Wet: Undercurrent (7 page)

“Next.”

Lulu hadn’t even registered that they’d moved until Hotsuma spoke. She touched the ward. Again the pain of the shock wasn’t that bad. Maybe she had been right. So long as the energy had a sexual release as she touched each ward, the shocks wouldn’t hurt as much.

The third and fourth wards were as easy as the first two. When she touched the fifth, both she and Hotsuma grunted. Her body heated until she was sure the water would start boiling. Before she could ask Hotsuma to continue touching her and ease her growing need, he pushed her against the edge of the pool and buried his dick with one thrust.

Lulu called his name over and over as he rammed his hips against hers. She clawed at the edge, trying to get away even as she pushed back to get closer to him. Her frantic movements pushed her hand into the next ward. The shock arced through her arm straight to her pussy, making all her muscles clench in a manner that was part pain and part pleasure.

Hotsuma bent over her back, pushing her forward, as he cupped her thighs and spread them wide for his intrusion. Lulu braced her weight on her hands and let her body move wherever Hotsuma wanted it to go. He entered her deep and then moved his waist in a circle, keeping her close as he rubbed the tip of his dick against her innermost parts. The sensation had Lulu screaming her pleasure as she came.

He didn’t stop stirring her around and driving her crazy. She didn’t want him to stop. She wanted more. So much more. When she would have rubbed her clit, Hotsuma pushed her hand away and did it for her. He moved his fingers over her hard nub in time with the rhythm of his hips.

The combination of the two had her body convulsing on another orgasm. The heat in her body didn’t subside.

“More,” she rasped. “Please. More. So hot.”

Hotsuma pulled out. Lulu’s whimper of frustration at the loss turned into a yelp of surprise when he flipped her onto her back. The surface of the water cushioned his rough manner. And Lulu wasn’t in a mood to care even if it hadn’t. The water rippled beneath her but she didn’t sink.

He shoved two fingers into her twitching pussy then started twisting his wrist back and forth. Lulu’s hips left the water as she rode his fingers. “More. More.” She lifted her hips higher, begging for him to touch her deeper and harder. Anything to make the heat subside.

His answer was to clamp down on her waist with his free hand and hold her still. He moved the fingers inside her apart, spreading her hole, then eased his dick between them.

“Oh, God, yes!” Lulu threw back her head and arched her back. She’d never felt anything like this.

Hotsuma brought his fingers together above his dick. While his hard flesh slid inside her, he moved his fingers in a beckoning motion. Couple that with him using his free hand to tease her clit, and Lulu was gone. The world dropped away. Nothing mattered except the pleasure Hotsuma was giving her.

The climax that washed over her left Lulu’s head spinning, literally. The whole room spun out of control. She slapped her hands over her eyes to make it stop but that made it worse.

She thought she heard Hotsuma calling her name before everything went dark.

Hotsuma cradled Lulu, smoothing a shaking hand over her forehead and cheeks. He wanted her to wake up. Once she did, everything would be fine. Her ashen features wouldn’t worry him any longer the second she opened her eyes.

They had tried to do too much too quickly. He should have stopped her at four like they originally planned. They had both been caught up in the moment. When the side effects traveled from her body to his, he should have recognized it and stopped her then. Satisfaction was the only thing on his mind at that moment. The heat…

He shuddered at the memory. If that was even a fraction of what Lulu had felt their first night together, he deeply regretted subjecting her to it. He’d thought it was simple passion that needed sating. The raw urgency that overcame him, that made him push aside gentle lovemaking so he could fuck Lulu into passing out, scared him.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “Lulu, please. I’m sorry.”

She didn’t wake. He tapped her cheek, a soft pat more than a tap since he didn’t want to cause her more pain. Her eyelashes didn’t even flutter. She did shiver though.

The heat of the side effect had worn off. Hotsuma didn’t feel the cold of his water, but Lulu did. He could move her back to the hot spring but he wouldn’t be able to care for her there without causing a riot. Her room was best.

With two wards left unbroken, Hotsuma should have more control and power. He raised Lulu up and firmed the surface of the water beneath her so she lay on top, away from the chill. Leaving her there, he traveled to her room as fast as he could. After filling the tub, he ripped down the plastic shower curtain and draped it over the floor. A crude water stop for when he flooded the bathroom. He needed more water to bring Lulu through.

He redirected the water in the pipes, forcing the majority to flow through the bath faucet. It shook with the force of the water pouring from it. Hotsuma pulled on the same ability he used to form his body to mold the water. The entire space of the tub and shower housed a block of water when he finished. A little had leaked to the floor, but that was why he’d spread the shower curtain.

Rather than marvel at his handiwork, he rushed back to the Lulu’s side and transported her to the bathroom. She still didn’t wake. Hotsuma would worry about that after he put her to bed.

He formed his body and carried her from the bathroom to her bed. With a wave of his hand, he pulled the wetness from her body and into himself. She was dry; next came making her warm.

As much as he wanted to act as a hot water bottle, he didn’t have that kind of control and didn’t know if he could ever get it. He settled on covering her with blankets and staying by her side.

The room turned orange and then black as day gave way to night. Lulu still slept. Hotsuma left her side twice in that time -- the first time to drain the bathroom and make sure there were no changes in the pool room. The second to check on Masato.

The man was acting as weird as Lulu had said. He knew something was happening. He paced his office and mumbled to himself. Hotsuma wished he could have gotten closer to hear what had Masato so agitated.

Was the thought of losing Hotsuma enough to cause that much anxiety? Maybe he should talk to Masato like Lulu had suggested. Once she woke, he would. They would go together.

Until she woke, Hotsuma, like Masato, paced. Though, unlike Masato, Hotsuma did so to test his control. This was the first time he’d been separated from a major body of water. He didn’t feel weak. His body was solid and didn’t drip. He’d even managed to use the TV remote.

