T
he Hong Kong International airport was just like Dao remembered it. It was like something from
a futuristic movie. The building alone was a work of architectural genius, but Dao would never admit that. His friend, Claude, would never let him live it down. The two had debated over it for years and Dao had always thought the money could have been used for something more important.
Deep down, he knew the building was impressive. There were places to do some serious shopping and entertaining. Anything you wanted, it was there. Layover at that airport was never boring. They still had another leg to their flight from Hong Kong to Guilin and even then they would have to float the rest of the way. It was still dark and it wasn’t a long ride to their second destination. It would take a few hours for the jet to be refuelled, but he was still iffy on speaking to
Kianna. He wanted her to approach him about the issue on the plane first.
“Kianna,” he spoke to her as she stared out the glass window at the planes.
She jerked slightly, but turned to face him.
He felt as though he had forced himself on her and it was a horrendous feeling. “I’ll stay away. But we have some decisions to make.”
“I didn’t mean to kiss you,” Kianna spoke.
He held up a hand to stop her. “It never happened, remember? Wasn’t that what you wanted? How can you be sorry for doing something that never happened?”
Kianna nodded.
“That’s what you wanted,” Dao whispered. He found his voice cracking with the feelings behind it. He was hurt that she did not want to remember his kiss. He could not have done it that horribly. He did not push the issue. “It’s dark out but it’s not a long flight to Guilin. I wanted to know if you wanted to spend the night at a hotel tonight and then start fresh in the morning. That way we won’t have to spend too much time in Guilin, but catch a boat directly to Xingping.”
“But you want to get to your parents. We don’t have to stop. I can handle this.”
He tilted his head to one side, impressed. But he couldn’t let that affect his decision. Inhaling deeply, he walked by her and stared out the
windows. Nodding for no reason, he turned to face her. He pulled out his cell phone and paced away from her as he spoke into it. When he was finished, he walked to the counter to find out when his plane would be able to leave in the morning. With his departure time in his head, he walked back to Kianna. “Our flight leaves tomorrow morning at nine. Our hotel room waits.”
Turning away again, he expected her to walk with him. When he glanced back, she was keeping up with him, but her arms were wrapped around herself. Shaking his head, he held open the airport’s door for her and allowed her to climb the stairs into the shuttle bus ahead of him. Her scent was still intoxicating.
While her scent swirled around his head, he remembered her soft, sexy lips and the way they moulded against his. She was perfect for him, for his body, but he knew it was too early to spring that on her—he would never spring that on her. She had made it perfectly care that she wanted nothing to do with him other than a boss–worker relationship. Their kiss never happened just because she wished it so. He smiled to himself trying to remember the last woman who had rejected him. There weren’t many. All of them wanted his body because of the way it was built,
others wanted his money, and the rest wanted both. But Kianna was different.
He knew that. He craved that. But there was a time and place for everything and maybe this lifetime wasn’t the time or place for her to be with him. That was a sad thought. It gripped him painfully, but he merely winced and carried on. He could have been a good man to her if the fates hadn’t conspired against him.
Dao didn’t sit beside her, but across from her. Reclining into his seat, he folded his arms across his chest and closed his eyes. It would be a few minutes before the shuttle got to the hotel. He had a bit of time to think about what he would do if his father didn’t make it. He didn’t want to, but he had to prepare for the worse. He would have to get ready to try and talk his mother into leaving China. There was no way he would leave her there by herself—no matter how much she kicked and screamed. How could he? A part of him was angry that they hadn’t left when he had asked them to. He went away, struck it rich mostly so he could get them to live a better life with only visits to China. Neither of them wanted to—they didn’t even want to leave Xingping! Well his father didn’t want to and his mother stuck with the old man to be a good wife. By leaving, she would spread dishonour on their home and the Zhi name.
