by Siren Allen
“I know Kitten. Cum for me,” He growled against her throat. “Cum for me Willow.”
He hung on to her tightly as he pushed against her. Both of their bodies shuddered when their orgasm crashed into them. His hips jerked, cock pulsed as he came in his pants. Her body shivered against his. Her incoherent moans excited him.
“Yes, Kang.... That.... Don’t.... Stop... I ... Been... So... Long.... Need... This.”
The incoherent words she whispered made complete sense to him. He felt the same way. He didn’t want to stop. He needed this. It had been so long since he’d felt this way. He held her against the wall until their bodies ceased trembling.
Spent, he rested his head against her shoulder, she rested her head against the wall, both waiting for their breathing to return to normal. Slowly, Kang raised his head to stare down at Willow.
With her eyes closed, lips slightly parted, sweat beading her forehead, he couldn’t help but admit that she was the most gorgeous woman he’d ever seen. Her eyes drifted open. A smile spread across her beautiful face.
“That was...” She sighed. “Great. And we didn’t even have to take our clothes off.”
Kang chuckled. Still the same Kitten she used to be. The Kitten who said whatever came to her mind, no matter the situation.
“You’re beautiful, Kitten.” He pushed a strand of hair out of her face.
She blinked, then stared at him again. The smile on her face slowly disappeared.
“Oh. My. Gosh,” she whispered, sounding in shock. “I just... you just... we just... shit. Move. Move now.”
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
“Kang, put me down.” She pushed against his chest. “What the fuck did that pastry have in it? Drugs? A hallucinogenic? An aphrodisiac?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Kang, put me...”
The door to the stairwell opened. Still holding her against the wall, Kang turned to see who’d dare interrupt them. His mouth dropped open.
Willow groaned. “Oh no...”
“Um... Hi Kang,” Nahm said. “Hi, Willow.”
“Put me down, Kang,” Willow whispered.
“Leave,” Kang said to his three best friends who were grinning at him like idiots.
“Kang,” Willow whispered again. “Let me go.”
Looking away from his friends, he faced the woman in his arms. “Not this time.”
Her mouth dropped open.
“Kang,” Lee called out. “Secretary Lynn saw us come this way. She’s heading over to the stairwell.”
“Oh, wow,” Willow whispered. “Put me down. Before you get me fired.”
“Who’s going to fire you? Me? My mom? You know that’s not happening.” Kang smiled at her.
“Stop doing that with your mouth. Don’t smile at me. You don’t even like me.”
“Says who?”
“Says your actions.”
“My actions. You mean what we just did against the wall?”
A blush crept into her cheeks. “We have on clothes, so it doesn’t count. Now, let me go,” she whispered viciously. “Don’t make me use force.”
Force? Right. Kang couldn’t help but smile.
“Why are you smiling?”
“Because of you.”
Someone knocked on the stairwell door. Kang looked over to see Lee holding the handle.
A voice from the other side of the door yelled, “Who’s there? Who’s playing with the door?”
“I told you she was coming,” Lee pointed out. “She’ll go get security if I don’t let her in.”
“You should probably let Ms. Willow go,” Shao told him.
Let her go? Again? He couldn’t do that. Kang returned his attention to Willow to find her staring down, refusing to meet his gaze.
“Kang, you’re embarrassing me. Please, put me down.”
He stared at her for a few more minutes, ignoring the sound of Lee and secretary Lynn struggling with the door. Put her down? Did he have to? She claimed to be embarrassed. Maybe she was.
Who was he kidding? Of course, she was. She’d been caught, pinned to the wall in the stairwell by three guys. Embarrassed was the right word to describe the situation. If he was anyone else, he’d be embarrassed also.
But, he wasn’t anyone else. He was Kang Kyung-Jun. And he was holding Willow in his arms. For him, there was nothing to be embarrassed about. This was a dream brought to reality. He was elated. He couldn’t stop grinning.
