Chapter 4

Akio was in trouble. They were out of view of land, and Hiroto had told the captain to stop the boat, so that the passengers could swim. Sinho, as it turned out, had a one piece suit that made her look like an Olympic swimmer who was a bit over the hill. But as much as she had satisfied Akio over the years, he had no eyes for his actual lover. Instead, they flitted from Hamako, to Raleigh to Megan, constantly shifting. The loose cloth of his trunks was tented out, something that didn't seem to bother him at all. If he'd known what the women were thinking ... well ... it wouldn't have been pretty. Hamako had told both Americans what Akio had just been doing, and neither was able to view that with a well-adjusted attitude.

This is not to say that they weren't smiling. Indeed, they were trying to act completely normal. Which meant that Bob had no clue that the women were ... well ... clued in. He hadn't had a chance to talk to Megan yet, and had changed into his own suit so they could swim away from the boat and he could brief her.

As he arrived at the rear of the boat, Hamako levered herself up out of the water, gracefully, onto the swimming platform. It was clear she wasn't aware that the water had made the material of her white suit translucent. It wasn't completely see-through, but he could see the darkness of her nipples and pubic hair.

He stood over Megan, who had been sunning herself.

"Race you," he said.

"Where to?" she asked. "We're in the middle of the ocean."

He picked up a life ring and whirled in a circle before throwing it out into the water.

"To that," he said. "Come on. I have much to tell you."

She lurched up, ran and dived into the water. She was a good swimmer, and her windmilling freestyle had her ten feet from the boat before he realized she was already racing. He dove and enjoyed the feel of making his muscles work to catch up with her. They got to the life ring together, and held onto it with one hand each, while they tread water.

"I have to say I love that suit," he said, looking at her chest.

She looked down and squawked as she saw that the water had moved the cups of her top off her breasts, which were now floating proudly in the water. Her nipples looked pink and erect.

"Don't look!" she gasped, reaching for the errant cloth.

"Are you crazy?" he laughed. "Of course I'm going to look. Hamako isn't here, but I know one of those Confucius sayings myself. Confucius say woman is like convertible. She more fun with her top down."

"Stop it!" she said, her voice suddenly serious. "I'm not having fun!"

He could hear she was really upset. He didn't know she was upset because she had the sudden urge to just take the top off and attack him, but he could tell she wasn't happy. "I'm sorry," he said, looking away. "You're right."

She adjusted her suit, and then asked him what had happened.

He explained that the initial profits, if any, would be broken down into four quarters. One quarter each would go to the partners, meaning Megan and Hiroto. The other two quarters would go towards paying down the capital investment in the factory.

"That means he gets seventy-five percent of the profits!" she complained.

"Only until the capital investment is recouped," said Bob. "And you have to admit that's his money. He's putting up that money up front. It's only fair to pay him back for that first."

"I guess you're right," she sighed. "What happens when the capital is paid back?"

"It becomes a fifty/fifty split," he said. "Either partner has the option to sell his or her half at that point as well."

"So if it's popular and sells, I make a living. And if not, we lose our shirts."

"He loses his shirt," said Bob. "You don't have that much invested." Now that she had calmed down, he tried to lighten the mood. "Though, I have to admit, after what I saw a few minutes ago, if it starts looking like you're going to lose your shirt, I'm going to spend a lot of time hanging around you."

The look on her face was impossible to read, other than the fact that she didn't look pissed.

"Why are you flirting with me?" she asked.

"I don't know. I guess because I like you," he said. "Remember when I said you were fighting an attraction to me, and that that was fine? Well you never actually addressed that. That's fine too. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe there is no attraction at all when you look at me, and you just don't want to hurt my feelings by saying that. That's fine too. I'm a big boy. But the fact is, I like you. I think you're good looking. Actually, I know you're good looking, and what I saw a few minutes ago only makes you even more attractive. There's nothing wrong with that, Megan. It's normal for a man to be attracted to a beautiful woman, especially one he knows and likes. He let his eyes drop to her now-covered breasts, but then raised them to her face again. "I'm not afraid of you, or of how I feel about you."

His confession caused a flurry of feelings in her. The attraction she did feel towards him, but couldn't admit to him, slammed into her belly like a ball of fire. The certainty that she couldn't do anything about that attraction frustrated her. And that frustration, she took out on Bob.

"I'm not afraid of you!" she yelled. The lie almost stuck in her throat, and the anger fled as she felt miserable, instead.

"Uh oh," said Bob softly, looking past her.

"What?" she asked. Her body was full of anxious energy.

"We've attracted some attention from the boat."

She started to turn around, but he stopped her. "Come here," he said, pushing the life ring to one side and sliding his arm through it.

"What?" she asked, confused, as he pulled her toward him.

Then she was suddenly in a dream as his free arm snaked around her and drew her nearly naked body against his ... and kissed her.

It was a fabulous kiss, the kind of kiss she had forgotten there could even be. It communicated strength, and desire, even an element of lust that made that ball of flames in her belly expand. His hand on the small of her back felt hot in the cool water. His lips also felt hot, though undeniably soft. She wanted to hum into his mouth as she kissed him back, fully by instinct. Her legs felt wrong hanging in the water, and her mind gave them an unconscious instruction to rise and wrap around the man kissing her. She did that, and felt his body touch her deep between her legs ... where no man had touched her for so long.

He pulled back and, through half-lidded eyes she saw him look past her again.

"Maybe one more," he whispered.

This time her hands came up to grasp behind his head and pull him to her face for another kiss. His hands slid down to cup her butt through the thin cloth of her suit. She felt the life ring intrude into their embrace, and hated it at that moment.

Then there was a splash as someone arrived beside them.

