Wasabi Heat (2 page)

“He‟s fine as china! Oh, now who the hell is that?” Kiki asked, not bothering to whisper. Kiki‟s comment bought her back to the room.

Nadia didn‟t drop her gaze fast enough. Kiki picked right up on the handsome man. Nadia swore.

Kiki could find a good-looking man in a hoard of millions. She had that ability. “How would I know?”

Nadia fought the urge to smile, playing at her lips. She picked up the sushi and sashimi menu, and pretended to scan it. If Kiki found out about Nada‟s tiny crush on Zen, she‟d never let it rest—not at the office, not on her social networking page, no where. “So, I recommend the tuna roll, Magura, and a little bit of Tai.”

“Nadia, you‟re here almost every day. I think he works here! I bet you‟ve met him at least…” “Kiki! You‟re not even listening to me…”

“Ah, hello. I am your server this evening. May I take you drink order?” the waitress said. She smiled faintly and held her hands behind her back. Her eyes lit up when they met Nadia‟s eyes.

Asuka. Zen‟s niece and lead waitress of the restaurant. “Ah, hello, Nadia-san. You have saki tonight?”

Nadia smiled at Asuka. Barely 22, she had worked at Wasabi since she turned eleven. “Hello, Asuka. I‟m going to pass, thank you. I‟m driving. I‟ll have a diet soda.”

“Yes. I see. For you?” Asuka asked Kiki. “Soda,” Kiki replied, distractedly.

Kiki leaned back against the booth‟s seat, and with a big grin on her face said to Nadia, “If you know the waitresses, you probably know the fine ass dude in the red shirt.”

“Asuka‟s fast, so she‟ll be back quick. When she gets to our table, she‟ll want to take our orders.

What do you want to try first?”

Kiki sighed and picked up one of the menus. From behind the hard plastic fold she said, “I don‟t even know where to begin, and you know it. You‟re changing the subject because of that dude. You must be crushin‟ on him.”

“Ah, konbanw, Nadia,” came the rumbling softly accented voice of Zen Su Chow. Her clit confirmed it by hardening into a tight nub of need. “Asuka said you were here.”

Nadia swallowed, and forced herself to look up from the menu. She didn‟t need to read the menu at all, and if she continued to try to feign like she did, Zen would wonder why.

“Hello, Zen,” she said more bravely than she felt. “This is my friend, Kiki. Tonight‟s her first time at a sushi restaurant.”

“Hello Kiki,” Zen said, turning his intensity to Kiki.

He smiled and Nadia squeezed her thighs together, relishing the rush of pleasure. Before Kiki could even get out a reply, Zen‟s attention rounded back to her.

“So, what will you have this evening? We have fresh eel. It arrived yesterday.” “That would be nice, I‟d like that.”

The music, the muttering of surrounding conversations, and Kiki all disappeared. At that moment, only she and Zen remained. It happened this way all the time when she came to Wasabi‟s. Zen had a way of making everything pale in comparison.

“No saki?” he asked, a hint of humor in his words. The last time she drank saki with him, he drove her home.

“No, not tonight, I‟m driving,” Nadia said, clearing her throat loudly. Her cheeks became warm. She squirmed in her seat at the memory of Zen‟s closeness in the driver‟s seat of his Cadillac. The dimly lit car, the softness of the CD player‟s music and the strong smell of him.

“Ah, I see. Enjoy your meal tonight.” Zen turned to Kiki and added, “I hope you enjoy also. Nadia will select something wonderful for you, I am sure.”

With a partial bow, he left.

“Wow!” Kiki said, shaking her head once Zen was out of earshot. “That guy is super intense. And he smells good.”

Yes, he does. He smells wonderful, has a delightful body if the fall of his clothes is any indication, and that heavy intensity, the feeling that you’re the most important thing in the room—yeah, that’s Zen.

Nadia laughed instead of conveying these thoughts to Kiki. Only her vibrator and her imagination knew how she felt about Zen and she planned to keep it that way. The man clearly had no interest in her, being Japanese. Most Asian men despised African-American women. Zen and she spoke often, but a wall seemed to separate them from moving beyond the professional client and patron roles.

“So, what do you want? I‟m having eel, but it‟s a bit greasy,” Nadia asked, Kiki who sat hunched over her menu, her face wrinkled in confusion.

“I don‟t want anything that has seaweed in it.”

“So you‟re looking at sashimi. Then you‟ll want to try one of these.” Nadia pointed at the sashimi section of Kiki‟s open menu.

