Take Me

Chapter Nine: Breakpoint

Kaz threw Milo into the backseat of a waiting town car with little care then slipped in after him. As he pulled the door shut, he barked instructions at the driver in Japanese, and even before Milo could protest the manhandling, they were already on the road. Kaz didn’t even wait for him to regain his composure or even arrange himself on the seat properly. The angry bull of a businessman yanked him forward by his slim necktie and crushed his mouth with a punishing kiss. Milo gasped at the shock of the sudden contact. Kaz used this opportunity to force his way in, taking full control. He nipped, sucked, licked. Punishing yet arousing at the same time.

Milo’s brain shut down in seconds. Gone was the annoyance. The fear. The worry. All emotions vanished but for the lust bubbling beneath his skin. He gave himself willingly to the kiss. Resistance was futile. He knew this like the knowledge was deeply ingrained into his system. Despite the nipping and bruising pressure, the hisses of pain quickly became moans of desire. Milo was a goner and he knew it. Through his commanding lips, Kaz took complete ownership of him.

As if to keep himself from plunging deeper into depths unknown while their tongues tangled, Milo grabbed on to the powerful shoulders looming over him. Kaz’s strength became his anchor in the storm of his own making. His body craved more contact.

Unconsciously, he inched forward until he was enveloped by the raging heat coming from the massive male forcing his way through the barriers he’d put up to protect himself. But, just as Milo began to participate in the kiss, Kaz broke away, easing his bulk to the other side of the backseat. Never in Milo’s life had he felt so bereft, like the man beside him had left a void in his place.

Realizing he had closed his eyes, Milo opened them to see Kaz resting his chin on a tight fist, his face looking out onto the crowded sidewalk as they stopped at a light. Still a stoic mask except for the slight crumpling of the space between his ebony eyebrows. The sudden walls that came up between them were baffling. He was supposed to be the one annoyed.

Tugging at his suit jacket and necktie to resettle them into place, he finally arranged himself on his side of the backseat. Then he crossed both his arms and legs. Kaz wasn’t the only one who was capable of putting up fences. He schooled his features until his reflection in the car window resembled someone he used to know. But inside he knew meeting Kaz had changed him, disturbed the peace he’d so carefully reconstructed.

“Where are you taking me?” he asked, not having caught what Kaz said to his driver earlier because he had spoken too fast.

It took a full minute, but the brute eventually responded with, “Dinner. We were interrupted the last time.”

That surprised him more than everything else that had happened so far. “You’re taking me out on a date?”

The look he got in response was matter-of-fact. “Yes.”

“But I thought . . .” He didn’t allow himself to finish the sentence or Kaz would certainly hear the disappointment in his tone.

Kaz snorted. “I would like to get to know you before I f**k you. Is that so wrong?”

Having his thoughts verbalized as if his mind had been read sent shivers down his spine.

“I don’t get you,” Milo blurted out.

“I would think I’m very simple. I’m clearly attracted to you. What else is there to understand? Watching that display with the man you call your best friend who is also clearly attracted to you made me see red.”

Milo’s jaw dropped. There were so many revelations in that one spoken breath that his head reeled. “You’re attracted to me?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Or do you need another demonstration?”

He lifted both hands to stall Kaz’s move to lean toward him. “Tommy doesn’t like me like that. We were just messing around. An inside joke. Nothing more.”

Another snort, this time, filled with derision. “I guess it’s true when they say you don’t see what’s right in front of you. That man who tried to stop me from taking you tonight clearly has feelings for you. It was in his eyes.”

“I don’t believe you. Tommy doesn’t see me that way.”

“You don’t have to believe what I’m saying for me to be right.” Kaz returned to street watching. “But you are mine. As long as you remember that then I won’t have to commit murder.”

And the punches kept on coming. “What the hell does that mean anyway? I’m yours? I am no one’s property.”

Kaz narrowed his blue gaze at him. “Your mind may not see it yet, but your body certainly thinks so.”

A burning flush scattered all over his skin. The erection pushing against the front of his pants definitely agreed.

Acting as if the truth didn’t affect him, Milo cleared his throat and said, “Is that why you’re taking me to dinner?”

Kaz whispered his name reverently as he reached out and ran a fingertip along Milo’s jaw. He felt the touch all the way to the most sensitive part of his body.

“There is no point in taking you when I can’t have all of you. I’m a very patient man. I want you aching for me, for my touch. Then, just when you can’t stand to be without it anymore, I will give you what you’ve been craving since the morning we meant.”

"You should, at least, let me return the favor," he muttered grudgingly, gripping his arms so hard he was sure to leave nail marks even with layers of clothing between his fingers and skin. His tongue craved the taste of him. “I know you’re just as hard for me as I am for you.”

No harm in admitting the truth.

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because when I come for the first time it will be inside you," he said as if he was stating a fact. "You can make it up to me all you want after that."

Kaz’s words thrilled and scared Milo in equal measure. Here was a man who knew what he wanted and did everything he could to get it. He admired him for it. Respected him even. Would it be so bad to explore something more than the physical with him?

***

A woman in a tight black dress led the way into the VIP area of one of the most exclusive restaurants in the city. Not even Cassandra could make last minute reservations there. Dinners would always have to be scheduled far in advance and only for the best talent to ever grace the pages of Rebel. Yet there was Kaz, a walk-in, striding to their table as if he owned the place. That alone told Milo more than he ever thought he would learn from the guarded man. He would have to be someone extremely important—not just the silent partner of the House of Suzuki.

“What did you say you did again?” Milo asked as a waiter unfolded the starched napkin across his lap in one expert flip of his wrist.

