Page 8 of Blossoms of the Heart
Okay, some of that might have been true to an extent and I couldn’t claim complete innocence, but he didn’t have to make his dislike for me so pronounced every single time he saw me.
He gave me a crude look when I entered and scanned over my casual appearance with disdain. Although most of the team were dressed casually, Izu seemed to have taken a dislike to my white biker jacket and ripped jeans.
To annoy him, I sat right next to him and gave him a phony as hell smile.
“Kon'nichiwa?” I said to him.
The asshole frowned and looked away, couldn’t even say hi back to me. Instead he decided to start up a conversation with the investor who sat next to him. I couldn’t remember the man’s name but knew he was a billionaire who always donated a substantial amount of money to the center.
Akito looked up from the document he was looking through and acknowledged me with a nod. I nodded back and looked to Scott and Kenny. They were talking about the sword.
I looked over to the door as it opened a few minutes later and a beautiful brunette popped her head inside.
At first I thought she looked familiar, but within nanoseconds of me thinking that I realized why.
I straightened up as Phoebe Walker came in, and my mind suddenly became void of thinking anything except that she was here.
She was actually here in Japan.
Eleven years, that was how long ago it was since I last saw her.
Eleven years looked good on her.
In her sleek black business dress that stopped just above her golden thighs, all I could see before me was a killer body that trapped my mind.
I didn’t care too much for model thin women. I liked a woman to look like she took care of herself. Phoebe’s athletic build screamed that. Curves in all the right places with definition in her arms and legs. Large, fully rounded breasts that could make a man drool. Her bright blue eyes were striking against that dark mass of sleek, razor-sharp straight brown hair. She was the kind of woman that would always be able to harness beauty no matter how old she got.
She looked amazing, definitely amazing, but I couldn’t help but think back to that last time I saw her.
Some memories no matter how big or small burned into a person’s mind with a lasting effect. That was one of them.
I was twenty three at the time.
She was eighteen and temptation that a man of twenty three should have left well enough alone. She was completely off limits if only for the close relationship she and her family had with Akito, and she was too young for me to spoil up.
But I tried to anyway.
One kiss. That was all it took to send me over the edge. And that damn kiss left me dangling over that edge all these years, wondering what would have happened if her mother hadn’t caught us.
Caught me.
“I’m so sorry I’m late. I forgot how hard it can be to park here,” she babbled excitedly.
Everyone looked on fondly, waiting to hear who she was.
Akito gave her a massive emotional hug and the excitement at her presence was very evident.
“You aren’t late.” Akito beamed. “Sit next to me.”
She did as instructed and looked around the room, taking in all the faces of the people that sat around the table. When her gaze landed on me though… something familiar flickered in her eyes. I saw surprise and a hint of uncertainty, but there was that spark I used to look forward to every summer.
It was still there. It still shimmered in her ocean blue eyes, and I was surprised to feel that rush of excitement ripple through me.
Phoebe Walker at twenty-nine years old was a combustion of drop-dead gorgeous with the sort of fantasy body that could get a guy in trouble.
Me, at thirty-four, who should be thinking about whether or not I was going to give my ex-girlfriend another shot.
“Good, now that we’re all here we can begin,” Akito announced.
