White Tiger

very close. ‘It’s wrong to use her like this.’
    ‘I know. But sometimes you have to take the chance when it’s given you.’
    Another firework went off above our heads. Neither of us noticed. He lowered his face to mine and closed his eyes. Our lips touched. He opened to me.
    It was what I had wanted from the moment I’d seen him.
    He pushed harder into me, deepening the kiss. The explosions went off over our heads and neither of us cared. I put my free arm behind his neck and buried my fingers into his wonderful silken hair. My whole body was like an electric wire, strumming to his touch.
    But both of us were intensely aware of Simone in my lap. It had to end, and he pulled back first. He gazed into my eyes, then moved in and touched his mouth to mine again, a light brush. He smiled. ‘We are a pair of fools. Now I must be even more careful about touching you.’
    ‘Tell me it’s not worth it.’
    He smiled again. I ran my hand through his hair. He drifted his fingertips over my face.
    ‘Why aren’t you watching the fireworks, Daddy?’ Simone said loudly.
    We dropped our hands and looked down at her.
    ‘Why are you looking at Emma and not at the fireworks? Are you okay, Emma?’ Simone’s little face lit up. ‘Oh.’ She smiled slightly and looked back to the fireworks, wriggling her little bottom in my lap as she turned. ‘Don’t mind me.’
    We laughed softly together.
    I put my head on his shoulder.
    He squeezed me around the shoulders and brushed his hand over my arm. ‘We will probably never have another chance like this.’
    ‘This is more than I ever hoped for.’

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
    O n New Year’s Day I went into Simone’s room to dress her but Mr Chen was ahead of me. He’d dressed Simone in a little red cheongsam and was kneeling to tie her hair into two buns on top of her head. She was adorable.
    He wore his black silk robe with his hair braided. He smiled over the top of her head. ‘Gung hei fat choy, Miss Donahoe.’
    Simone saluted me, serious. ‘Gung hei fat choy. Lai see dao loy.’
    ‘Already asking for lai see. You are so cheeky,’ I said.
    Mr Chen carefully tied a red ribbon around one of Simone’s little buns. ‘Do you have new clothes you could wear today, Emma? It’s traditional for New Year’s Day to be a new beginning. Wearing new clothes is a part of that.’
    ‘I don’t have anything.’ Then I had a sudden inspiration. ‘How about one of my new cheongsams?’
    ‘The pink one!’ Simone jiggled with delight. Mr Chen lost his grip on the ribbon and tutted at her. ‘Sorry, Daddy.’
    He didn’t look up from her hair. ‘If you could wear your new cheongsam, I’d appreciate it.’
    ‘He’s just saying that because you look so pretty in it,’ Simone said. ‘Okay,’ I said. He smiled.
    I went back into my room, put on my pink cheongsam, twisted my hair into a neat bun, and applied some make-up just to seal the deal.
    They stood together in the living room waiting for me. Mr Chen’s face lit up when he saw me. I twirled for him.
    ‘You look prettier than me!’ Simone yelled. ‘Doesn’t she, Daddy?’
    ‘I don’t know which of you is more delightful to look at,’ he said with a gentle smile. ‘So I think I’ll settle on seeing both of you together.’
    The doorbell rang and he went to open the door.
    ‘Hey, what happened to the seals?’ Bai Hu said as he came in. ‘Yours were always the best. What happened?’
    ‘A demon blew them completely during the Mountain attack.’ Mr Chen closed the front door. ‘I’ll never have them back to what they were. You can come straight in now.’
    ‘Must have been a hell of a demon.’ Bai Hu stopped dead and stared at Simone and me. ‘Look at the two beautiful girls. Wanna come home with me, girls?’
    ‘Yeah, sure!’ Simone shouted, jumping up and down.
    Mr Chen took Bai Hu’s arm, pulled him close and growled something softly into his ear.
    Bai Hu raised his hand and nodded. ‘Don’t worry, I get it, I get it, all yours.’ He raised the other hand as well. ‘Paws off. I promise.’
    ‘Good,’ Mr Chen said. ‘Come and help me set up the tables. We’ll have two mah jong tables in the training room, and one out here.’
    ‘What about Monica? Where’s she?’
    ‘Visiting family. Gone for the whole break.’
    ‘You’re doing all this yourself?’ Bai Hu said, incredulous.
    ‘Of course. Come and help with the tables.’
    ‘No. No way.’ Bai raised his hands again. ‘This is so not