Before responding to his question, Kaz ordered wine then asked him, “Is there anything specific you would like to eat? A slab of ribs, maybe?”

A blush crossed from one cheekbone to the other. “Not funny.”

“I apologize.”

The sincerity in his tone helped Milo return his gaze to confirm. Yup, the guy was being sincere. No hint of humor in those startling blue eyes.

He appreciated that when he said, “Whatever you’re having is fine.”

Kaz rattled off an order of surf and turf, but it wasn’t just any surf and turf. It involved the best cut of meat, lobster tail out of the shell, and scallops the size of Milo’s fist—the surf and turf of kings.

When the restaurant staff finally left them alone, Kaz sat back and studied Milo through a hooded gaze.

“Imports and exports,” he said in response to the earlier question.

“But what does that mean exactly?” Milo took a sip of his water. Sparkling. He studied the glass with raised eyebrows. Of course.

“My company imports things and exports other things.”

“Can you be any vaguer?”

Kaz’s lips curled upward. “Yes.”

And Milo believed him too. “Why not just tell me?”

He didn’t bat an eyelash when he said, “I don’t want to bore you with details about work. I’m here because I want to spend time with you. I would appreciate the same from you.”

Like a dart landing on the center dot of the board, Kaz got Milo there.

So he changed the topic to something none work-related. “Why the sudden cold shoulder at Kenji’s after party?”

The spark in those blue depths ignited something primal within the self-assured man sitting across from him. “Who said I was giving you the cold shoulder?”

“The fact that you ignored me for the rest of the night?”

“I wanted to have you by my side the entire time,” he said in such low, husky tones his words touched places in Milo he didn’t care to explore in such a public space. “But would you have wanted that? You had work to do. I wanted to respect that. I had already overstepped my bounds by having my way with you in that dressing area. The last thing I wanted was to interfere further with your night.”

He was already interfering. But Milo didn’t say that. He wouldn’t have allowed Kaz to hover around him while he worked anyway. What did he expect? That they would leave the dressing area holding hands like some couple in love?

Milo silently admonished himself for the self-imposed emotional torture. Kaz wasn’t being cold. He was being considerate. He should have seen that. Understood it.

“I’m such an i***t,” he mumbled in Japanese, specifically using the word baka to describe himself.

Uncharacteristically, Kaz threw his head back and laughed. It transformed his face, making him look younger than he seemed. And infinitely sexier. Damn. The man just kept on getting hotter before Milo’s eyes the longer they spent time together.

Then ringing cut off the deep, melodic sound. Kaz reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a phone. He frowned at the screen before he swiped his thumb to answer the call. He brought the receiver to his ear and listened.

Milo didn’t know what to do. Should he leave and give Kaz some privacy? But a part of him wanted to listen in on the call. Watch Kaz in action.

“I’ll take care of it later,” Kaz said. Then he did something Milo wasn’t expecting, he turned off his phone before replacing it into his pocket.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“I said I would be spending this time with you and I’m making good on my word.” Kaz sighed as the waiter finally returned with the wine he had ordered. “Work can wait.”

Milo’s feelings of being special were cut short when shrill ringing cut through the air again. Kaz’s eyebrows came together as he fished out a second phone from the back pocket of his pants. He answered with a growled, “What?” then listened again.

“I said I’ll take care of it later,” he said through clenched teeth. He turned off the second phone and tossed it onto the table.

“Are you sure? For them to call you on your second phone it must mean it’s something really important. I don’t mind if you have to go.”

Milo knew the drill well. He’d sat through many dinners where his father was called away because of business. He held no resentments, just regrets about missed opportunities to spend family time together.

“Not as important as this dinner with you.” Kaz took a sip of his wine but the scowl on his features never eased.

Touched, Milo brought his own glass to his lips and appreciated the fruity notes in the selection—sweet with a slightly bitter bite. It would go well with their order. He had taken his second sip when Kaz’s driver arrived at their table.

The man seemed to be even larger than Kaz if that was possible. Milo only noticed because they didn’t have the barrier of the front seat between them. What looked like the tattoo of a dragon’s claw peeked out of the man’s collar.

Out of respect, he removed the cap he wore to reveal a closely shaven head then bowed low, apologizing in Japanese, ending his sentence with the word Waka-sama. Milo’s eyebrows rose. What could the man mean by calling Kaz that?

He handed his boss another cell phone. The murder on Kaz's face was both scary and funny. A scowl so severe it could cut a person in half with a slight eyebrow twitch made such an intimidating man seem adorable. At least, Milo thought so.

Well, maybe not so much.

His driver paled significantly without losing his stone-cold composure.

Kaz took the phone that was handed to him. This time, he didn't wait to hear what was being said on the other end. Instead, he barked threats of dismemberment for interrupting his dinner, all in measured Japanese. The intent was clear in his words. When he ended the call, he handed the phone back and pushed away from the table. Milo moved to do the same, but Kaz stopped him with a raised hand.

“Please, enjoy the dinner.” His frown deepened when he told his driver to leave and that he would follow shortly. When they were alone again, Kaz added, “I wish I could stay.”

He traced the line of Milo’s jaw again, ending by tipping Milo’s chin up with his fingertip. Milo looked up. The hot hunger he saw kindled some of his own. Kaz’s gaze widened a fraction. Then he ran his thumb over Milo’s lips.

Milo nipped at the pad, eliciting a groan from the standing man. “You’re making this very difficult.”

“Good,” Milo whispered. “Now go. I have surf and turf coming and I’d like to enjoy the meal without interruptions.”

Without hesitation, Kaz gripped Milo’s chin and placed a searing kiss on his lips.