8

The next couple of weeks are a blur of a perfect pleasure.

Every day, I climb out of Jungkook's enormous, ridiculously comfortable four-poster king-sized bed, take care of the twins, then pad down the hall to the office with Haru and Areum in tow, making sure they have something to occupy them while I get the filing done.

I spend the day organizing, booking meetings, setting up future travel—and, not gonna lie, slightly dreading the times that I have to book trips for him.

Granted, the next time he plans to travel for work isn't for another couple of months, but a part of me still stares sadly at the week on the calendar when he'll be in London, already anticipating how much I'll miss him.

Every evening, Jungkook returns to the apartment—usually with flowers or a present for Haru and Areum, new clothes he saw that he just couldn't pass up, or a cute toy.

"You're going to spoil them rotten," I scolded him one evening when he showed up with a full playpen, complete with a mobile in the shape of the galaxy.

"I can only hope to be lucky enough to do so," he responded as he swooped in to kiss my cheek. And then nibble his way down my neck… And then drag me into the bedroom, where he threw me onto the bed, flipped my legs over his shoulders and fvcked me senseless until we were both screaming or orgasms.

But a part of my mind can't quite accept that this is my life.

That I've been living in this gorgeous penthouse, with this gorgeous man, who pampers both me and my babies every single day.

Part of me is waiting for the other shoe to drop.

For the catch—because there's always a catch.

I feel it in a knot in my stomach, even as Jungkook and I strolled through a park near his penthouse at sunset, him pushing the stroller, my hand resting over his.

The sunset that night was beautiful, stunning, we sat in the park watching it for half an hour, smiling and laughing and talking about his day at work, my day with the babies.

Even then, even in the middle of that perfect moment, I couldn't quite accept it.

He felt too good to be true.

It's been three weeks since we first met when I came home from shopping with the twins to find a strange woman standing in the apartment.

At first, I freeze, tensing, that knot in my gut unfurling.

Then she smiles and waves at the babies in the stroller. "You must be Haru and Areum," she coos.

"And you are...?" I ask, still nervous, on-edge. Why can't I just relax and trust that for once, things are going my way in life?

"Lisa." She straightens to offer me a hand. "Mr Jeon hired me to help out with the babies for the night."

I frown, my eyebrows contracting. "To help out? But, we didn't…"

Just then, Jungkook steps out of the bedroom and knocks the breath out of me.

Well, to be fair, he does that most of the time, whenever I see him. He's always resplendent.

But today he's extra decked out, in a formal tux rather than his usual suit.

"Taehyung," he purrs in greeting, and my heart does a funny little flip-flop at the sound of him saying my name. "Glad you're here. I've hired Lisa to watch the kids overnight."

I love the way he says that so casually—the kids.

Like they're our kids, not just mine. Like he's sharing this responsibility too.

Like he wants to be a part of their lives.

Of all of our lives. But— "Overnight?" I ask, blinking in surprise. "But, don't you have that meeting tonight, downtown?"

His smile widens. "Ah, yes, about that. Apologies for the deception. I just didn't want you to make any plans. We haven't had a real date night yet, that needs to change." Then he steps aside, waves me toward the bedroom. "You'll want to dress quickly, though. Or we'll be late."

He spoils me far too much. I'll get as rotten as my kids. I grin at him as I slip past, and smile at Lisa on the way.

Of course, he planned for this, too.

There's not one but three formal suits spread out on the bed, for me to choose from.

I pick the most classic, to bring out my eyes, along with the black velvet dress shoes beside the bed.

When I step back out into the living room, Jungkook's eyes drink me in an inch at a time, savouring me the same way he savours a glass of fine wine.

"Perfect choice," he tells me with a wink.

I blushed as my body on fire as always beneath his gaze. I love the way he looks at me.

It makes me feel like a god among men.

Lisa, meanwhile, is already playing happily with Haru and Areum. She pauses between bouncing them on her knees to grin at us.

"Have a ton of fun," she says. "I'll take great care of these guys tonight."

"Thank you so much," I tell her as Jungkook helps me into my jacket.

"My pleasure. It's sweet," she adds, beaming at us. "Seeing a married couple that's still so in love."

