Chapter 8.

Taehyung

When I first asked Lisa out over text, she'd made me wait longer than I'd expected for an answer. Most of the women I'd been around fell over themselves to spend time with me. Had I not stopped her from walking into traffic, I wasn't sure she would have agreed to a date at all. The reminder of seeing her nearly killed had me cleaning my fists until my knuckles ached.

What had she been thinking, being so careless on a city street? The drivers in New York were lunatics; it was a miracle more pedestrians weren't killed each year. It made me livid to think about what might have happened if I hadn't been following her.

When I'd leaned in to tell her how she could thank me, my lungs filled with the sweet scent of her. My gut clenched, and I was overtaken with the need to know if she tasted just as delicious – like raspberries in the summer breeze. I thought I'd all but guaranteed I'd get the chance taste her that night until her text came through, cancelling our plans. If she'd thought she could shake me off so easily, she had sorely misjudged me.

I hadn't crawled my way out of the gutter without a little determination and an unwillingness to take no for an answer. It had been time for her to get a glimpse of who she was dealing with – a hint of the cutthroat man who lurked beneath the outer façade of restraint and civility. I was endlessly curious how she'd respond to him.

When I walked into her office and saw her almond-shaped eyes round with surprise and her painted red lips part on a silent gasp, all I could think about was how I wated to see that red lipstick smeared all over my dick. I wasn't sure what she thought I was going to do in her glass-walled office, but she'd obviously been worried. She was out of her chair, tugging me down the hall before I'd gotten a single word out. I would never have jeopardized her job, but she hadn't known that. Her fear played into my hand perfectly – once she had tucked us away into a secluded room, I was free to do whatever I pleased, and I wouldn't have taken any coercing.

She had practically begged me to kiss her.

The way her lips had parted… The way her chocolate brown eyes had liquified… I'd had to blow my load afterward to get my raging hard-on under control. She was the epitome of everything I found sexy in a woman. It had only taken a couple of strokes, she had me so on edge.  My lack of control had been an embarrassment – I hadn't come that quickly since my voice had first changed in the eighth grade.

Had I given in to my urge to kiss her in the conference room, caved to that raw need, there was no telling how far it would have gone. Fortunately, I manage to maintain control of myself, knowing it was more important to leave her wanting than to quench my own desire. She had already proven as skittish as a frightened rabbit. I didn't want to give her any additional reason to pull away.

Lisa was a study in contradictions. The more I learned, the less I understood, and the more fascinated I became. She was prickly yet soft, spoiled but grounded, independent while remaining pliant. The most intriguing part of her was her guileless innocence – as if she were clueless to the world around her.

Could it all be an act? Or was the sexy siren truly as naïve as she seemed? If so, the right thing to do would be to keep things above-board – get my information and get out. She would be better off not tangled up in my world. Unfortunately for her, I was never very good at doing the right thing for anyone but myself. It was her own fault she was so tempting, at least that's what I told myself.

However, chances were slim to none the gorgeous career girl was as pure as she seemed. I had discovered a crucial bit of information when I'd gone in search of Lisa at her office. What I found indicated she likely didn't have an innocent bone in her body.

What I found changed everything.

If she was truly more wolf than lamb, it was even more reason for me to keep our interactions purely platonic. I didn't need that kind of complication in my life. And yet, what I wanted to do and what I should do were two totally different things. Whether she was innocent or not, it would be best to keep a tight rein on my raging libido, but it was clear that wasn't happening. The taste of her lips on mine wasn't going to satisfy the beast within me. He wanted every piece of her – not just a kiss ad a few titbits of information. He wanted to crawl beneath her skin and see inside her soul.

The insistent craving was distracting. 

Regardless of what was right, what I should do, or what I wanted, I was there for a purpose, and that purpose was not my dick. I was looking for someone, and now I knew Lisa could likely give me the answers I needed. That was far more important than anything else.

I needed to get my information and walk away – that would be the best for both of us.

But that seductive voice in the back of my mind whispered sweet words of temptation – wasn't I allowed to have a little fun on the job? It was only sex, nothing more. I desperately wanted to sink myself inside her, and if it helped me get the information I needed, more's the better. Right? Once I'd felt the creamy skin of her inner thighs wrapped around my waist, the pulsing need to have her would subside.

Hypocrisy is a tricky thing. It parades itself around like rationale and reason, deceiving you into believing your thoughts are sound and just when they are anything but. I had demanded honesty from Lisa but was attempting to pull the wool over my own eyes. I could tell myself all day long one taste of her would be enough, but I knew deep down inside, I had no intention of letting her go.

Consequences be damned – she was mine.