“Mmm-hmm?” I lean back and cross my arms.
She eats some more, then squirms in her seat.
I keep staring.
She cracks. “Romances, okay? I love a good romance! I feel like it’s a majorly underrated genre, mostly because it deals with female wish fulfillment and focuses on the female gaze. It’s subversive like that, challenging patriarchy.”
No wonder she and Hideo are at odds. He’s a strict traditionalist. Having a daughter who reads romance and embraces anything ‘subversive’ wouldn’t make him happy in the least.
“So you’re a rebel?” I ask.
“No.” She finishes her udon bowl and wipes her mouth with her napkin. “I just don’t like being told what to do all the time. What to wear. How to look. All that. And being surrounded by people who knew who my father was didn’t help either. Everyone was afraid of me. I had no friends. No nothing. And boys wouldn’t even look at me because they knew–”
“Good.” I put my palms on the island.
“What?” She arches a brow.
“I said it’s good boys didn’t look at you, Mei.” I hate the thought of some little twerps imagining they had a chance with this sassy slip of a woman.
“Why?”
“Because you don’t need a boy. You need a man.”
“Oh.” She licks her lips again.
I want her. There’s no point denying it now. Not after we kissed. But damn, this has struck me so hard and fast that I’m beginning to question my sanity. I’ve never felt like this, never wanted something so badly as I want her. No, not want—need.
Her lips part as I walk around the island to her, fully intending on tasting her mouth again.
“Boss?” Toru strides in. He stops when he sees the look on my face, and then he glances quickly between Mei and me.
Bad fucking timing.
“What?” I try not to snap the word, but it still rings with irritation.
“The Itos have called a meeting. All Yakuza families.”
“When?” I grit my teeth.
“Friday night. It looks like they’ve been planning this for a while. They’re throwing a huge ball at their place.”
“Nothing Isamu Ito does is an accident.” I crack my knuckles. “He planned the attack on us, then used it as a pretense to get the families together. He’s going to try to make a play for more power.”
Toru nods. “Sounds about right. He’ll use our losses as a pretense, say that he can provide protection for all the families. Even though he’s the one behind the attack.”
“Exactly.” I already knew Isamu was a crafty bastard, but this newest ploy is a piece of detail work I didn’t see coming. But it doesn’t matter. The Itos will soon be extinct.
“How should we play this?” Toru sends a longing glance toward the empty udon pot. “Is there more?”
“Sorry.” Mei shrugs and shows him her empty bowl. “It was so good I couldn’t help myself.”
“Don’t fall for Kaz’s cooking. At least not until you’ve tried his daifuku.”
“Sweet mochi balls?” Mei’s eyes widen. “I love those!”
“I’ll make them for you after you tell me more about why you’re here.” I arch a brow at her.
She wrinkles her nose and scoops up Kuzi. “I’ll be in my room.” She marches off, her hips swaying. Damn if she doesn’t turn me on just by walking away.
Toru turns and stares at me. Hard.
“What?” I shrug.
“You know what.”
“It’s nothing.”
“Is it? Because the way you two kissed in the garden says otherwise.”
Of course he saw. Nothing escapes Toru’s notice. “Sneaky bastard.”
“It’s my job to watch out for you.” He runs his finger around the udon pot and licks the broth. “Damn. Now I’m hungry.”
I sigh. “Mei is unexpected, all right? I don’t know what’s going on with her, but I’m going to find out.”
“You need to call Hideo.”
“I will as soon as it’s morning over there.” I put the pot and Mei’s bowl in the sink.
“What about Ito’s ball?”
I think it over for another minute. “Tell Ito I’ll be in attendance.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I want to watch him make his speech and put his plan into motion so I can smash it all to bits right in front of his face. It’ll be worth it.”
Toru smiles like a shark. “Sounds good to me.”
I head out of the kitchen, and Toru follows.
“You aren’t coming to the office?” he calls, his voice tinged with humor.
“I have some things to take care of in my room.”
“Mmm-hmm,” he calls to my retreating back.
But I’m already gone, up the stairs, and prowling toward Mei’s room.
6
Mei
“What do you have in here? Bricks?” Daisuke asks as he lugs another one of my boxes into my bedroom. Everyone here has been so kind. This is far from the way I thought it was going to be.
“Books.” I clap excitedly when he sits the box down. I rush over to check them.
At home, I kept them tucked away so my father wouldn’t see them. Since Kazuo was so open and accepting when I spoke of my love for romance books, I think here I’ll be able to set them out so I can gaze at them. Some people love to put up beautiful art in their homes to stare at. I choose to stare at books. Even if they are stacked in little piles all about the room.