Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Card Captor Sakura or the original
story line.
Walk on the Wild Side
This fanfic is adapted from Anne Marie Winston's Original Story
I WOULD LIKE TO THANK THOSE WHO REVIEWED THIS FIC SO FAR!
Chapter Six
Syaoran walked Sakura to work a little early on Saturday morning. She liked to get in and get organized before the rest of the library employees arrived. Especially today, since she'd taken yesterday off and spent the entire lazy day making love with Syaoran until he had objected that he would make her sore, tossed her in the shower, and taken her out to dinner in a neighboring town.
She unlocked the door and got the whole way into her office before she realized he was still close on her heels.
"I'll see you this evening," she said, turning and stretching on tiptoe for a kiss.
"Umm." He caught her against him with purposeful hands when she would have stepped back, and the kiss he gave her didn't feel in the least like a goodbye kiss.
"Syaoran," she said warningly. "I have to get to work."
"It's still early," he said with an innocent smile. But she read his intent in his eyes and in a flash she wheeled and dashed around her desk.
He stalked around the desk as Sakura tried to keep the furniture between them, a purposeful gleam in his eye.
"Syaoran! We can't —"
"Oh, yeah." His voice was a purr as he cornered her in front of the computer desk. "We can. In fact, I seem to remember we're getting pretty damned good at it."
"But...not here!" Her voice rose in desperation as he unbuttoned her blouse with surprising dexterity in his big fingers. He slipped his palms inside the opened front of her blouse, cupping her breasts through the lacy camisole and rubbing his thumbs insistently back and forth, back and forth over her nipples. Lightning bolts of arousal shot through her and she felt herself softening, moistening, as butterflies fluttered deep in her womb.
Desperately, she caught his wrists with her hands, but he was far too strong for her to have any impact. He thrust his hips forward, and she moaned as the hard evidence of his desire settled into the notch of her thighs.
"Sh-h-h." He was laughing as he set his mouth over hers, muffling the sounds she couldn't hold back. One hand withdrew from her blouse and grabbed fistfuls of her skirt, dragging it out of the way. His hand slipped surely down over the smooth plane of her belly, beneath her tiny panties and her knees went weak as he delved into the warm cove between her legs.
She felt him probing, spreading her own moisture over her throbbing flesh and she whimpered beneath his mouth, then abruptly bucked in his arms as one long finger slid smooth and deep inside her. His thumb worried the pouting bud of her desire, pressing and massaging relentlessly as she writhed against him, impaled on that encroaching finger. Her whole being was focused on the sensations he created. She felt herself hurtling forward, faster and faster, her hips moving wildly against his hand.
And then she flew apart. Her moan rose into a ragged scream, which he swallowed while she heaved and quivered with the force of the contractions cascading through her.
While she still shook in the grip of her own ecstasy, he slipped his hand free. Dimly, she felt him fumbling with the fastening of his pants and she reached down to help him, her small fingers delving into his briefs and curling around the hard, silky flesh she found there. She lifted him free and as she did, she realized he was shaking.
"Oh, God," he whispered, fumbling with the small packet he'd taken from his pocket, and she wasn't sure if it was a curse or a prayer. "Hurry. Take me." With frantic motions he tugged aside the leg of her panties and positioned himself. Sakura spread her legs as he pushed farther between her thighs, and then they both sucked in a breath of shocking pleasure as he thrust his hips forward, pushing her up and back onto the desk as he filled her with one deep stroke.
She lay back, feeling him pull her ass off the desk and willingly she wrapped her legs around his waist as he came over her, supporting himself on his elbows. Immediately, he began a forceful pounding rhythm, and as he drove home within her again and again, she felt the sweet tension hurling her up and over the edge a second time. Syaoran felt it, too, and with a series of deep, wrenching groans, he emptied himself within her as his body slowly stilled.
She clutched his shoulders tightly, wishing the moment didn't have to end. Wishing he wouldn't leave. Wishing he'd marry her and take her with him.
Oh, God, she hadn't even let herself think it before. Syaoran and marry didn't belong in the same sentence. Except to her, they only belonged in a sentence together —
"Sakura? Are you in there? I need a signature on this requisition." A female voice was a disturbing awakening of reality.
Sakura jumped, her thoughts completely scattered, but she was unable to move, pinned by the utterly relaxed weight of Syaoran's sizable body. "Syaoran!" She pushed at his shoulders. "Let me up!"
He only grinned at her. "How much will you pay me?"