My cheeks burn brighter at the misstep, but Jungkook doesn't correct her. He just smiles and leans over to ruffle Areum's hair.

"Have fun here with our little ones," he tells her.

Then, before I can quite process his statement—the unspoken meaning behind our—he rests his hand at the small of my back and guides me into the elevator.

The air between us sings with tension the whole ride down to the first floor. I feel electrified, ready to jump with nerves.

Out front, Solar has a car waiting for us—a full-on stretch limo. I turn to gape at Jungkook, but he just shrugs like it's nothing.

"It's our first official date," he points out. "I had to go all out."

"Had to make it sound like I'm high-maintenance," I respond, grinning as he holds the back door open for me and I climb inside.

I've never been in a limo – for prom we just used my uncle's old beat-up Cadillac.

The inside looks just like I've seen on TV shows though, all sleek leather interior seats and a sidebar with crystal glasses and a shelf of liquors.

"Not at all." Jungkook climbs in behind me, settles on the seat beside me and wraps his hand around mine, possessive.

He's constantly touching me, whether it's to pull me onto his lap during movies or wrap his arms around me from behind while I'm cooking.

I love it.

I'll never get tired of the feeling of his strong arms around me, his hand in mine, our fingers intertwined.

"I'm 'the' high-maintenance one." His eyes sparkle as they meet mine. "I insist on spoiling you at every opportunity."

"Hmm... Well, you are succeeding."

I grin and tilt my chin up for a kiss.

He kisses me slowly, soft, deep.

The kind of kiss that will never get old.

The kind of kiss you can lose yourself in.

As the car starts to move, his hands slide around my waist, pulling me across his lap.

"Mr Jeon," I gasp in fake outrage, as I position my knees on either side of his hips.

His cock is already hard, pressed against the thin fabric of the fancy pants he gave me.

"Why, this is very improper."

I feign a high-brow accent, and he only just manages to avoid laughing as he catches my mouth in another kiss.

"Mmhm, I had the impression that you liked impropriety, Mr Kim."

"Maybe," I admit slowly, wriggling my hips against his, so his cock rubs against my ass.

Shit, at this rate, I'll soak this lacy thong I put on in no time.

"Only maybe?" Jungkook raises an eyebrow at me. "Well, in that case."

He slides me off his lap again, just in time for the limo to take off, and I huff in frustration.

Damn him.

He loves doing that—getting me all worked up, and then delaying, delaying, delaying.

To be fair, though, when he does make me come, he more than makes up for all the time I've spent waiting.

I shiver with delight at the memory of last night, when he spent an hour lathering me up in the shower, before he finally pinned me against the cool tile wall, lifted me off the ground, his hands digging into my ass, and fvcked me against the shower wall, the hot water cascading down over us.

He knows just how to angle it so his cock hits my sensitive bundle of nerves every time, pinned against the shower wall like that, his groin dug into my insides making me come doubly fast.

When he decided I needed to come more than just once, he slid a hand between us to encircle my cock, fisting it as he continued to fvck me.

I made it to three orgasms before he finally came inside me, his thick, hot cum coating my inside, a warm rush of sensation that always made my hole tighten like a fist in pleasure.

I love feeling him come in me. I love the way his cum drips down my thighs after we've finished, the way I can still feel the proof of his lust for me, sometimes even hours later.

Not to mention, I love how hard he fvcks me.

He's not afraid to make it hard for me to walk the next day, and I appreciate that. I might be a gentleman in the streets, but I like it rough in the sheets.

I'm still daydreaming about last night when we glided to a stop.

The windows are tinted, so I can't see where we are yet, but judging by the grin on Jungkook's face, it's somewhere good. It's always somewhere good.

The man has perfect taste in everything, I swear, from apartment décor to food to… well, me, I guess.

Maybe I'm feeling biased.

I am feeling biased right now.

He weaves his fingers through mine as we exit the limo, my eyes widen when I see the restaurant.

It's the newest place in town, ultra-exclusive, so popular that even I have heard of it, and I've been in total baby induced isolation for the last few months.

Last I heard, the waiting list for a table here was months long.

But of course, Jungkook found some way to swing it.

I glance up at him, smirking, as we glide through the doors.

The restaurant is fine dining, a fusion of traditional Korean and Southern cooking.

