Page 35 of The Dragon 2 (Tokyo Empire #2)

Chapter thirty-two

The War of Seduction

Something in Kenji shifted.

It was small. The way he paused. The twitch in his sexy jaw. The slight hesitation before touching his glass again.

But I caught it—because I was slowly learning how to read Kenji the way I read subtext in a forbidden novel.

With caution.

With curiosity.

With the strange ache that comes from already caring too much.

What does he have to say?

I didn’t expect to feel this nervous. Not after everything we’d already shared. The stories. The jokes. The looks that lingered just a little too long.

And yet, as Kenji swirled his drink and stared at the condensation pooling beneath it, I felt a flicker of dread. The kind that creeps in when things are going too well.

Shit.

I’d opened my heart tonight—maybe more than I ever had with anyone else. And he’d done the same.

Still my pulse picked up, and just like that, my mind pulled back to earlier, before the club, before the music, before the Dragon had arrived.

My thoughts went back to Zo dressing me for this date. He had been fluttering around me like a nervous stylist-slash-hype-man, making sure the red leather gown sat just right on my hips, and the corset wasn’t pinching too tightly.

“Okay now,” Zo lowered and tugged at the hem. “Turn. Let me see the slit. Perfect. When you walk in. . .show that damned thigh!!!”

I looked down at him. “Do you have to scream like that? I’m already nervous.”

“That thigh is nice. I would bite it if I wasn’t already full off cornbread.” He pointed at my leg. “When you walk in, stop, then stick your leg out slowly. He MUST see the thigh. This is how kingdoms have crumbled.”

“That serious?”

“Very serious. I am a full-blooded man. I can tell you that slits are one of our many weaknesses, and I’m not just saying a slit in a dress—”

“Alright. You’ve had too much gin.”

He rose. “You look like danger’s favorite recollection.”

I looked in the mirror. “I hope so.”

“And don’t let him rip up that dress. It just came off the runway last week. I’m hoping to sell it or at least get a magazine spread.”

“Don’t worry. If he rips it, he will pay for it.”

“Hmmm.” Zo smiled. “If he rips it, he’ll probably be paying a lot more than I can get for it so. . .definitely make sure you show that thigh.”

Then the door flew open so hard I nearly lost a heel.

Hiroko stormed into the room, her kimono sleeves fluttering like wings. Her usually calm demeanor had evaporated. “Nyomi!”

Zo and I both jumped like we’d been caught doing something illegal.

I held out my hands. “Y-yes.”

Hiroko’s eyes grew wide. “Your date is with the Dragon?”

“Yes, Kenji Sato—”

“The Dragon!!” Her hand slapped her chest.

Zo whispered. “You never told her that it was going to be Kenji?”

“No.” I shook my head.

He covered his face. “Nyomi. . .”

“That’s the Dragon,” Hiroko repeated, like she needed to hear it out loud again to believe it.

“Yes, It’s him,” I said slowly.

Hiroko stepped closer. “He is not a beast, Nyomi. He is a Dragon.”

“Well. . .dragons are beasts.”

Her head tilted with a warning. “Yes. But a Dragon will only kneel because he wants to. Not because you make him. And once he kneels, he owns the floor he does it on.”

I blinked.

Hiroko shifted into Japanese and then shook her head.

“Uh. . .” I swallowed. “You don’t think I can still do this date?”

“You can.” She rubbed her forehead. “But. . .now this is not my giving you a lesson in how to seduce, this is war.”

“War?”

“A very, very high-level power exchange, so yes. . .war.” Hiroko exhaled hard. “If we can win, it will be a beautiful, erotic, heart-stopping war.”

“O-kay.”

“Dear God. Never did I think it would be the Dragon within my establishment this evening. I might have worn my best diamonds.”

I laughed, despite the flutter in my chest. “So, you will still help me with dominating him.”

“I will, but I must tell you, Nyomi, that my main priority is my staff and I not dying this evening.”

I shivered in fear. “That won’t. . .happen. . .”

“Why?” Hiroko gave me a skeptical look. “Because you think you have control of the Dragon?”

“Well, no, but. . .I could talk to him and make sure he doesn’t hurt anybody.”

“The good part about all of this, after being shocked with who he was. . .” Hiroko let out a long breath. “I noticed that he was very eager to see you. And because of that, I marinated his desires and ego.”

“You marinated them?”

“I pushed him a little bit.”

“How?”

