Thai'ing the Knot Read online

  “Thank you, Kiku.” Ryu’s shoulders sagged. “I hope Nat was able to watch. Just knowing he was watching me helped. I almost completely got my ass kicked.” Ryu had that slightly manic tone fighters sometimes got after a fight before the adrenaline completely stopped flowing.

  Nat stopped in the doorway. “I didn’t see it, but I heard the whole thing.”

  Ryu whipped around, dislodging Kumo’s ice pack. His good eye widened. “Nat!” He started to slip off the bench, but Nat said, “Don’t. Stay there.” He hurried in and came to stand in front of Ryu. Hot tears rushed his eyes. Ryu was so close, Nat could feel the heat rising off his muscles, smell the sweat on his skin and hair. Carefully, he moved in and closed his arms around Ryu, careful not to press any bruises.

  Ryu squeezed him back. His chest rose and fell heavily against Nat’s. His hands fisted Nat’s jacket. “Nat, you’re here. Oh my God,” His back heaved. Sweat made his skin stick to Nat’s cheek. Nat didn’t care. He closed his eyes and breathed in Ryu’s post-fight, testosterone-ridden smell, acutely aware of Kiku and Kumo’s retreat from the room.

  Ryu pulled him closer and Nat felt the press of Ryu’s legs on his hips, locking him more deeply into their embrace. “Nat, you’re here. You’re here, oh my God!” He sobbed against Nat’s neck. Then Ryu pulled back and kissed him.

  The kiss was sweaty, salty, tinged with desperation, hunger and injury. But Ryu didn’t seem to notice. He thrust his tongue between Nat’s lips, clutched the collar of Nat’s jacket and gulped at his mouth hungrily. Nat palmed Ryu’s sweaty back and moved his lips against Ryu’s, slid his tongue against Ryu’s, tasting him, passionately yet carefully, aware of Ryu’s cuts and bruises.

  When Ryu finally pulled away and looked at him, tears mixed with the sweat on his cheeks. “Nat, did you see me fight?”

  He shook his head. His own cheeks felt wet and he couldn’t tell if the moisture was his tears or Ryu’s sweat and tears. “No. There was a horrible traffic jam coming from the airport. I had to listen to the entire fight in the cab.”

  Ryu grinned. The grin turned into laughter, a mixture of crying and amusement and jubilance. “It’s okay. You’re here. That’s all that matters.”

  “You won, Ryu. You did it.” This fight put Ryu only a few fights more away from the championship in his weight category.

  Ryu’s laughter ebbed away. He stared into Nat’s face. One hand went to Nat’s cheek and traced his cheekbone, then his lips. “I did it for you, Nat,” he said softly. “I wanted to make you proud.”

  “I was already proud of you,” he said. It was true. Ryu was the best, most incredible, beautiful person in the world.

  Ryu’s smile reappeared. He pulled Nat close again and kissed him, deeply, tongues sliding together, the kind of warm moist heat that only a kiss had, mingled with the intimate scent of his lover. In spite of their slightly battered state, Ryu’s lips were still velvety, and his kiss held the promise of more to come later, when they were home again, in their bed together.

  “Ryu.”

  A deep male voice came from the doorway behind them.

  Ryu pulled away and sat bolt upright.

  Still dazed, Nat looked past Ryu to the source of the voice.

  There stood Naboru Miyazaki, a larger, older, more rugged version of Ryu in an expensive dark suit, his hair closely shorn. Behind him, a pretty woman, in a silk pants outfit, her hair pulled back, with Ryu’s softness of features and tanned golden skin. Mali Miyazaki.

  Ryu’s parents.

  Chapter Seven

  Ryu froze. Had his parents been here for the fight? Nat moved to the side and stood next to him, and he gripped his lover’s forearm with a clutch he meant to communicate that Nat should stay right where he was. He slid off the table to his feet and turned. “Dad, Mom.” He bowed, his aches and bruises as well as his ecstasy at seeing Nat pushed to the background of his consciousness.

  His father looked hesitant as he returned his son’s polite gesture. His eyes, too, reflected uncertainty, an expression Ryu had never seen before in his father’s face. The man had always been so…tough. So unreadable. “We saw your fight, Ryu. You did very well.”