"Geez, Mom!" gasped Raleigh. "Get a room, for Pete's sake!"

Megan turned to see that her daughter and translator had swum out to join them.

"Share the floatation device?" asked Raleigh, suggesting that she wasn't as outraged as her comment had just suggested.

"It's not going to support four bodies," said Bob.

"Then stop assaulting my mother and go do some more business or something," said Raleigh, suggesting that maybe she was a bit outraged. Or perhaps jealous.

Bob knew when he was being dismissed. "I'll toss you a couple of life jackets," he said, and started breast stroking toward the boat.

"What was that all about?" Raleigh asked her mother.

Megan, still distracted by the kisses, looked at her daughter. "He was telling me about the agreement."

"The agreement required a celebratory kiss?" asked the girl.

Hamako was treading water easily beside the other two. She felt much better, back in the company of her American friends. Recent events had reminded her of how much she liked being in America. That Bob wasn't like Japanese men, and that he had lent her his moral support, made him even more attractive than she had already noticed him to be. When he stood, holding two life jackets, she waved at him, and caught them as he threw them. She turned in the water to give one to Raleigh, and then spoke to Megan.

"I didn't get a celebratory kiss," she said. "And that's not fair, because I had to put up with that insufferable jerk the whole time!"

Raleigh turned to her friend.

"Do you really want to kiss Bob? Because I do too, and my mother just made it obvious that she likes doing it. We can't all three have him!"

"I don't want to have him," said Hamako. "Maybe just borrow him for a little while."

"Well he's not mine to lend!" snapped Megan, finally back in the present. She looked at Raleigh. "And the only reason he kissed me was because somebody was watching us from the boat."

"That would be Hamako and me," said Raleigh. "We were trying to ignore Akio, who kept trying the most lame pickup lines on both of us. We were watching you in self-defense!"

Megan looked back at the boat. Bob was lying on deck with one arm over his eyes. Akio was standing on the edge of the swimming platform, looking their way. He looked like he wanted to dive in, but was afraid of something. She wondered idly if he could swim. Hiroto and his wife were nowhere to be seen.

"Where is Mr. Nakimura?" she asked.

"I don't know," said Raleigh. "I haven't seen him since he caught his wife and son having sex!"

The reason Raleigh hadn't seen Hiroto or Sinho Nakimura, was because Hiroto was disciplining Sinho in their cabin.

He wasn't upset because she had engaged in sexual intercourse with his adopted son, though he thought the boy was too old to continue that path now. Rather, he was upset because she had embarrassed him in front of his American partner, who he suspected did not approve of what he had seen. Hiroto knew that most of the world didn't approve of incest. But he was old school Japanese, which meant that he didn't much care what most of the world thought. They weren't part of the only race on Earth that was fit to govern. It was only natural that they failed to understand the wisdom of Japanese culture. But he had lost face with his new business partner, and that was not acceptable.

"Woman!" he yelled, "Doors are equipped with locks for a reason!"

He was staring down at his hog-tied wife. She was no longer dressed in her one-piece bathing suit. She was naked again. Her wrists were tied to her ankles, both of which were under her body, leaving her breasts, belly and pubis arched up into the air. While this sounds painful, it was not. Sinho had assumed this position many, many times in her life, and the rope was soft, the knots loose.

Hiroto swung the riding crop in his hand through the air, trying to make a sound. The confines of the cabin didn't give him enough room to do that without actually hitting her. He didn't do that, though. Hiroto Nakimura didn't actually beat his wife.

Rather, he used the flat, leather tip of the crop to tap her vulva. Over the years he had become an expert at "beating" her clitoris until she had a sobbing orgasm. And she had become expert at sobbing realistically. In fact, she played her husband's emotions like a harp, plucking here, twanging there. He reciprocated by playing her body, which included biting her nipples while she was restrained and helpless.

He would think she was in agony. He would be convinced her cries were of pain and shame, rather than the joy of getting one of those special orgasms while she was being dominated.

She knew him well. She knew both her lovers well. And she was determined not to give up either of them to the Americanized Hamako, who looked so boldly at the men when they weren't watching her.

"I am sorry, husband," she cried, sounding distraught. "Please forgive me. I was distraught. I was afraid he would go to one of the white whores, or the geisha."

"As he should!" thundered Hiroto. "He is to be a leader among them! He must conquer their women, as he conquers their economy. Now you have embarrassed me, and the American will think him merely a boy!"

"I sought only to protect him," sobbed Sinho. "Give me to the American, if you must, but do not beat me."

Hiroto began tapping, watching her labia flush. He thought about her offer. He had given her to a few business associates in Japan, to have for their pleasure, after a big deal had been struck. But the thought of a white man's semen entering her body made him want to growl and fight.

No ... when the time was right, he would enter her and spill his seed into her womb instead.

And while doing that, he would imagine she was one of the big-breasted, impossibly tall American women who were flaunting so much of their bodies outside in the sunlight.

To change the subject, Megan asked Hamako to tell her about the negotiations. She thought that the girl's perceptions might be of value. But Hamako simply repeated pretty much what Bob had told her. She was distracted while she did this, because she also remembered how she felt during the process. That was complicated, because being fully Japanese, she had automatically fallen back into her "proper role" as a young Japanese woman. Even when Hiroto was referring to her as a potential courtesan, she was unable to throw off the cultural sluggishness that seemed to paralyze her, and tell the man to go fuck himself. And when Bob had pulled her close, even though his kiss was only on the cheek, her belly had done flip flops at his touch. She was worried about how submissive she had been during the process, because she had thought all traces of submissiveness had fled her long ago. Now, she knew how insidious that cultural trait was.

So her description of events was flat and factual, without there being any of her personality injected into it.