"You can open your eyes now," Ichiro Yoshida told his wife Shaundra as the plane came to a safe landing in Korea.
Shaundra's eyes opened slowly.
Ichiro studied her to make sure she was okay. He didn't like the fact that she had to be drugged the entire flight, and he worried she might become addicted if he insisted that she accompany him on his China tour. Maybe he should take Masaaki's advice and have her hypnotized. But that was like kicking the wheelchair from under her and handing her a set of crutches. What she needed was a strong dose of reality...people died every day, and when her number was up, it was up.
"Where are we?" she asked, removing her seat belt and stretching that shapely Nubian body.
"Korea," Ichiro replied, removing his seatbelt. "Don't you remember?"
"Not really," Shaundra replied with a yawn. "I remember leaving New York, but everything else is pretty much a blur."
The fact that they'd have to fly to their home in Osaka in another two weeks and then on to China frightened him.
What if she didn't wake up one of these times? He didn't think he could bear to live without her. "Do you need to use the restroom?"
"Yes, daddy," she replied sheepishly as her eyes finally focused on his face.
Ichiro rose and allowed her to pass him. He watched her walk unsteadily toward the restroom and enter. He didn't like it, but he'd find a shrink tomorrow for her. He gathered all of their things and met her once she came out. She needed some fresh air, and that's what she was going to get once they got through customs.
Their bodyguards followed them off the plane. He didn't expect any trouble like the last time she'd entered Osaka when some of Aomori's fan girls had tried to grab her, but it was best to be prepared and on his toes.
He had done the best he could hiding his hair and donning sunglasses, but he could only do so much. He'd even offered to cut his locks, but Shaundra nearly had a fit. He smiled thinking how the sight of his hair turned her on. Images of their wedding night flashed in his conscious as they went through customs. Damn, Shaundra was lethal in the bedroom. She took his virginity so skillfully he nearly cried.
Well, he did cry as he experienced his very first orgasm. He had been blessed to find a wife with both a healthy sexual appetite and a great body. Who the hell cared if she was twenty-five years older than he was? He loved her and worshipped the ground she walked on.
The waiting area was crowded with teenaged girls and young women who had found out about his arrival. They held signs with his name and posters of him and Aomori. Others took out their cameras and brazenly took his picture. He didn't stop to acknowledge them. His main criterion was to get Shaundra out of the airport without incident. They all hurried out the door, where they found more fans waiting.
Ichiro helped Shaundra into the limousine while Kenshin, their driver, loaded their luggage. It took nearly twenty minutes for them to drive from the pickup spot to the airport exit gates.
"Darn fan girls," Ichiro muttered.
"You're very popular wherever you go," Shaundra said, snuggling up against him. "It makes me so happy that you are so loved and admired."
"It wouldn't be so bad if they admired from afar, but they want to touch." He wasn't a complete germaphobic. He just didn't like to be touched by strangers, and he had this thing about personal space.
"I like touching you," Shaundra cooed. "Your skin is so soft."
"You, I don't mind. Your touch is divine, and it makes me horny."
Shaundra chuckled huskily. "I'd give you a little sample, but I don't want to embarrass Kenshin."
"Won't embarrass me," Kenshin replied. "Go right ahead and have your way with him."
"Drive," Ichiro ordered playfully. "This ain't no peep show."
He chuckled. "Now I know I'm back home. Big brothers are all up in my business."
"You're a big boy now," Shaundra assured him. "I've got the marriage license and the sore..."
Ichiro pressed his finger against his wife's lips. No one else needed to know about their sexcapades. He smirked.
Shaundra was very creative and wasn't afraid to experiment.
They'd be sharing a house with the rest of Aomori, so they would have to play it down a bit. "Don't you want to see what Korea looks like?" he asked, trying to distract her.
"No, I'd rather see what you look like in a Korean bed."
Kenshin laughed from the front seat.
Ichiro wondered how he could close the partition without seeming rude. "You're still loopy. I'd better get you sobered up before I bring you around Satoshi."
"Sexy Satoshi," Shaundra replied.
"Yeah, he's a real sexy guy, but he's off limits to you."
