21. The Mountain Master
Chapter twenty-one
The Mountain Master
Lei’s warm, firm grip gently guided me away from the elegant dinner.
I glanced over my shoulder.
Everyone remained standing with their heads bowed.
Wow. This is crazy.
I still wasn’t sure how I should properly react to their show of respect for Lei. I knew he was decently important due to all of his men and the fact that he could book the Royal Palm Hotel. However, I never imagined he was this powerful.
I turned and faced forward again, moving with Lei toward the hallway.
I was a bit embarrassed to admit this, but Lei’s attraction factor shot up beyond the stars now.
Hey, don’t be shallow. You’re better than this.
I’ve always prided myself on my independence and strength. Of course, Lei was undoubtedly sexy. The chiseled features of his face, his muscular physique. This was all impossible to ignore.
But now it wasn’t just his physical appeal that stirred something within me.
It was his power.
Monique, relax.
I snuck a look and found myself wrestling with this conundrum. The feminist in me bristled at the idea of finding a man more attractive because of his power. After all, I didn’t need a powerful man to validate or protect me.
Still, being next to him brought out this undeniable thrill through my body.
There was something inherently alluring about his Mountain Master status. Plus, the way he handled his power wasn’t overbearing or tyrannical. Instead, it was balanced, measured, and respectful. So far, I didn’t see him belittling or overpowering anyone. Instead, he appeared tempered with this relatable kind of humility that was as rare as it was enticing.
So. Fucking. Sexy.
I swallowed.
Monique. . .stop it.
Once the double doors shut behind us with a loud thud, the faint echo of human activity rose—creaking of chairs and chatter of people. Surely, all of his guests were sitting back down and returning to their food.
But why did he leave so early? The food was just coming out.
Lei’s grip on my hand tightened and I could feel the tender warmth of his palm seeping into mine.
With a gentle tug, Lei led me down the hallway, his strides long and sure.
A small group of his men marched behind him—all donning dark blue.
We walked in silence, the only sound coming from the click of our shoes on the marble floor.
When we made it to the elevator, he jabbed the button with his index finger and then gazed at me. “Are you still hungry?”
“Yes.”
He turned back to the elevator doors. “I will have the staff bring up several platters for you.”
“Thank you.” I grinned. “Mountain Master.”
He snapped his view back to me. “Are you mocking me?”
“What?” I blinked. “No. I’m. . .pretty impressed actually. I don’t know what Mountain Master means but it sounds dope as hell.”
He gave me a skeptical look. “Who told you my title anyway?”
“Duck.”
He didn’t appear pleased. “And what else did Duck say?”
“He told me all of the protocols and etiquettes.”
“Like what?”
“Stand and bow my head when you enter. Don’t sit down until you signal. Also, don’t eat until you signal.” I considered some of the other things. “Oh. Follow your pace as you eat. If you are munching slowly, we should too. No personal items on the table. I think he said it would seem disrespectful to just have my phone on the table while in your presence. Basically you were to be treated like an emperor.”
Lei rolled his eyes and turned back to the elevator.
My grin widened. “You don’t like all of the traditions?”
“It’s unnecessary.”
“Why?”
“My father thought all of this stuff was important for the East. But me, I find it to be unnecessary.”
“What?” I widened my eyes. “Why would you think that?”
“Because this is not a time of kings and emperors.”
“But I think everyone likes treating you that way.”
“What makes you say that?”
“I took this sociology class long ago that talked about why people love having royal figures. Like in England.”
“And what did it say?”
“Emperors and kings are not just leaders. They are. . .icons—figures larger than life. Their actions. Their decisions. Their very personas are steeped in an aura of mystique that sets them apart from everyone else.” For some reason, this exciting giddiness came over me. “This mystique fascinates them. Shoot. Me too. It draws everyone in. It makes life which can be a bit boring. . .well. . .it makes regular days more entertaining and fascinating.”
Lei’s gaze flickered with amusement. “So, you find me fascinating?”
I blushed. “Who wouldn’t be intrigued by the Mountain Master ?”
He slipped his gaze down my body and licked his lips.
Alright now. Mr. Mountain Master. I will climb the mountain!
