Zen threw me into the backseat of a waiting Audi R8 with little care then slipped in after me. As he pulled the door shut, he barked instructions at the driver in Japanese, and even before I could protest we were already on the road. Zen didn't even wait for me to regain my composure and yanked me forward by his slim necktie and crushed my mouth with a punishing kiss. Zen used this opportunity to force his way in, taking full control. He nipped, sucked, licked. Punishing yet arousing at the same time.
My brain shut down in seconds and gave myself into the kiss. Despite the nipping and bruising pressure, the hisses of pain quickly became moans of desire. But, just as I began to participate in the kiss, Zen broke away, easing his bulk to the other side of the backseat. I was supposed to be the one annoyed at his action but all my annoyance swept away as I opened my closed eyes to find him pouting and him resting his chin on a tight fist, his face looking out onto the crowded sidewalk as they stopped at a light.
Tugging at my suit jacket and necktie to resettle us into place, I finally arranged myself on his side of the backseat and crossed both my arms and legs. Zen wasn't the only one who was capable of giving someone a cold back. But unable to bear the silence I finally spat out.
"Where are you taking me?" I asked, not having caught what Zen 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 me 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."
I looked at him confused.
Zen snorted. "I would like to get to know you before I fuck you again. Is that so wrong?"
I looked at him confused remembering the night we spent together.
" Don't get me wrong but the first night we spent together was just lust in your eyes. But I want you to want me when you are sober and full in control of your body without the aphrodisiac" he said giving a peck on my forehead.
I smiled at the sweet gesture. I loved the way he makes me feel.
"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."
My jaw dropped. There were so many revelations in that one spoken breath that my head reeled. "You're attracted to me?"
"Isn't it obvious? Or do you need another demonstration?"
He lifted both hands to stall Zen's move to lean toward him. "Daniel doesn't like me like that. We were just messing around. An inside joke. Nothing more."
Another snort, this time, filled with derision. "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. Daniel doesn't see me that way."
"You don't have to believe what I'm saying for me to be right." Zen returned to street watching. "But you are mine. As long as you remember that then I won't have to commit murder."
That hit like a punch on my face.
"What the hell does that mean anyway? I'm yours? I am no one's property."
Zen narrowed his blue gaze at him. "Your mind may not think that way yet but your body certainly thinks so."
A burning flush scattered all over my skin.
"Is that why you're taking me to dinner?" I said in a shy voice.
Zen whispered my name reverently as he reached out and ran a finger on my ears and said
"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 met and when I come for the first time for you, i want it to be inside you again".
It send shiver through me. The thought of him having me, him sliding under me again sended chills through out my body.
Zen's words thrilled and scared me in equal measure.
***
A woman in a Kimono led the way into the VIP area of one of the most exclusive restaurants in the city.
"What did you say you did again?" I asked as a waiter unfolded the starched napkin across my lap in one expert flip of his wrist.
Before responding to my 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 my one cheekbone to the other. "Not funny."
"I apologize."
"Whatever you're having is fine." i added.
Zen 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 my fist-the surf and turf of kings.
When the restaurant staff finally left them alone, Zen sat back and studied me through a hooded gaze.
I frowned at him with a questioning look.
He bent over so that his hands stretched to touch mine and said in a sweet voice " you look beautiful". I blushed at the flirty compliment passed to me.
"And you look also so cute when you blush", he added. I bushed the hell out me. I covered my face with my face. I heard a giggle from him. I composed myself and protested to him to stop making me blush and to answer my question. He looked at me with a frown asking what question.
I reminded him my question he smiled at me.
"Imports and exports as well as I am top model" he said in response to the earlier question.
"But what does the first part mean exactly?" I took a sip of my water. Sparkling. He studied the glass with raised eyebrows. Of course.
"My company imports things and exports other things."
"Can you be any vaguer?"
Zen's lips curled upward. "Yes."
And I 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, Zen got me there.
Then a ringing cut off the beautiful conversation we were having. Zen 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.
I didn't know what to do. Should I leave and give Zen some privacy? But a part of me wanted to listen in on the call. Watch Zen in action.
"I'll take care of it later," Zen said. Then he did something I 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." Zen sighed as the waiter finally returned with the wine he had ordered. "Work can wait."
My feelings of being special were cut short when shrill ringing cut through the air again. Zen'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."
"Not as important as this dinner with you." Zen took a sip of his wine but the scowl on his features never eased.
Touched, I brought my own glass to my lips and appreciated the fruity notes in the selection-sweet with a slightly bitter bite. It would go well with their order.