As The Season Changes

Chapter Eleven

He hadn't had enough sleep. He must be getting old. Traveling had never dragged at him like this. The trips were becoming mundane. He buzzed his secretary to put together a list of candidates for future travel.

Hell, he'd been almost too tired last night to love Ai. Not that she'd been too chirpy herself. He grinned. He had left her this morning with her face buried in the pillow. He'd stroked his hand down the silky curve of her bare back, lingering on her heart-shaped butt and she hadn't moved a muscle. He'd missed too many mornings when she wouldn't have been fast asleep. And he wanted them, damn it.

He was throwing away that alarm clock ASAP. And if he could he'd have her quit her job as well. He'd called into her office on her behalf, telling them she wouldn't be coming in that day.

He picked up the phone. "Mari, get me Saotome Hatori on the phone... No, I'll hold while you get through."

ATSC

Ai jumped up off her knees as soon as the Rolls pulled up in the circular driveway in front of his house. She fought the black dots in her vision from jumping up too fast, and tugged off her soil-encrusted gardening gloves. Keigo had left before she was awake this morning. Their first morning together at the house and she'd slept right through it. Didn't matter that she missed work that day. It wasn't like it was the first time she's played hooky, she just wished she'd been awake so she would have convinced Keigo to stay home as well.

She tossed the gloves aside as she went towards the sleek black vehicle, pulling open the back door of the car. "You're home early," she said happily, as he swung his long legs out. "Hi, Tanaka," she called over the seat. The chauffeur grinned in the rearview mirror and touched his cap, waiting for her to slam the door shut before he took off to the garages behind the house.

Ai linked her arm in Keigo's as they walked inside. He set his briefcase down and turned to look at her; a small smile tugged at his mouth. "I have seven gardeners," he said dryly, taking out his handkerchief to wipe her dirty cheek. "Why are you digging in the dirt?"

She stopped. The words triggering an awful memory, feelings of insecurity and inadequacy. She sighed inwardly, she didn't want the memory of her mother to come between her and Keigo. She pushed those feelings out of her mind. "I'll run up and take a quick shower," Ai said quickly.

"I wasn't criticizing, Ai. You can do whatever you like around—" Keigo sneezed twice. "Damn." He walked into the family room and collapsed on the sofa, pushing one of the new pillows Ai had bought behind his head and swinging his feet up. He held out his hand. "The house looks great. You did a spectacular job, Ai. When I have more energy you'll have to give me a tour. In the meantime, come and lie here beside me and tell me what you planted today."

"Ugh, I'm all dirty." Ai's nose wrinkled. Keigo's words making her feel better.

Keigo laughed hoarsely. "I love it when you're dirty. Come here, woman. I'm too damn tired to chase you upstairs."

He did look tired. His face seemed paler than usual to Ai as she lay down beside him and felt his arms come around her. She rested her head against his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart.

She was afraid to interpret what it meant for Keigo to turn off the 3:00 am alarm and then come home early. She wondered if she should ready anything into it before deciding not to get too excited. He was more than tired—she could tell by the way his arms held her. He was more interested in holding her than in taking her upstairs to bed. She stroked his face.

His jaw was slightly rough with the stubble he hadn't shaved. His skin under her questing fingertips felt warm and dry.

"Do you feel all right?" She lifted her head from his chest to look up into his face.

His eyes were closed, but he rubbed a small circle in the small of her back where his hand held her close. "Tired," he admitted on a sight. "Just damn tired."

He was more than tired Ai realized as she scrutinized his pale face, scorched with two angry red patches on his high cheekbones.

Ai carefully swung her legs off the sofa. "Come upstairs, Keigo. I think you should be in bed."

He opened his eyes, taking a moment to focus on her face. "Don't think I can get it up right now, darling," he mumbled, his lids drifting shut. "M'be later."

She laughed softly. "No sex for you, big boy." Ai carefully slipped her arm under his back and helped him sit up. "Do you think you can get upstairs on your own or shall I call Tanaka?"