"You are an oversexed idiot." She did her best to glare at him. Almost frantic to get to the door before it opened and someone caught them, she wriggled and squirmed. "I'll be there in a minute," she called, hoping her voice didn't sound as husky and different to her staff as it did to her own ears.
Syaoran pushed himself backward, slowly disengaging their bodies. Reaching behind her head, he tugged free a handful of tissues and tenderly began to wipe away the slippery moisture between her thighs. She made a sound of shocked protest and tried to get away, but he held her in place with his body until he had gently pulled her panties into place again.
Sakura felt her face flame as he stepped back and lifted her to her feet.
He cleaned up and restored his own clothing to order, then looked up at her, and his face creased in the familiar grin she couldn't resist. "It's a little late to be blushing," he told her.
"I can't help it," she whispered in a fierce undertone. "I'm not — I don't do things like this."
Syaoran only smiled. "You do now." But there was something watchful in the depths of his piercing cinnamon eyes.
A surprising little thought of irritation occurred to her. "Easy for you to say. You're not the one who will have to stay and face the gossip after you leave."
His smile slowly died, and his eyes grew darker and hard to read. "You don't have to stay, either, you know."
They both were silent, letting the words hang uncomfortably in the air.
"I need to get out front," she told him, wishing they had time to finish this conversation. Suddenly he seemed as distant as the moon. What did he mean by that remark? "Stay here until I tell you it's okay to sneak out," she finally said as she reached for the doorknob.
* * *
You don't have to stay, either. Syaoran cursed his impulsive tongue as he fastened his cufflinks and reached for the forest green silk tie that matched his shirt and suit that evening. He'd practically forgotten about the damned reunion until she'd reminded him this morning.
The memory of the way she'd hustled him out the back door of the library still rankled. It annoyed him that she didn't want people talking about them. Did she really only want him for a little private sex?
Well, hell. He supposed the bottom line was yes.
She'd told him that first evening what she wanted from him. And he'd given it to her. But what he hadn't counted on was giving her his heart.
His fingers stilled on the half-knotted tie. All right, so you love her. It doesn't change anything. He hadn't given her his heart this week. No, he'd loved her for a very long time — the shy, quiet beauty next door who'd seen past the bad boy image and liked him for himself.
He'd been convinced she would never welcome a declaration of his feelings, and he hadn't been secure enough back in high school to risk rejection. So he'd left. Since then, there had been a lot of women, but not a single one them had ever gotten beneath his skin. Sakura had always been in the back of his mind.
The question was, what was he going to do about her now? He knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to marry her.
He took a deep breath. "I want to marry her," he said aloud the words echoing off the walls.
But...would she even consider the idea? In the past few days, he'd begun to think she must have some feelings for him. Could she have responded so totally to his lovemaking if she didn't? Did she love him? Could she love him?
And if she did, how would she react if he asked her to marry him and leave Tomeda with him forever. She seemed so very tied to the little town, to their memories. But she needed a fresh start. He wanted to take her around the world, share new places with her, shower her with pretty things.
He knew she didn't consider herself very attractive and it drove him crazy. She'd been quiet and busy in high school, sure, but her jerk-off fiancé's treatment must have undermined her confidence more deeply than she wanted anyone to know.
If he told her he loved her, asked her to marry him, she'd think he was lying. Teasing her.
Maybe he'd better start small and work up to it. Ask her to visit him, or to take a trip with him first. Let her see the woman she could be. Then maybe she'd believe he'd been waiting for her for almost more than half of their 28 years.
Sakura was ready, as he knew she'd be, when Syaoran went over to pick her up for the reunion. He saw her shadow fall across the living room window as she came toward the door in answer to his knock.
But when the door opened, a stranger stood before him.
He stared. He tried not to keep his mouth from falling open.
"Syaoran?" The vision reached out a hand and touched his arm. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm, uh, fine." He stepped into the house and turned immediately to survey her. "What'd you do to yourself?"
Her face fell. "I felt like a change, so I had a makeover and bought a new dress. If you don't think it looks right, I'll —"
"Wait!" He grabbed her elbow as she turned away. "I'm sorry. It looks right. Believe me, it looks very right. You just surprised me, that's all. I thought someone had kidnapped my Sakura and left a sex kitten in her place."
He held her still as he looked at her again. She wore a dress — and what a dress it was — of some kind of slinky black fabric that clung to her wand- slender body. Her shoulders were bared and her bosom above the strapless top. Whatever. Who cared? He liked it.