“Your soda, Nadia-san,” Asuka said, seemingly popping up from nowhere. She placed the drinks on the table. “You order now?”

“I will take her order, Asuka,” came that voice, the one that made Nadia‟s stomach flutter in nervous delight. “Stacy needs help in section four.”

Asuka bowed stiffly, cast Nadia an expression she couldn‟t quite catch, and walked off.

As long as Nadia had been coming to Wasabi‟s, she‟d never seen Zen take a customer‟s order. She closed her menu. Maybe he did when she wasn‟t here. It wasn‟t like she lived at Wasabi‟s. Still, she couldn‟t help but wonder what was going on.

“You bring a guest. I will create something delicious for you,” Zen explained as if answering her unspoken question. He waved off the menu Kiki had in her hand. With a hint of a smile, he added. “You will taste it, Nadia, and you will enjoy it immensely.”

At that, he left, leaving Nadia to wonder what he‟d bring back for them to eat. She hoped it didn‟t involve something that would spook Kiki. Her stomach rumbled in the noisy restaurant, but Nadia knew what hunger she wanted Zen to feed.

And it wasn‟t for sushi.

“
One kind word can warm three winter months
.”

--Japanese Proverbs

“Fix her the love boat, now,” Zen Su Chow croaked out to Ichiro.

He did not need to explain who the
her
was. He had a feeling that tonight, tonight would be the night he claimed Nadia for his own. He did not want to engage her in a short bout of lust. No, no he wanted her on top of his thickening cock, riding him as one would a fine horse—with passion and love. He wanted to make her buck in pleasure, demand for more and bury her nails into his chest. “Make it with the wasabi in the sauce.”

The rush of fish and seaweed permeated the air. All around workers moved swiftly but cautiously about, fulfilling orders. In the hushed quiet, soft whispers sprouted, probably about why Zen, dressed impeccably had come back to the kitchen. He did not have an order slip, but was in fact placing an order. Despite how unconventional it looked, Zen wanted what he wanted.

“Did you hear me?”

Ichiro actually put down his knife and sighed. In Japanese he said, “I heard you. The love boat.

You want to give her the love boat?”

Zen just stared at him. He did not think he had been unclear with the directions. “The love boat is for couples.”

“And?” Zen inquired, unsure where his brother‟s logic was going. “This boat is to be shared between two people in
love
.”

“I know, Ichiro. What is your point?”

Ichiro picked up his knife once more, lowered his voice and said, “Does she love you as much as you love her? Does she even know of your adoration? What is she rejects your offering?”

Zen did not know. In his haste to claim her, he had not even considered that she may not feel the same way. It did not register that the woman he meant to take to his bed and later to be his wife would not want him too. They flirted with each other, spent hours talking, and he suspected she came so often to his restaurant because of him—not just the food.

“You hesitate, brother,” Ichiro said and took down one of the large open boats from the shelves above his head. The boat would hold a miniature buffet of sushi for two people to share. “That does not bode well.”

“I do not hesitate,” Zen replied sharply. Several of the other workers looked at him and the chatter ceased. Lowering his voice, he said, “I can feel it—the attraction between us.”

Ichiro said in English, “Yes. Lust. Lust does not make for a lengthy marriage.”

“You are speaking from experience?” Zen asked, raising his eyebrow. Ichiro loved his wife, but they were very traditional. If passion existed between them, Zen had never witnessed it. He would be different than that cold pairing. Nadia‟s sassy spunk and fire drew him. He thought of Ichiro‟s wife as soy sauce—predictable, ordinary, plain. Nadia had become his wasabi—heat, fire, and flavorful.

Ichiro laughed. “Fine, fine. I will create the boat for you if it means you leave my kitchen.” “Thank you.”

“Dou itashi mashite,” Ichiro said, welcoming Zen in Japanese.

Zen moved away, leaving Ichiro to complete his task. The boat would be brimming with rolls, sashimi and even some tempura. Yes, Nadia would love it. Her companion would also enjoy the variety of the meal. If he could satisfy Nadia‟s hunger, he could also move in to satisfying his other hunger.

He returned to the registers and looked across the restaurant to the object of his desire.

Nadia leaned forward, talking to the woman across from her. Her beautiful hair hung down to her shoulders in arrow-straight fashion. Her smile made him feel warmth inside and he shifted his position. If she only knew, how he longed to inhale her hair, her scent,
her
in the heat of arousal. He‟d free her full breasts from the confines of her bra and the sharp white blouse. With careful, soft kisses, he‟d tease her cinnamon dark nipples. Would they look like long peaks of chocolate or tight pebbled points? Would the lovely triangle between her ample thighs be shaved smooth or brushed lightly with hair? Would she love to have her generous bottom spanked or kissed?