"Own." Keigo leaned heavily on Ai's arm as he stood up, almost tumbling both of them back onto the deep sofa.

Terrified he would fall, and alarmed at his pallor and disorientation, Ai managed to get him upstairs and onto the bed. After undressing him and rolling him under the covers, she searched his phone book for the number of his doctor.

"Keigo?" Ai sat on the edge of the bed. He had fallen into a restless doze. "I need the number of your doctor. What's his name?"

"Never get sick."

"There's always a first time," Ai said dryly. She rested her cool hand on his hot cheek. "What's your doctor's name, Keigo?"

He coughed, turning his head feverishly on the pillow. "Ai?"

"I'm right here."

"Aiko. Aiko. Ai," he said softly, rolling over to bury his face in the pillow.

"That's me." Ai went into the dressing room to call her own doctor to see if she could make an impromptu house call.

He murmured her name again, shifted restlessly and hugged his pillow.

By the time the doctor arrived his temperature had climbed to 104. Ai bathed his hot face in cool water, dribbling some of the moisture between his dry lips. He didn't want to drink, didn't want to take his cough suppressant, didn't want to do anything but sleep. He sounded like a fractious child.

She couldn't recall a time where he had been sick. Then again they only saw each other few times a year. Her heart squeezed. Who had taken care of him when he was a child? A nanny? Had the woman loved him? Or had she just done her job?

Ai nursed him with TLC. She managed to sponge him down without getting yelled at. First he was boiling, and then he was freezing. He hated the cold wet cloths she ran over his sweaty body. She was sweating herself by the time she'd dried him and made him take aspirin. Then she let him sleep.

Until the next time.

The next day his temperature was down by two degrees and he was just plain bad tempered. Ai carried on as if he were being his most charming best. She forced him to drink and take his medication. He couldn't resist her when she closed the draped and lay down beside him. "Sleep," she'd say, stroking his hair, and he'd rest his head against her without complaint. He'd be asleep in seconds.

She spent every moment with him in the bedroom, coaxing, cajoling, bullying and browbeating him until he got well. It was no hardship for her to take naps with him. He was a harsh taskmaster when he was sick. Worse when he was recovering.

After five days, he thought he was well enough to use the phone. Ai had taken it downstairs. He was still too wobbly to try the stairs, and he fumed for hours. A short nap took care of that mood, Ai thought with amusement watching him sleep on the seventh morning.

Whereas she came rushing out of sleep to get on with her day, Keigo woke with a soft sigh. She loved him best like this. When he was soft with sleep, vulnerable and malleable.

She leaned up on her elbow and touched his forehead. Cool, thank goodness. She'd made him stay in bed yesterday even though he could probably have been up. She'd teased him about how much control she had since he was too weak to fight back.

She slipped out of bed, careful not to wake him. Dressed in navy leggings and a thin-length cable-stitch navy and white cotton sweater, she pushed up the sleeves as she made her way to the kitchen. She had coffee on and was breaking eggs into a glass bowl when Keigo came in.

"Where's Kanae?" he asked, referring to the cook.

"She took her grandkids to the park."

"Hmm." He nuzzled the back of her neck.

Ai turned to look at him. He had showered and shaved and dressed in the jeans and dark-purple shirt she'd bought him in Karuizawa. "Well, don't you look handsome." She moved to arm's length, eying him up and down. "You should put on a sweater or something."

Keigo's lips quirked. "You want more clothes on me, Ai?"

She grinned up at him, automatically checking his forehead with her hand. "Don't want you to recumb to sickness again." Satisfied, she turned back to the stove. "Scrambled or omelet?"

"Scrambled." He pulled the wide neckline of her sweater aside to nibble her shoulder. She poured the egg mixture into the pan. She gave him a speaking glance. "I'm cooking breakfast here."

He looked at her innocently. "I was just getting a taste of you first."