“You and your damn honour!” Dao had growled when his mother had explained her reason for staying. He could not understand that. He did not get the need to stay in a place where they could barely make ends meet when he could give them so much more. He then tried getting them a bigger house, maybe in Beijing, anywhere but Xinping. If they were to get hurt, it was hard to get medical attention to them. Even worse so because they were older by then. But his parents loved each other. No matter how much they may pretend sometimes that they didn’t, Dao knew that his father would willingly die for his mother. The bus stopped and he stood.
“We’re here,” he spoke to Kianna and watched as she stepped from the bus. The two walked into the hotel. Speaking softly to the lady at the front desk in fluent Cantonese, Dao took the keys from her and walked Kianna to the elevator. They travelled to the fifteenth floor and then to her room door. He handed her the key to her room. “Goodnight, Kianna.”
Taking the key, she let her arms fall to her sides. “Aren’t you coming in?”
“No,” he spoke simply and turned away. “Goodnight.”
“‘Night.”
As he stood at his window and stared out into the night, Dao wondered what kind of news he would get from his mother once he got home again. He didn’t want to hear that his father was dead, but a bad feeling was surging through him. Rubbing his neck, he turned his head away from the window but no matter how much he tried to get away from the thought, he couldn’t. Frowning, he removed his jacket and flopped down against the bed. He didn’t even know why he got a room for himself because he would never get any sleep. Rolling his eyes, he rolled over and faced the wall.
“This is nuts.”
He was gone. Just like that. Kianna spent the night sitting on her bed with her knees pulled up beneath her chin. Everything had slowly wound itself out of control just because his luscious lips, beautiful eyes and hard body called to her and she couldn’t resist. He had tasted like magic. When Dao’s tongue flowed over hers, she felt as though she was the most beautiful person on the planet. Then he had tangled his fingers in her hair and pulled her in, savagely feeding from her mouth. He had growled and that must have meant he had enjoyed the kiss—with her. But why couldn’t she face the fact that he had taken pleasure in it?
It was too late to feel sorry. All she had to do next, was go to Xingping, help him out with his family emergency and keep her eye on his business. She would then return to Canada and get back to work. It would be just—just like it never happen.
There, I’ve forgotten what it is already.
Frowning at her thoughts and mentally threatening to stab her brain with a q-tip, she pushed from her bed and walked to the window. She was suddenly so cold and so alone. She wished that Jace was with her, but it was time Kianna stood on her own two feet. She could probably go to Dao and ask him to hold her, to warm her body. But instead, she stood there, staring out the window. It was going to be a long night.
But it didn’t have to be. Kianna frowned at herself for all she had to do was go him. Where was he? Bowing her head, Kianna turned from the window and pushed her cold body beneath the sheets. She was shivering now and her teeth chattered. She had checked the A/C before and it was set perfectly so maybe the cold was all in her head. Kianna wished she had asked if she could call home. She didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but lying cold and alone in a hotel room was not the way she wanted her trip to China to be. She had to get out.
Grabbing her room key, she rummaged through her carryon for a shawl and slipped from the room. “I’m in Hong Kong,” she spoke as she broke through the hotel front doors and stared upward at all the lights. “I might as well enjoy myself.”
But then she remembered. It was custom to bring the host of the Chinese house you were visiting a gift. She stopped in the path of traffic on the sidewalk, trying to remember what numbers were bad luck and what numbers weren’t. She couldn’t remember. Was it six? Seven? It couldn’t be seven because that was an odd number. Panic went through her.
Okay, all I have to do is breathe. I can remember. When was the Olympics in Beijing? The eight day of the eight month two thousand and eight!
“Eight! Ha!” Kianna pumped a fist into the air, then stopped to flail her arms a little. Stopping in mid-flail she realized that people around her had stopped to peer at her in confusion. She bowed her eyes shyly and ducked off down the path.
T
he ringing telephone ripped Dao from his sleep at about six thirty in the morning. It was his pilot, calling to make sure he was awake. Smiling, he inhaled deeply, “Yeah, Paul, I’m up,” he lied and pushed himself into a sitting position. His eyes were burning like hell because he hadn’t
gotten enough sleep.
