My cock hardened as a memory of her flushed face and moans surfaced. A very good dream, indeed. She’d been satisfied, more than satisfied, but after that, she’d kept her distance, as if afraid of what it all meant.
Yes. That was it. Fear. I could smell it on her, see it in her face. But how could I convince her to let go and trust her feelings?
I shook my head. She was too much now. I craved to be inside her again. That was the simple lust, but I also craved her smile and laugh. That was something potentially far more dangerous. Another L-word that I didn’t want to risk thinking about yet.
But it didn’t matter. She didn’t want anything more than a fun night in Tokyo. She wasn’t ready for more, and I had to respect that even as it frustrated me.
I knocked on the door between our rooms. It seemed silly to walk all the way around. The door opened, revealing Emily in a low-cut red dress, a different one than I’d seen her in before.
I almost licked my lips. The dress hugged and lifted in all the right places, emphasizing the parts of her body that I’d explored Wednesday afternoon. I clenched my hands into fists, glad my pants were keeping my hard cock from being too obvious.
If she told me to take her right then and there, I would have.
“There’s a karaoke place nearby,” I said. “I figured it might be fun to do karaoke in the country that invented it. Plus, it’s close enough to walk to.”
Emily tilted her head. “What about food?”
I grinned. “It’s not exactly fine dining, but we can order food there. It’s not like going to a bar and singing. We’ll have our own private room.”
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“Okay.” She offered me her arm. “Please lead on, Logan.”
I took her arm. My breath caught. It’d been two days since I’d been so close to her. The soft fruity scent of her shampoo filled my nostrils, and I could feel her warmth.
“I hope they have songs I can sing,” Emily said, a frown appearing on her face.
“Don’t worry, the place I picked has plenty of American songs.”
She peered up at me. “Is this another place you bought?”
I laughed. “No. I asked for recommendations from the hotel staff.”
She grinned. “Then don’t beg for mercy later when I start singing ‘Friends in Low Places’ and ‘Play It Again.’”
I grinned back.
* * *
Emily stumbled out of the karaoke place on my arm. This time she’d drank beer inside of sake, but her trouble standing proved it was more than enough to get her drunk.
It’d been a fun time, even if we both quickly realized the other shouldn’t try out for The Voice anytime soon. The beer helped us not care. Stuffed with pizza and takoyaki, neither of us were hungry, so there was no reason to go to a restaurant, even the one in the hotel.
“Are you going to be okay to walk back?” I said.
Emily pulled away from me, then spun in place, getting a few curious glances from people walking nearby.
“I am drunk, but I’m also happy.” She hummed a few bars of a Luke Bryan song. “It feels so good to let go.” She shimmied in the general direction of the hotel.
I shrugged and hurried after. Being drunk in public wasn’t quite as big a deal in Tokyo as it might be in parts of Nashville. I’d seen drunk Japanese businessmen acting a lot more ridiculous than Emily without anyone giving them trouble.
Emily’s shimmy turned into a dance where she circled her arms and threw them into the air. I found myself transfixed by her shaking ass clad in that thin, tight dress. I shook my head once I realized she was getting ahead of me.
I hurried back to her side. “So, you liked your first time at Japanese karaoke?”
She continued her dance. She dropped her hands to her waist and kicked out like she was in some sort of chorus line. “It was fun. I didn’t know about the no audience thing, but it actually made it more fun. No one to impress or worry about.”
“There are different types of places, but this is the typical kind of place you find here.”