Authors: Sarah G.
Kai glanced at the waitress before
turning to face Noel. “Just a cola thanks.”
“Anything
else
?” the waitress all
but purred, looking deep into Kai’s eyes, completely ignoring the fact that he
was holding hands with another woman.
“No thank you,” Kai replied in an icy
tone Noel had never heard before. “Actually miss, I
do
need something
else.”
“Yes,” the one word filled with
expectation as she tossed her fashionably coiffed hair over her shoulder.
“Your name.” The request was icily
polite.
“Candy.”
“Good. Now I need for you to bring the club
manager here so that I can report your rude behavior towards my
lady
to
him.”
Noel’s face remained politely blank but
inwardly she cheered,
take that bitch
.
“You may be looking for a new position
soon…Candy,” Kai said, his smile sweetly venomous.
Candy sputtered her apology, finally
looking directly at Noel who pretended boredom. “That’s all right sweetie. I’ll
just have water.”
Chastened and obviously frightened at
the notion of losing her job, Candy scurried down the steps as if she were
being chased by monsters. A few minutes later as requested, the manager of the
club who appeared no older than the rude waitress appeared and after hearing
Kai’s complaint apologized profusely and sent up a complimentary bottle of
Veuve Cliquot on the house along with another waitress named Sydney who was far
more attentive and even more interested in Noel.
Between the expensive champagne and the
fun-loving members of T4L, Noel couldn’t remember a time when she had this much
of a blast. After several toasts and Young doing his best Jay-Z impersonation,
it was time to hit the dance floor.
The guys damn near turned out the place,
showing off for Noel and putting the rest of America on notice that Korean men
had soul. She could barely catch a breath before Kwan, Young or Boom grabbed
her for another dance.
“Okay brat, my turn now,” growled Kai
over the loud music and grabbed his woman by her waist. Kwan grinned like an
idiot and quickly found himself another partner—a young black woman who was
definitely interested in more than just his slick moves.
The hyper-fast techno beat wasn’t slow
dance material but Kai didn’t care. In the middle of a crowded dance floor, he
held her close, swaying his hips in a slow and delicious bump n’ grind, and
Noel had no complaints.
“I thought you’d forgotten about me,”
Noel teased as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“That’s impossible. I was just being
polite,” Kai replied, whispering hotly into her ear.
When the tempo morphed into a slower
hip-hop track, Noel spun around, her back to his front and began working her
hips against him. She gasped when she felt Kai’s semi-hardness against her.
Damn he had rhythm, Noel thought
wickedly, wanting to take said rhythm to bed. They had to be putting on an
exhibition that would have them ejected from the club, but no one was paying
them the least bit of attention.
The club was hot, but the two of them
were hotter as the music melted into one long song that had no beginning or
end. Nothing mattered save Kai’s sinuous movements against her body, his lips
hovering close to hers.
When he grabbed her hands pulling her
towards the exit, Noel was more than ready to go. For a moment she considered
what the rest of the guys might have thought, but Kai seemed intent upon
getting them alone as soon as possible.
Once they were outside Noel breathed in
the fresh air, but the coolness of the early morning did nothing to cool her
blood. Kai flagged down a taxi and when it stopped, he opened the door and
motioned her inside before sliding in after her, all the while saying nothing
but the look in his eyes spoke volumes.
“The Biltmore,” he ordered in a husky
voice that thrilled Noel to the core. “Extra if you can get us there in fifteen
minutes.”
As if completely oblivious to the third
party in the car Kai leaned into Noel’s neck and began to nibble sensuously on
the tender skin.
Noel fought back a moan as she spared a
quick glance at the driver whose eyes were focused on the road. She tried
halfheartedly to distract his mouth and his naughty fingers that seemed intent
on trying to undress her in the back of the cab.
“Is it ok for you to leave without your
bodyguards?”
“We’re fine,” Kai breathed by her ear,
before taking the lobe into his mouth.
“What are you some kind of celebrity or
something,” the driver asked.
“No,” Kai responded abruptly, his lips
sliding back to the lobe he was nibbling on.
“Then what do you need bodyguards for?”
Glaring at the nosy driver, Kai said
sharply, “I just do.”
Noel shook with laughter when the cabbie
continued, oblivious to Kai’s increasing irritation “That’s not a good enough
answer. You ain’t in one of them gangs are you? What is it called? The Yakuza?
I don’t need any trouble in my car.”
His words caused Noel to double over
laughing. With a less than amused look Kai responded, “That’s Japanese, I’m
Korean
.”
