You will find great happiness with a new love.
Dao rolled his eyes, growled and hurled the cookie and the fortune into the garbage.
The bathroom door opened and Kianna walked into the room.
He stood and entered the kitchen area. He washed his hands and moved back silently to the table. “I brought you some food,” he spoke without looking at her.
“Can we talk?”
“No, just eat,” Dao spoke harsher than he really wanted to, but didn’t apologize for it. He walked around her and out the door to the balcony. He inhaled deeply and he could smell the river that ran not far from where they were staying. The air smelt different in China. It smelt better to him. A smile graced his lips, but almost as quickly as it came, the smile was gone.
Reaching into his pocket, he tried calling his mother, but the call wouldn’t go through. Frowning, he really wished that she would have moved when he had suggested it. He was worried about his father again. That bad feeling washed over him once more and he cringed while his fingers tightened against the rail. Again he tried to call. This time the phone rang, but when someone on the other end picked up, it died. Dao barely
held back a profanity as he tried again and again, but still no luck. He was tempted to send the phone flying off the balcony, but knew he needed it. Looking up at the sky, he silently questioned the stars.
Why?
“Dao?”
He tensed. He remained standing in the position he was in, his head tilted back, staring at the sky with contempt.
“I’m sorry,” Kianna spoke.
“What are you sorry for, Kianna?”
“The uncertainty. Accusing you of being like other men. This is all new to me.”
“You don’t have to apologize, Kianna. It’s your body.” He turned to face her. “It is your decision on who you allow inside it. So don’t be sorry.”
“Then why are you angry?”
“I’m not angry. I’m frustrated, there’s a difference.”
“What’s the difference?”
Dao inhaled deeply and turned from her again. He did not feel like going through a lecture with anyone at that moment. “Did you eat?”
“Don’t change the subject, Dao.”
“Why the hell not?” He swung to face her. “You do. Why can’t I change my mind when I want to— look, Kianna. Every time you touch me and pull away, a part of me dies. I stay out of your reach,
out of your path because I can’t have you touch me.”
“Then fine, I won’t touch you!” she snapped and turned to enter the hotel room.
“That’s right. Do like you always do and put words in my mouth, Kianna, then run away,” Dao spat distastefully.
She stopped.
He thought she was going to stop and fight, but as usual, Kianna picked up and ran. Shaking his head, he turned back to the night before him. He was so damn sick and tired of her tantrums. At that last one, he didn’t care anymore. Saying a silent prayer of protection over his father, Dao walked into the sitting area of the living room. He removed his shirt and tossed it over the back of a chair and tried to settle his body in a comfortable position on the sofa. But he was too tall. Groaning, he placed the cushions on the ground and stretched out against them. Closing his eyes, he was out like alight.
It was the middle of the night and Kianna couldn’t sleep. She kept waiting for Dao to walk into the room and crawl into his bed. But that didn’t happen. At first she tried to tell herself she didn’t care. She tried to make herself feel better by saying
it was up to him if he wanted to be a jerk, let him be a jerk. But halfway through the night, she couldn’t do it anymore. She couldn’t just lay there thinking ill of him.
Pressing her eyes shut, she exited the room and began searching for him. She found him tossing and turning on the living-room floor. She felt horrible—mean. Sleeping the way he was, against the floor on cushions could not be good for his body. He would be in pain in the morning, she knew that. Kneeling beside him, she lifted a hand and hesitated.
Every time you touch me and pull away, a part of me dies.
His words tore through her and she sat back against her haunches. She allowed her gaze to trail over his body, to caress his face from between his eyes, over the slope of his nose. Her gaze trailed across his kissable mouth, down his chin and down his bare chest. Involuntarily, she bit her lower lip. Again her hand rose and again his words stopped her. His head thrashed against the cushion.
“Mother…”
His voice was filled with shadow, pain. He was hurting. There had to be some way to sooth him, to take his pain away. She couldn’t think of anything other than what she was about to do. He may not like it, but she couldn’t help it.
“Please…Mother…”
With tears in her eyes at the thought of what he must be dreaming, she moved against the cushions, rested her head against his heart, wrapped her arm across his body and pulled him in close.
