Page 55 of Doubting Hearts

Mr. Miyamoto moved forward with concern and laid a gentle hand on my arm. “You alright?” he asked in halting English. “You hurt?”

The sight of this small man, this stranger, with such a look of worry on his face for me brought tears to my eyes. They welled up, and I thought they were probably long overdue. I tried valiantly to fight them back, reaching up a hand to wipe my eyes. He nodded, raising a gentle hand to my cheek.

“You strong. You help me.” I imagined he was referring to when I’d tended to him when he had fainted. “You good, brave man, Mr. Prentiss-san.” The lump in my throat got bigger, and all I could do was nod. He patted my cheek softly, inclining his head at Haruka. She inclined back graciously, and he turned and left the office. I sniffed, trying to keep myself composed and not turn all girly and dewy-eyed in front of Haruka. She smiled at me, her eyes soft.

“We have a saying in Japan, Mr. Prentiss-san. ‘To die is easy. To live is hard.’ I think you have seen a lot of hard living. Both Mr. Miyamoto-san and I heard what those policemen were saying about you and your past when I took everyone in to make their statements. I think Mr. Miyamoto-san is right. You are a good, brave man.”

She leaned forward and kissed my cheek gently, then left in a waft of perfume and a slight sway of chiffon blouse. I collapsed into my chair, finding tears trickling down my cheeks. It had all been a little surreal, and it looked like past events were catching up with me. I got up, closed and locked the door, then gave way to a bout of heartfelt crying. I hadn’t done that since I was a boy.

* * *

LATER THAT night, I was in my room, in my boxers, lying down on the bed, trying to concentrate on watching Thursday Round Up, a news program on the telly. My mind kept wandering. Rain had finished everything he needed to do in the Canterbury Bar earlier than expected, and it was now officially completed. He’d been at the site of his new job today and had a dinner meeting tonight with the man who wanted the library built in Leicester. Tomorrow there would be no reason for him to come by the hotel. He and Lucas were taking a couple of days off before their next job out of town and Lucas was taking Tammy away for the weekend—leaving tomorrow. There was a quiet knock at the door. Frowning, I glanced at my watch. It was close to 11:00 p.m., and I wasn’t expecting anyone. I pulled on a pair of jeans and opened the door. The first thing I saw was a huge bunch of yellow roses and a bottle of champagne. A pair of blue eyes gazed at me over the top of the flowers. My stomach lurched, and I smiled—more like a stupid, sloppy grin—as Rain stepped into the room.

“Flowers for me?” He nodded as I closed the door behind him. Taking the flowers, I smelled them appreciatively. He looked a little embarrassed.

“Actually, they were my mother’s idea,” he murmured, “When I told her about you being hurt, she told me to go out and buy flowers for you. She said even a man appreciated a bunch of roses. She said she’d call you to see if you actually got them, and she would too,” he said darkly. “So, never let it be said I don’t bring my boyfriend flowers. I’m also taking time out from my pole dance and stripping practice, so you should feel privileged.”

He kissed me, a long, lingering smooch that had me hard in seconds. “And the champagne is for me to pour all over you and lick off.” He caressed my cheek teasingly. “I know it will make a mess, Mr. Neat and Clean, but you’ll just have to manage with it.”

I chuckled, an overwhelming sense of happiness flooding through my body just with him being here. “Thank your mother for me next time you speak to her.” I felt a warm feeling that someone across the other side of the world had thought about me. “I think I can manage one night of stickiness if it means I get to feel your tongue doing magic things to my body.”

God, I am so bloody horny now at that thought.

“I didn’t think I’d see you tonight,” I remarked, trying to find something to put the flowers in. No one had ever bought me flowers before, so I had nothing “vaselike.” I gave a smile of triumph when I managed to find an old glass spaghetti canister that was being used to store various odds and sods and which I thought might do. I tipped everything out into my “man drawer,” the one in my dresser that held all manner of crap, and filled the canister with water from the bathroom. Rain watched as I set about arranging the stems in the makeshift vase. He had a smirk on his face.

“Wow, flower arranging too? You’ll make some man a great husband one day.”

I whacked him across the back of the head with one of the stems, and he sidestepped as he laughed. “I finished my dinner date, and I needed my Toby fix. I haven’t seen you all day. Tomorrow I’m back at this job in Leicester.”

I looked at him in surprise. “I thought you only started the job on Monday and you had tomorrow off?”

He shrugged. “The job is turning out to be a little bigger than we thought. I’ve still got a bit of scoping to do. So, I said I’d get there tomorrow morning and make a start.”

I finished the floral arrangement. It was no Ikebana, but it would have to do. I set the vase down on the dining table that had so recently seen a lot of action.

Rain chuckled. “I might have to move those later,” he murmured suggestively.

I shook my head firmly. “Not tonight, old bean. You slam me down on that table like you did last time, and you’ll end up with my puke all over you.”

“Way to go, Toby,” he muttered with a grimace. “That certainly gets the romance going. And after I bought you flowers too.”

“Bringing a man flowers does not guarantee that you’ll get lucky,” I said mock primly. He laughed softly and moved over to my “man drawer,” rummaging for the corkscrew. “So, what do I do about this champagne, then?” he asked silkily. “Do we drink it the traditional way, or do I lick it off you?”

Mr. Cocky perked up in my trousers, and Rain grinned slyly. The bottle opened with a pop, and he laid it on the table, wandering over to me, a look of definite intent in his eyes. Holding my breath, I waited to see what he had planned. As he reached out, his mobile went off, the Joker tone and its ominous chuckle reverberating in the room. He stilled, looking down at his jeans pocket. I watched him. He seemed a little jumpy.

“It’s a little late for a text, isn’t it?” I murmured.

“It could be Joe, the library man. He said he’d confirm what time we’re meeting tomorrow.” He took his phone out, turning away. I slid my jeans off my hips and threw them into the corner. I picked up the champagne, selected two glasses from the cupboard, put them on my side table, then got onto the bed to wait for him. Rain flicked through his phone, his face darkening at whatever was in the message. He typed something, then slipped the phone back into his pocket.

“That looked like bad news,” I said, watching his face. Something seemed off.

He shook his head. “No, it’s all good. It was Joe. I’m to meet him at ten. So, I don’t need to be up too early in the morning.” He grinned, still looking unsettled. “So, you can keep me awake all night if you like.”

Rain looked at me lying on the bed. He eye-fucked me all the way from my face down to my toes, a look of sheer lust that went straight to my groin. He took his shirt off as I watched, then tossed it onto one of the beanbags. Slowly, he undid his trousers, slipping them and his underwear off to fall in a heap on the floor.

“God, you are so bloody sexy,” I whispered, watching him move over to the bed, ready to do battle with the adversary that was my body. “I think tonight we might even manage to fuck properly.”

He grinned as he knelt beside me. “I’d suggest you get those off, then.” He gestured to my wet-fronted boxers. “Then we can get busy with this champagne.” He smiled evilly as I slipped off my underwear and pushed it onto the floor. “I think maybe it might be time for those ties we spoke about to come out and play?”