Her legs looked a mile long in heels that brought the top of her head nearly to his eye level, and her face looked like a finely painted doll's. Except for the eyes. Shadowed and mysterious, they — hey! She wasn't wearing her glasses. "Contacts?" he asked.
She nodded. "I can't wear them all day, but they'll be fine for tonight." The motion of her head made her hair slither and bounce over her shoulders, and he lifted one finger and touched a curl. She'd curled it somehow, and her waist-length hair waved and shimmered with a life of its own.
"My God," he said reverently. "You are beautiful. I feel like I should be giving you jewels or something." If she married him, he'd give her jewels like she couldn't even imagine.
She laughed, and turned to the table to get a tiny black purse. "I'll let you off the hook this one time."
He took her out and handed her into his little sports car. He hardly ever drove in Hong Kong, and it had been pure pleasure to come down here in his very own car.
They didn't talk much on the way to the hall where the reunion was being held. As he helped her out of the car, she smiled up at him and he couldn't resist leaning forward and touching his lips to hers. "I can hardly wait to get you out of that dress later."
"I can hardly wait for you to get me out of this dress later," she said.
"Sakura, I...I have to leave tomorrow." Suddenly it was important that he get something nailed down between them. "I want you to come with me."
Her eyes changed, became carefully blank, and her heart-shaped face didn't change expression by one single muscle. "To Hong Kong?"
"Yeah, to start with," he said, talking fast to cover the nerves. "And then after I get a few arrangements made, get you settled in my place, I thought maybe we could sneak over to England for a week. What do you think?"
She hesitated.
He held his breath.
Then...she shook her head. And his heart dropped to the ground and shattered.
"Syaoran," she said, "I'm just not that kind of girl. I'd be miserable in Hong Kong. Englands would be fun, but...I couldn't possibly take off from the library for that long. And people would talk —"
"Oh, I forgot," he said, furious with her and with himself, as well. "I'm good enough to fuck" that made her flinch "— but not to be seen with. What the hell are you doing here with me tonight?"
There was a moment of sheer, utter silence.
Finally, Sakura spoke. Her voice was soft and pleading and there were tears in her eyes. "Syaoran, don't." She took his face in her hands. "Let's not spoil this evening. For either one of us. Let us just have one more night of magic. We can talk later. As much as you want."
He stood rigid beneath her touch for one long moment. Then resignation set in. He'd given it a shot. He'd been turned down. He might as well take what crumbs she'd throw him tonight and leave without making either one of them any more uncomfortable than they already were. Slowly, he turned his head into her palm and kissed her there. "All right."
"Thank you," she whispered. She closed her eyes and he realized she'd expected him to storm off. Instead, he took her hand and led her into the reunion.
* * *
Inside the big hall, they got exactly the reaction she'd expected. People approached with outstretched hands. They did a double take when they realized she was Sakura the Librarian. They did another one when they recognized her escort. She pinned on a smile and bit the inside of her lip, holding the pain away, determined not to ruin this one last evening with Syaoran.
One small highlight of the evening occurred when she spotted Mayko Sudji Rio and her minister, both openly staring at them. She waggled her fingers at them, unable to resist, then giggled into Syaoran's shoulder when they both turned away as if they'd been caught cheating again.
Syaoran turned his head and saw the retreat, recognized Mayko, and started across the room. Sakura had to grab his arm and dig in her heels to hold him back. "Trust me," she said, "if you just grab my ass on the dance floor once, my payback will be complete. He'll spend the rest of his rotten marriage wondering what I'm like in bed."
"Too hot for a rat like that." He stopped and put an arm around her, leaned down to kiss her ear. "And he'll never find out because I will kill him if he even tries to talk to you."
She didn't point out that killing the Reverend would require Syaoran to stay in Tomeda. He knew that wasn't happening and so did she. Her heart squeezed painfully.
If only he'd said he loved her. She wouldn't even hold out for marriage. But she'd spoken the truth: she would be miserable in Hong Kong with him, knowing that all she was a temporary fling. Without love, continuing a relationship with him was out of the question, no matter what her heart said.
They ate dinner with several of Syaoran's old football buddies and their wives, many of whom were from out of town now, too, so the conversation wasn't as awkward as she'd feared. When it came time for the class officers to give out those stupid awards, her name was called, for "Most Changed."
They danced. She fit in his arms, followed his lead as if they'd been together for years. She rested her head on his shoulder; he kissed her temple. And her heart broke completely in half.
Oh, Syaoran. Why couldn't you have loved me?
