It’s likely because I’ve been fighting this alliance for so long and now it’s done.
There’s nothing more that I can do.
We’ll just have to wait and see how well the Tanaka-kai can play with friends when that’s what they’ve decided we are.
I still don’t trust it, but there’s a sense of resolution that comes with having that decision taken out of my hands.
I just hope my father’s instincts are better than mine.
After he’s spent a lifetime fighting with Tatsuo, I would hope they are.
“Are you still bleeding?” I ask Sora, nodding toward her handkerchief-wrapped thumb.
She cut deeper than necessary—deeper than I think she intended, too.
“I think I’m alright,” she says, slowing to carefully peel back the stained cloth.
Blood immediately colors the thin line of her cut, but it’s not coming as quickly now.
“Let’s get you a Band-Aid,” I say, pressing my palm to the small of her back and gesturing toward the bathroom I had her trapped in just last night.
Her breath catches, the sound sending an electric current from my brain straight to my cock.
It seems like everything she’s done since our almost-kiss has driven me wild.
And when we actually kissed for the first time?The spark behind it actually took me by surprise.
I would be sorely tempted to finish what we started last night, Sora up against the bathroom door, her legs wrapped around me… But now that there’s no longer an engagement to break off, I need to be on my best behavior—at least for the rest of the day.
The don made this alliance happen. I won’t be the one to destroy it.
Stooping in front of the sink, I pull out one of the vanity drawers and collect the small first aid kit we keep there. “Let me see,” I say, setting the kit open on the counter and tearing the corner of a small antibiotic ointment packet.
Sora extends her hand palm up, her soft skin and long, thin fingers making her hand look delicate.
It fits in the palm of my hand as I cup it and spread the ointment across her thumb.
Then I unwrap a Band-Aid and carefully place it over the cut.
“Good as new,” I say with a quick smile, tossing the extra bits into the trash.
“Thank you,” she says, her onyx eyes pulling me in.
“You’re welcome.”
Again, that crackling electricity ignites between us, warming the temperature of the room and consuming its oxygen.
There’s a shine to Sora’s eye that might just be inviting, and it would be so easy to just skip ahead to the good part.
Tempting.
But as surprising as it might be, I don’t want to ruin this day for Sora.
She and her mother put a considerable amount of effort into the details and ensuring everything would run smoothly.
Derailing it now seems like it would be a bad first step into marriage.
“Shall we?” I suggest, gesturing toward the door. “I think it’s time we make our grand entrance.”