  Ryu bowed his head. “Thank you, Dad.” Praise from his father was so rare as to be nonexistent. An occasional word of it here and there when he’d been in school and had gotten a high mark on a paper or test.

  The older man took a few steps into the room. He looked at Nat as if just noticing him. “Phoenix-san,” he said and bowed. “You have done well with my son,” he said in broken English.

  Beside Ryu, Nat bowed. “Thank you.”

  Ryu moved closer to Nat, as if to shield himself. Yet he couldn’t help it. “How are you?” He directed the question to his mother also, though she would probably say nothing. She refused to speak Japanese anyway even though Ryu knew she understood the language.

  “We’re well,” his father said. “We would like you and Phoenix-san to come to the house one evening.” His father looked away again, giving Ryu the sense that he felt guilty. He’d been this way since Kiku had gone to him and told him what Taro Suzuki had done ten years ago. Naboru Miyazaki had been surprisingly horrified.

  Ryu looked steadily at his father. He’d thought of this moment so many times. He’d carried so many ideas of how he’d respond, what he’d say. Now, here he was and all he could do was stare. His father was so obviously trying to build a bridge to him and the gesture swept away more of his anger and hurt. That’s all he’d wanted, ever. “Yes, I’d like that,” he managed to say. His bottom lip began to tremble. “Dad,” he said softly, “Mom, I have something to tell you.”

  “Yes?”

  Ryu grasped Nat’s arm. “Nat and I…we’re…going to get married.”

  His parents’ eyes widened. Nat turned to him, his already round eyes wide too. He glanced up at Nat. “We are, aren’t we?”

  The look in his eyes showed he realised Ryu had found the ring. Then, as if remembering Ryu’s parents at the last second, Nat looked at them. “Yes. That is, if it’s all right with you. You’re his parents, after all. I should ask your blessing.”

  His parents both stood speechless.

  Ryu’s heart lurched. The adrenaline he experienced from his fight surged anew. “You aren’t too shocked, are you?” he asked, gently but firmly. “I mean, you know where I’ve been living for the past ten years.”

  His father started, as if touched with a cattle prod. “Yes, Ryu, we do. It’s just…marriage. It was a surprise.”

  “Nat gave me a ring. I don’t have it here, of course. It’s in our room. It’s beautiful.”

  He looked from his father to his mother. Her eyes shone with tears. Ryu felt the sting of tears in his own eyes. Understanding flooded him, showed him what her silence meant in that moment. He grasped Nat’s arm for support. He remembered something he’d said to Nat back in Thailand, about how his mother was terrified for their survival. Her silence had been a way to protect them both. She’d been a stranger in a hostile land. His father, though in love with her, had always been cold, silent. She couldn’t have trusted his passion for her and probably feared for her and her son every moment of every day. “Mom,” he said softly in Thai, “you give your blessing, don’t you?”

  She nodded, then left her husband’s side and approached him. “Yes, Ryu. I want you to be happy.” Fear and affection warred in her eyes. Though she’d never been the warmest person in the world, Ryu knew her history and deep down couldn’t blame her. She’d been a girl, really, seventeen when the Suzuki-gumi had trafficked her from Bangkok to Tokyo. She’d been presented to Ryu’s father as a gift from one of his underlings and he’d fallen in love with her, an occurrence that had saved her life yet at the same time made her feel a prisoner to him, a high-ranking gangster whom she believed would have killed her had she tried to leave him. And where would she have gone anyway? Yet Ryu knew his father had been good to her in his way and was taken with her beauty. She’d not been ready to be a mother and had
found herself pregnant with Ryu when she was only nineteen.

  In that moment, Ryu understood her as he’d never done before and returned her hesitant embrace. “Thank you, Mom,” he said softly. When he pulled back and looked at her, tears marked her delicate cheeks. He wiped them away with his thumbs, as if she were a little girl. “I’ll see you soon.”

  She nodded, a ghost of a smile on her lips, then turned and went back to her husband’s side.

  “Kiku told me he would like to leave the car he hired here for you and Phoenix-san,” Ryu’s father said. “We will take him and the others back to Ni-Chome.”

  Ryu stood next to Nat, his heart pounding. Everything seemed to happen all at once in his life. “Thank you, Dad.”

  His father smiled that somewhat shy, slight smile he had and bowed his head briefly. “Good night,” he said softly.

