License to Cuddle

4

—"Touch, when welcomed, can be grounding."

≣

Hot. Jungkook was fucking hot.

Everything burned—his ears, his neck, his face—and the exposed skin just beneath his collarbone felt uncomfortably clammy. Would it look strange to jump into the decorative fountain right behind him? Taehyung? Probably. So instead, Jungkook ran his fingers up his shirt, finding the button between his pecs and wondering if he could pop it open without drawing even more attention to himself.

"Undressing won't save you from answering my question, finance guy. Even if it is a tempting distraction."

Guess not.

Jungkook opened his mouth to deny it all—because really, he wasn't undressing or stalking or whatever else Taehyung thought—but the words died on his tongue. He wasn't stupid; he knew how this looked. Turning up at someone's place of employment after a single conversation . . . Yeah, he would be a bit creeped out if their positions were reversed.

So how did he explain to Taehyung that this was just a giant misunderstanding? That he'd been fascinated by their interaction and had only wanted to learn his name because . . .?

Well, Jungkook didn't have an explanation for that.

But he had to say something to satisfy those unanswered questions, something that wouldn't make him look more suspicious. Or foolish. Or pathetic. So he held Taehyung's searching gaze, stared back into his warm, gleaming eyes, and offered a self-deprecating chuckle.

"Do you believe in coincidences?"

"Are you saying this is a coincidence?" Something rumbled in Taehyung's throat—was it a sympathetic laugh? Or maybe a disbelieving scoff?—and his eyes sparkled even more than before. After a moment where he did nothing but assess Jungkook, he mused, "You coincidentally happened upon this place and decided you wanted to cuddle?"

"Yes. I mean, no. But—" Jungkook broke off in a huff, briefly looking towards the ceiling before returning his attention to Taehyung. "I took your advice. I looked up what you did and—"

"Whoa, wait a second," Hoseok interrupted, still behind the front desk and looking back and forth at Taehyung and Jungkook. Funny, but Jungkook had forgotten he was there. "Do you two know each other?"

"I wouldn't exactly say we know each other," Taehyung responded in a honeyed voice, the tone of it overly sweet but the depth crackling with something more mischievous. "Though I do believe finance guy got to know one part of me rather well."

Jungkook choked on a cough. "Still can't drop that, can you?"

"I can, but my ass can't."

A throat cleared to the side—Hoseok. His eyebrows were pinched together in a blend of confusion and concern as he said, "I really hope I'm misinterpreting this, but I have to ask. Did you two, uh . . . you know? I can't have clients and cuddlers . . . involved. Too much liability."

Before Jungkook could shut down that wildly inaccurate assumption, Taehyung let out another little sound again—okay, that was definitely a laugh—and responded, "No. Finance guy wasn't interested."

Hoseok considered that for a moment, pursing his lips and subtly shaking his head. And then, out of nowhere, he started snapping his fingers as he faced Jungkook. "I get it now! You prepaid for three sessions so you could spend time with Tae and—"

"No," Jungkook quickly responded, lacing that one word with as much finality as possible. For good measure, he shook his head at Taehyung and repeated, "No."