Page 23 of Shark 2

He sat down beside me on the bed, silent for a bit before he finally reached over and smoothed some hair back from my face. “You’ve been awfully troubled lately. Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not much to say,” I whispered back, not wanting Reed to hear. “It’s not up to me at this point.”

He ran a hand up and down my arm, soothing me a bit with his touch. The male may have been grumpy often, but I knew he truly cared for me. “We are here for you and aren’t going anywhere.”

“You don’t know that for sure,” I whispered back, tears building in my eyes. I quickly blinked them away and sat up. “How are my parents doing? You’ve been staying late to help them with more than just the restaurant, haven’t you?”

He nodded and looked down at his hands in his lap. “They are getting older, less able to complete tasks they normally would. We are helping them as much as we can.”

I set my hand on top of his. “Thank you. That’s something that’s been weighing on my mind, so I appreciate that you two have stepped up to help them. It should really be me helping them.”

“They are pushing us to complete our bonds,” Jong-hyun said. “Very pushy.”

I laughed and shook my head. “Mother never thought I’d find someone, so I think she wants to ensure she sees me fully bonded before … you know.” I didn’t want to even say it, just thinking about them not being around anymore hurt. I may not see them often, but they were always in my thoughts. I needed to go visit them more.

“They have threatened us in a variety of ways,” Jong-min said.

“Each more creative than the last,” Jong-hyun said.

“Threatened you?” I asked and looked up at them.

“They’ve heard about … his indecision and they are worried about you,” Jong-min answered.

“Please don’t let their threats sway you,” I said, eyes wide. Mother might be able to curse them, but I didn’t think she would. I hoped …

He smiled and leaned forward to rub our noses together. “Silly woman, we won’t.”

Pressing forward, I kissed him on the lips.

He responded, wrapping his arms around me as he kissed me back. His hands slid up my back, rubbing and soothing at the same time they excited me.

“Dinner time,” Reed announced as he walked into the room through the open adjoining door.

Jong-min leaned back and smiled at me. “Yes, we should feed the piranha. Her stomach is growling very loud.”

It wasn’t just my stomach that was hungry.

“Food would be good,” I said and licked my lips.

Jong-min smirked, the cocky bastard, and kissed my cheek. “Later you can have other desserts,” he said, stood, and walked towards the door.

Tease!

11

The restaurant they took me to was swanky with low lighting, velvet curtains along the walls, deep, recessed booths with high walls so you didn’t have to see other patrons, and soft instrumental music playing to keep noise down so you didn’t overhear others.

They had insisted I sit in the center of the u-shaped booth, Jong-min and Jong-hyun taking the spots on either side of me and Reed and Grant taking the end seats.

I nearly choked on my own spit when I read the prices of just the appetizers.

Setting the menu down, I smiled at Reed and said, “I’ll just let you order for me since everything on the menu looks good.”

He returned my smile and set his menu down as well. “I can do that.”

Grant waved down our waiter and ordered our drinks, getting me a margarita.

“So, tomorrow is the start of the tournament?” I asked.

---