The elevator pinged and opened its doors.
Sighing, Lei guided me forward.
We stepped onto the elevator.
The cool metal of the handcuffs clanked against my wrist.
His men tried to follow.
Lei held up his hand. “Take the next one.”
One nodded.
The rest edged back.
The doors closed.
A silent breath slipped past my lips as I stole a sidelong glance at Lei. His presence was like a gravitational pull, drawing my attention and my appreciation whether I liked it or not.
He looked impeccably suave, dressed in that blue designer suit which was clearly tailored to accentuate his athletic build. He embodied this irresistible refined elegance that was hard for me to ignore.
Involuntarily, I found my gaze shifting towards his hair. The long, silky strands were as dark as a raven’s feathers, tied up in a style reminiscent of Duck’s.
A faint smile spread across my face.
Why are these guys so fine? Is everyone this hot in the East?
When I visited my cousin for the summer, we always remained in the South. It was all shades of green, full of working-class people doing their best to get by. My sisters and I would be there for a month or two, swimming, acting up at cookouts, and getting into trouble like kids always did.
Mom always packed us green clothes and told us to never wear blue, yellow, or red. I found it all to be pretty comical, until I heard of this news story one summer where several people in green had gotten shot at some bowling alley in the West. I had no idea what it was all about, but it always sat in my mind that the colors had something to do with it.
I snuck another gaze at Lei.
If I decide to live in Paradise, I may have to buy some blue outfits and check out the East. Lots of hot guys out there for sure.
I chuckled to myself, knowing Banks and Sid would lose their damn minds.
Lei turned towards me, raising an eyebrow at my chuckle. “What’s so funny?”
“Oh, just thinking about all the trouble I would get into if I started wearing blue all the time. My cousins would go crazy.”
The line in Lei’s jaw twitched. “Banks. Right?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “You probably don’t know him, but—”
“I know Banks.”
“You do? How?”
He gave me an odd look. “We are all united under the Diamond Syndicate.”
“Okay.” I nodded. “Which is what?”
“Banks hasn’t told you a lot about his. . .work?”
“Anytime I go to Paradise, I make sure to hit up my cousins’ bar, the Emerald Den to support them. I’m really proud of Banks and Sid for opening it up.”
Lei watched me.
I shrugged. “But that’s as much as I know about their business. What’s the Diamond Syndicate?”
Instead of answering me, he asked, “Do you know Marcelo?”
I grinned. “You mean, Marcy. Yes. Of course I know him. Marcy has been Banks’ best friend since I don’t know. . .they were in diapers.”
Lei cleared his throat. “Marcy?”
“I gave him that nickname one summer when he let me braid his hair into these two long pigtails. He looked so adorable my sisters and I started calling him Marcy and he let us.” I held up my free hand. “However, you can’t call him that. Jo and I are pretty much the only people I know that can call him Marcy.”
Shock covered Lei’s face. “You are talking about Marcelo? Brown hair. Over six feet. Big shoulders and arms. Boxer.”
“ Championship boxer.” I winked. “And yes. Of course. That’s Marcy.”
I left out the fact that Marcy had been my first little kiss long ago when we were both thirteen.
Meanwhile, Lei wore this stunned look.
I shook my head. “I just can’t believe you know Marcy and Banks. Being from Glory, I’ve always seen Paradise City as this massive place, but the world is truly small after all.”
That weird shock remained on his face. “It appears so.”
The elevator stopped.
The doors slid open, revealing the hotel’s sleek, modern hallway.
Lei led me down the hallway. His hand remained warm in mine.
Up ahead, a new set of men in blue flanked our suite.
Those handcuffs clanked on my wrist.
I looked at them and sighed. “So. . .Lei.”
“Yes?”
“We don’t need these handcuffs.”
“Are the jewels too much? Too flashy?”
“What do you mean?” I glanced at them again, suddenly noticing the diamonds and sapphires in a platinum setting. “Well. . .these are really nice, but—”
“Chen bought them.”
“That’s cool, but—”
“We can use the other ones.”
I chuckled. “No, Lei. What I’m saying is that we don’t need them anymore.”
