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Nothing in his touch was angry. He was intense, hard, direct, but he didn’t hurt. He gave her passion, not pain. He was in absolute control.
He made her come over and over, made her scream his name in careless abandon until she wept for him to stop, and he held her till she calmed.
He left her lying limp like a rag doll in the middle of the bed. Her body floating in a purgatory of bliss and her mind numbed, unable to decide if she’d lost or won.
16. Shadows
“By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart.” — Confucius
“You sleep, Boss?”
Will slid into the front seat of the Audi beside Bo. “Not much.” He yawned. He hadn’t slept at all and Bo had likely worked that out. Last night, Bo picked him up from the Pen but instead of taking him home, dropped him at the Confucian temple on Wen Miao.
After the scene with Darcy, Will needed to clear his head. Needed to think through what he’d done, almost done, and wasn’t sure he could forgive himself for. He knew he hadn’t hurt her physically, but he’d come damn close. He’d gone after her hard, frightened her, used his size to terrorise her, and that made him feel sick to his gut.
What kind of a man does that to a woman? Let alone a woman he cares about? He’d worked all his life not to be a man who intimidates women, and one weekend, one night’s loss of control had him doubting who he was.
He’d sat in the temple for hours. It was safe there. Quiet. If he went home he’d only drink through his liquor cabinet. It was close on sunrise when he’d called Bo to come get him, when he handed him the sketch, a handful of beads and the scrap of fabric from Darcy’s dress and asked him to find the designer and replace it.
And it was still early, but it was better to keep moving. He could hide his sins in movement. He sipped the black coffee Bo brought for him and shut his eyes, but he could feel the driver watching him.
“What’s wrong, Bo?”
“I worry, Will.”
“About Keung?”
Bo grinned. “No, Keung has a girlfriend. She is Phi Beta Kappa.”
“No kidding? That’s great.”
“Don’t worry, Keung won’t neglect his study. You won’t waste your money on him. He is a good boy.”
“It’s okay, Bo. He hasn’t disappointed either his father or his financier yet, right?” Will knew Bo would be pleased about the girlfriend. What he wanted most for his only son was US citizenry. If it took an American wife to get it, that was a small price to pay.
“I worry about you, Will.”
Will slumped into the headrest and closed his eyes again. “You know that’s not part of your job description.”
“You go out last night alone. You sit in the temple for hours. You come home alone. You’re alone all the time.”
“I’m all right, Bo.”
“You tore that woman’s dress.”
Will opened his eyes and looked at Bo. “I did. I shouldn’t have done it.”
“‘Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes,’” quoted Bo and Will knew that was a real Confucianism. Then Bo practiced silence as a method of reproach and despite the early hour and the light traffic, it was the slowest trip to the office Will could remember.
At his desk, Will had time to log in, check email and look after some admin before Pete arrived with a pinched expression, and he knew he was in for a grilling.
Pete put his two thousand dollar bespoke John Lobb Oxfords on the top of Will’s desk and stretched back in the visitor’s chair. He had dark circles under his eyes, but he thrived on the whole social thing. He’d been in his element last night, schmoozing the best and brightest of Shanghai for a good cause, the same way he charmed bankers, merchants, businessmen and Party officials for their business needs.
He was the public face of Parker and always would be. He was smooth where Will was rough, educated where Will was street smart, comfortable with complex politics and confusing cultural norms where Will was impatient, aggressive and abrasive. Pete made women want to sleep him, and men invite him for golf. Will made people want to punch him. Even the women.
It’d been that way since they were kids and adopted each other. Since Will was bad but determined and Pete was skinny, scared and picked on. Since changing their surnames to Parker to be like Spiderman had felt like a good idea.
It pissed Will off that Pete and Aileen were insisting he step out of the shadows and talk to the damn media.
