Page 26 of The Dragon 1 (Tokyo Empire #1)

Chapter nineteen

Red Silk Confession

Kenji

Her eyes stayed locked on mine.

I set my sake down. “Her name was Lya.”

She didn’t blink. Just tilted her head slightly, waiting.

“I met her in Spain. I was only twenty-nine. Young and cocky. I was there for a weapons deal I shouldn’t have handled personally, but I was in a reckless season. My father had just handed me power. I needed to feel the edge.”

Nyomi didn’t speak but she shifted slightly in her seat.

“Lya wasn’t part of the negotiation. She was. . . an ornament. At least that’s how the host described her. A luxury. A status symbol.”

I let out a breath and met Nyomi’s gaze again. “But she wasn’t anyone’s anything.”

She bit her lip.

“Lya was older too. Much older,” I continued. “Fifty-two, maybe fifty-three. Elegant. Mean. Wore her age like it was weaponry. She had this voice—French, deep, honeyed but dry. Like she'd seen many mafia kingdoms rise and fall and had no patience for posturing from young guys like me.”

Nyomi’s mouth parted slightly.

“Still, Lya watched me during the negotiation like I was a puzzle she could solve in one glance. She was unimpressed and for that reason alone. . .I wanted her badly.”

Nyomi was breathing harder now. Her skin looked warmer. Her brown eyes darker.

“At the end of the negotiations and with all gone, Lya didn’t ask me to follow her that night,” I swirled my sake in my cup. “She just looked at me once, crooked her finger and walked into the villa’s master suite.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes.”

“What did you do?”

“I followed.”

Nyomi swallowed. I saw the motion of her throat and knew that her legs crossed tighter beneath the table.

She widened her eyes. “What. . .happened next?”

“She told me to lie down, I did.”

Nyomi’s lips parted, the tip of her tongue slipping across the corner of her mouth before she whispered. “Damn.”

My cock was painfully hard.

“She pulled out a red silk rope—longer than the ones they used tonight. She slid it across my chest like she was measuring me. I didn’t ask her what she planned to do. I was so young and taken aback by this older woman. Then, she just. . .”

“What?”

“She looped the rope around my throat first. Not tight. Just enough to make me know it was there.” I inhaled slowly, remembering. “She said, ‘You don’t let anyone touch your neck, do you?’ I didn’t answer. She smiled and said, ‘Then I’ll be the first.’”

Nyomi squirmed in her seat.

I saw it— felt it.

Her thighs pressing tighter. Her chest rising more sharply. Her eyes shining like polished obsidian. “What. . .happened next?”

“She kept that rope around my throat and began to ride me slow. Tighter with every breath. She whispered in French, Spanish, English. Filthy things. Beautiful things. Sharp truths I didn’t know I needed to hear. She didn’t want the Dragon. She wanted the boy hiding under his ribs.”

I leaned forward slightly. “And she found him.”

Nyomi’s pulse fluttered at her neck.

“In the end, I didn’t cum from the friction of her pussy on my cock. . .I came from surrender. From being seen. From giving her that last bit of power I’d held onto my whole life.”

Nyomi exhaled, her hands trembling just slightly as she reached for her sake. She didn’t sip. Just held the cup like it might steady her.

“She loosened the rope afterwards. Traced my skin with her nails. Kissed my temple, and then. . .”

“What?”

“She said. . .‘Dragons do bleed.’”

Nyomi let out a sound—soft, stunned, and hot.

“Lya was gone before dawn. No note. No promise. And I never looked for her.”

“Why not?”

“She wasn’t mine to keep. She was only mine to remember.”

I let my voice drop even lower. “But you, Tora?”

Nyomi’s eyes widened just enough to make my chest burn.

“You will not be some memory. Some story to tell. I already know that you will not be a ghost.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I’m never going to let you vanish.”

She went flush. Those full lips parted even more. Her chest rose and fell like she’d run ten stories in heels.

She licked her lips again.

And I imagined it.

Nyomi—bare, wild, glorious—straddling me in some shadowed room. Her brown skin glowing with sweat. Her thighs flexing around my waist. Her wet pussy taking my cock, hard and deep, rocking me into the edge of reason.