  “Good night.” Ryu pressed closer to Nat as he watched his parents turn and disappear into the corridor. As soon as they were gone, he felt Nat’s hand on his arm and turned.

  “Are you all right?”

  Ryu nodded. New adrenaline rushed through him, filling his mind with the image of his parents as he’d stood there, facing him. He heaved a deep breath and leaned against Nat’s chest. Nat’s arms closed around him and squeezed. That safe feeling Ryu got every time Nat held him now infused him, easing the tension. “I can’t believe it,” he said in a near-whisper, “after all this time.” He gripped Nat’s jacket and pressed his cheek against Nat. Strange to rest there, needing the safety he felt with Nat in the wake of having won a fight against a fierce opponent, but he was getting accustomed to the contradictions of his nature. One of Nat’s hands stroked his hair.

  Nat wants to marry me. The thought rushed him, as images of his parents had done earlier. Elation soared inside him then fell flat. He pushed away from Nat and gripped Nat’s arms. “Nat, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ruin it. You meant to surprise me.” He looked down, fearing Nat’s anger about the ring. “I found it in the drawer. I made Kiku tell me the truth.”

  Nat’s fingertips under his chin made him look up. “I don’t care, Ryu. It’s all right. I’m just glad to be back.”

  Nat just about melted right then and there, looking into Ryu’s face, his uninjured eye glistening from unshed tears. “However, even though I don’t have it here to put on your finger…” Picking up Ryu’s hand, Nat dropped to one knee and looked up at him. Emotions, like fire, streaked through his chest. Never in his life had he thought he’d be doing this with anyone after Rawee, male or female. But here he was, proposing to the one person his heart had completely fallen for. “Ryu, will you marry me?”

  Ryu’s already flushed cheeks deepened in colour. More tears slipped down his cheek and he laugh-sobbed. “I can’t believe it. Yes, Nat! I’ll marry you.”

  The sobbing laughter was contagious and Nat found himself shaking from it as he rose back up and pulled Ryu to him. Ryu’s sweaty hair pushed against his lips and Ryu’s hands clutched at his jacket. Nat palmed the wiry muscles of the other man’s back, smiling to himself while his own tears fell into Ryu’s hair. “Thank you, Ryu,” he whispered.

  Now, it was time to take care of Ryu. He was still Ryu’s trainer. He pulled back. “Ryu, you need to shower and have a massage. The press will want to speak with you.”

  “I just want to go home with you and get into bed, Nat.”

  The words sent a jolt through Nat’s body, right to his cock. That part of him had missed Ryu terribly as well. “Me too. I’ll let Noriyuki know you’ll be available for interviews starting tomorrow. How’s that?”

  Ryu nodded. “Better. You and I need time.”

  Nat touched his shoulder. “Yes, we do.” Reluctantly, he went out of the locker room to find Ryu’s publicist and let him know of their decision. Noriyuki bowed to Nat and said he would do his best, then Nat returned to the locker.

  Walking in, he heard the shower spray in the background and followed the sound into the steamy white-tiled room. And caught his breath.

  Ryu’s back was to him under the spray, the vee of his back, emblazoned with the entwined samurai lovers, shiny with rivulets of water. Nat stared, following the stream of water down to Ryu’s perfect, round, hard ass cheeks, as colourfully designed as his back. The designs continued to mid-thigh, where he’d ceased getting tattoos years ago, thanks to Kiku’s influence in his life. He cleared his throat so Ryu wouldn’t be startled.

  Ryu turned and smiled at him. The water plastered down his spikes of hair, accentuating his good eye, making it seem even larger than it already was. He squeezed shower gel out of a bottle. “Join me?” he asked playfully.

  Nat crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, grinning. It certainly would be in terrible taste to get naked and lather Ryu up under the shower in this place. “Better if I just watch.”

  Ryu chuckled. “Suit yourself.” The response he usually gave when Nat didn’t join him in one of his many showers.

  Nat was happy to watch Ryu lather himself up, to watch the soap foam and bubble wherever Ryu’s hands rubbed over his muscled flesh. Tension pulled in Nat’s groin when Ryu slipped a soapy hand to his cock and lathered around the base, the reached behind him and washed the crevice of his ass. He grinned sensually at first, then the smile faded. He stopped lathering and began to rinse. “Nat, in all this excitement, you never told me what happened. How is it that you were able to come back?”