He muttered something under his breath that Noel who didn’t speak a lick of
Korean automatically knew wasn’t complimentary.
Luckily for everyone they pulled up to the
hotel a few minutes later. Kai helped Noel from the car then paid the driver
who kept staring at him, seemingly trying to figure out who he was.
Taking Noel’s arm, they strolled into
the lobby once again, practically empty save for a bored-looking concierge.
Once inside the enclosed space of the elevator, Kai boxed Noel in against the
corner, his eyes filled with eagerness to get her out of her clothes.
“You thought that was funny?”
Noel’s brain had been between her legs
so the question caught her off guard. “What?”
Kai’s seductive purr was turning her
legs to jelly. “You know what. That stupid cab driver who thought I was Yakuza.
You thought that was funny, didn’t you?”
His face was so close, his lips even
closer. Noel struggled to maintain some sanity when what she really wanted to
do was to jump his bones. “It was kind of funny.”
“Was it now,” Kai whispered hotly
against her skin. “It’s bad form to laugh at someone, you know?”
“Is it now,” she replied saucily as his
mouth lowered to meet hers and she never got an answer and she didn’t care as
Kai’s tongue teased her senses. Her hands rested on the broad shoulders as they
kissed as if they had all the time in the world and not in a public elevator.
Kai ground his hips against hers,
letting her know implicitly what he wanted. She lifted one leg and rested it
daringly at his hip. He ran a covetous hand up her denim-clad thigh. He
fingered the seam of her jeans. Noel made a mewling noise that only served to
make Kai harder.
Like a bucket of cold water the subtle
chime of the elevator reaching their floor tamped down the hothouse atmosphere.
Within moments, Kai’s hand was gone from her thigh. The doors parted and if
anyone had been waiting, they would have noticed nothing amiss about a couple
who looked romantically inclined.
Kai escorted her to her suite.
“You wanna come in?”
The dark eyes instantly lit up and yet
he seemed suddenly hesitant. “Yes I do, but I don’t want you to feel pressured
to do anything. I know tonight…”
Noel placed a finger over his lips. “I
don’t feel pressured about anything, in spite of what just happened in the
elevator.” She wagged her eyebrows at him. “I just want to spend some time with
you. We can just talk you know?”
Kai nodded as she slid the
keycard into the lock and followed Noel into her room.
“Make yourself comfortable,” Noel said
over her shoulder as she headed into the bedroom. “Be right back.”
Kai toed his shoes off, shucked his
leather jacket and walked over to the sofa, where he draped himself
comfortably, trying not to think of Noel naked. He turned his head when he
heard Noel lightly pad into the living room area. She’d changed from the sexy
outfit into an oversized button-down shirt.
Oh god, Kai groaned inwardly and swore
softly in Korean. There was
nothing
sexier than a woman wearing a guy’s
shirt with almost nothing or nothing underneath it. His eyes eagerly ran up the
length of her silky brown legs that peeked from the hem of the shirt and he
wondered if she was wearing panties underneath. Suddenly, talking was a lame
idea.
Noel plopped down on the opposite end of
the couch. After some moments of heated silence where both simply stared at
each other wondering what next, Noel asked lamely, “So what should we talk
about?”
He tried not to stare at her mouth or
look down to see if she were wearing anything beneath that damn shirt. “Tell me
more about you?”
She shrugged, the gesture causing the
shirt to dip a bit in the front, hinting at the swell of her breasts. “Compared
to you there’s not much to say. I’m pretty boring.”
“Not true,” he grinned. “You live in Las
Vegas.”
“So do a lot of people. It’s like any
other city, except that we’ve got Elvis and showgirls,” she chuckled. “I moved
to Las Vegas five years ago to go to school and that’s it.”
“What about your family?”
Noel’s eyes shadowed slightly. “They
died when I was young and I was raised by my grandmother. I don’t have any
brothers or sisters.”
He wanted to take Noel into his arms; instead
he said, “I’m sorry to bring up bad memories, Noel.”
“Don’t worry about it. My life wasn’t
all doom and gloom you know? Grandma made me a pretty tough cookie or else I
wouldn’t have been able to move across the country and start a new life.” When
Kai fell silent, Noel urged him to talk. “Come on now, your turn. Tell me all
about the glamorous life of a pop star.”
Kai regarded her archly. “It’s not all
that
glamorous.”
“Compared to working in a fake-tropical
diner it is.”
“I don’t know. Sometimes I wish I had a
less stressful life. At least I can be more in charge of it than I am. The
entertainment industry in Korea is very controlling.”