“Stop smiling. You look weird when you smile. Put me down. Please, Kang. I don’t want her to see me like this.”
Not wanting to, but knowing it was the right thing to do, Kang slowly sat Willow down on her feet. She pushed against his chest.
“Step back,” she demanded.
“You told me to put you down. You never said I had to move away.”
“Kang.” She stomped her foot.
He chuckled.
“I didn’t know it could laugh,” Nahm whispered.
Kang ignored him. He took a step back.
“More,” Willow demanded.
He took a mini step back.
She rolled her eyes. “Jerk.” She squeezed from between him and the wall. Before she could flee, he grabbed her wrist.
“We’re not done,” he told her.
“Lies,” she whispered before running away from him.
He turned and watched her run down the stairs. “Be careful,” he called out.
“Shut up, Kang,” she yelled, not missing a step as she raced away.
Kang waited until he heard a door open and close before turning to Lee. “You can let her in.”
Lee nodded, released the door and stepped back. The door jerked opened. Ms. Lynn stormed into the stairwell, then stopped when she saw who was standing before her.
“Oh, it’s you four. I’m so sorry. I thought someone was playing with the door.”
“Is something wrong with the elevator?” Kang asked.
Ms. Lynn frowned. “No. Why?”
“Because you’re using the stairs.”
“Oh. Um. I use the stairs sometimes to get in some cardio.”
Kang nodded. “Don’t let us interrupt your work out.” Kang faced his friends. “Let’s take this conversation to my office.” Kang left the stairwell with his friends, leaving Ms. Lynn staring after them with a confused expression on her face.
As soon as they entered his office, his friends went in on him.
“What the fuck was that back there?” Shao asked him again.
Heading to his desk, Kang loosened his tie before sitting down. He swiveled around to face the three stooges who were standing in front of his desk.
“What did it look like?” Kang asked.
“It looked like you were being a pervert to Ms. Willow,” Shao said.
Kang slammed his hands down on his desk. “A pervert? What the hell.”
Shao smiled. “So, you weren’t being a pervert?”
“Of course not.”
“And you weren’t taking advantage of her?” Lee asked.
“What? How dare you even think that? I would never take advantage of her or any other woman. You guys know me better than that.”
“So, you two were both willing participants?” Nahm asked.
“Damn right. She wanted me. Wants me. And I want her. No one forced anyone. And if you three hadn’t interrupted us, we probably would’ve...”
“Gotten naked?” Nahm inquired.
“Naked? No. We would’ve been able to talk about what happens next.”
“Next?” Lee scratched his head. “You trying to do that in the stairwell again?”
“No. What happens next for me and her.”
“Are you sure she wants this next?” Shao asked. “She ran away and told you to shut up.”
Kang leaned back in his seat. “That’s just Willow. When she’s nervous or embarrassed, she says crazy stuff.”
“She sounded serious.”
“She wasn’t.
”
“Look, Kang...” Nahm sat down on the edge of Kang’s desk. “You’re smiling and shit. And while I’m happy to see you not wearing your usual frown, I’ve got a feeling this isn’t going to go the way you think.”
“Nahm, You and your feelings can go to hell.”
“I’m not joking Kang. You look like a man in love. Again.”
Did he? He was. He was in love with Willow Thompson. He’d never fallen out of love with her. She was his first and only love. He’d always been in love with the girl who’d grown up next door to him here in Atlanta.
The girl, who unlike his other classmates, hadn’t laughed at him when he’d struggled to learn English. Instead, she came over to his house every day and helped him. And in the process, she learned a little Korean.
The two of them quickly became friends, which led to their mothers becoming friends. When his mom opened up their first Royal Cosmetics store in Atlanta, she begged Ms. Thompson to come work for her.
At the time, Ms. Thompson had been going through a nasty divorce and was depressed. His mom wanted to help her get over her divorce by keeping her busy. Willow’s mom had been working for the company ever since then.