Shaundra sat up. "You don't have to worry about him. One pretty baby in my life is enough."
Don't forget about Yori, he wanted to say. Had she gotten over her feelings for him? He'd find out soon enough. Yori and Amaya were due in shortly from their honeymoon in Hawaii.
"Wow, look at that," Shaundra said as Kenshin turned the limousine down a driveway.
"If you'd been looking out the window instead of feeling me up, you would have seen miles of spectacular houses just like this."
"Are we going to be staying here?" Shaundra asked excitedly.
"Yes, Mr. Niigata rented it for two weeks while we're here."
Shaundra gasped. "It's a palace."
Nope, she is still loopy. He'd have to keep an eye on her for a while.
Kenshin brought the car to rest at the curb outside the house. He got out and opened the door for Shaundra. Ichiro opened his own door and went around to Shaundra's side, while Kenshin got the luggage out of the back and brought it inside.
"How are you feeling?" Ichiro asked Shaundra.
"I'm fine. I think I'm coming down."
Ichiro stared deep into her eyes. "Are you sure?"
She put her arms around his waist and rubbed her body up against his. "Don't worry about me. I'm okay."
Now he wasn't. The little vixen had aroused him just that fast. Lucky for him his jacket was long enough to hide the evidence. Ichiro took his bride's hand and walked toward the steps. The door opened before they made it to the top.
Takumijo stood, looking quite menacing and sporting some powerful new muscles.
Shaundra noticed them too. "Damn, Takumijo, you look good."
Takumijo cracked a smile and flexed for her. "Been working out at the gym."
"It's working."
He turned to Ichiro. "What's wrong with her? Do I have to show you how to please your lady?"
"She's still flying from the anti-anxiety medicine."
"Shoot, I thought she'd come to her senses and wanted a real man."
"I am a real man," Ichiro replied.
Takumijo walked down the stairs and swiped the hat from his head. Ichiro's hair floated down to his butt.
Ichiro removed his glasses, exposing his bright blue eyes to Takumijo and Shaundra.
"You still have the best hair in the world, pretty little blue- eyed soul. You're going to be beating Satoshi off you."
"Mine," Shaundra said, reaching out and touching her husband's hair.
Ichiro felt his body harden. "I think I'd better take her up to our room for a nap." He followed Takumijo into the house.
"Seems to me she needs a cold shower. Your room is upstairs. The third door on the right at the end of the hall."
Ichiro eased his hair out of Shaundra's hands. "Come, wife. You need a nap."
"No, I don't," Shaundra replied, following him. "I just need you."
The last thing he heard was Takumijo's deep chuckle as he took Shaundra up to their room.
"Did Mr. Niigata have to rent a house so far out in nowhere?" Amaya asked Yori as Kenshin parked the limousine in front of the house. "It's like a million miles away from the nearest mall."
Yori rubbed his temple. The headache began the moment his bride woke up at the airport, and it had intensified with each word she spoke. "I'm sure it wasn't easy to find a place large enough to house all of us for two weeks."
"Maybe we should think about renting something closer to town. After all, we're still on our honeymoon."
Yori rolled his eyes as Kenshin got out and opened Amaya's door. The honeymoon had been over the moment her parents started interfering in their lives. Yori stepped out.
His new bride was impossible when it came to spending money. Why waste money when they had a perfectly good room inside the mansion? Yori walked her up the stairs after Kenshin took their luggage inside.
Takumijo appeared, and Yori gasped at the sight of him.
"Dude, look at you. What have you been eating?"
"You're all muscle," Amaya said, admiring and latching on to him.
"I had plenty of free time on my hands since we left Japan.
So I've been spending time at the gym."
"It looks good on you," Amaya replied. "Maybe you should take Yori with you. He's too thin."
Yori ignored her. He'd been the same size since he was sixteen years old, and the only time he lost weight was when he trained for concerts. "Where's Satoshi?"
"In the recording studio," Takumijo answered. "He's been holed up inside there working on some music."
"Has Ichiro arrived?"
"Yes. He and Shaundra are upstairs napping. You should see him. He looks great."