“I walked unbearably slow. I made him clean his hands. I thought he was going to roar. Thankfully, he didn’t. That is a good sign.” Then, like a conductor calling an orchestra to attention, she straightened her spine and softened her tone. “We’ll have to adjust some of our original plans.”

“Okay.”

“Forget all the things I’ve already taught you.”

“Shit.”

Hiroko lifted her finger, now slipping fully back into her Dominatrix-turned-strategist mode. “To tame the Dragon will be a different feat altogether.”

I nodded, ready to learn.

She stepped in closer, all sharp cheekbones and cool perfume. “Let him touch, but not too much.”

“Okay.”

“Remember. Touch, then deny.”

“Yes.”

“Stroke, then pull away.”

“Alright.”

“Reward him for control. Punish him for assumption.”

Zo let out a low whistle. “This sounds biblical.”

“Let him believe he’s the one in power,” Hiroko continued. “Then take it back with the arch of a brow or the flick of a wrist. The art of your seduction must be in contradiction.”

“I wish I could write this all down.”

“Keep it in your head.” She tapped the side of hers. “Because if you make him kneel, then you will have a big problem.”

“What do you mean?”

“He will be your life.”

“What?”

Ignoring my question, she continued, “Give him anticipation. Never certainty. Make him want permission more than he wants release.”

“Okay, but let’s get back to the part where you said he will be my life.”

“It is too late for that now. You have invited the Dragon to play, now you need to make sure you don’t burn.”

I blinked.

Sighing, she stepped back. “Make obedience feel like worship.”

“Oh no. Nyomi is going to ruin this.” Zo fanned himself with his hand. “My heart can’t take this.”

Hiroko wagged her finger. “Anger. Bold loud words. That won’t work with a man like him. Don’t do any of that.”

“Okay.”

“You must remember, Dragons do not fear fire. They are forged in it. So, things like rage will never work. Yelling. Getting angry. No. Your softness must be the trap. Let him get used to your warmth, then sometimes. . .leave him cold.”

Zo muttered. “Jesus.”

Hiroko looked at the door. “And I am not just talking about sex. This works in life as well as the bedroom.”

“Alright.” I swallowed, equal parts terrified and thrilled. “I got this.”

She put her view back on me. “We will see if you do. Either way, this will be a very long night.”

I returned my thoughts back to the moment.

The waitresses came to clear the bowls.

What is he going to say?

My stomach tightened. The she-crab bisque had been devoured, but the tension lingering in the air was thickening, not softening.

Kenji hadn't pulled away from me.

Not physically.

But his eyes had drifted to the base of his cocktail again. His fingers traced the rim, slow. Contemplative.

He was about to say something that he didn’t think I would like.

I knew that look.

That quiet prelude to an ugly truth .

That slow inhale a man takes when he's about to crack open something real.

And yet. . .I didn’t feel ready for it.

Which was ridiculous. This was exactly what I wanted. Connection. Honesty. A man who didn’t lie to me with his silences.

Still, I shifted in my seat and tucked my hands beneath the table. My palms were starting to sweat.

Even with all the perfect pacing of the evening—even with the warmth in his touch, the softness that peeked through his control—I couldn’t stop the whisper in the back of my mind.

What if you’re not enough for this man?

What if he saw through all the cleverness, the banter, the flirtation?

What if he decided the woman in the red leather gown was a fantasy he no longer wanted to feed?

I flicked my gaze to Hiroko.

She stood just beyond the shadows, watching from her position near the kitchen arch. For a split second, our eyes met. She gave me the smallest nod and then smiled.

The flicker of reassurance anchored me and settled into my chest.

You’re in control. You were made for this.

I looked back at Kenji and moved away, forcing him to remove his arm from my shoulder. “Kenji. . .you’re quiet.”

My nerves flared.

His jaw clenched, then unclenched. A shadow of something like regret passed over his face before he answered. “I should have told you this before, Tora, but I didn’t know that we would end up being this. . .”

“This?”

“I can’t even tell you what this means. I just know that I will never let this go. That this is important to me. You are important to me.”

I swallowed. “Just say it.”

The waitresses left with the bowls.

His breath hitched—barely audible—but I heard it. That quiet inhale men take when they’re about to drop a truth that might cost them everything.

Oh damn. This is going to be a lot.

And in that moment, I saw it. Not the Dragon. Not the untouchable menacing gangster.But. . .just a man trying not to lose the one woman who made him feel alive.

“Kenji. . .tell me.”

“Tora.” He frowned. "I may have twins on the way."

What the fuck?!