatever. This whole situation could pretty much be filed under, “Biggest Freaking Lie Lilliana Tucker Has Ever Told.”

Still no answer from the man behind the desk. But he continued to watch her quietly.

She’d told the distorted voice on the other side of Doug’s phone. Told it this would happen. But the voice holding Doug’s future in its hands had insisted she take part in this charade. Come here and humiliate herself for a ticket to the billionaire mistress lottery.

Lillii swallowed, closed her eyes. “Okay, so should I leave?” she asked. “Are we done here?”

“I would like to see all of you,
onegaishimasu
.” A request, delivered with the politest form of the Japanese “please.” But his voice was dark and ominous.

So she turned around. Deeply, deeply aware of every dimple and ripple of cellulite on her body as she did so. She imagined the blond she’d met in the lobby doing the same thing. Probably not nearly so awkwardly.

No, she’d probably sashayed her perfectly proportioned body right on around for him. No embarrassment whatsoever. But hell, when you have the perfect body, why be embarrassed?

“You may sit,” the man told her once she’d completed her 360.

Only then did Lilli notice two black metal guest chairs in front of his desk.

She gingerly took a seat, only to bounce right back up again. “That’s okay, I’ll stand.”

The handsome man’s eyes narrowed, even as his tone stayed polite. “If you don’t mind, I much prefer sitting conversations to standing ones.”

“I know, but the seat’s cold. You know, kind of like the room.”

Silence. A long silence. Then: “Tell me Miss Granger, what do you know about me?”

“You can call me Ana,” Lilli answered. “I mean, I am naked
.” And being interviewed
for a sex partner job
, she added silently. At this point, it kind of felt like they were beyond last names.

But apparently he didn’t feel the same, because only silence met her invite.

“Okay,” she said releasing a puff of air. “I’m assuming you’re one of Kazuo Nakamura’s sons, so you’re, um, rich. Like, really rich. And your family’s behind the Nakamura Auto company. I think there’s also an electronics company in the mix, and maybe some video games. I once saw this weird flower card game with Nakamura on it, and somebody was saying that’s how you guys started out. But I don’t really play video games, so…”

Lilli waited for him to let her off the hook. He didn’t.

“Keep going,” he answered her pensive silence.

“Really? Wow, this is like one of those dreams where someone tells you you’ve got to take a big test you didn’t study for. But okay, let me see, what else? Oh, you’ve got a brother. Older or younger—I’m not sure which, but he’s in a lot of the ads and stuff for your company. I’ve seen his face all over the city. So obviously he’s a big deal, and the Japanese women I used to work with think he’s cute.”