Walk on the Wild Side
This fanfic is adapted from Anne Marie Winston's Original Story
I WOULD LIKE TO THANK THOSE WHO REVIEWED THIS FIC SO FAR!
Chapter Six
Syaoran walked Sakura to work a little early on Saturday morning. She liked to get in and get organized before the rest of the library employees arrived. Especially today, since she'd taken yesterday off and spent the entire lazy day making love with Syaoran until he had objected that he would make her sore, tossed her in the shower, and taken her out to dinner in a neighboring town.
She unlocked the door and got the whole way into her office before she realized he was still close on her heels.
"I'll see you this evening," she said, turning and stretching on tiptoe for a kiss.
"Umm." He caught her against him with purposeful hands when she would have stepped back, and the kiss he gave her didn't feel in the least like a goodbye kiss.
"Syaoran," she said warningly. "I have to get to work."
"It's still early," he said with an innocent smile. But she read his intent in his eyes and in a flash she wheeled and dashed around her desk.
He stalked around the desk as Sakura tried to keep the furniture between them, a purposeful gleam in his eye.
"Syaoran! We can't —"
"Oh, yeah." His voice was a purr as he cornered her in front of the computer desk. "We can. In fact, I seem to remember we're getting pretty damned good at it."
"But...not here!" Her voice rose in desperation as he unbuttoned her blouse with surprising dexterity in his big fingers. He slipped his palms inside the opened front of her blouse, cupping her breasts through the lacy camisole and rubbing his thumbs insistently back and forth, back and forth over her nipples. Lightning bolts of arousal shot through her and she felt herself softening, moistening, as butterflies fluttered deep in her womb.
Desperately, she caught his wrists with her hands, but he was far too strong for her to have any impact. He thrust his hips forward, and she moaned as the hard evidence of his desire settled into the notch of her thighs.
"Sh-h-h." He was laughing as he set his mouth over hers, muffling the sounds she couldn't hold back. One hand withdrew from her blouse and grabbed fistfuls of her skirt, dragging it out of the way. His hand slipped surely down over the smooth plane of her belly, beneath her tiny panties and her knees went weak as he delved into the warm cove between her legs.
She felt him probing, spreading her own moisture over her throbbing flesh and she whimpered beneath his mouth, then abruptly bucked in his arms as one long finger slid smooth and deep inside her. His thumb worried the pouting bud of her desire, pressing and massaging relentlessly as she writhed against him, impaled on that encroaching finger. Her whole being was focused on the sensations he created. She felt herself hurtling forward, faster and faster, her hips moving wildly against his hand.
And then she flew apart. Her moan rose into a ragged scream, which he swallowed while she heaved and quivered with the force of the contractions cascading through her.
While she still shook in the grip of her own ecstasy, he slipped his hand free. Dimly, she felt him fumbling with the fastening of his pants and she reached down to help him, her small fingers delving into his briefs and curling around the hard, silky flesh she found there. She lifted him free and as she did, she realized he was shaking.
"Oh, God," he whispered, fumbling with the small packet he'd taken from his pocket, and she wasn't sure if it was a curse or a prayer. "Hurry. Take me." With frantic motions he tugged aside the leg of her panties and positioned himself. Sakura spread her legs as he pushed farther between her thighs, and then they both sucked in a breath of shocking pleasure as he thrust his hips forward, pushing her up and back onto the desk as he filled her with one deep stroke.
She lay back, feeling him pull her ass off the desk and willingly she wrapped her legs around his waist as he came over her, supporting himself on his elbows. Immediately, he began a forceful pounding rhythm, and as he drove home within her again and again, she felt the sweet tension hurling her up and over the edge a second time. Syaoran felt it, too, and with a series of deep, wrenching groans, he emptied himself within her as his body slowly stilled.
She clutched his shoulders tightly, wishing the moment didn't have to end. Wishing he wouldn't leave. Wishing he'd marry her and take her with him.
Oh, God, she hadn't even let herself think it before. Syaoran and marry didn't belong in the same sentence. Except to her, they only belonged in a sentence together —
"Sakura? Are you in there? I need a signature on this requisition." A female voice was a disturbing awakening of reality.
Sakura jumped, her thoughts completely scattered, but she was unable to move, pinned by the utterly relaxed weight of Syaoran's sizable body. "Syaoran!" She pushed at his shoulders. "Let me up!"
He only grinned at her. "How much will you pay me?"