“That’s what Kami, Rachael’s little
sister, told me.”
He shook his head bitterly. “You don’t
know the half of it.”
Noel reached out and lightly patted him
on the hand. “If you don’t mind my asking, why get into the music business in
the first place?”
Kai ran a finger through his hair.
“I
hate
the business. I
love
music and I love performing. If I
could do the last two without having to deal with the crap of the business, I’d
be happy.” Noel nodded her understanding as he continued. “Most people don’t
know that I was actually born here and after my parents died, I moved to Seoul
to live with my Uncle. The record company for some reason doesn’t like to talk
about the fact that I’m not native-born Korean, so they just let everyone
assume I am, like it’s some kind of horrible secret.”
“You lost your parents too,” Noel said
softly. “Wow. Talk about having something like that in common.”
Again the heavy silence fell between
them, each lost in their own thoughts, though Kai’s were far more salacious as
Noel tucked a leg underneath her body.
“I started piano lessons when I turned
five. It took my mind off missing my parents and how unhappy I was living in
this strange country. Music became my outlet, though the instructors were
always complaining to my uncle about my habit of playing American songs rather
than all that boring classical stuff they insisted I learn.” Their eyes met as
they chuckled at the same time. “They wanted me to play Rachmaninoff and I
wanted to play The Jackson Five.”
Noel wagged her finger at him. “Aha,
that explains why you like soul music so much.”
“Guilty as charged. Anyway, by the
time I turned thirteen, my uncle decided to become my manager and started
pushing me to different companies.”
“Companies?”
“What you would call in labels over
here. I was supposed to be in two other boy groups before I met Boom, Kwan, and
Young. We got together when I was about 16, I think.”
“What about G.K.?”
“He’s my cousin.” The admission seemed
hard for him to admit.
Noel’s mouth dropped. “G.K. is your
cousin
?”
“Yeah he is.”
The new revelation caused Noel to
nervously chew on her bottom lip in light of his reaction to her presence. “Hey
what’s wrong? Why are you so quiet?”
Deciding to tell the truth Noel said,
“It’s just that I don’t think your cousin likes me all that much.”
Kai wasn’t certain if that were true,
but he also felt loyalty to his cousin. “G.K. has always been a little aloof
when it comes to meeting new people,” he replied offhandedly though deep inside
he harbored the same fear. “It seems strange considering what we do, but that’s
just his way.”
Noel looked at him skeptically.
“I’m serious. He’s always suspicious of
new people.”
Noel shrugged, still not convinced but
willing to let the subject drop for the moment. There was little choice in the
matter since Kai was distracting her, his hand slowly and tantalizingly moving
up her thigh.
“What are you doing?” His touch
made her shiver deliciously and she held her breath as the warm palm found its
way to the hem of her shirt. A few inches more and he’d be near the leg opening
of her shorts.
“Trying to distract you.” Kai’s hand glided
against the sensitive skin of her inner thigh and Noel let out a deep sigh. She
hummed as he began tracing enticing swirls on her leg.
“I take it that I’m making you happy, am
I correct
Jahgi
?”
Noel struggled to maintain her
equilibrium while that hand played havoc with her senses.
“So, what instruments do you play?” she
asked breathlessly.
His eyes were half-lidded, seductive.
“Piano, guitar, drums, and I’m pretty good at the saxophone. Why?”
“You have beautiful hands.”
“Is it just my hands you like or what
I’m doing with them?”
Feeling daring, Noel placed a hand on
Kai’s chest, his quick heartbeat under his hard chest seemed to be her undoing.
Moving closer to him, she leaned over
and placed her lips on his. Like a gentleman he let her set the pace. She
placed small nipping kisses along his mouth before settling her mouth firmly on
his. Kai’s fingers remained on her thigh, content for the moment just to have
that contact.
Noel slid her tongue into his mouth
where it met his in sweeping strokes. Her hands left his chest to run through
his thick dark hair. Kai’s hand tightened on her thigh as he battled the
overwhelming need for more. Pulling his mouth away from hers Kai lowered his
head to her throat, biting the sensitive pulse there then soothing the sting
away. When Noel gasped he once again covered her mouth with his.
She tasted like fresh fruit and
something uniquely her. Kai wanted to drown in it, wanted to kiss her until
that taste was forever imprinted in his mind. Nothing had ever tasted this good
to him, and he couldn’t get enough. Sliding his hands under her bottom Kai
effortlessly pulled Noel onto his lap.
