The Kiss

Chapter 20

Over the next week, Taehyung learned Lisa's rhythms.

In bed, she responded best when he went slowly and whispered dirty things in her ear, but if he wanted something more intense—anything—she was game and eager to please. He couldn't have asked for a better lover. The irony of the situation was not lost on him.

Out of bed, she thrived on routine. She got up at the same time every day, showered away evidence of their morning sex—she loved starting the day off right—had yogurt for breakfast, and stayed at the office until six o'clock. Her evenings belonged to Taehyung. When they weren't messing around like hormonal teenagers, they filled the time with long dinners, meandering conversation, and companionable silences that Taehyung had never experienced with a real girlfriend.

Saturday night, after spending the day perusing one of the Seocho-gu museums and taking turns making outlandish comments about the art, they watched another episode of Laughing in the Wind in bed. Well, she was watching it. He was watching her as he combed his fingers through her long hair.

She rested her head against his shoulder, eyes on the large screen mounted on her bedroom wall. From time to time, she gasped or stiffened in reaction to the film, and her bare legs shifted beneath the hem of the oversized white T-shirt she wore—his T-shirt from the very first night they'd spent together.

He didn't know how to describe the way he felt seeing her in his clothes, knowing she'd kept his shirt and had been wearing it to sleep all this time, but it was really good. He'd been feeling like this a lot lately—basically, anytime Lisa smiled, demanded a kiss, or crossed the room to be near him, but also when they weren't together. He'd spent the entire past week in a euphoric high, grinning for no other reason than he was thinking of her.

No doubt about it.

Taehyung was stupid in love.

He knew this was temporary, knew it wasn't real, knew it couldn't possibly end well, but he'd done what no escort should do anyway. He'd fallen for his client.

"So she saved his life, but now she's hiding behind that curtain pretending to be a grandma. Is he ever going to see her face?" Lisa asked, drawing his attention back to the screen. "Is she the one he falls for?"

"Do you really want me to tell you?"

She thought about it for several seconds before nodding. "Yes. Tell me."

He laughed as he pulled her closer and kissed her temple. So thoughtful and serious but so quirky, too. He loved that about her. "Too bad. You'll have to watch it to find out." Because he couldn't help it, he kissed her jaw and nipped at her ear. God, it felt good having her near. He'd been made to love her.

She crossed her arms. "Why won't she let him see her? It's clear she likes him."

"It's because she knows they can never be together."

"Why not?"

"Her dad is a villain." Which reminded Taehyung of himself and his own fuckhead of a dad and shredded his insides to pieces.

"She isn't bad, though," she said stubbornly. "They can work it out."

He said nothing. The heroine in the movie wasn't a bad person, but the jury was still out on Taehyung. He tried to be good, but when things got hard and he felt like his life was strangling him, awful, seductive thoughts ran through his head. Shortcuts, easy ways to freedom, clever sneaky things. He knew people. It would be so easy to take advantage of them. There was very little preventing him from doing exactly that, nothing but a shaky code of ethics and the desire not to follow in his dad's footsteps.