"You are an oversexed idiot." She did her best to glare at him. Almost frantic to get to the door before it opened and someone caught them, she wriggled and squirmed. "I'll be there in a minute," she called, hoping her voice didn't sound as husky and different to her staff as it did to her own ears.
Syaoran pushed himself backward, slowly disengaging their bodies. Reaching behind her head, he tugged free a handful of tissues and tenderly began to wipe away the slippery moisture between her thighs. She made a sound of shocked protest and tried to get away, but he held her in place with his body until he had gently pulled her panties into place again.
Sakura felt her face flame as he stepped back and lifted her to her feet.
He cleaned up and restored his own clothing to order, then looked up at her, and his face creased in the familiar grin she couldn't resist. "It's a little late to be blushing," he told her.
"I can't help it," she whispered in a fierce undertone. "I'm not — I don't do things like this."
Syaoran only smiled. "You do now." But there was something watchful in the depths of his piercing cinnamon eyes.
A surprising little thought of irritation occurred to her. "Easy for you to say. You're not the one who will have to stay and face the gossip after you leave."
His smile slowly died, and his eyes grew darker and hard to read. "You don't have to stay, either, you know."
They both were silent, letting the words hang uncomfortably in the air.
"I need to get out front," she told him, wishing they had time to finish this conversation. Suddenly he seemed as distant as the moon. What did he mean by that remark? "Stay here until I tell you it's okay to sneak out," she finally said as she reached for the doorknob.
* * *
You don't have to stay, either. Syaoran cursed his impulsive tongue as he fastened his cufflinks and reached for the forest green silk tie that matched his shirt and suit that evening. He'd practically forgotten about the damned reunion until she'd reminded him this morning.
The memory of the way she'd hustled him out the back door of the library still rankled. It annoyed him that she didn't want people talking about them. Did she really only want him for a little private sex?
Well, hell. He supposed the bottom line was yes.
She'd told him that first evening what she wanted from him. And he'd given it to her. But what he hadn't counted on was giving her his heart.
His fingers stilled on the half-knotted tie. All right, so you love her. It doesn't change anything. He hadn't given her his heart this week. No, he'd loved her for a very long time — the shy, quiet beauty next door who'd seen past the bad boy image and liked him for himself.
He'd been convinced she would never welcome a declaration of his feelings, and he hadn't been secure enough back in high school to risk rejection. So he'd left. Since then, there had been a lot of women, but not a single one them had ever gotten beneath his skin. Sakura had always been in the back of his mind.
The question was, what was he going to do about her now? He knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to marry her.
He took a deep breath. "I want to marry her," he said aloud the words echoing off the walls.
But...would she even consider the idea? In the past few days, he'd begun to think she must have some feelings for him. Could she have responded so totally to his lovemaking if she didn't? Did she love him? Could she love him?
And if she did, how would she react if he asked her to marry him and leave Tomeda with him forever. She seemed so very tied to the little town, to their memories. But she needed a fresh start. He wanted to take her around the world, share new places with her, shower her with pretty things.
He knew she didn't consider herself very attractive and it drove him crazy. She'd been quiet and busy in high school, sure, but her jerk-off fiancé's treatment must have undermined her confidence more deeply than she wanted anyone to know.
If he told her he loved her, asked her to marry him, she'd think he was lying. Teasing her.
Maybe he'd better start small and work up to it. Ask her to visit him, or to take a trip with him first. Let her see the woman she could be. Then maybe she'd believe he'd been waiting for her for almost more than half of their 28 years.
Sakura was ready, as he knew she'd be, when Syaoran went over to pick her up for the reunion. He saw her shadow fall across the living room window as she came toward the door in answer to his knock.
But when the door opened, a stranger stood before him.
He stared. He tried not to keep his mouth from falling open.
"Syaoran?" The vision reached out a hand and touched his arm. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm, uh, fine." He stepped into the house and turned immediately to survey her. "What'd you do to yourself?"
Her face fell. "I felt like a change, so I had a makeover and bought a new dress. If you don't think it looks right, I'll —"
"Wait!" He grabbed her elbow as she turned away. "I'm sorry. It looks right. Believe me, it looks very right. You just surprised me, that's all. I thought someone had kidnapped my Sakura and left a sex kitten in her place."
He held her still as he looked at her again. She wore a dress — and what a dress it was — of some kind of slinky black fabric that clung to her wand- slender body. Her shoulders were bared and her bosom above the strapless top. Whatever. Who cared? He liked it.