She rolled her hips against Kai’s
burgeoning hard-on. His large hands gripped her sinfully round derriere as he
let his head fall back against the back of the sofa. It felt so good as the
little minx continued rotating her hips against him, hands resting on his
shoulders. It felt
too
good and his willpower was fading fast.
With a disappointed groan wrested from
somewhere within him that still had some semblance of gentlemanly behavior, Kai
lifted Noel off his lap and rested her gently against the couch.
Kai said simply, answering her
questioning look. “We should wait.”
Noel looked at him with an incredulous
expression. “Wait? Wait for what?”
Those deep brown eyes full of desire
almost did him in, but he held back. “Wait until I can make it special.”
Before she could try his patience once
more, he cut off any protests with a sweet, yet powerful kiss full of promise.
“No. I want our first time to be perfect.”
Noel pouted prettily and flounced away
from him like a little girl having a tantrum. The gesture made him smile. He
took her face in his hands and kissed her again. “I never said it would be a
long wait,
Jahgi
. I just want it to be good for you, okay? Besides,” and
he placed a teasing finger at the seam of her lips, “I don’t think I can wait
that long.”
He stood up and held his hand out to
her. “Now come on, we’re going to bed.”
“What? I thought you said…”
“We’re not going to make love Noel. I
just want to fall asleep with you in my arms.”
“Um, I don’t know if that’s such a good
idea,” Noel said, her eyes focused downward on the noticeable bulge in his
jeans.
“I can control myself if you can,” he
whispered teasingly. Her response was to throw a pillow at him.
Two things woke him up the next morning,
the annoying chime of his cell phone and a wicked hard-on that was getting
worse by the minute. His aroused state wasn’t being helped by the slow, lazy
circles Noel idly drew upon his chest.
Kai relaxed as best he could into her
touch, although he had to admit sleeping next to her had been the best rest
he’d had in a while. There was something comforting about her, the way she laid
her head trustingly against his chest, an errant curl gently tickling his skin.
He loved the way she felt in his arms, so soft and yielding. For a moment he
was tempted to wake her up in a way that would have her screaming his name, but
he’d meant what he’d told her. He wanted their first time together to be
special.
His cell phone rang again. Reluctantly
Kai slowly disentangled himself from Noel and padded silently into the
bathroom.
Checking his phone he saw he’d missed
several calls from G.K. and one from his uncle. Given the short amount of time between
each from his cousin, it would have been safe to say that G.K. was not happy.
G.K. didn’t waste time on good morning
after he picked up on the first ring. “Where the hell are you? You’re supposed
to be here at rehearsal!”
Kai rubbed sleep from his eyes. “What?
What time is it?”
“What do you mean, what time is it,”
G.K. demanded in Korean. “It’s after ten o’clock!”
“Shit!” Kai shook himself fully awake.
“Look, give me fifteen minutes okay?” Without waiting for a reply Kai ended the
call.
As he quickly showered and dressed he
knew he should have felt some remorse for not being at rehearsal on time but he
didn’t. Never in his life had he been late to anything related to T4L, but last
night he’d been in something akin to his own personal heaven, snuggled up next
to Noel and he had no regrets.
When he emerged from the bathroom, Noel
was still asleep, curled up on her side with a sweet little smile on her face.
His heart filled with longing. She was so beautiful, so trusting, so honest.
How amazing was it, he mused while tying up the sneakers he’d worn yesterday,
that the woman of his dreams wasn’t some famous celebrity or model, but a
waitress at a restaurant in Las Vegas, and she was far more lovely than any
fake starlet.
And her body…Kai had to restrain himself
from blowing off rehearsal and climbing back in bed with her. He’d explored
those tantalizing curves last night, her nightshirt covered a little, but
certainly not enough.
Before he left he scribbled a quick note
and placed it on the pillow next to her head, then bent down and lightly
brushed his lips against her warm, fragrant cheek. She smiled and stirred but
did not wake.
“See you tonight,
Jahgi
,” he
whispered, and then walked out of the room.
Noel sleepily reached out for Kai but
sat up quickly when her hands met the empty and cold place beside her. She
rolled over and fingers met a small piece of paper.
Good Morning, Noel.
Had to go to rehearsal.
See you at the show tonight, baby!
Kai
Noel smiled at the endearment, thinking of
how cute it was because he always pronounced it with stress on the first
syllable. The note and the warm feeling of having slept in his arms made her
almost jump for joy. She stretched languorously and decided to linger a little
longer in bed, holding the pillow Kai’s head had lain upon close to her body.