Playing with Fire (Book One of The Kazuya Series) (✔️)

三 (Three)

(Arielle's POV)

He stood by the couch where his brothers sat.

"Koan, how are you?" McCall asked.

"Fine." He answered, his eyes sweeping across the room.

This man.....

This man looked like someone straight from a wet dream.

He was tall and lean, but the athletic kind of lean. He easily filled out his long sleeve t-shirt and gray sweatpants. His slightly curly black hair was tousled in a carefree, messy look and, even from our distance, I could tell his hooded eyes were a beautiful shade of steel blue. In a room with six other yakuza men, he looked so out of place. He had a feel of....innocence about him.

"Kenji?" He asked, looking at Doc.

"Severe food poisoning. He'll be fine in a day or two."

He nodded.

"Have a seat, Ko-Ko." One of his brothers said, patting the cushion beside him.

Based on the side-glance Koan gave him, he didn't appreciate the nickname.

They all went back to discussing what they'd been earlier and, pretty soon, we were back to our contest. It was different this time though.

Now that I'd seen what he looked like, I couldn't maintain eye contact with him for very long and I kept looking away.

He was one of those people who was so.....beautiful that you almost didn't feel like you deserved to look them in the eye. I felt like being in the same room as him should be something I bought a ticket for.

It was then that my phone rang.

"Hello?"

"You left your hospital ID badge here. Don't you need it?"

I internally groaned. "It's okay. I'll get it tomorrow."

"You sure? I can drop it off now. You can meet me out front or I can find you."

"Mom, it's fine. We're....really swamped right now. If I need to use my ID then I'll borrow Harper's or Sebastian's."

She sighed. "To be honest, your father and I are already on our way. How about I leave it on your car?"

"That's fine. Thank you."

I hung up and looked to see that everyone was watching me.

"Everything okay?" Doc asked.

"Yeah. I left my work ID at my parents. My mom was going to bring it to me, but....."

"But you're not there." Kintaro said with a small smile.

I nodded. "She's just going to leave it on my car or something."

"You live with your parents?" Izumi asked.

"Uh no. My mom wanted me to come over for dinner. I worked a 12 hour shift and wanted to go home for a warm shower, some food, and some sleep. That....doesn't always work for her and she is relentless, so it easier to just say yes. I took a shower there and the....shorts were the only thing I had left there." I explained.

"Sorry to have pulled you away from dinner."

I shook my head. "No apology necessary. I'm glad you did in a way. I would've been there till who knows when. Now, it's my brother who has to suffer."

"Your brother?"

"Older brother, Colten. He's usually the one to leave first, so I'm happy to have changed that this time." I smiled.