Her legs looked a mile long in heels that brought the top of her head nearly to his eye level, and her face looked like a finely painted doll's. Except for the eyes. Shadowed and mysterious, they — hey! She wasn't wearing her glasses. "Contacts?" he asked.
She nodded. "I can't wear them all day, but they'll be fine for tonight." The motion of her head made her hair slither and bounce over her shoulders, and he lifted one finger and touched a curl. She'd curled it somehow, and her waist-length hair waved and shimmered with a life of its own.
"My God," he said reverently. "You are beautiful. I feel like I should be giving you jewels or something." If she married him, he'd give her jewels like she couldn't even imagine.
She laughed, and turned to the table to get a tiny black purse. "I'll let you off the hook this one time."
He took her out and handed her into his little sports car. He hardly ever drove in Hong Kong, and it had been pure pleasure to come down here in his very own car.
They didn't talk much on the way to the hall where the reunion was being held. As he helped her out of the car, she smiled up at him and he couldn't resist leaning forward and touching his lips to hers. "I can hardly wait to get you out of that dress later."
"I can hardly wait for you to get me out of this dress later," she said.
"Sakura, I...I have to leave tomorrow." Suddenly it was important that he get something nailed down between them. "I want you to come with me."
Her eyes changed, became carefully blank, and her heart-shaped face didn't change expression by one single muscle. "To Hong Kong?"
"Yeah, to start with," he said, talking fast to cover the nerves. "And then after I get a few arrangements made, get you settled in my place, I thought maybe we could sneak over to England for a week. What do you think?"
She hesitated.
He held his breath.
Then...she shook her head. And his heart dropped to the ground and shattered.
"Syaoran," she said, "I'm just not that kind of girl. I'd be miserable in Hong Kong. Englands would be fun, but...I couldn't possibly take off from the library for that long. And people would talk —"
"Oh, I forgot," he said, furious with her and with himself, as well. "I'm good enough to fuck" that made her flinch "— but not to be seen with. What the hell are you doing here with me tonight?"
There was a moment of sheer, utter silence.
Finally, Sakura spoke. Her voice was soft and pleading and there were tears in her eyes. "Syaoran, don't." She took his face in her hands. "Let's not spoil this evening. For either one of us. Let us just have one more night of magic. We can talk later. As much as you want."
He stood rigid beneath her touch for one long moment. Then resignation set in. He'd given it a shot. He'd been turned down. He might as well take what crumbs she'd throw him tonight and leave without making either one of them any more uncomfortable than they already were. Slowly, he turned his head into her palm and kissed her there. "All right."
"Thank you," she whispered. She closed her eyes and he realized she'd expected him to storm off. Instead, he took her hand and led her into the reunion.
* * *
Inside the big hall, they got exactly the reaction she'd expected. People approached with outstretched hands. They did a double take when they realized she was Sakura the Librarian. They did another one when they recognized her escort. She pinned on a smile and bit the inside of her lip, holding the pain away, determined not to ruin this one last evening with Syaoran.
One small highlight of the evening occurred when she spotted Mayko Sudji Rio and her minister, both openly staring at them. She waggled her fingers at them, unable to resist, then giggled into Syaoran's shoulder when they both turned away as if they'd been caught cheating again.
Syaoran turned his head and saw the retreat, recognized Mayko, and started across the room. Sakura had to grab his arm and dig in her heels to hold him back. "Trust me," she said, "if you just grab my ass on the dance floor once, my payback will be complete. He'll spend the rest of his rotten marriage wondering what I'm like in bed."
"Too hot for a rat like that." He stopped and put an arm around her, leaned down to kiss her ear. "And he'll never find out because I will kill him if he even tries to talk to you."
She didn't point out that killing the Reverend would require Syaoran to stay in Tomeda. He knew that wasn't happening and so did she. Her heart squeezed painfully.
If only he'd said he loved her. She wouldn't even hold out for marriage. But she'd spoken the truth: she would be miserable in Hong Kong with him, knowing that all she was a temporary fling. Without love, continuing a relationship with him was out of the question, no matter what her heart said.
They ate dinner with several of Syaoran's old football buddies and their wives, many of whom were from out of town now, too, so the conversation wasn't as awkward as she'd feared. When it came time for the class officers to give out those stupid awards, her name was called, for "Most Changed."
They danced. She fit in his arms, followed his lead as if they'd been together for years. She rested her head on his shoulder; he kissed her temple. And her heart broke completely in half.
Oh, Syaoran. Why couldn't you have loved me?