work.”
“What?” I paused, not believing what I’d just heard. The world just seemed to have shifted ten degrees on its axis.
“I’ve loved you forever,” Michael went on, taking my hand again and drawing me close to him on the banquette. “But there are so many reasons why I’ve thought this is the world’s most impossible romance. There’s the matter of professionalism, but even if that wasn’t a factor, I’m just a simple American guy.”
“It’s true that I’ve never dated an American,” I admitted. “But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t try, and you aren’t simple, you’re complex! Don’t you realize how sexy spying is?”
“I’m not James Bond; it’s clear from my lack of an English accent and my less than glamorous drink.” Michael tapped the Bud Light he’d insisted on drinking from the bottle.
“I was trying not to notice.”
Michael laughed. “I am insane about you, Rei. Will you reform me, the way Harue did for Keijin?”
“No, I won’t reform you. I want you just the way you are.”
Michael gave my hand one last squeeze, stood up, and headed out of the lounge.
I knew what he was about to do. And in the meantime, there was a very difficult phone call that I needed to make.
29
FROM PAST EXPERIENCE, I know that it’s pretty embarrassing to take a hotel room without luggage. At the Halekulani there was no need for me to give my name-Michael’s was enough-but to my chagrin, the registration actually took place in the hotel room. This meant that a young Asian woman in a trim blue suit escorted us upstairs and did the formalities at a small desk with Michael, while I stared out the window of our deluxe room at a lit-up round pool seventeen floors below us. Only when the desk clerk had left did I turn back to examine the soft cream and tan room, with a watercolor by a Japanese artist above the queen-sized bed.
“Small but perfect,” Michael said, walking into the bathroom. “This reminds me of a really good hotel in Japan.”
“Well, this place is Japanese-owned,” I pointed out. “It’s interesting how much of Hawaii is owned by Japanese, but it doesn’t really seem to bother people. So different from when we were young-remember the outcry when Sony bought the Rockefeller Center?”
“Ever since I’ve become Japanese-owned, I’ve been happier.” Michael turned and wrapped me in his arms.
“That’s a terrible joke.” I kissed him. “And I don’t own you.”
“Oh, you’ve owned me ever since I conducted your background check.” Michael was slipping my dress straps off my shoulders, trying to figure out how to get it off. I started thinking about what was underneath, whether my underwear was going to be too intense-then I remembered something even more important.
“Michael, I don’t have anything with me. You know.”
“I have a three-pack,” he said, pulling a foil package from his pocket. “But I must warn you, it’s been a very long time. And you’re so gorgeous, I’m just…afraid.”
Michael Hendricks, afraid? I pulled him down on the bed and said, “Don’t worry so much. It’s been a while for me, too.”
This was right, I thought as we were finally naked, and our fingers blazed their first trails across each other’s bodies. I was thrilled by the idea of playing teacher to someone who’d forgotten how to make love. But Michael didn’t need to offer a disclaimer. He’d been married for almost a decade, and in that time he seemed to have learned many ways to please a woman.
We rolled together, the once-pristine bed now an utter shambles. Michael moved into me, and my legs wrapped around his waist. As we kissed, I tasted the exotic dessert we’d shared at dinner overlaid with our past: the gray streets we’d jogged, the long mornings reading dull reports, the text messages. I breathed deeply, feeling my body confidently follow where my mind was going, and then I was no longer able to postpone the inevitable.
“Yes,” I murmured, moving against him hard. I felt myself rising as high as Diamond Head outside the window-hidden by darkness now, but still there.
“Marry me,” Michael said, as everything erupted.
“Yes,” I sighed, my lips against his throat. This was so different than being with Hugh, Takeo, or anyone else in my past; because of the deep connection between us. There was no flirting or guile: nothing but love. “Yes.”
WHEN I WOKE up, Michael was curled around my back, kissing my spine.
“What time is it?” I murmured, reaching behind me to stroke him.
“Time to rise and shine.” He folded himself around me, and I opened my eyes to the bright sky and ocean outside the bedroom window. We’d forgotten to draw the curtains last night. And there was something else troubling me that I couldn’t remember. The problem lay in the back of my mind, just as Michael lay against my back now, warming me in the chilly, air-conditioned room.
I grabbed the bathroom first, cleaning my teeth vigorously with the brush and toothpaste that I’d kept in my purse as a precaution ever since my illness began. Then I stepped into the shower, and let the warm water rain down on me. Slowly, I began to relax. I lathered up my calves with shaving cream and was just starting in on them when Michael slid into the room.
“Share a toothbrush with me?” he held up my brush.
“I’ve shared everything else, so you might as well.” I waved him toward the sink.
“Absolutely not.” Michael was stark naked, but looked utterly comfortable as he lounged against the wall, brushing his teeth.
“I thought I should be prepared,” I said, as I turned from him and bent over my left calf again. “In case we have a half-hour for the pool this morning. I could look for a swimsuit in the gift shops downstairs.”
“Shopping is not a priority right now.”
When I looked again, I saw this was true. I smiled and said, “Good morning to both of you.”
Michael didn’t answer, just opened the shower door, and gently lifted me against him. Before I could react, he’d carried me back to the bed, suds and all.
“I shouldn’t be doing this,” Michael said as he began kissing his way down my body. “I should get dressed, take you down to breakfast and then to your home, where I’ll declare my intentions to your father.”
“Mmm,” I said, savoring his tongue, until the words he’d spoken with it had connected with my brain. I sat straight up. “What are you talking about?”
“Last night, I asked you to marry me. Surely you haven’t blacked out?”
“I remember you interrupting me, and my not being able to answer.”
“What? You said yes. Several times, in fact…”
“If I said yes, it’s because I was in the throes of passion. It’s not actually fair to ask someone a thing like that, when she’s halfway out of her mind.”
“Come on, Rei. Your guard was down, and you said yes to marrying me.”
“Michael, have you forgotten our original intention?” I stared at him. “We would try dating. Last night was our first official date, and I’d say it went extremely well. We could have another date, tonight.”
“But I’ve decided I don’t want to date you.” Michael had risen from the bed and was pulling on a bathrobe. “If we keep dating, you’ll walk away. I’m afraid that’s your modus operandi. Look at what happened with Hugh and Takeo.”
“That’s not true. It was only after Hugh and I became engaged that things went to hell, and Takeo never asked.”
“But you’d lived with him, just as you’d lived with Hugh. You don’t do well with live-in boyfriends. I refuse to join the chain.”
Was Michael laughing at me? Rather huffily, I answered, ‘I’m not asking you to live with me.”
“Of course you aren’t. Living together is playing, and so is dating, at our ages. Come on, Rei. Agree to the deal and when I return to work, I’ll immediately ask Len about my getting shifted off the Japan desk.”