His mom often said that the Georgia store wouldn’t have survived this long if it wasn’t for Ms. Thompson. Their families were intertwined. And even when Willow broke his heart and Kang ran off to Korea to lick his wounds, the two ladies remained close.
He was back now. And he wanted back into the family. He wanted things to go back to how they used to be. With one major difference. This time, he wanted Willow to say yes when he confessed his feelings to her.
He knew she had feelings for him. She’d always had feelings for him. He had proof. And this incident in the stairwell was further proof. He didn’t know why she rejected him all those years ago. But he would find out.
“Kang. Kang!” Nahm snapped his fingers in front of Kang’s face. “Look at you, gazing into space and shit. Damn it, you’re too far gone. How did this happen? You were just pissed off at her.”
Indeed, he was. Not anymore.
“You were planning to fire her as soon as possible.”
“Change of plans.”
“I see. But why?”
“She’s a good employee. Her ideas are solid and...”
“Quit playing around Kang. What happened?”
Kang stared up at the ceiling. He didn’t owe them an explanation. Truth was, he didn’t really know how the incident happened. He was just going to call it fate.
“Quit smiling and shit, Kang. Answer the question.”
“Nahm, why are you worried about it?”
“Because you’re my friend. And my boss. I was the first friend you made when you returned to Korea to work for RC. It was my couch you crashed on when you got drunk, thinking about the girl you’d left behind. I was the one who bartenders called to come pick you up when you passed out at the bar. And I was the one they told that you kept asking them to find Willow for you. That you needed Willow.”
He’d been a mess after losing her. “That was a long time ago. Let’s leave it in the past and never speak of it again.”
“I want to. But, I have a feeling the past is about to repeat itself.”
Kang didn’t like the goosebumps that popped up on his arm at Nahm’s prediction. History wasn’t going to repeat itself.
Kang wouldn’t allow it.
Chapter Six
“History will not repeat itself.”
“You don’t know that,” Nahm told him. “And this time around, you can’t afford to be a broken mess like you were back then. You’re the VP of a large corporation. People look up to you. There are also people who want to bring you down. You can’t afford to get drunk and pass out in bars. You can’t...”
“I know, damn it.” Kang rubbed his fingers through his hair. “I know. And that isn’t going to happen this time. This time, she’s not going to reject me. I won’t let her.”
Nahm shook his head. “I knew coming here wasn’t a good idea.”
“It’s going to be alright.”
“It’s not. And we all know it.” Nahm stared over his shoulder. “Tell him guys.”
Shao shoved his hands into his pockets. “I don’t believe in love, so I don’t know what you’re feeling. However, I do know business. Often times, love is bad for business. You don’t have time for love right now. Plus, the two of you live too far apart to contemplate having a relationship. So, I have to agree with Nahm. Coming here was a bad idea. Since we’re already here, let’s do the job we came to do and leave.” Shao looked to Lee.
“I have to say something too?” Lee asked.
“Yes,” Nahm told him.
“You don’t have to,” Kang said, standing up. “I’m going to go talk to Willow.”
“Wait,” Lee told him. “I want to say something.”
Kang sighed. Of course, he did.
“Willow seems kind. She also seems to like working here. Her ideas are great. I had Olivia give me the proposal files from the last five campaigns. And though Willow and her team’s proposals weren’t chosen, theirs were the best. And not just because the others sucked. But, because they were actually good ideas that if implemented right, they would’ve been successful marketing campaigns.”
“Really?”
Lee nodded. “After reading over her files, I would hire her and her team in a heartbeat. And you know how picky I am when it comes to hiring.”
Lee was indeed picky. And strict. Back in Korea, he was nicknamed the Marketing Dictator.
