Read Linnear 02 - The Miko for Free Online

Tomkin steam.
    After a time, Tomkin said, “Listen, you bastard, don’t you ever do that to me again.” His voice was thick with pent-up fury. “Are you listening to me?” he said finally.
    “Get your clothes off.” Nicholas folded his trousers, hung them over the metal hanger. He was naked now, stripped of the layers that civilization dictated he must wear. It was clear he possessed an innate animal quality that was almost frightening. Justine had felt it the first moment she had seen him moving naked across the room like a wraith, a dancer, a nocturnal predator. Even when he made so mundane a move as putting one foot in front of the other, he used his body as an instrument, achieving a confluence of grace and power.
    “Answer me civilly, dammit!” Tomkin’s voice had risen, a function of not only his anger but his abrupt fear of the man standing in front of him. He was nonplussed. In his world of corporate business, nakedness was a state of vulnerability. Yet looking at Nicholas Linnear now, Tomkin felt only his own vulnerability, so acutely that he was aware of the thunder of his heart pumping, his accelerated pulse.
    Nicholas turned to face Tomkin. “You hired me for a specific purpose. Kindly allow me to do my job without interference.” There was no anger in his voice now; he had that under control.
    “Your job is not to insult me,” Tomkin said in a more normal tone of voice as he struggled to control his runaway pulse.
    “You’re in Japan now,” Nicholas said simply. “I’m here to help you stop thinking like a Westerner.”
    “You mean loss of face again.” Tomkin snorted and hooked a spatulate thumb at the closed door. “That was just a girl. What the fuck do I care what she thinks of me.”
    “She is, in fact, Seiichi Sato’s personal representative,” Nicholas said in a calming tone. “That makes her important.” This lie was essential now to keep Tomkin under control. If he should even suspect the slight that had been dealt them, there would be no stopping him. “As such, here, she is part of Sato himself and therefore no less important.”
    “You mean I should bow and scrape to her? After Sato didn’t even have the courtesy to meet us himself.”
    “You have been over here many times,” Nicholas said evenly. “It astonishes me that you have learned nothing at all about Japanese customs.” He gestured. “This treatment is accorded to only the highest dignitaries. Do you have any idea what this setup the Japanese bathmust cost with space at such a high premium in Tokyo.” Nicholas sighed. “Stop thinking with your Western ego and try a little acceptance. That will go a long way here.” He reached into his locker, brought out a fluffy white towel embroidered with a dark blue triple wheel, the emblem of Sato Petrochemicals.
    Tomkin was silent for a moment. Then, abruptly, he grunted and began to undress. It was as close to an apology as he was going to come. When he, too, was naked, he drew out his towel and the key to the locker.
    “Don’t use it,” Nicholas said.
    “Why not?”
    They stared at each other for a moment, then Tomkin nodded. “Loss of face, right?”
    Nicholas smiled, opening the wooden door beside the bank of lockers. “Come on,” he said.
    They stepped into a chamber perhaps twenty feet square. The floor was the same cedar slats but here the walls were of gleaming blue tile. The ceiling, of smaller tile, was a mosaic whose center was the interlocking wheel pattern of the company’s logo. The room was taken up by two enormous bathtubs both now filled with steaming water. Two young women stood in attendance.
    Without hesitation Nicholas stepped in front of them, allowing them to pour scalding water over him, then begin rubbing him down with soapy sponges. After a moment spent taking this in, Tomkin followed him.
    “This I understand,” he said, allowing the woman to wash him. “First get clean, then let the heat relax you.”
    They were rinsed off