28. Chapter 28
twenty-eight
H ong Kong Island bathed in the morning light across the harbor was something else. Lina sat up in bed, marveling at the view out of the floor-to-ceiling glass windows surrounding the bedroom. Sunlight sparkled against the rows of skyscrapers like diamonds and lightened the hue of Victoria Harbor.
She’d been surprised when Uncle Ed had dropped them off at an apartment building near the harbor. He’d told her a British expat family whose son was a student of his had left for a monthlong home visit. They were kind enough to let Ed’s niece use the apartment. It was more than a kind gesture. It was generous, seeing how spacious and fancy the apartment was by Kowloon standards.
Maybe Curtis was right. Maybe good tidings are coming. Maybe I can give him his life back.
But how? As long as Serafina Stiletto still had revenge on her mind, Curtis would never be safe. Even if Serafina was eliminated, who could guarantee the rest of the Stilettos wouldn’t continue her mission? Would Curtis have to look over his shoulder for the rest of his life?
“You’re thinking too loud,” a sleepy voice startled her.
Lina turned her head to Curtis, who was still lying on his stomach next to her, his head half-buried in the pillow.
“That brain of yours must be huge, if you can tell what I’m thinking.” Lina smiled.
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I can feel you thinking.” He flipped over and rubbed his eyes.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“It makes total sense. You can feel your opponent thinking when you’re in a fight. You said it yourself. It’s the vibe they give. You gave me a vibe.”
“You always wake up this chatty?” she asked with a smile.
“I dunno. I don’t wake up next to you nearly often enough.” He sat up, leaned in, and kissed her shoulder. “What time is it? My body clock is so out of whack, I’m shocked I’m awake at all.”
“It’s close to seven-thirty,” Lina said. “Sorry my thinking woke you up.”
“You were thinking about me, weren’t you?” He smiled.
“I was,” she said. “I was trying to figure out how I let you into my bed.”
“Let me? You ordered me,” he quipped. “Besides, this isn’t technically your bed.”
Lina laughed. “Right.”
Curtis snaked his arm around her and looked out at the view. “Wow, look at that.”
“Isn’t it something?”
“When was the last time you visited?”
“This is my first visit in years. It’s been hard. But I texted with Ed here and there.”
He nodded. “It’s good you kept up with this side of your family. I’ve never met most of my extended family.”
“You never visited Shanghai with your grandma?” Lina asked, remembering Popo mentioning her hometown.
“No. She moved back there when I was in college. At that time, I was too wrapped up in my own stuff to even think about visiting her. I didn’t even know she moved to Paris to help Callie.” His voice was heavy with regret.
“You can always go now. Your grandma looks spry enough to show you around still.”
Curtis nodded. “If I ever get this target off my back, I’d like to do that.”
Lina’s heart grew heavier hearing him say that. She held his hand tight with a silent promise.
“I’m excited to meet your family,” he said with renewed enthusiasm in his voice. “So, who’s the toughest to impress, your dad or mom?”
Lina elbowed him in the ribs. “Don’t get any ideas. You’re not here to meet my family.”
“But I’m meeting them. I’ve never met a girl’s family before. Not since high school, at least.”
“Curtis.” Lina turned to him purposely. “Don’t give them any ideas, please.”
“Why? You don’t think they’ll like me?”
“Oh, they’ll love you.” Lina chuckled. “You’re charming, attractive, tall, and make a good living. They’ll pounce on you so fast you won’t know what’s happening.”
“What do you mean?”
Lina could feel herself flush. She could face adversaries with ice in her veins, but talking to Curtis about her family’s obsession to marry her off turned her red.
“Never mind.” She quickly changed the subject because it wasn’t exactly what she was concerned about. “I’m more worried about me seeing them.”
“Why’s that?” he asked. “Ed mentioned last night you haven’t seen them in a while. How long is a while?”
“I haven’t seen them since before I retired from the service.” Lina hugged her legs together toward her chest and rested her chin on her knees. “It’s been at least five years.”
“Five years?”
Lina expected the shock in Curtis’ voice, but not the gentle brush of his hand against her hair. “You must’ve had a reason. What’s stopping you from seeing your family?”
“I don’t deserve it.”
“Why don’t you deserve it?”
A memory of the day she’d returned to the States with Taylor’s casket had been forever imprinted in her mind. Taylor’s parents and two older brothers, who also served in the Army, were waiting at the tarmac.
Lina could never erase the image of Taylor’s mother breaking down when they’d escorted the casket off the plane. She could never forget Taylor’s father's face as he’d tried to keep things together. And she would always feel the unspoken questions in Taylor’s brothers’ eyes.
Why did you survive instead of Taylor?
Lina had asked that same question many times.
“Taylor didn’t get to come home to her family. Why do I get to come home to mine?” she whispered.
“Taylor?” Curtis echoed the name. “Is that your colleague who was killed in action?”
She nodded.
“Oh, baby.” Curtis wrapped his arms around her whole body and pulled her into his chest. “It wasn’t your fault, Lina. You can’t keep punishing yourself.”
Lina buried her head in the crook of his neck.
“I was the lead in that mission. I should’ve been the first out,” she insisted.
“I wasn’t there, so I can’t tell you what’s what,” he said. “I’m not even a soldier, so I wouldn’t know what you went through. But what I do know is that you’re here.”
Curtis pulled away from her, and Lina suddenly felt cold and retreated into herself. In her mind’s eye, she saw Taylor fall onto the dusty ground as the quiet whisper of a bullet hit its target. She gasped in her breath, but it was caught in her throat as a sob came out of nowhere.