  Nat unfolded his arms and stepped away from the wall. He watched the soapy lather rinse off Ryu’s colourful naked body as he explained what had happened at the tribunal, including his feelings about their decision and his own risky choice to confront his superiors.

  Ryu turned off the shower and stood, water beading off his skin and hair. He frowned, his face troubled. “Nat, you gave up your entire career…for me?” Guilt flashed through his uninjured eye.

  Nat smiled. He pulled Ryu’s towel off the nearby hook and brought it to him. “Partly for you,” he said softly. “But also for my own self-respect. I couldn’t have you see me like that, a tourist police. I do have some pride.”

  Ryu took the towel from him and wiped it over his face. “I know you do. I just… You were a great cop.” He continued drying himself off. Then he smiled. “But you’re an incredible trainer too.” He stretched the towel across his upper back and dried it. “Before long, you’ll have more students than you know what to do with.” He wrapped the towel around his hips and took Nat’s hand. In the locker room, Ryu picked up his bag and clothes and together, they and went back towards the lounge area where there were several massage rooms.

  Inside the massage room, Ryu locked the door, pulled off his towel and pulled Nat close. “Usually I’m exhausted after a fight,” he said, slipping his hands under Nat’s jacket and caressing his back over his t-shirt, “but being proposed to has given me new energy.”

  Nat’s body tightened. He wanted nothing more than to lay Ryu back on the massage table and mount him, but the man had still just fought a boxing match. Firmly, he backed out of Ryu’s sensual embrace and laughed. “On the table, Ryu.”

  Ryu pouted playfully but obeyed. Spreading his towel on the massage table, he climbed on and lay down on his stomach. “Oil’s in my bag,” he said with a wink.

  “Thanks.” Nat fished it out, poured some into his palm and began rubbing Ryu’s back muscles.

  “Mmm.” Ryu closed his eyes, a smile curving his lips. “I missed you so much.”

  Nat ran his oiled thumbs up either side of Ryu’s spine. The fingers of each hand spanned out over the man’s ribcage. His skin under its colourful designs was buttery smooth and Nat’s mouth watered to use his tongue instead of his hands. “I missed you too.” He slid both hands down and moved them in easy circles over Ryu’s hips and lower back.

  Ryu chuckled then ended on a moan. “You don’t give the ordinary sports massage,” he murmured. “You realise that?”

  Nat grinned at him. “Not with you, I don’t.” With that, he
pushed the heel of his hand into Ryu’s left ass cheek and rubbed in more slow circles. That was giving him a hard-on.

  Ryu sighed and let his thighs fall open, giving Nat an eyeful of Ryu’s plump, delicious balls. Nat fought back the urge to rub his fingertips over the crinkly-smooth pouch. “Where do you want to go for a honeymoon?” he asked, trying not to let his voice sound tight and husky.

  Ryu tilted his head. He seemed to consider the question carefully in spite of the way his breathing had deepened. “You know, it doesn’t matter to me at all. I don’t care if we go anywhere. I just want us to have that time to hang out together, nothing else to do, even for a few days.”

  Nat sighed, forcing his concentration onto the massage and off of what he wanted to do with his hands. “Same here,” he said and switched his massage to Ryu’s other ass cheek. “Maybe we’ll just stay in bed for a week.”

  “Mmm. Sounds perfect.” Ryu spread his legs apart more, as widely as the table would allow him without his legs hanging off the sides.

  Nat swallowed hard. Ryu was obviously making it known the kind of massage he preferred. But what kind of trainer would have sex with an athlete who’d just fought a difficult match and was stiff, sore and bruised?

  “I know what you’re thinking, Nat,” Ryu murmured, his voice partially muffled by the way he rested his face against his forearm.

  Nat’s insides jumped. Ryu’s creamy skin slid under his oiled hands. The man’s balls and tight opening were mere centimetres from his slippery fingers. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

  Ryu tilted his face upward again. The smile he wore now was downright devilish. “You’re thinking that I’m too raw after my match for you to climb on my ass and fuck me, aren’t you?”

  Nat’s cock surged hard and hot. Ryu rarely talked in a rough or dirty way and when he did, the impact was…effective. He stilled his hands. “Don’t you want to wait until we’re in our bed together?”