“I want you by my side.”
“Like I said before, I can be by your side without handcuffs.”
When we approached the door, one of his men rushed with opening it.
Lei guided us through. “When I woke up, you weren’t there.”
“I explained why.”
The door shut behind us.
“That cannot happen again.” Lei stopped us in the suite’s living room and faced me. “These oncoming days are going to be a lot to deal with. Unfortunately for you, I. . .”
I quirked my brows. “What?”
“I desperately need you.”
My heart heated.
Lei stepped closer. His gaze grew intense. “It has been a short time of us knowing each other, yet. . .you have no idea how important you are to me right now.”
I swallowed hard. “I’ll do whatever you need me to do, however. . .”
He raised one eyebrow. “However?”
“I would like to create some limits in this. . .situation.”
“Go ahead.”
“No handcuffs.”
His expression hardened. “The handcuffs remain.”
“Then, I would like to have some limits to the handcuffs. Respectfully, Mountain Master .”
His hard expression softened. “You really are enjoying calling me that?”
“It’s so cool.” I smirked. “However, emperor or not, it would be uncomfortable to sleep next to you with handcuffs on. It’s already going to be. . .odd. . .sleeping next to you.”
I didn’t even know him, and we would now be bed and roommates. Surely, there had to be some guidelines in place to not make this even crazier.
Lei considered it. “No handcuffs while we sleep. I can agree to that.”
“And. . .”
He leaned his head to the side. “There’s more?”
“Well, yes. No handcuffs while either of us have to go to the bathroom.”
“That is fair.”
Uh yeah. More than fair.
I tugged at them. “Eating would also be difficult to do being bound to you—”
“You can eat while handcuffed to me.”
I let out a long breath. “Lei, that’s crazy.”
“Speaking of eating.”
I blinked. “Yeah?”
“Let’s add the rule that you are not to be fed by anyone else but me.”
“What?” I held out my hands. “That’s an odd rule. It’s not like people are feeding me—”
“Duck fed you.” His expression returned to stiff and unrelenting. Rage blazed in his eyes.
“Oh.” I thought back to the meatball. “Yeah. He did feed me.”
Lei spoke through clenched teeth. “He did.”
Holy shit. Is he mad about that?
The realization hit me like a splash of cold water.
Was Lei. . .jealous?
I bit my lip to stifle a laugh. It was completely absurd for Lei—this powerful man that many followed like an emperor—to even care about Duck putting one defenseless little meatball into my mouth.
Lei watched me. “That is not to ever happen again. I will also talk to Duck about it.”
Tension gathered in my shoulders. “Hold up. Duck isn’t in trouble or anything? Right?”
“I didn’t like his behavior tonight or any of the other stuff.”
“What other stuff?”
“The flirting.”
I parted my mouth in shock. “Lei, what flirting?”
“I know my cousin very well. He was flirting. The joke about putting balls in your mouth. All of it is him trying to have sex with you.”
“Okay. First of all. . .how did you hear that? You were far away.”
“Chen can read lips.”
I blinked. “Okay. What?”
“While I was at the table, I had Chen read the conversation between you two, and there were a few moments where Chen couldn’t even read Duck’s words because. . .” Anger radiated from Lei as he spat the words out. “Because Duck’s lips were too close to your ear.”
I stood there, speechless.
The thought of Lei caring about me, even in this small, absurd way, was oddly comforting. For god’s sake, this man had a harem willing to dress like any woman he wanted and to do all types of freaky hand and foot shit to him.
I was just one woman that he’d met in pursuit of his father.
However. . .his little jealousy brought a blush to my own cheeks, and a much-needed distraction from the pain of losing my father.
A flutter took flight in my chest.
“So. . .” I swallowed. “Duck and I were just playing around. And it was mainly my fault.”
“How?”
“While I was waiting for you to come down, I had at least two glasses of Mootoo.”
“Moutai?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “Sorry. Moutai, and that had me a bit tipsy, especially since I was drinking it on an empty stomach.”
“I still don’t see how Duck flirting with you, is your fault.”
“Listen. When I’m sad and depressed, I like to escape through drinking, smoking, and. . .you know. . .”