I've never tasted anything like it before, but I am instantly in love.

Every plate of food is more delicious than the last, and though I can't even pronounce half the ingredients, I savour every bite.

As for Jungkook, he seems to be enjoying himself too, though his eyes drift over to me more often than the food.

I savour that, too. It's been a while since a man looked at me like that. A lifetime.

"So," he says, as we're between courses. "What makes Kim Taehyung tick?"

I laugh into my wine glass, then I look up to find him studying me, and realize he's serious.

I set the glass back down, thoughtful.

"Depends what you mean by tick, I guess," I replied after a while. "I mean, I love my children, I enjoy my new job…"

"I'm not talking about the present." His foot hooks around my ankle, tugs on my leg. I foot-wrestle him under the table, grinning at him the whole while. "You know, what are your sore spots, how did your childhood screw you up, all that jazz."

I burst out laughing.

Our eyes meet over the rims of our wine glasses as we toast.

"Hmm, well… childhood-wise, growing up with my mom was pretty… tough."

Unwillingly, my gaze drifts toward my phone, face-up on the table just in case Lisa calls about the twins.

"I guess that's why I wanted to have kids of my own so badly."

He tilts his head, questioning. "Because things were hard growing up?"

I sigh. "Because Mom was hard, honestly."

He waits patiently for me to elaborate, holding eye contact. I can't lie to that clear gaze of his.

"She left me alone a lot… She was a single mom too, which I know is hard, but like… She'd leave me to cook my dinner by age 5. I already knew how to operate the stove by then, and how to make tteokbokki, hot dogs, jjigae…"

His eyes widen, his lips clamping into a tight line of disapproval.

But he doesn't interrupt. He lets me talk, getting this off my chest.

"When I got older and started going to school, she'd never come to any events. She skipped parent-teacher conferences, wouldn't pick me up from any extracurriculars… My friends' parents fed me more often than not, driving me to their houses from soccer and letting me stay over, especially when Mom would go on a bender. They didn't want me coming home finding her passed out in a pile of her vomit." I grimace and close my eyes.

Why am I telling him all this?

He'll judge me.

Think I'm just like her.

But then I feel his warm hand close over mine on top of the table.

When I open my eyes again, he's watching me carefully, concerned and sympathetic all at once.

"I know how that feels," he murmurs, and my heart aches in my chest, seeing my pain mirrored on his face. "My parents weren't around much either. Dad was always working, and Mom was sick when I was younger… She passed away when I was only twelve."

I lift my free hand to fold his hand in mine, squeezing gently. As he did, I don't interrupt, just wait for him to get this off his chest, the way he let me have space to talk.

He shakes his head. "I guess that's why I always wanted kids, too. I wanted to do a better job than they did. To raise a generation better than ours, to show my kids that parents can be a great thing to have."

By the time he finishes, we're squeezing one another's hands so tightly it hurts.

Too soon, the meal is ending, and we're still finishing an after-dinner glass of wine when Jungkook leans close to me around the table.

The restaurant is packed with other diners, but he makes sure to pitch his voice so that only I can hear.

"I hope you saved some room for dessert."

I bat my eyes at him, grinning. "As long as you're on the menu, I've always got room for more."

He leans in to nip at my ear lightly, and I gasp as his teeth graze my sensitive skin. "Don't worry, Taehyung. My appetite for you is utterly insatiable."

After that, despite how delicious dessert was, I couldn't wait to get the check.

The limo, which met us outside the restaurant, having waited for us throughout the meal, didn't take us home.

Instead, it drove us farther downtown, to the entrance of one of the most expensive hotels in the city.

"You didn't," I murmur, eyebrows rising, as he leads me through the front door.

"Checking in," he tells the front desk without responding to me, though his hand tightens around mine, and his fingers caress the back of my palm.

When he glances back at me, his eyes sparkle with mischief.

"We have fun at my house," he says once we enter the elevator, luckily alone, "But you haven't lived until you've destroyed a hotel room by having hours of sex in it. Not to mention, I want you screaming loud enough to disrupt all of our neighbours…"

I swat his arm, but I'm also shivering with desire at the thought.

Hhmm, hell yes. Make me scream, you naughty man…