"How's Shaundra?" Yori asked.
"Jet-lagged."
"She's a wuss," Amaya replied. "Flying is easy."
Yori rubbed his temple again. "It's not nice to talk about others that way. I'm sure you have a fear or two."
"No I don't," Amaya bragged.
Yori turned his attention back to Takumijo. "Where is our room?"
"Second door on the right at the end of the hall."
Yori unglued his wife from his friend's bicep and took her upstairs.
Takumijo walked down the hall and to the back of the recording studio. He opened the door and entered quietly, hoping not to disturb Satoshi. To his surprise, he found Satoshi staring out of the window. He turned when he heard him.
"Is she still as pretty as a picture?"
"Lovely," Takumijo replied. "And still reeling from the anti- anxiety medicine. You should have seen her. She was all over Ichiro. He took her upstairs for a nap."
"That's one lucky little pretty bastard."
"You should see his hair. It's nearly down past his butt, and he's put on some weight. It's looks good on him."
Satoshi sat back down at the piano. "Never in a million years did I think he'd beat us to the altar."
Takumijo nodded. "It took a good woman to bring out the man in him."
Someone cleared his throat behind them. Both Takumijo and Satoshi looked toward the door. It was Yori.
Satoshi waved at him. "Where's Amaya?"
Yori entered the room. "I left her upstairs talking to her parents on the phone. She won't miss me for at least an hour." He walked over to the piano. "What are you working on?"
"I'm trying to compose music to the song Ichiro sent me.
It's for our next album." He played a couple of bars.
"I like that," Yori replied. "Let me see the words."
Satoshi handed each of them a copy, and they began to harmonize to the music. They sounded good as a trio, but they were missing their tenor. Ichiro appeared in the door like magic. He was dressed in a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt, and his hair was braided in a long tail down his back. Through the T-shirt Takumijo could see Ichiro's muscles. Huh - the geisha had also been training.
"Ich," Satoshi said, winking at him. "Come join us, my princess. We're missing that sweet voice."
Ichiro entered, and Satoshi handed him the words. "Thank you."
"Hey, what's that under that T-shirt? Are those muscles?
And you've put on some weight."
"Shaundra and her family tried to feed me to death. She's a real good cook, and so is her baby girl Tricia."
"How is she?" Satoshi asked.
"Tricia's fine. She's away at college. She told me to tell you, hey."
Of course Takumijo knew that Satoshi was not asking about Tricia, even though the two of them had dated awhile when they were in New York. Casanova was asking about Shaundra. Time apparently had not healed all wounds.
Satoshi began to play again, this time with Ichiro singing the high parts that they could not reach. It felt like the old days before their debut. Takumijo liked ballads, and Ichiro had composed a beauty. It was the type of song that only being in love could inspire. He hadn't thought Shaundra Morrison was a good match for Ichiro in the beginning, but time had proven him wrong. Those two fools were deeply in love.
"I predict that will be a million seller," Masaaki said as he entered the room. "I heard you singing when I entered the house. It sounded like old times."
"I was just thinking the same thing," Takumijo said.
"Who wrote those words?" Masaaki asked.
"Ichiro," Satoshi answered. "But I composed the music."
"The two of you should work together more. We need a CD where every song is a number one. We need to rock China off its axis."
"I have several more songs in my briefcase," Ichiro replied. "I worked on them while Shaundra wrote her novel."
Masaaki clapped his hands together. "Mr. Niigata will be so pleased."
"Where is he?' Takumijo asked.
"I left him in town. He was on a conference call to China making arrangements for your tours. You guys have sold out every stadium, arena and dome he's booked you at."
"Wow," Takumijo replied, quite pleased.
"Wow is not the word," Masaaki told him. "You need to brush up on your Chinese."
"Jian dao ni wo hen gao xing. I am glad to meet you,"
Ichiro said, showing off. "But I don't plan to say much while I'm there."
"Ah, ah, none of that. We like to hear you," Masaaki warned. "None of that silent treatment. I thought you'd gotten over your shyness."
"Why would you think a thing like that?" Ichiro asked. "The fans still terrify me."