She laughed. They hadn't made love since the night he'd come back from Russia. Considering his libido, she was surprised he hadn't taken her on the kitchen floor by now. He still looked a little pale. She decided she could always persuade him to take a nap with her after breakfast. The meal would never get cooked though if Keigo didn't move from her.

He frowned.

"What's the matter?"

Keigo shrugged. "Déjà vu."

Ai put four slices of bread in the toaster then looked at him. "Are you sure you're feeling all right? Maybe it's too soon for you to be out of bed. Should I call Dr.—"

"Forget the doctor." He wrapped his hand around the back of her neck, his eyes lambent as he pulled her closer. "I want to drag you upstairs and do sexy stuff your body until you yell."

Upstairs was good.

She took the pan of the stove, then draped her arms around his neck and wriggled her eyebrows. "How sexy?"

"How much can you take?" He used his thumb to stroke the slick inner surface of her lower lip, his gaze scorching her face.

The toast popped up behind her. "You just got out of a sick bed." She tried to be reasonable.

"Come back to it with me." He swung her up in his arms and strode out of the kitchen, across the wide entry hall and started up the stairs.

"I don't think you should be carrying me, Keigo-sama. You've been flat on your back for a week." She held him tighter as he picked up speed the closer he got to the bedroom.

He kicked the door shut behind him. "Didn't I tell you yesterday I wouldn't always be weak and lying flat on my back?" He settled her carefully on the freshly made med. "Now, my pretty, what do you have to say about that!"

He leaned over her, the purple shirt doing wonderful things to his blue eyes. He was teasing her but his eyes ere hot.

"I say, fine." Ai started unbuttoning the cotton shirt. Her throat felt dry and her pulse had sped up. She wanted to consume in large bites. She had no idea what happened to their clothing. Or who removed what. The moment her naked skin touched his, he went wild, carrying Ai along on a tidal wave of sensation so intense she lost all sense of reason.

…

After a while she managed to slowly open her eyes. Sunlight streamed through the open window. Blankets and sheets were strewn on the floor. Ai couldn't move a muscle and she struggled to draw an even breath.

Keigo leaned over her. His face had lost its pallor. His hair was sweaty and their skin were sticking together everywhere they touched. In a moment she would be able to speak. For now all she could gather the energy to do was gaze into his eyes. They held some emotion impossible for her to read. She felt the deep breath he took through her breast.

"I'm sorry."

For a moment she was so lost in the sensual haze she didn't comprehend his words. "What?"

"I'm sorry," he said stiffly. "I lost control. Did I hurt you?" A dark frown pinched his eyebrows together.

"No!" She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down. "I love what we did. I love knowing I can make you forget when you're with me."

Ai felt the brief suspension of his heartbeat under her hand. It took her a moment to realize that whatever he had felt in that shattering moment, he'd caught himself and brought his emotions back under control. Damn. She'd just have to try harder. She glanced at him under her lashes. A telltale pulse pounded in his temple. So, he wasn't immune as he liked to appear.

"There's nothing you have ever done to hurt me. In bed or out. I promise." He lost some of the concern in his eyes. "I'm starving. Can we go down for breakfast soon—"

The phone rang and she groaned. Keigo's business calls had stopped while he'd been ill. No doubt he'd called his secretary this morning and told her he was up and about. He was definitely up—and about to be cut off. Her fingers walked deliberately down his chest.

Keigo stuffed a pillow behind his head. "What the hell do you mean you can't find...?" He glanced briefly at Ai. "The principle party?"

She loved his crinkly light chest hair, but didn't waste too much time there. He had been gone for ten days, then sick for a week. He had a lot of catching up to do. Her fingers closed around him.

She jumped when Keigo said loudly into the phone, "Then damn well get him on the phone!" There was a short pause. "As death and taxes. Keep me informed."

"Bad news?" She crossed her arms on his chest and tried to read the expression on his face.

"Just someone I need to contact to get some papers signed."

She made tantalizing swirls around his left nipple. "Another merger?"

"Something like that." He looked pointedly at her hands folded on his chest. "Wasn't this hand somewhere else?"

TBC