I’d spent hours at the US Embassy and gotten nowhere. The visa application was supposed to be submitted three months prior to the stay and filed from outside of Japan. My caseworker was fairly certain I was going to have to leave within ninety days of entry to Japan and go through the process properly.
Three months? No thanks.
But I was beginning to hate it here. The looks of disdain from strangers when it was clear I didn’t speak Japanese, and the long, lonely hours when Dominic was stuck late at work. I didn’t regret my life-changing decision to stay, but my resentment toward Chase Sports and the stupid contract they held over us grew thick.
I rode the train back to our apartment, my shoulders sagging in defeat about the visa. Dominic had joked that we could get married. “Hell, we already have rings,” he’d said. The scary thing was I wasn’t sure he was joking. Faced with the prospect of me leaving, he’d do whatever he had to. But it’s not like he was a citizen of Japan, and getting married might only make the visa application process more difficult.
I texted him that I was in a bad mood and no way was I cooking tonight.
My pulse jumped and my mood improved in a single heartbeat.
I spent the hour before he was supposed to get home shaving my legs, putting on makeup . . . doing anything I could to make myself look as fuckable as possible. I wanted him to come in the door, throw me over his shoulder, and slam me down on the bed. To fuck me so hard I’d forget about anything else.
I pulled on the black lacy garter belt, followed by the silky stockings. I hooked the garters to the lace trim at the top and adjusted the elastic. A quick inspection in the full-length mirror confirmed it. I looked hot. Get ready, Dominic Ward. Maybe tonight I’ll finally give you those words you’ve been wanting to hear.
He hadn’t pushed about that. Agreeing to stay with him indefinitely had made him so happy, I don’t think he wanted to do a thing to screw that up. He still told me he loved me in the mornings before he left for work.
On Monday I asked him softly, “Why do you do that? Put your thumb here right when you say it?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
The pink in his cheeks was so subtle I almost missed it. “Tell me.”
He exhaled slowly and looked resigned. “I do it so I can tell myself that’s why you’re not saying it back.”
He put his thumb over my lips like that simple action was what kept me from saying it. My chest felt tight. Every time I didn’t say it, I knew it hurt him, even if only a little. He knew what he was getting, though, I reminded myself. I’d get there. I just had to make sure when it came from my lips, it was the total truth. If it felt like a lie, it would crush us both.
I locked the door, so I had some warning before it swung open. At seven-thirty, the door thudded when he tried to open it and discovered it locked. I got into position. A curse word was muttered, in Japanese, which I always found hilarious from him. Metal slid into metal, the lock turned, and he pushed open the door.
“Holy shit.” He dropped the plastic bag on the floor and kicked the door closed behind him.
I sat on the dining table, my legs spread wide and a hand touching my bare pussy.
He just stood there, his eyes glazed with lust. Come on, come and get me, Dominic. His gaze drifted down my body, over my naked tits, down the lace and silk that ended in black high heels. The gaze worked its way back up even slower.
But he stooped down and picked up the plastic bags. “Nice try, devil woman. We’re eating dinner first.” He moved to the kitchen cabinet and pulled down two bowls.
My mouth dropped open. “The fuck we are.”
He walked the bowls and plastic bags toward the table and set them down, and began to open cartons. I stood and put my hands on my hips, watching with disbelief as he dumped food into the bowls.
“Did you get hit in the head by a crane or something? You asked me to wait for you naked, and you want to fucking eat dinner?”
He chuckled and stuck a set of chopsticks upright in the food, and held the bowl out to me. “I have plans for this evening and you’re going to need the energy.”
My eyes went narrow but inside I got excited. I loved it when he made plans. I took the bowl from him. “What kind of plans?”
There was a faint smile on his lips but his expression was intense. Whatever it was, it was big.
I hurriedly pulled out a chair and sat at the table. Thick anticipation seeped into the room as we ate in almost complete silence, his gaze never leaving my curves. He finished his dinner but his expression announced he was still hungry. He fucked me with his eyes and my stomach clenched. I rose from the table. I took both of our bowls, then sauntered on my heels to deposit them in the sink, hoping he was watching the sway of my ass cheeks as I went.
“Bring the bottle of vodka back with you,” he said.
“Don’t you mean truth serum?” I yanked the bottle from the freezer and stalked toward him, unscrewing the cap.
“Not tonight. Inhibitions reducer.”
“I don’t need my inhibitions lowered.” I took a long pull on the bottle and came to stand over him while he remained in his chair.