I held Cheon’s hand as we walked into the elevator. Her palm felt cool against mine, but I could sense her pulse hamring through her wrist. She was nervous. Good. Nervous ant real. Nervous ant she cared about what happened next.
"Penthouse," I said, swiping my keycard and watching her eyes widen as the elevator shot upward without stopping at any other floors.
She didn’t say anything during the ride up. Just stood there looking like soone had replaced the uptight class rep with an actual human woman. Her hair was down. Black dress hugging curves I’d suspected existed under that buttoned-up uniform. Makeup subtle enough that most guys wouldn’t notice, but I did.
The dress was new. Tags probably cut off in the store bathroom. The perfu was expensive. Not hers. Borrowed or purchased specifically for tonight. Everything about her scread effort.
I’d made Hae-Won Cheon, perfect student and professional pain in my ass, care enough to try.
When the elevator doors slid open directly into my apartnt, she actually gasped.
"This is your place?"
"Ho sweet ho."
I led her into the main living room with its floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Century City. Lights sparkled below us like the world’s most expensive carpet. The sun had just set, leaving the sky that perfect twilight blue that made everything look cinematic.
Cheon walked to the windows, letting go of my hand to place her palm against the glass.
"The whole city looks so small from up here."
"Wait till you see it at sunrise."
She turned to look at , catching the implication imdiately. Her cheeks flushed pink, but she didn’t run or look away. Progress.
Her eyes drifted around the apartnt, taking inventory. ra’s red jacket draped over the back of a chair. My laptop on the coffee table. A pair of won’s slippers by the couch that definitely weren’t mine.
"Is she..." Cheon started, then stopped.
"ra’s at her dorm tonight," I said, answering the question she couldn’t quite ask. "Just us."
Relief flashed across her face before she could hide it. So ra hadn’t explained everything during their girl talk. Interesting.
"Do you need anything?" I asked. "Water? Wine?"
"No, I’m fine." Cheon continued looking around the apartnt, taking small steps as if afraid to fully commit to being there. "This place is very nice."
"Yeah?" I moved closer to her, watching her body language shift from nervous exploration to focused awareness of my proximity. "It’s a little small for what I have planned."
"What do you an?"
I reached out and touched her cheek. Her skin felt softer than I’d expected. She’d put on so kind of face cream along with that perfu. Sothing light and floral that mixed with her natural scent in a way that made want to bury my face in her neck and just breathe.
"Well, if you’re my woman, you deserve to live in luxury."
Her eyes widened at the possessive statent. I watched the conflict play across her face—wanting to correct , to establish boundaries and conditions, but also responding to the primal claim in my words.
That’s when I noticed the small backpack hanging from her shoulder.
"Is that a book bag?"
She looked down at it like she’d forgotten it was there. "Yeah, I didn’t know if... if I would be coming ho tonight or not."
I couldn’t help it. I laughed. The perfect, rule-following class rep had packed an overnight bag. Probably containing perfectly folded pajamas, a toothbrush, and whatever other essentials she thought she’d need for a night of sin with the school delinquent.
Her expression shifted from embarrassnt to anger. "Don’t laugh at !"
"It’s nothing." I caught my breath, looking at her flushed cheeks and flashing eyes. Gone was the ice queen, replaced by a girl who looked ready to hit with her tiny backpack. "You are just too fucking cute, Cheon."
Before she could launch into whatever lecture she was building up to, I kissed her. Her lips were soft, tasting faintly of coffee and sothing sweet. For half a second, she remained rigid with indignation. Then she lted into , her free arm wrapping around my neck as if she needed an anchor.
I backed her against the window, feeling her body heat through the thin material of her dress. My hand slid down to her waist, pulling her hips against mine so she could feel exactly what she did to . She made a small sound in the back of her throat that went straight to my groin.
When I finally broke the kiss, her eyes remained closed for an extra beat, lips slightly parted, breathing unsteady.
"You planned for this," I said, nodding toward her bag.
Her eyes opened, defiance returning. "I like to be prepared."
"For what, exactly?"
Her cheeks flushed darker, but her voice remained steady. "You invited here. You made your intentions clear."
"And what are your intentions, Hae-Won?"
The use of her first na sent a visible shiver through her. She bit her lower lip, then looked directly in the eyes with a courage I had to respect.
"I want to finish what we started. I want to know what it feels like when the circuit completes."
Damn. Not what I expected from Miss Perfect. Not at all.
"Where did you get that dress?"
She blinked at the sudden change of subject. "I bought it today. After school."
"You went shopping specifically for tonight?"
"Yes." Her chin lifted slightly, a touch of her usual pride returning. "Is there a problem with that?"
"No problem." I ran my hand down her side, feeling the material and what lay beneath it. "I’m just imagining you in a store, picking this out, knowing you’d be wearing it for ."
"Don’t flatter yourself," she said, but there was no real bite to it. "I needed a new dress anyway."
"And the perfu? You needed that too?"
Her eyes narrowed. "Are you going to catalog everything I did to prepare, or are you going to kiss again?"
I grinned. "Both."
This ti when I kissed her, I didn’t hold back. I gave her the full force of what I’d been thinking about since that classroom. My hand slid up to cup her breast, feeling her nipple harden through the fabric of her dress. She gasped against my mouth, arching into the touch.
The drain opened between us, wider and faster than it had in the classroom. Her Essentia poured into like liquid electricity, crackling through my veins and lighting up nerves I didn’t know existed. But this ti, I focused on pushing back, on completing the circuit she’d ntioned.
I felt the exact mont when my Essentia flowed back into her. Her entire body went rigid, then trembled against . Her fingers dug into my shoulders hard enough to leave marks. A small, shocked sound escaped her throat.
"What was that?" she whispered when she could speak again.
"That’s the beginning of what I promised you." I ran my fingers through her hair, tilting her head back to look at . "When you don’t run away, when you stay present, the energy goes both ways."
"It feels..." She struggled for words.
"Different from what happened in the classroom?"
She nodded, her eyes slightly unfocused. "More."
"That was just a taste." I stepped back, taking her hand again. "Co on."
"Where are we going?"
"Bedroom."
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