The movement against him, pulled Dao from his nightmare and he rolled over. He thought it was a part of his night terror, but when a warm arm was tossed over him, he knew it was real. Before opening his eyes, he smelt her and knew she was holding him. Pressing his eyes shut again, he begged some higher being for mercy and patience. He tried to sit up, but she was holding him so tight that he couldn’t. Already, his body was at attention, aroused to her scent and her warmth pressing against him. But Dao had learnt his lesson. He wouldn’t be going there again. “Kianna,” he whispered while shaking her gently. “Kianna, wake up.”
“What? Is it time to go already?” She moaned and snuggled in against his chest even more.
“No. But you can’t sleep here, you need to go to bed.”
“After you,” she retorted.
“I’m giving you your space. Seriously, go to bed.”
“If you don’t go, I won’t go.” She lifted her head to look at him.
The dim light flowing through the room flashed into her eyes and Dao inhaled deeply. Reaching up, he took her hand and squeezed it. “What do you want from me, Kianna?”
“What you did to me on the balcony…”
Dao pushed away at that comment and moaned as his stiff body was lifted quickly from the ground. He rubbed his lower back, then his shoulder and walked into the kitchen section. He glanced at the food on the table and his stomach growled at him. Frowning, he sat down and grabbed a box of Low Mein and some chopsticks.
“Now who’s running away?” Kianna challenged.
“There’s nothing else to do,” Dao spoke. “Do you know why I asked you if you were a virgin?”
Kianna shook her head and took the seat across from him.
He watched her carefully as he chewed. Placing his chopsticks across the mouth of the food’s box, he leant forward to make sure she was getting his undivided attention. “A woman’s first time is painful,” he began. “I did not want to hurt you, alright? That’s why I asked. But as usual, you took
it the wrong way and you told me off and ran away.”
“I didn’t know…”
“Of course not. Because you just assume that I’m out to be a prick. Look, I—just give me a few days and then you can go home and pretend that none of this ever happened…wasn’t that what you wanted to begin with?”
Kianna stood, undid the clasp of her robe and pushed it off her shoulders. She was naked.
Dao swallowed conversely. He couldn’t do it anymore. He stood and turned his back on her. But she didn’t go away. To his utter frustration, she walked around him, took his hand and brought it up over one of her breasts. Dao stiffened. “Kianna, please…” his voice was shaking.
“I want you, Dao. No turning back, no running away.”
Dao shook his head. “Not like this.” “What do you mean?”
“I don’t want you doing this because it is what you think I want,” Dao explained sadly. Though he was very much aroused by her nakedness, he had to put her first. He had to make sure that even if he had regrets later, she wouldn’t have any. He wanted if they made love that it would be because they both wanted to, not because of stress.
She took his hand again, singled one finger out and moved in closer.
Dao held his breath and watched in shock as she pressed the finger into her hot wetness. He moaned. That one movement was the straw that broke the camel’s back. He took her shoulder with his free hand while his fingers of the other continued teasing the tight little bud between her legs. She was moaning now, her head tilted backward.
Dao reached in for her lips and took them fiercely. There were days of pent up, sexual frustration that he was feeling, but knew he had to hold on to them—just a bit longer. She gripped against his shoulders and arched her breasts into his chest. Dao’s fingers moved faster against her jewel as he backed her into the bedroom. Slowly, gently, Dao laid her across the bed and crawled over her. Looking down into her eyes, he smiled, “Are you sure about this?” Dao knew questions like that always drove her away, but he couldn’t help it. He had to make sure he gave her every chance to stop it.
“Make love to me, Dao,” she whispered, arching up to him. “I want to know what it feels like, please.”
Searching her eyes, Dao saw what he wanted and dipped his head again. This time, he lowered himself against Kianna’s body. He made a path
with his tongue until he was face to face with her heat. He looked up and she was looking down at him by propping herself up on her elbows. Smiling, Dao licked his lips and began feeding savagely from her centre.