It wasn’t the pace of her hips that undid me.

It was the rope.

Red silk.

Looped around my neck.

Her fingers tightening it with every thrust.

Not to hurt me, but to claim.

To remind me that I was hers in that moment—breath, body, and bone.

Her voice, low and dangerous, whispering. “Don’t cum until I say.”

I wouldn’t.

Because I was hers.

Fuck, I’d never wanted anyone to own me so bad.

My cock throbbed under the table.

Calm down. She’s not there yet.

I didn’t move.

Just watched her.

Watched her body hum with awareness.

Watched the way she gripped her cup.

The flick of her eyes across my lips.

I was ready to kneel.

To let her devour me.

Then, suddenly a shadow fell to my right.

My entire body tensed.

I didn’t look.

I didn’t need to.

I could already feel the heat of Reo’s presence like a sword being drawn from a sheath.

What the fuck? He knows better.

Without turning my head, I said, low and sharp. “I’m busy.”

Reo didn’t leave. Instead, he stepped further into the glow of the moonlight. “I don’t want to do this.”

I growled. “Then leave.”

“You would be upset later if I did.”

Fuck.

I turned—slowly—and met his eyes. He looked like hell. Jaw tight. Face pale. Sweat glistening at his temples.

My blood went cold.

What could have my Dragon’s Roar so scared?

Still, I kept my voice even. “Reo.”

He said nothing.

I stood.

Nyomi blinked up at me, startled.

I gave her a single glance—my expression flat, but apologetic. “Excuse me. Just one moment.”

“Okay.”

Goddamn it.

I turned and followed Reo toward the other side of the garden.

The cello music and the scent of truffle smoke faded behind us.

Once we were alone, I snarled under my breath, “Why the fuck would you think you could interrupt this?”

Reo didn’t flinch. “Your father wants to talk—”

“I know. He’s been calling me all fucking day. I’ll talk to him— after this date.”

Reo’s expression twisted. “You have to go to the hospital now.”

“Why?”

His silence lasted a second too long.

Then he said it, “he has Hiro.”

My entire world stopped.

I felt it in my ribs first.

Then my spine.

Then in the space behind my eyes—sharp, blinding, a pressure that cracked my breath in two.

“What?” I asked.

“He’s keeping Hiro until you show up.”

I staggered back a step, rage and disbelief tearing through me like fire.

No. Not Hiro.

While he was my father’s son, my father didn’t give a damn about him. But, he definitely loved to use Hiro against me.

He knew how much I loved my brother.

If I didn’t go, my father’s men would torture Hiro. Period. There was no other option in my father’s mind. Either I was to listen when he tugged my leash. . .or things that I loved would be broken.

My vision blurred with fury.

Just like that—everything changed.

The garden no longer felt like a sanctuary.

It was a fucking trap.

My heart pounded behind my ribs, I kept my voice calm for one more breath. “Where does he have Hiro now?”

“In his hospital room.”

Behind me, I could still feel Nyomi’s gaze.

Warm.

Curious.

Laced with all the beginnings of trust.

And now—I’d have to walk away from her.

I gritted my teeth. “Get my car ready and then have Kaoru and Yochi take her home.”

I thought about that for a minute, remembering her fascination with Kaoru’s hair and their audacity to think they could talk to her.

I shook my head. “No. Change that to Satoshi and Rin. Make sure they know that they are not to speak to her. And when they take her home. . .they’re to remain outside and guard the area until we put others out there.”

Reo nodded and left.

I exhaled once, sharp and hot through my nose, before walking back across the garden.

The cello still played.

The moonlight still painted Nyomi in that silk white dress, her skin glowing, her eyes watching me like she already knew something was wrong.

She stood the second I reached her. “What’s wrong?”

“I apologize, but. . .I have to go.”

Her eyes searched mine. “Why? What happened?”

“It’s an emergency. It deals with my brother.”

Her lips parted yet she didn’t press further. Instead, she stepped closer—enough that her scent reached me again, that heady blend of black amber and ripe plum that undid me. “Is there anything I can do?”

I blinked.

