Page 39 of Kiss Me

“What?” I sit up, using the blanket to cover my breasts. “That’s a story worth telling, I’m sure. Spill.”

He shakes his head with a half-smile. “Not much to it, to be honest.”

“That’s a lie if ever I heard one. Tell me.”

He sighs as if I’m putting him out in some way before suddenly wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me to sit on his lap. I squirm upon feeling his dick underneath me.

“You’re not going to hear the story if you keep squirming like that, Ginger.”

Ginger.

Yesterday it was a condescending pet name he’d given me when threatening to expose my lie.

Now, it’s beginning to sound more like a term of endearment I don’t ever want him to stop saying.

“Do you call me ginger because of how much I like ginger cookies?”

He smirks and nods. “That and it’s the same color of your eyes.”

I blink up at him. “My eyes?”

“You never noticed?”

I shake my head and clear my throat. “T-Tell me the story. About your father’s business,” I say to bring us back to the original topic.

“Fine …” he starts before going into detail about how his father was essentially pushed out of the family business by his twin brother, no less. And that’s just the beginning of the story.

“Wow,” I say, once he finishes. “You, Dae, and your sister, Jersey, not only got revenge on your uncle, well, your uncle’s company and Dae’s ex brother-in-law, you did it by nearly quadrupling your net worth.”

“All while Dae stalked the love of his life for a decade.” He chuckles.

“Yeah, that’s a little intense,” I admit. “And Jersey and your mom are now in the Bahamas for the week?” I ask, wondering why his family isn’t here with him.

He nods. “Like I told you before, we weren’t big on Christmas growing up. Since my father died, Jersey takes my mom on a vacation somewhere hot during this time of the year. We always get together for Seollal, which is the first day of the lunar calendar. And Chuseok, when my mom prepares a ridiculous amount of food and we celebrate our cultural traditions.” He smirks.

“Hmm,” I say. “It’s kind of like Korean Thanksgiving then?”

His eyes squint as he thinks about it for a second. “I suppose you could say that.”

I nod. “That’s sweet. At least you make time to spend with one another.” Shaking my head, I laugh. “Stalking cousins and all.”

Then I remember this is the man who practically blackmailed me into being his date for the night.

“The night?” he questions when I point this fact out to him. Taehyun shakes his head. “Not for the night, babe. The whole damn week.”

“Are you serious?”

“I don’t joke around when it comes to getting what I want.”

“And what is it that you want?” I ask again for probably the twentieth time.

“Still haven’t figured it out yet?”

I shake my head because no, I haven’t.

“You. Ever since the first moment I saw you.”

His words steal my breath for a moment.