"You didn't look that shy around Shaundra when the two of you went upstairs," Takumijo teased.
Ichiro blushed. "She's not my fan. She's my wife. I can't let her see me like that."
"Damn right you can't," Satoshi agreed.
"People down south, as she called it, make you talk. They also like to hug and kiss. I didn't like that custom. I didn't have time to be shy, though. All they wanted to do was squeeze my cheeks and feed me pecan pie and something called gumbo."
"Gumbo," Takumijo repeated. "What is gumbo?"
"It's some kind of thick soup with shrimp and crabs."
"Enough," Takumijo said. "Just tell me that you learned how to make it."
"Got Shaundra's mother's recipe. She told me to use it in my restaurant. I'll fix us some tomorrow after I go shopping."
"What was it like around her folks?" Masaaki asked.
"Strange, but they're nice people."
"Shaundra and Cristal should get along just fine," Satoshi replied.
"Who is Cristal?" Ichiro asked. "You have a new girlfriend?"
"No, she's our new publicist," Satoshi answered. "Mr.
Niigata hired her right after we returned to Osaka. Apparently the old one quit when she found out that Yori was getting married."
Everyone turned to look at Yori with an accusing glance.
"What? It's not my fault."
"It never is," Takumijo replied. "What did you promise her if she slept with you?"
"Who said I slept with her?" Yori asked in his defense.
They continued to look at him.
"That's old water under the bridge. Tell me about Cristal."
"She's a beautiful young American woman," Satoshi replied. "She's staying with us here and will be coming with us to China."
"Where is she?" Yori asked. "I'd like to meet her."
"France," Masaaki answered.
"What's she doing there?" Yori asked.
"Mr. Niigata sent her there to get an interview with Yi-jun Lee."
"But Yi-jun doesn't give interviews," Yori said matter-of- factly.
Satoshi chuckled. "Apparently he's agreed to give one to Cristal."
Yori whistled. "I'm impressed. She must be something special."
"That she is," Takumijo replied.
"Apparently Yi-jun took one look at her and fell in love."
Takumijo laughed.
"You had a beautiful woman in this house, and you sent her to Yi-jun?" Ichiro asked. "Whose bright idea was that?"
Satoshi raised his hand. "Mine. Cristal's a swell girl and can hold her own drinking beer, but she was sorely lacking in the socializing department. She seemed kind of bored and needed a little excitement in her life."
"But to pair her up with Yi-jun. No offense, bro, but your friend is crazy," Yori replied.
Satoshi laughed. "Yes, well, you haven't met Cristal yet.
She's gorgeous and a lot of fun when she lets all that reddish- blonde hair down."
Yori looked at him oddly. "And you sent a gorgeous reddish-blonde-haired American to Yi-jun? Are you crazy?
Why didn't you keep her for yourself? She sounds perfect for you."
Satoshi shook his head. "No, she and I are just friends."
"What's wrong with her?" Yori asked like he didn't believe what he'd just heard.
"There's nothing wrong with her," Masaaki answered.
"Except she lacks discipline. I had to ground her along with these two idiots. Mr. Niigata and I caught them sneaking back into the house after leaving here without security to go clubbing."
Ichiro chuckled but did not comment.
"She went clubbing with you two?" Yori asked.
"Yes," Takumijo answered.
"How did you get out? This place is like a fortress."
"They hopped the back fence," Masaaki answered again.
"And Ms. Gentry went right along with them. I swear you guys are a handful."
"She sounds like Satoshi's kind of girl," Ichiro said after listening to the conversation.
"Not really," Satoshi said. "You're my kind of girl."
"Bite me," Ichiro said.
"Where are your brides?" Masaaki asked, changing the subject.
"Shaundra is in our room sleeping," Ichiro replied. "I will wake her when dinner is ready."
Masaaki turned to Yori.
"Amaya's on the phone. She'll probably be joining us for dinner if I can pry it away from her ear."
Masaaki laughed. "I see some things never change. So is marriage everything it's cracked up to be?"
"Not really," Yori answered. "It's nothing like the manual."