Instantly Knox’s warm arms seemed to cover every inch of her upper torso. “Shiori, you’re scaring me. What’s going on?”
“I don’t know.”
“Let’s get you undressed.” He turned her around and pulled her shirt over her head. Then he unhooked her bra and unzipped her pants, tugging the leather down her legs, leaving her in just her panties. Part of her wanted to protest that he didn’t need to treat her like a child, but it was a small part. He slipped a T-shirt over her head and softly kissed her lips. “Crawl in. I’ll be right there.”
The sheets were cool on her bare legs. Strange that she felt warmer now in just a T-shirt than she had fully clothed. She watched Knox open the windows before he turned the light off. Then the mattress dipped and a warm body moved in behind her. He draped his arm over her side, tucking her more firmly against him. Then his other arm slipped beneath her pillow.
A damp breeze wafted over her and she closed her eyes.
But she couldn’t sleep.
“It’ll keep until morning,” Knox mumbled.
“What?”
“Whatever it is that’s keeping you awake.”
“Maybe I’m just lying here enjoying the fresh air on my face. I never open my windows.”
“Never? Why not?”
“Too smoggy in Tokyo.”
“What about in your penthouse?”
“Guess I didn’t think about it.”
“So you haven’t ever lain in bed and listened to the rain?”
“No. It smells good. I never noticed that before.”
“I could say something corny like it’s past time you stopped to smell the rain, but I’ll just say the scent and sound of rain falling is one of the most relaxing things in the world.” He rubbed his mouth across the shell of her ear. “Let it lull you to sleep.”
Shiori listened to the ping-ping of raindrops connecting with metal. And the soft patter of water on the concrete. The breeze brought the scents of dirt and growing things.
Her eyelids grew heavier. Before sleep overtook her, she believed she’d found heaven, being cocooned in bed with Knox as rain fell.
* * *
THE next morning when Shiori awoke she curbed her wave of disappointment that the windows were closed. She had another pang when she realized Knox wasn’t in bed with her. Pushing up, she glanced at the clock. Nine a.m.
No sound of him banging pots and pans in the kitchen. No sound of the TV blasting some sports channel. No sound of the shower running.
She got out of bed to track him down.
Her feet made no noise as she ventured to the main part of the house. She froze when she saw him standing in front of the picture window, shirtless, in just his boxers.
“You aren’t nearly as stealthy as Ronin,” Knox said without turning around.
“Ronin has trained with a master who is a seventh-line descendant of ninja warriors. So he’s got the rolling-in-and-out-like-fog thing down.” She edged closer. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t know. Lately, I’m just . . . out of my element.”
“With what?”
“With the dojo. With the MMA program. With you.” He paused. “And the one person I always talk to about this stuff isn’t here. And even if he were, I couldn’t talk to him.”
“So talk to me.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s guy stuff.”
“Does some of it have to do with the way I disrespected you Thursday night?”
His shoulders stiffened. “Some.”
“I want to make this right between us. I’d planned to make an apology at the next staff meeting about—”
“Jesus, don’t do that.” Knox whirled around. “Don’t you understand that’ll just make it worse? Make me look even more like a chump.”
She stared at him, wondering if her pride had cost her the best thing that had happened to her.
“You apologized to me. No one else needs to know the particulars. And I’d be surprised if you openly defied me in public again.” He offered her a brittle smile. “But in private? That’s a whole other story.”
“Knox, I feel like you say you’ve forgiven me, but you haven’t. I don’t want you holding back because you’re waiting for that defiant bitch to show up again.”
“Maybe part of me is.”
That blow from him hurt worse than Mia’s elbow to the head.
Knox stepped closer. “But another part of me wants to rewind. Return to Thursday at noon when we were locked body to body, mouth to mouth, in the Crow’s Nest.”