Payback AU: What If

Bonus Act - From Inside the Ashes (M)

A bright summer night. A nice dinner. A little flirting to go with the meal. Only, I would prefer not to hear any of that in the middle of a freaking restaurant.

When I came out of the seminar building to sneak out into a black car parked nearby, I didn't think Jay would look at me like I was something being served on a platter. The pale eyes scrutinized me from top to bottom until I felt naked.

"What?" I backed into the edge of my seat, back pressed against the window.

"I wonder..." Jay murmured with narrowed eyes that trailed on the white shirt and black blazer I had worn, down to the tight-fit dark jeans.

"...about?"

"I wonder how many seconds it will take me to strip you off."

I put one hand on the car's door slot in a threatening manner until his predatory smile turned into laughter, and the car drove away to our dinner.

But my joy of being served the best steak I ever had was short-lived when I saw Jay spend more time watching me than eating the food himself, and asked the man about it.

"You look more delicious than the food."

In the middle of the waiter refilling our water. In the middle of a crowded restaurant. The only saving grace was that he said it in Korean, so I think it saved me from the embarrassment of having people glance in our direction. Still, I almost choked on the meat, and I was pretty sure my face was bright red. Only, not even I could be sure whether it was because I almost died of suffocation or because of this strange heat that started to spread inside.

And Yoon Jay's way of smiling seductively at that wasn't helping either.

The man really projected his intention through every means. Through that pale eyes than gleamed dangerously from time to time, through the sweet, gentle voice he used no matter the occasion, and the soft, airy caress on my skin that was always calculatedly "accidental". It was maddening. It sets me on edge every time.

Scientifically, the heat was something that transferrable from one body to another. And it seemed like the same thing also held true for the fire of desire within one's heart. Because as much as I wanted to deny it, I could feel that heat emanated from Jay affecting me.

Could it be that horniness also contagious?

Of course, I should know. Yoon Jay was a bundle of sexual drive, and the last time we did it was before I got flooded with seminar material and preparation to go abroad. The man must've been itching. It was actually a miracle of self-restraint that he didn't pounce on me that first time I opened the hotel room.

And it wasn't like I was a prude either.

I just hoped that he could tone it down in public, you know...

Would it kill the man to limit his flirting to when there were just the two of us? It didn't even need to be completely in an enclosed space.

Like inside the car?

Scientifically, heat also expands in confined spaces. It can rise the temperature inside, making it hard for someone to breathe. Or think. Or keep their prudent rationale together.

I glance at the man that was inserting the key car, and then at the dark basement parking lot.

What was it, the source of the heat? Was it all the meat I ate? Or was it the seductive gaze and sweet voice? I felt like the heat of summer was especially nasty tonight. Make people want to do impulsive things.

It was dim and quiet. A desolate corner.

"Do I," I leaned on the car seat, looking out the window, tapping unconsciously at the locked hand brake, "still look delicious?"