As if hearing his thoughts, she looked over her shoulder and across the dining patrons to him. Those not so sly looks were smoldering, stoking the flame of his carnal appetite. She wanted him. That one solitary look told him so as much.

With a quick smile, she turned back to her conversation.

“It is ready,” Ichiro said, bringing Zen back to the room, to the fact that he wasn‟t entangled in Nadia‟s arms. “She will enjoy.”

“Thank you.”

Zen lifted the boat and headed to Nadia‟s table. Asuka had kept the women‟s glasses filled and the candle at their table lit. If he could get rid of the friend, he would have Nadia to himself. The rear of the restaurant had three rooms for private parties. After the meal, maybe he can convince Nadia to come back later in the week, alone—tonight he would make her the offer and lay plain his feelings for her.

“Oh damn,” the other woman said, her eyes wide. “This man done brought us a boat.”

Nadia turned to look at him, and his gift. She grinned, her maple-brown eyes shining. “The love

boat.”

“The what?” the other woman asked, her surprise waning.

“This is the love boat,” Nadia explained. “It‟s commonly shared between two people in love.” The other woman‟s eyebrow rose. “Look, Mister. She and I aren‟t lovers.”

“I understand,” Zen said and put the boat between them. He had to do it now. He looked at Nadia,

and took her hand in his. “Nadia…”

Confusion made her frown, but he would bring back her smile once he explained.

“Nadia, will you join me later for a private meal?” he asked. He wanted to be with her alone.

“I, Zen Su, I don‟t understand,” she said, her eyes went to the other woman before coming back to him. “Thank you for the love boat, but you want me to have a private meal, with you?”

“He‟s asking you out on a date, damn, Nadia, get with it,” the other woman said with a snort.

Speechless, Nadia searched his face. He did not know what she wanted to see, but something in his face, his eyes as they were windows to his soul—a soul enchanted with her—she said, “Yes. Absolutely.”

“Tomorrow night?” he asked. “Yes, that would be fine.”

“Enjoy the food,” he said, kissed her hand, bowed and headed back to the register, with his heart light and his phallus heavier.

***

Nadia couldn‟t believe what had just happened. She sat staring at the hand—her hand—her hand that Zen Su Chow had kissed. Kissed it like it had been the most luscious piece of chocolate he‟d ever tasted. She didn‟t know whether to hold the hand up and scream to the entire place that the cool, collected and sexy-as-hell Zen had serious interest in her.

Or wash it.

“Ain‟t that something?” Kiki said, using her fork to poke at the tuna roll. “You been coming here for what? Months? And tonight he asks you out on a date. Tonight? I‟m like a lucky token or some shit.”

Nadia guffawed. “That‟s it.”

Honestly, Nadia didn‟t know why Zen picked tonight to ask her out and she didn‟t care. Her pussy twitched when his kissable mouth connected with her hand. Her clit still throbbed as if sending a signal to Zen of its need—her need to have him closer, without clothes separating them. She‟d be lying if she didn‟t take him up on his offer to have a private meal.

“What the hell is this shit about a love boat?” Kiki asked, and finally deciding on the tuna roll, took a tiny bite.

“The love boat, according to the menu, is a sampler of the most popular items. It‟s usually given to couples hence the name, love boat. I think Zen Su gave it to me because it served two purposes. Allowed him to let me know he‟s interested and to give you a sample of the food here.”

Kiki chewed, her eyes squinted in a mix of curiosity and amusement. She swallowed with difficulty. “You are silly. You could look at him and see that he had nothing but, how did you put it,
interest
, in you.”

Nadia chewed the pieces of eel with delight. God, she loved this stuff. Was it any wonder she really liked Zen? Was Kiki right? Had Zen been carrying a torch for her? If so, he‟d done an excellent job of hiding it the many months she‟d come in to eat here.

“You think he‟s really interested?”

“Why else would he ask you for a private meal? To sample his latest menu item? I doubt it. He‟s been staring at you all night.”

Nadia felt a hot rush flush up her neck. Risking it, she glanced over her shoulder and found Zen processing payments at the register. As if feeling the weight of her stare, he looked up. Directing those electricity-intense eyes, he smiled softly at her, before putting his attention back on his job. That single look zipped across the food stained air and burrowed directly between her legs, making her pussy twitch in eagerness again.