“What?”
“Sex, Lei.” I shrugged. “I like to have sex to push away my sadness.”
His face twisted in furious angles.
Oh no.
He closed the small distance between us and pressed his hard muscular chest against my breast. His voice rose in the suite. “You planned on having sex with Duck?!”
“No.” I edged away. “What? That’s not what I mean.”
He scowled at me. “Then, what did you mean?”
I took another step back. “I just wanted a little male attention so I was flirting with him, not the other way around.”
“That was very dangerous.” He moved back against me.
My heart pounded in my chest.
“If you want male attention you come to me , not him.”
I lowered my voice. “Come to you?”
His gaze slipped down to my breasts and then he put it back on my face. “Yes.”
“I didn’t. . .” I cleared my throat. “I didn’t think that was an option due to your. . .mourning—”
“We’re both mourning.”
I looked away. “Yeah, but you’re mourning the love of your life. That’s different than my grieving over my father.”
“Come to me , Monique.” He raised his free hand and touched my chin, lifting my view back to him. “You comfort me. I comfort you.”
But. . .does your comforting involve dick?
I didn’t dare ask him. Perhaps, it was the alcohol that had me even wondering. Or it could have been this closeness that had my body and mind spiraling into an erotic whirlwind.
Lust hit my cheeks.
This new development was entirely unexpected, but it gave me a strange sense of hope. In the midst of all the chaos, Lei—with his emperor presence and jealous rules—was providing an unexpected beacon of light in this day’s haunting darkness, and I found myself drawn to it.
Despite the diamond handcuffs, despite the loss, despite every fucking thing going wrong in my life today, I was beginning to see a sliver of silver lining in my unexpected captivity with him.
Lei breathed me in.
I shivered.
He whispered, “Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” He brushed his thumb across my lips.
My heart skipped a beat.
He lowered his head towards mine.
My breath caught.
A low groan left him.
I damn near rose to my toes, craving his kiss.
Desperate for it even.
This. . .need. . .for him. . .I could tell. . .it would be as addictive as any drug, and I found myself straining forward, almost getting ready to beg him for one taste.
“Monique.” His lips were so close. One inch more and I could be devouring his mouth and sucking on his tongue. “You have been the best thing about this day. . .this month. Maybe even. . .this year.”
“Lei. . .”
“Yes?”
I shivered against him. “Kiss me.”
Without any hesitation, he crushed his mouth to mine, holding me so tightly against him, I wondered if he could feel my heart beating.
Then, he pushed his tongue past my lips, and it was desperate, intense, twirling, and twisting.
Jesus Christ.
Whimpering, I melted against him.
My body ached, ready to climax.
My nipples hardened, aching for him.
My sex became so wet, swelling with need.
And it was much deeper than a simple need to be touched. It was the fact that his kiss was heaven, and I yearned for more—his hands exploring my flesh, his cock pushing inside of me.
Someone knocked at the door.
Lei ignored it as if lost in our kiss, and I damn sure was happy about that.
Fuck anyone for trying to interrupt.
The knock came again.
Lei groaned in annoyance and sucked on my tongue.
Yeah. Fuck them. Keep kissing me.
I raised my free hand and slipped my fingers along his muscular arm.
Chen’s voice sounded on the other side. “Lei, we are coming in! This is important!”
Grunting, Lei pulled away but didn’t let me go.
I stared up at him, dazed, my lips swollen and moist, the fiery sensations of our kiss still burning in my body.
Chen knocked again. “Lei, are you awake? We really need to talk to you!”
Lei kept his gaze on me and yelled. “I am very busy right now!”
Another man’s voice sounded. It was a voice that I recognized, yet couldn’t put a name too.
“Lei,” he said. “Open the door. Now.”
Lei tensed and his face twisted with fury. He pulled out keys from his pocket and began to unlock our handcuffs. “If we begin to fight, I want you to run out of the room and go off with my men.”
Fuck. What’s going on?
He placed the handcuffs in his pocket and gazed at the door. “Come in!”
My head spun with confused and frustrated emotions. “But, who’s that on the other side of the door?”
“Uncle Song.”