“Dao!” Kianna cried and her body jerked. The smile he had given her right before delving into his feast was like the big bad wolf and he was about to gobble her up. She loved the feeling and the look in his eyes. She writhed against his mouth, shoving her hips upward for she couldn’t lay still. Her fingers found his hair and pressed his mouth down against her and he moaned. She whimpered as her knees bent and straightened. Her arms lost control and fell to her sides. She crushed the sheet into tight fists. Again, she cried up to him, begging him, pleading with him for what was coming. She knew what was it called— orgasm, ultimate release, the end. Whatever it was called, she wanted it, needed, craved it.
“Dao please…” she called as her back arched from the bed. Her eyes rolled back into her head as his tongue made another sets of passes over the tender bud. She was delirious—crying out in English, then Cantonese. She scratched at his shoulders before banging fists of utter insanity
against the bed. Her body shook as her breath caught in her throat. Then it hit her. It began in her toes. They curled and fire shot up her knees. He pressed her legs apart, then ravished her more. Kianna lifted her hips from the bed and began bucking. It was happening! Her great undoing was happening and she wanted it!
With her mind completely shattered, her orgasm coursed through her like a tidal wave. She screamed as his tongue shoved her off into the great abyss. She trembled, whimpered, clawed for him to hold her.
“That was…” she began, but she could barely form a coherent sentence. When she flopped down against the bed, Dao stopped and lifted his body over hers.
T
he sounds she made—be it screaming his name or murmuring in her throat, to purring, Dao loved. They spurred him on to give her more and more of himself. He needed to make her feel what it could be like should she choose to stay with him after this whole experience was over. Now things took a more sensuous turn while he braced over
her, cradling her face.
“I want to be the forever that you seek,
”
Dao whispered as he dropped butterfly kisses against her face, shoulders, ears. “The man that holds your soul in my heart. I shall be gentle with it, I swear. A promise made in a whisper from the very depths of my being. It will make me fight to keep my word. In the middle of the night, when your soul is yearning, let me be the answer you seek. Fall into my arms and I’ll be your hero, your lover, your friend. Take my body the way only you can. Tis a fortress for your storming. Let it
ease your every hunger and boil your desires. I want to be the forever that you seek…”
When he lifted his head, she was crying softly, clinging to him harder. When he pulled back slightly, she pressed her face into his neck. “Kianna,” Dao whispered, easing her back so that he could see her face. “Open your eyes.”
She still trembled against him. “That,” she managed, “was so beautiful…”
“A friend of mine wrote it a few years ago. He’s in the military now—but I meant every word,” Dao told her truthfully. “I want to be that rock for you—not because of this, what we’re in the middle of, but because I feel something for you, Kianna.”
She nodded with a smile. “Thank you…that look in your eyes, do you want to stop?”
“No, but what’s about to happen,” he trailed off in a groan because at that precise moment, Kianna lifted her hot wetness against his trapped arousal. “I’m going to try and be as gentle as I can—but it may still hurt…” Her eyes glistened up into his and Dao felt as though he was about to take her life. He fought not to leave her because of his nerves. If he did that, he knew it would crush her. She would no doubt believe that he was leaving because she was a virgin.
As if in answer to him, he felt her legs wrap around his thighs and he smiled before kissing her
forehead. Pulling away from her, he stood at the foot of the hotel’s bed and undid his pants. He stepped back to the bed and moved up her body. Her hand instantly found his arousal and he moaned her name and nipped at her neck.
There on his knees, he whimpered, sighed, growled as her hands stroked him tightly. He arms shook threatening to send his body crashing against hers, but he gritted his teeth and held out. With one hand driving him crazy, her free hand went up around his shoulder. He kissed the swells of her breasts, the nipples to try and keep his sanity, but that didn’t work. Soon his head was tossed back, his black hair spilling against his shoulder. His hips thrusts softly down into her hand.
“Am I doing it right?” her voice was playfully soft.
He moaned his reply. He could not find words to answer her question. This woman not only held his member in her hand, but also his very being and it did not scare him. Kissing her lips, he captured her hand, laced his fingers with hers and allowed his body to press her into the softness of the bed. He released one of her hands to take himself and enter her partially. Looking into her eyes, he bit down against his lower lip, then gritted his teeth. Just barely within her, she was