Heart & Seoul (3 page)

I slipped the invitation into my satchel.
Pulling my legs up onto the airport chair, I cuddled underneath his
arm.

This got his attention. His fingers dropped
from his chin, and he dipped his head, smiling that heartbreaker
smile at me.

I kissed his neck once, running my fingers
along his chest. “You okay?” I asked him.

He gathered me up close to
him. Lacing my fingers with his, he shrugged. “It’s all just so
crazy, you know? That this moment is happening. I’m going…
home
.” He shook his
head. “It’s so weird to even say that. Why does it feel weird to
say that, Lace?”

He looked down at me, questions in his eyes
I was unsure if even I had the answers for. I rubbed my cheek
against his chest. “Maybe it’s because you have two homes. Two
lives. Two families.”

He thought about that,
nodding. This trip was so important to him. I couldn’t say that
this experience might change his life. The correct word to use was:
would. This trip
would
change his life, and I’d be by his side as it did.

“What if I like it?” he asked. “What if I go
there, meet… her, and love it? What if I never want to come
home?”

I smiled. “Then I guess we have to think
about some major life choices, and you,” I paused, grabbing his
chin, “need to learn a lot more Korean.”

Though he’d been working with Natalia for a
few weeks to prepare for this trip, his Korean didn’t stretch far
past that of the traditional tourist. He could get us food, taxi
service, and if we were in a jam, the police. Of course, he also
had knowledge of quite a few other helpful things. We were getting
a translator when we got to the adoption agency. I read on the
Internet that Seoul was fairly English friendly since it was such a
big city, but if we’d be living there, he’d need to be proficient
and me at least functional. Now, I could barely say hello.

He chuckled lightly at my statement. “I
suppose you’re right.” He kissed the back of my hand, sending
shivers throughout my body. The small brush of his lips actually
managed to bud my nipples. Only he could do that to me, and I loved
it. He looked down at me. “You’d live in Seoul for me?”

I cocked my head at the question. “You’re
acting like you didn’t hop across the pond to live in Paris with
me.”

“What about your acting?”

He was referring to the show I recently got
the lead in. I was going to act in the big theater starting this
fall. Just like my mama. “So I finish it up, but I can act
anywhere, Drake. You’re forgetting there’s only one of you.”

A subtle smile creased his full lips. He
leaned down, brushing my mouth with light kisses. “You’re too good
to me.”

I silenced my moan. “I think you’ve got that
the other way around.”

Our moment of PDA was short lived when the
airline agent announced boarding for our gate. She started with
first class, so that was us. I didn’t think it was necessary to fly
in the expensive class, but Drake had already bought the tickets
when he asked me to come to Seoul with him. I still hated he spent
so much money and had asked about exchanging them for coach, but he
refused, stating he wanted me to be comfortable while we traveled.
He’d been very protective and conscious of me since my accident. I
told him I’d be fine, but when he stressed this was a fourteen-hour
flight, I didn’t fight him on the decision for very long.

Dropping his foot from his carry-on, he went
to grab my bag and his.

I touched his arm. “Wait. I have a gift I
want you to open before we go.”

He eyed me curiously as I got the plastic
bag from my carry-on. I didn’t have time to wrap it since I went
out last night to buy it. I had to wait until Drake fell asleep, so
it was pretty late. He was up half the night making sure all our
travel preparations were taken care of.

He stared at the parcel I placed on his lap.
“You bought me a gift?”

I nodded, practically bouncing in my seat in
anticipation. “Open it.”

Rather slowly, he did, his eyes trained on
me. “I didn’t know it was my birthday.”

“
It’s not. I just thought
this was fitting after yesterday.”

“
Yesterday?”

“
Mmmhmm.”

He opened his mouth to, I assume, question
me further, but he stopped after he got the item out of the bag. He
held up the small device, a black handheld camera. His eyes
flickered from it to me, and he smiled.

“
I just thought we should
document everything so we can remember it forever,” I said, hoping
he liked it.

He touched his fingers to my lower back,
guiding me to him. I tilted my head back, touching his warm lips
with mine.

“
Too good to me,” he
whispered, and my heart fluttered knowing that he liked his
gift.

Chapter Four

We were in the final hour, the sun in the
distance as we traveled through the clouds above. Drake was staring
out of the window, taking it all in. I made sure he had the window
seat. He should be able to see everything.

I secured the camera on my hand, propping it
up to bug him with it again. “Wave to the camera, baby.”

He turned. Though he looked a bit sleepy—we
both slept the final few hours of our connecting flight in our
plush seats—he was smiling. Lifting his hand, he gave a small
wave.

I giggled. “Now, we have to log everything.
Tell everyone who you are, the time, and what’s about to
happen.”

He tossed his head back, laughing. “Are you
going to make me regret doing this?”

I pouted. “Play along. We want our future
selves to remember everything.”

“All right.” He sat up, being professional.
“Well, future self, my name is Drake as you know. Behind the camera
is my fiancée, also known as your beautiful wife, Lacey.”

I flipped the camera, giving a toothy grin
into it before turning it back to him.

“The time is 7:04 a.m. Seoul time,” he said,
checking his phone. “The time in Chicago: 5:04 p.m.—yesterday. So
we are officially in the future.”

I had to laugh at that. We were time
travelers.

Dropping his phone in his lap, his lips
lifted. “As far as what’s about to happen, I’m almost home.”

♥ ♥ ♥

Drake and I were greeted with a pleasant
surprise after we retrieved our bags from baggage claim. We
expected to hail a cab to our hotel, but there was a man dressed in
all black waiting for us with a sign that had our names on it. He
looked to be a local of East Asian descent.