“I say all of this to say, that I’m glad you no longer plan to fire her. I just hope if things don’t go your way with her, you will still allow her to work here. Don’t allow your personal life to affect your business. Willow and her team are an asset. I think the other teams need to get more training. I also think Olivia needs to be fired. I believe she chose other’s ideas simply because she holds a grudge against Willow or someone on her team. Then again, maybe she did like the ideas of the others. I don’t know. I just know that this needs to be investigated. She’s not a good marketing director and she is the reason the past few campaigns have failed. As for your future with Willow, I say follow your heart.”
Nahm glared at Lee. “Really, Lee?”
“This is Kang’s life. Who am I to tell him how to live it. Both of you have known him longer than me. But, over the years, we’ve all grown close. I think of all of you as my brothers. As Kang’s brother, I want him to be happy. If he can find happiness with Willow, I’m for it. If it doesn’t work out in his favor, I’ll accompany him to whatever bar he wants to go to and make sure he doesn’t get sloppy drunk. That’s what brothers do.”
Kang smiled and bowed to Lee. “Thanks, brother.”
Lee bowed slightly then raised up. “You’re welcome.”
Nahm threw his hands up. “I can’t believe this shit. Okay, Kang, do whatever the hell you want. But trust me, I will yell I told you so from the mountain top when you show up at my house, drunk.”
“I won’t show up at your house. I’ll go to Lee’s.”
Lee chuckled.
“You two.... Forget it. I’m going back to my office. Don’t bother me for the rest of the day.” Nahm stormed from the room.
Shaking his head, Shao followed suit.
Lee took a step toward the door.
“Lee,” Kang called out.
Lee stopped and looked over his shoulder.
“Thanks for having my back.”
Lee nodded. “Always. But, Kang, I do see Nahm and Shao’s point. So, be careful. I don’t know what proof you have of Willow’s feelings...”
“I read her diary in college.”
“What?”
“I didn’t mean to. She’d just broken up with a jerk who was on the football team. We were getting ready to graduate. The idiot dumped her by email. Who the fuck does that?”
“A jerk.”
“Right. She didn’t want me to confront the fool. Sh
e told me to leave it alone. So, I stole her laptop so I could find the email he sent. She had a document open on her laptop. It was titled, Willow’s Private Thoughts.”
“And you read it?”
“I know it was wrong. But, I never thought I’d read something about me in there. I wanted to see if she was really fine after the break up, like she said she was. This was my chance to see if I needed to beat that Ryan Johnson up a little bit, or a lot. While reading, I found some entries about me. All my life I kept my feelings from Willow, because I thought she only saw me as a big brother. I was willing to play the big brother role for the rest of my life, if that would keep her by my side. I’d planned to stay in Atlanta and work here, just so I could be near her. I’d planned to support her business endeavors and do all the friend shit that I’d been doing for her all my life. Despite the fact that it killed me a little each time she entered into a new relationship, each time she wanted me to meet her new boyfriend, each time she begged me to be nice to some new guy she liked. Despite all of that, I planned to stay by her side and keep my feelings for her to myself.”
“What changed your mind?”
“Her posts about me did. In one of her posts, she shared a sad face and talked about a girl in her class who wanted her to hook her up with me. In the post, Willow said the girl wasn’t good enough for me. That no girl was good enough for me.”
“That’s what most little sisters think of their big brothers.”
“That was just the first post. It made me curious about her feelings for me, so I continued reading. Then I found the entry that damn near knocked me off my feet. It was titled, To the one I love but can’t have. It was a love letter to me.”
“Wow.”
“I memorized that letter word for word. But to sum it up, she was writing me a letter that she never planned to give to me. In the letter, she confessed her love for me. She said that she’d loved me ever since high school, when her date to the prom got sick and I stepped in for him. That night we dance, she rested her head on my shoulder, and as her favorite song played, she realized there was no one else she’d rather be with at that moment. That night, she realized that she was in love with me.”
“But... but... why didn’t she accept you when you confessed? Did she state the reason why you were the one she could never have?”