Meet Me in Shanghai

By Luca Domani

What are the odds of meeting your perfect match in a city of twenty-four million people—halfway around the world?

Software engineer Jeff has never set foot outside North America when his company sends him to Shanghai. It’s daunting to say the least, and Jeff is soon lost. He’s rescued by Chinese American banker Greg—a man who immediately sparks Jeff’s desire. But in a city so large and chaotic, what are the chances that they’ll bump into each other again?

When they do, a vigorous friendship forms despite Greg’s devotion to his high-powered—and high-stress—career. Both men want more, but Greg never takes things further, and Jeff’s time in China is running out. Soon he has only one night left. Will it be a last night together as friends… or the beginning of something that can last despite the distance between them?

World of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the globe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
• Release date: Aug 3, 2018
• ISBN: 9781640805590

Book preview

Table of Contents

Blurb

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Epilogue

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Copyright

Meet Me in Shanghai

By Luca Domani

What are the odds of meeting your perfect match in a city of twenty-four million people—halfway around the world?

Software engineer Jeff has never set foot outside North America when his company sends him to Shanghai. It’s daunting to say the least, and Jeff is soon lost. He’s rescued by Chinese American banker Greg—a man who immediately sparks Jeff’s desire. But in a city so large and chaotic, what are the chances that they’ll bump into each other again?

When they do, a vigorous friendship forms despite Greg’s devotion to his high-powered—and high-stress—career. Both men want more, but Greg never takes things further, and Jeff’s time in China is running out. Soon he has only one night left. Will it be a last night together as friends… or the beginning of something that can last despite the distance between them?

World of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the globe.

To Marco, forever and always.

Chapter 1

FOR THE umpteenth time, Jeff stood up to let the young couple and their baby sidle past him into the aisle. He gave them a tired smile as they thanked him and apologized again for waking him. He sat back down in his seat and closed his eyes. He was at the back of the plane, and the flight was full. The recirculated air was chill and stale, and several passengers had been sneezing and coughing. It would be surprising if he didn’t catch something. Jeff already felt the haze of jetlag settling on him, and the fourteen-hour flight wasn’t even over yet. He was just drifting off again when the family returned, and he stood yet again to let them get back to their seats. He closed his eyes once more.

It seemed to be only a moment later when the chime sounded and a nasal voice instructed passengers to stow their tray tables and return their seats to an upright position, first in English and then in Mandarin. They were beginning their descent into Shanghai Pudong International Airport.

Jeff caught a glimpse of the city lights when he looked toward the window. He thought about how anxious he had felt about going on this business trip. Originally, his coworker Travis, who had visited the China office before and was familiar with Shanghai, had planned to accompany him. At the last minute, Travis stayed behind, due to the earlier-than-expected birth of his baby girl. Their boss still wanted Jeff to make the trip, though. Despite the assurances from Travis that he wouldn’t need to know any Chinese to get around, Jeff still worried. He had hardly done any international travel, and his list of foreign countries visited was short: Canada, and Mexico if you counted a brief jaunt across the border to Tijuana for drinking as a high schooler. Now he would be in Shanghai for two and a half weeks, by himself.

The passengers were jostled as the wheels of the plane kissed the tarmac. As they decelerated and drifted into a slow taxi toward the gate, Jeff turned on his phone and saw that it was ten p.m. in Shanghai. His watch displayed seven a.m., the time in San Diego, and Jeff adjusted it to sync with the current time zone.

An hour and a half later, he was standing in a taxi queue after disembarking and going through customs. While he waited, he shrugged out of his jacket and stuffed it into his bag. It was October, but it felt like a balmy summer evening. When it was his turn, Jeff got in the sedan; it was a Volkswagen Santana, a model he had never seen in the US. He managed a self-conscious ni hao and handed the driver a printout of the address to his hotel. It was a relief to be in the quiet of the taxi after the claustrophobia of the plane and the extensive lines in the airport.

The taxi merged seamlessly into the thick traffic, but the ride was anything but smooth after that. They wove between the cars, switching lanes constantly, only to brake hard when the car in front of them stopped, just barely avoiding a collision. There didn’t seem to be any seatbelts in the back, so Jeff just gripped the seat as best he could. He was rapidly becoming carsick with all the sudden stops.

Jeff’s adrenaline spiked when they slid between two semitrailer trucks, with mere inches of clearance on either side of the car. Jeff was sure that they would be crushed when one of the trucks started drifting into their lane, closing the gap between the two large vehicles. The taxi squirted out of the space just before it was too late. He lost count of how many near misses he witnessed. It seemed to be the norm to drive with your bumpers almost touching, and to slam on the brakes at the last possible minute to avoid crashing into other cars. It appeared chaotic, but there was a rhythm to the way people drove here. Somehow it worked.

Jeff was relieved when they got off the highway. Although the same guidelines about the acceptable distance between cars applied on the smaller roads, the speeds were lower, and there were stoplights. They entered an area with less traffic, and the driver slowed down and peered at each building as he crept the taxi along the street. Jeff guessed he didn’t know exactly where the hotel was. The driver cursed loudly, ta ma de, which made Jeff startle. He didn’t understand the words, but he got the