Curiously, we went over to him. He had on
the brightest smile, and his face was very kind.

He bowed to us. “Mr. Drake, Ms. Douglas,
allow me to introduce myself,” the man said, his voice heavily
accented. “My name is Han, and I am one of Mr. Jason Harrison’s
assigned drivers while he is here in Seoul.”

My mouth dropped opened. “Jason is here?
What is he doing here? Where is he?” I gazed around, so excited.
Though I hadn’t seen my former colleague and friend from Paris in
months, we’d kept up constant communication through email. The last
I heard, the opera he stared in was still in its extended run
before they toured it in Europe, so I was surprised to hear of him
here.

“He is currently on a commercial shoot, but
has requested you both to have the use of one of his drivers while
you are here. It would be an honor to drive you.” He bowed
again.

I did mention to Jason that my fiancé and I
were planning a trip to South Korea. I had no idea he would be here
working while we did. He did ask me a lot of specific questions
about it now that I think about it. He must have been trying to
coordinate my arrival with the driver. That was so nice of him to
think about me. He was such a sweetheart.

“He also requests that you have dinner with
him this evening if you are not too tired from your travels,” Han
continued.

I went to Drake for reference. This was so
much more his trip than mine. Though he stressed he wanted our time
spent here to also be a mini vacation before our wedding, we both
knew that was second to his search for his mother.

His expression read he couldn’t be more okay
with it. “Sounds good to me. I think it’s time I met the guy who
took care of my fiancée while she was in Paris.”

I snuggled up on his arm, and he kissed my
hair. I wanted him to meet Jason too.

♥ ♥ ♥

Drake and I watched the action of the busy
streets of Seoul through the tinted window. There were so many
people. So much life and activity. There weren’t many times I was
so blatantly aware of my race, but being here was definitely a bit
of a cultural shock. Not in a bad way, though. Just different. I
wondered if Drake felt the opposite. He grew up in an area that
wasn’t diverse at all. Perhaps, for the first time, he wouldn’t be
so aware of his ethnicity here. I had my video camera out to gauge
his reactions. We needed to record everything. When he noticed my
spying, he simply gave me a wink, then gazed out the window
again.

We arrived at our hotel, an angled beacon in
the sky. It was seriously taller than anything else around it and
glistened in the South Korea sun. I shifted my camera to take it
all in.

“We’re here, Ms. Douglas. Mr. Drake,” Han
said, grinning proudly at the establishment.

He helped us out of the car with our bags,
then promised to be back promptly at five for dinner. He left
instructions on how to contact him if we ever needed anything or
wanted to go anywhere.

Drake checked us in, and I couldn’t put my
camera down. The place was seriously awesome. Everything was so
shiny and bright, down to the doorknobs on the doors.

Drake led me to our new home for the next
few days, which I quickly found out was a two-room suite with
awesome views of the city. I rushed over with the camera to the
suite’s largest window in the sitting area and shot the busy
streets below. There looked to be some kind of shopping district
ahead with flashing lights.

After capturing the excitement outside, I
maneuvered around our suite, getting in shots of the large marble
bathroom with the whirlpool tub. I saved the bedroom for last, and
it was a good thing I did. I practically fell to the floor it was
so ritzy. The bed had to be a California king it was so big, and it
was also amazingly… fluffy.

I hopped onto the puffy surface, bouncing on
my knees. Drake made it into the room and lounged against the
doorjamb, a small smile on his face.

“You like it I take it?” he asked.

Like there was ever any doubt I would. This
place was amazing. “It’s so great, baby.”

He pushed off the door, and my camera
refocused on his large frame. “I’m glad. My parents stayed at this
hotel when they first came to the adoption agency. This was where
they were that whole week. The week they first met me before they
adopted me. They visited Seoul quite a few times during the
process.”

I stopped bouncing. Tilting my head, I
couldn’t stop smiling. “Really?”

He plopped down to the bed on his side,
resting on his elbow. “Yeah, they did. For this trip, my mom took
care of the arrangements for us. She said we’d like it here.”

I moved closer to him, placing the camera to
rest on my hip to make sure he was in the shot. “So what’s our plan
for everything? What do we do first?”

“Well, we have an appointment at the
adoption agency first thing tomorrow. They’ll give me everything
they have and I go from there.”

I nodded. “What do we do until then?”

He angled his hand along the curve of my
hip, and I sucked in a breath. His lips curled up to the side; he
knew exactly what he was doing. He slid the camera out of my hand,
clasping it shut and placing it behind him.

“I can think of some things,” he said.
Pushing himself up, he pulled me underneath him, enveloping me with
his large body. “Some outside.” He placed a sweet kiss on my jaw.
“Some inside.”

Sliding his hand between my thighs, he
traced the seam of the leg of my jeans with his finger. I swallowed
as he moved along it, eventually brushing over my heat. I could
feel his touch burning through the material; particularly when he
placed a solid hand on my mound.

“
Yeah?” I said, sucking in
a breath. I didn’t know how I managed to respond to what he’d said,
but I did.

He nodded and surprised me when he pulled
back and freed his hand from my body. He cocked his head. “Though,
I have a feeling we should probably go out since we won’t know how
long it will be before we return here.”

Darn it. He was right about that. I pushed
my hands around his neck. “So what do you want to do then?”

He ran a large hand up and down my forearm.
“You choose. There are a bunch of things within walking distance.
Shopping, food, an indoor amusement park—”