That offer. . .her sincerity. . .it hit me in the most beautiful ways.

“No. I just want you to enjoy the rest of the night.” My smile came slow and aching. “Finish the great food and sake. Enjoy the rest of the performance. My men will take you home safely.”

She tilted her head. “Pinky and Yoichi?”

My body stiffened.

Heat surged up my spine.

She knows Kaoru’s nickname?

I gritted my teeth.

Fucking Kaoru.

Rage cracked through my chest.

“No,” I said tightly. “It won’t be Kaoru and Yoichi tonight. It’ll be Satoshi and Rin that’ll take you home.”

Nyomi narrowed her eyes, those full lips curving just slightly—not in a smile. In challenge. “I’m sorry but. . .I don’t know Satoshi and Rin. I want it to be Pinky and Yoichi. I’d feel more comfortable with them.”

I scowled at her. At her audacity.

Naughty Tiger.

Granted, her fucking audacity burned through me in the most dangerous, yet erotically thrilling way.

She wasn’t afraid to push.

And the worst part?

I fucking loved it.

Still, she needed to understand something—what she would get in bed, what I would give her in rope and obedience, was one thing.

But outside of that?

I led.

Always.

I was the one in control.

Still—I had to choose.

Right now.

Push back and make her feel overruled?

Or protect the only thing that mattered more than pride—her sense of safety.

My jaw flexed.

Reo appeared again, lingering behind her. Urging me with his eyes. Time was slipping through my fingers like blood on tile.

I looked back at Nyomi.

She was watching me.

Goddamn, she is magnificent.

“Fine.” I nodded. “ Pinky and Yoichi.”

Her smile was small and victorious. “Thank you.”

“Have a good night. I’ll see you tomorrow to help with your research.”

She didn’t gloat. She just nodded. “I hope everything works out and your brother is okay.”

“Me too.” I turned away from her.

I made it three steps.

And then. . .

Fuck. No.

I spun back around, the fire in my chest detonating into something I couldn’t— wouldn’t —leave behind.

Her eyes widened as I closed the distance.

Before she could say a word, I gripped her waist and pulled her flush against me.

Not roughly.

Possessively.

Like I already knew every inch of her body and had memorized it in dreams.

She gasped—just slightly—but didn’t move. Didn’t resist.

She melted .

I lowered my head and kissed her.

Not a goodbye kiss.

Not a see you later .

A kiss that claimed .

A kiss that demanded her body remember exactly what it felt like to be this close to mine.

Mmmm.

My lips brushed hers first—featherlight, soft, teasing.

Then I deepened it, slipping my tongue into her wet, yearning mouth, drinking her.

She tasted like sake and slow fire.

Her lips parted for me more, as I continued to slide my tongue against hers—slow, sensual, unhurried. Like I had all the time in the world when really, I had none.

Her hands gripped my suit jacket.

Her breath hitched.

I could feel her soft whimper against my tongue and fuck if that didn’t go straight to my cock.

I kissed her like we were already naked in some candlelit room and I was about to let her ride me until dawn.

I kissed her like I had nothing left to lose—because this might be the only softness I’d get before walking back into the hell of my fucking dark world.

My hand slid from her waist to the base of her spine, splaying wide and possessive.

I angled her hips into mine so she could feel my cock—thick, hard, and straining for her.

I wanted her pussy soaked after this kiss.

I wanted her wet, throbbing, and aching while I was gone.

I wanted the memory of this kiss to torment her pussy until I returned.

Damn. . .she’s mine. There can be no other option.

When I finally pulled away, her lips were kiss-bruised, her eyes glassy, her cheeks flushed.

I pressed my forehead to hers. “You’ll be safe. You’ll be taken home and I swear to you—I will see you tomorrow night.”

She blinked slowly. “O-okay.”

I kissed her again.

Just the corner of her mouth.

A silent vow.

I released my sexy Tiger and turned to Reo. “Let’s go.”

I didn’t look back, because if I did, I might not leave.

And Hiro was waiting.

Tied to a monster I called father.

Yet, even as I walked toward darkness, my body still burned with the taste of her.

I can’t wait to see my sexy Tora again.