“Lina, look at me,” Curtis said firmly. “Breathe.”
He cupped her face in his hands. “Open your eyes, love,” he asked gentler.
The endearment broke into her waking nightmare, and Lina blinked open her eyes and met his.
“She’s gone, Lina. I am sorry you lost your friend. I am sorry a family lost a daughter, a sister,” Curtis said. “But I’m fucking glad you’re here with me.”
He kissed the tears on her cheeks.
“You can grieve for your friend, but you shouldn’t throw your life away,” he said. “Because then there’ll be two lives wasted. And knowing you, Lina Cheung, it’d be such a loss. Because you are nothing short of amazing.”
His words washed over her like a soothing rain. His warm touch penetrated her cold skin, bringing her back to the present. His kiss kept the nightmare at bay.
She wanted to forget. No, that wasn’t it.
She wanted to feel alive again.
“Make love to me,” Lina asked.
Curtis didn’t move. “Lina, you’re upset.”
She slipped her hands around his neck and pulled him down to the mattress with her.
“Make me feel glad that I’m alive,” she begged.
“Lina.” Curtis held himself over her even as Lina’s strong arms urged him down.
“I need you,” she pled. “Please.”
His heart bled for her, for the friend she still deeply grieved, and for the guilt she’d put on herself. For a proud and formidable woman like Lina, showing her most vulnerable state was humbling to him.
Curtis let Lina pull him down to her and he kissed the remaining tears from her cheeks before capturing her mouth in a promise of what was to come.
“Lina,” he whispered against her cheek before he pulled back. “Open your eyes.”
Lina looked at him, her face full of emotion.
“You never have to ask. I’m here for you.” Curtis kissed her lips briefly. “Do you get me?”
“Yes,” Lina answered.
Curtis pushed off to pull the hem of the T-shirt she slept in over her head. His gaze swept slowly over Lina’s beautiful shoulders down to her high, proud breasts. Their tips stood at attention, waiting eagerly for his touch. But he only admired them as he held back his own desire to taste them with his mouth.
He stole a glance at Lina’s face to make sure she stayed with him. Her pupils darkened as they watched him. The heat in them equaled his. He could hear her exhaling through her mouth.
Curtis traced her defined abs with the tips of his fingers with fascination. He could admire her body for the rest of his life. There was discipline in her figure, but it didn’t take away any of its womanly allure. To him, her body—its perfections and imperfections, scars and all—showed what a woman she was.
She should beg no one to make her feel alive.
“You just have to touch yourself to feel how alive you are, Lina.” Curtis took her hands and guided them to her torso.
She looked at him hesitantly. “Feel,” he urged.
Her chest inflated as she took a deep breath, as if she needed fortifying, but she slowly ran her hands along her skin. She paused as her left hand brush over the scar on her side, and a gray mist clouded over her.
“Feel through it,” he encouraged.
Curtis had no idea what he was doing, but he rolled with his instinct. He felt Lina needed this—whatever this was.
Lina took a deep breath and traced the scar with her fingers. She continued up her sides and onto her chest. He smiled when she stopped short of her breasts.
He covered her hands and guided them over her breasts. “Touch them for me.”
Lina hadn’t been bashful before, but she hesitated at his request.
“Please,” he asked again.
In a tentative movement, she flicked a thumb over a nipple as she squeezed the other globe. When she saw he watched her every movement, she became a little bolder and circled both nipples with her thumbs in a rhythm that infused a dance to her body. The faster she increased her tempo, the higher her torso bowed like a cello begging to be plucked.
Curtis rolled out of bed to shed his underwear and stood by watching Lina giving herself the pleasure she yearned for.
She needs this .
He felt he shouldn’t become the crutch for her to feel alive. He’d be there for her every step of the way, but she needed to want it for herself.
“Touch yourself, Lina,” Curtis said.
This time, she didn’t hesitate. She reached down into her panties and pleasured herself with her fingers. That he was watching only fueled her fire. It was torture for Curtis to stand there, all hard, and keep himself from diving into her.
“Make yourself come, baby,” he urged, as he rubbed his own erection lazily.
He didn’t think Lina needed more encouragement. Her moans grew louder as she reached toward the peak. It was a beautiful sight as her whole body became taut as a freshly tuned guitar string, her head thrown back in a silent scream of ecstasy.
“That’s it, baby.” He joined her back in bed and kissed her still panting mouth. “Let go of all the trouble in the world from your shoulders. Stay here with me.”
He bent to trail a straight line from her mouth, down her neck and the valley between her breasts, down the middle of her stomach all the way to the top of her underwear. Her hips rose in anticipation of him, and Curtis was ready to oblige. With his teeth and fingers, he peeled the scrap of cotton off her.
He nudged her legs open for him and hovered over her. “Lina.”
She looked up at him.
“Be alive with me,” he asked.
Lina reached her hands up to his face. “Yes.”
Curtis entered her slippery heat in an easy glide. “Be with me.”
“Yes.”
He started a rhythm he knew she would duet with him. They moved as one, riffing off each other’s melody, and created a harmony so passionate that they reached their climax quickly.
“I’m coming,” she panted.
Curtis held himself as long as he could and thrust into Lina with everything he had. She wrapped her legs around his hips as he drove into her one, two, three, and exploded.
There was nothing like coming inside Lina to reaffirm the joy of being alive.
To him, there was no living without her now.