Page 15 of Kiss Me

“I said?—”

“Oh my, you must be Taehyun Kim,” Liza interrupts as she enters the hallway from the elevator.

I smirk as she’s right on time.

Taehyun spins, and though I can only make out his profile, I don’t miss the way his eyes narrow on my assistant.

Instinctively, I move in front of Liza, getting in between her and the man who’s technically blackmailing me. He can say or do whatever he wants to me, but he will not get ahold of my assistant.

“I’m glad you two hadn’t left already,” Liza says, oblivious to Taehyun’s glare on her. “I thought I was going to be late. I had to go remind the front desk about tomorrow morning’s alarm time.”

She comes beside me. “I’m not late, right?”

“Nope.” I nod and glance down at my watch. “5:55.”

Liza’s perpetually early.

“And you are?” Taehyun’s deep voice interrupts.

Liza’s smile is wide as she sticks out her hand. “My apologies. I’m Liza Simmons. Tania’s assistant.”

He drops his eyes to her hand.

For a second, I think he’s going to be rude and not shake her hand. But Liza’s hand only remains empty for a beat before he takes it.

His expression quickly changes.

It brightens as he turns on a thousand-watt smile at the same time he takes her hand in his.

A breath expels from my mouth, making me realize I’d been holding it.

“I hope you don’t mind, Tania asked me to join you both this evening,” Liza says, looking between the two of us. “You know, just to help not give the impression that this is a date.”

“Did she?” Taehyun’s voice noticeably deepens as he levels a look at me.

Something bordering on wicked and sweet sparks in my chest.

“Yes, you never know when you might get bored of putting up with me and I’ll need my assistant’s help getting around,” I say as I toss a handful of my braids over my shoulder before peering down at my red sparkly nails.

“Speaking of …” Liza peers at my still opened door over my shoulder. “Where’s your crutch? After this morning’s photoshoot, you shouldn’t put too much weight on your ankle for too long.”

She doesn’t wait for me to respond before she dashes back into the suite. Though the living room area of the suite is shared between the two of us, we have separate bedrooms and bathrooms.

While I stare at my assistant’s back as she disappears into the suite, I can feel Taehyun watching me. Like a magnet, my attention is pulled back in his direction.

He drops his chin as he remains focused on me.

I don’t like the way his top lip curls in amusement. “She doesn’t know.”

Three small words but they feel like a sucker punch right to the stomach.

I tighten my lips and shake my head, everything inside of me not wanting to but ready to beg him not to tell Liza my secret.

“Found it,” Liza calls out as she exits the suite, one of my two crutches in her hand. “I know you’d freak out if I tried to bring both of them, but you should definitely have at least one. Here you go,” she doesn’t just hand me the crutch.

Liza practically lifts my arm, placing it under my right armpit. “How’s your ankle?” She reminds me of a mother checking on her kid.

“I’ve got her,” Taehyun says before I can answer.

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