When did I even fall asleep?
“And wake your lady as well,” Paul suggested before laughing and hanging up.
“Smartass.” Dao dropped the phone back into the cradle and rubbed a hand over his face. He hadn’t even changed the night before. When had he fallen asleep? He couldn’t remember. Hauling himself to the bathroom, Dao stared into the mirror and the haunted eyes that shone back at him caused him to moan and turn away. He couldn’t face himself. There was too much pain, hate, utter need that glared back at him.
Washing his face, Dao sniffed at his armpits, the old fashioned way of testing one’s clothes for
cleanliness. Satisfied that he didn’t stink, Dao exited the room and walked the few doors down to Kianna. After knocking, he leant against the doorframe with both his hands stuck into his pocket to wait.
His head bowed, he began sticking himself into the frame of mind that he wouldn’t be upset, needy or wanting when he saw her. This was the way to get over something. But how could he get over someone he wasn’t beside anyway? Chuckling, Dao shook his head and knocked again. This time the door opened and he lifted his head. “Morning,” he greeted with some pep to his voice. He didn’t feel that excited, but he could at least fake it. “I’m here to pick you up.”
“I thought the plane didn’t leave until…”
She was dressed in a towel, wrapped around her mocha skin. Dao kept his gaze glued to hers for if he had looked away, he knew that he would have grabbed her, ripped that towel away and simply ravish her.
“Yah, but we have to check in and we all know how that goes,” he explained.
She glanced around her nervously.
It was as though she thought he would push himself on her so he leaned off the frame and stepped back. Dao shook his head and turned to walk away again. There are some dramas in life that one just didn’t need in their life. Why was it
that humans make such a big deal out of things that are so small, so very miniscule?
“Dao!” she called.
He stopped, but didn’t turn to face her. There were certain things that a man didn’t want to see in a woman’s eyes.
“You can come in,” her voice was soft and welcoming.
He knew that wasn’t what she thought. He took a step away from her.
“Please?”
Inhaling deeply, he turned and walked back and by her into the room. Sometimes he wondered why he bothered trying to understand women. It felt to him that since the beginning of time, men have been trying that and so far they all failed miserably. Silently, he walked over to the window. “Get dressed.” He stared out the window. It would be better to say nothing at all.
“Why are you being like this?”
Dao didn’t move. “Being like what?” “Silent.”
“I don’t know what to say around you, Kianna.” His voice was soft yet tight. “I keep to myself and that way there’s less of a chance of me offending you. Now please, get dressed.”
“I can’t live like this.”
Dao turned to face her. “Then I will get you a ticket and you can return home.” He turned toward the door.
“Is this because of the kiss?”
He stopped in his tracks. “It never happened, remember? How is this because of something that never happened?”
“Then maybe I should go home because you’re a disagreeable jerk that treats women like crap for no reason!”
“I see. Well good news, Kianna Sanderson, you just got your wish, report to the front desk once you have gotten dressed. Your ticket home will be waiting for you.” He placed some money down on a table in the room and glanced at her. Dao frowned and walked out the door, closing it behind him.
There were certain things he did not need at the moment with what was ahead of him. It felt strange for him. He was giving her space, being a gentleman and yet she accused him of ill treating her. What more could he have done? He stayed out of her reach. He didn’t speak unless spoken to. All he wanted was an assistant to keep track of things for him while he was out of the country. That was it. He had no intentions of fighting with anyone, except maybe his mother once he told her she was moving back with him, away from her beloved China.
Kianna felt utterly defeated. She saw what he was trying to do, but she wasn’t used to being around someone and not speaking to them. He was staying away from her—giving her space, but she didn’t feel like she wanted it. What did she want? She wanted him to hold her like he had on the plane, and kiss her. She wanted him to touch her, whisper to her, protect her from the sadness that now swept through her. As she heard the door click shut behind him, it took a while before she even thought to move from the spot that she was glued to. Her brain wasn’t communicating to her legs.