He wanted Lulu to share in the joy of his newfound abilities and freedom. She would soon. He was sure of that. Her color had returned to normal. He needed to let her rest.

He decided to work on making his features more defined. Using the vanity in the bedroom so he could work and keep an eye on Lulu, he stared at his reflection. The control he’d gained after weakening the barrier allowed him to form hair that trailed down his back and shape his head. Minute details like the slant of his eyes and the shape of his nose still eluded him.

A chime startled him into jumping back and looking around. The computer on the desk next to the vanity lit up. Hotsuma walked over to it and stared at the screen. He’d seen computers but he’d never used one. Water and electronics didn’t mix. Or they didn’t before he learned to control his form.

He slid his finger over the track pad, watching the mouse move. Once he got used to manipulating the mouse, he moved it to the little popup message denoting Lulu had received an email. He hoped she forgave him for snooping. And it wasn’t really snooping. He was using her email as a way to test his abilities.

The new email filled the screen. Hotsuma was about to minimize it when the contents caught his attention.

“Lulu, you haven’t written back. You didn’t get caught, did you? If you’re not caught then keep looking. You’ve got another day before you have to come back. When you find whatever weird thing you were talking about, make sure it’s something Voda can use.”

Hotsuma read and reread the email. Lulu had mentioned Voda. It was another spa hotel, like Onsen. She said she worked there as well. Knowing those facts didn’t help clarify the email.

He clicked on the Show Conversation button, hoping for some sort of explanation. The first email was from Lulu stating she had arrived at the hotel and detailing the check-in and the appearance of the hotel. The return email was short and urged her to get on with the investigation. What investigation?

The email she sent in reply was dated the next day and detailed everything she had done and her impressions of the service. The reply to that was a simple frowning face emoticon.

Hotsuma read through four days’ worth of messages. The last had been sent the day she entered the pool room for the first time. “Beyond adding more ambience to Voda to go along with the Russian motif, there’s not much else we can do to compete. I know you were hoping I would find something but there’s nothing to find.”

A few hours later Lulu sent another email. “You’re going to think I’m nuts but there is something weird going on with this hotel. They have a hallway that isn’t on any map. I’m going to go snooping to see where it leads. From the way the staff was acting when I got lost there, I’m thinking there’s something important down there. I’ll email back when I find out what it is.”

Except she hadn’t, which was why her email partner had emailed her. Hotsuma read back through the email that just arrived. It was then he noticed the signature line contained the phrase Voda CEO.

He went back to one of Lulu’s emails to look at her signature line. Voda Human Resources Research and Development. Research. She wasn’t vacationing with the competition to see how they compared. She was posing as a guest to learn about him. She might not have known that was why she was coming to Onsen, but he was why she was there.

He looked back at her. She had even suggested he move to Voda. Not for his benefit but for hers and her boss’s. She wanted to use him the way Masato and the Mizuno family had been using him. No wonder she was so eager to set him free.

One more day. She was leaving in the morning, and he would bet she planned to take him with her… back to Voda. How could he have been so blind? He should have realized when she first suggested moving to Voda and he learned she worked there. His passion for her had blinded him to the obvious.

No! It wasn’t passion for her. He’d been without the company of a woman for centuries. What he had with Lulu was thirst being quenched. Why should he settle for her alone when an entire hot spring’s worth of women waited for him to pleasure them?

And he would, on his terms. Masato was bringing a priest, and that priest would set Hotsuma free. He didn’t need Lulu any longer. He and Masato would deal. Hotsuma would get his freedom, and Masato could keep his good luck charm. The rest of the Mizuno family need never know Masato had broken the seal.

Hotsuma stalked to the bathroom and threw himself at the tub. The water that made up his body drenched the walls. He pushed his spirit through the pipes, headed for Masato’s office. Once there, he didn’t linger in the fire extinguisher spigot. He opened the valve so the water could spill free.

Masato sat behind his desk, unmoving as Hotsuma formed his body.

“You don’t look surprised to see me.”

“Not at all, Uncle. I’m very surprised to see you. I thought you and your little girlfriend would be on your way out the door.”

“Lulu isn’t my girlfriend. She’s nothing to me but a means to my freedom.”

Masato’s lips curved into a knowing grin. “Could have fooled me. The way you two were going at it earlier, I thought there might be something between you.”

Hotsuma narrowed his eyes at Masato. “You put a camera in the pool room.”

“Cameras don’t see magic. I watched as you fucked that luscious piece of ass. You did well for someone with no body. The way she screamed…” Masato ran his tongue over his lips with a slight shrug of his shoulders then shifted in his seat so he leaned to one side. “Made me want to join you. Stuff that mouth of hers with a real man.”

“I am a real man.”

“You’re a dead man’s ghost inhabiting some water.”

“I’m more than that. If I were any less, you wouldn’t be so scared about me leaving.”

“True. True. I’ll give you that.” Masato rounded the desk so he stood face to face with Hotsuma. “I can’t have you leaving the Mizuno family.”

“I hadn’t planned on it.”

“Really? That’s a surprise. I know if I were in your place, I would be trying to get the hell out of here.”

“I won’t abandon my family. I won’t let you hold me prisoner any longer, either. Set me free.”

Masato waved a dismissive hand. “Get your girlfriend to do it. Looks like she was doing a pretty fine job before.”

“She’s not my girlfriend, and she’s not part of this any longer. This is a family issue, which makes it between you and me.”

“What’s the matter, Uncle? Her little freak-out scare you?” Masato faced him, his expression a knowing one. “Oh, no. It wouldn’t be that simple. You must have found out she works for Voda.”