by Linda Verji
“Skip it.” He shifted so that they were facing each other then drew her closer to him with both his arms. “I want to spend the day with you.”
“I want to spend the day with you too,” she said. His heat and the solidity of his muscles was both comforting and seductive. If she could, she would stay in his arms forever. “But I already took an unplanned day off yesterday. I can’t do it twice in a row.”
“That sucks.” He lifted a strand of her hair from her face and pushed it behind her ear. “Not that I’m in a better position. I have an appointment at ten with a new client.”
Despite their respective obligations, neither of them made a move to extricate themselves from the other. Vina arched slightly upwards so she could touch her lips to his before coming back to press her face into the side his neck. “Ri-on-a?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m not really sure that I want to marry you,” she murmured. When Orion immediately stiffened, she realized that that sounded like she was backtracking. She looked up at him as she quickly clarified, “I want to be with you and I really love you. I’m just not sure I’m ready for marriage.”
He stared at her for a long uncomfortable moment before a sudden grin split his face. “I didn’t ask you to marry me.”
Mortified heat flushed up her face as she realized that he was right. “I guess you didn’t.”
“That doesn’t mean I don’t want to,” he said, confusing her even further. His smile softened as he said, “But I’m not going to pressure you into it if you’re not ready. It’s not the institution I want; I want you. And now that I have you, that’s enough for me.”
Her brow furrowed. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.” He reached out and cupped her cheek. “Let’s just take this one day at a time. Go as slow as we want. And if one day you think you’re ready, then we can talk about moving on to the next step.”
She studied him, awed at how fortunate she was. The impact of how much she would’ve lost had she made a different choice hit her right then. She doubted that there was any other man out there who would have been willing to wade through her crap just to get to her. And yet Orion had. He was too damn good for her.
She must’ve stared at him too long because his eyebrows lifted and he asked, “What?”
She cupped his jaw and moved forward to kiss him deeply, passionately, gratefully. Against his lips, she whispered, “I love you.”
“Then show me.” With a suddenness that startled her, he rolled with her in his arms until he was hovering over her. He dipped down for a long, slow, toe-curling kiss that started a fire low in her belly
“We’re going to be late,” she said even as her arms rose to link around his neck and dragged his head down to her.
Orion grinned. “Just by twenty minutes.”
*
MONTHS PASSED, and before Vina knew it, she and Orion had been officially dating for three months. And it was the best three months of her life. She smiled as she rinsed the shampoo from her hair. There was something freeing about not having to lie to her family anymore, about not having to pretend that she didn’t have feelings for Orion, about not having to lie to herself that she wasn’t relationship material.
She’d discovered that she loved being in a relationship. She loved that lovey-dovey feeling that consumed her whenever she so much as thought of Orion. That fuzzy, butterflies-in-the-stomach, everything-is-wonderful feeling that had her smiling more than she’d ever smiled before. Even her coworkers had noticed that she was mellower and patient. Orion made her happier.
Then there was the cuddling. Of course the sex and kissing was fantastic; the sheets turned to ash whenever they got together. But just lying next to him, being held in his arms while she slept of they talked, left her feeling protected like nothing could get to her while he was around. But even better was how much she trusted him. He was the one person, she could open up to and trust with her secrets because she instinctively knew that he’d never share them with anyone or use them against her, just as she wouldn’t use his secrets against him.
Yes, she loved being his, and she loved calling him hers.
Distracted by her happy thoughts, she didn’t even hear the door to the shower sliding open. It was only the sudden cold breeze that alerted her that the door was open. She quickly turned only to find him at door. An instinctive smile lifted her lips. “You’re awake.”
“I am.” He came up behind her and wound his arms around her waist. “You didn’t just think you could shower and sneak out like you did last time, did you?”
“I was hoping to,” she admitted. When his hand snuck upwards to cup her breast, she sighed. “And this is why.”
Orion laughed as his other hand slid down between her legs. Vina wanted to push him away, but when it came him, she was ridiculously weak, putty in his hands. She moaned in delight when his fingers slid between the wet petals of her pussy and found her nub.
He was the only man who could get her blood pulsing so frantically in her veins, the only man who could drive her mad just because of his sensual explorations. She whimpered as his questing fingers strummed at her sensitive nipple and clitoris at the same time. When he buried his finger knuckle-deep inside her, she almost came right then and there.
Her cries and moans echoed loudly in the small cubicle that was his shower. How could she resist him when he was the only man who could make her tremble and cry out like this? Indescribably fierce and erotic sensations coursed through her petite body. When she was right at the edge, he shoved her bodily against the wall and pinned her there with his body.
Then she felt him. Long, hot and hard, digging into her back. It was exhilarating to know that she could make him this hard, make him want her just as much as she wanted him. But before she could revel in her power, he was bending her at the waist, forcing her to grasp at the wall with outstretched arms to keep from falling.
His fingers nudged at her moist flesh, opened her up a little more before he finally replaced them with his cock. She sighed then cried when he plunged in, deep, deep, in. His breaths came in fast, harsh gasps as he sealed himself within her completely.
“Ah… ah… Ri-on.” She trembled, overwhelmed by the pleasure. Warmth. Hardness. Length. He filled her so well that she was surprised she hadn’t melted to the floor yet. “There… there… right… there… aaah!”
Warm, smooth water flowed over them but it was no match for the pleasure that was scorching a path through Vina’s body. Orion’s cock was a hot bar of steel pumping into her, ripping into her, tearing her into tiny, little pieces of need. She bent further, throwing her ass back to meet his deep strokes. Oh, damn. Right there! Again. Again. Again.
He was pulling out too slowly, not getting back into her fast enough. She clung to the arm he had around her waist as her pussy contracted around his length, trying to keep him deep within her. But her efforts to keep him insider her were to no avail. Slowly and relentlessly, he pulled out before shoving himself back inside her with a forcefulness that left her whimpering his name.
His hand lowered from her waist and to her pussy. His fingers tunneled between her wet lips, finding that part of her that ached for his touch. She cried when they found her, moaned when he strummed her nub to the tune of his strokes. It was too much. The pummeling, the pressure, the ache of trying to keep standing… Too damn much!
She screamed. Waves of almost painful pleasure coursed through her as she convulsed over his cock.
“Fuck!” Orion swore as his strokes sped up. Faster, faster, faster…. With a groan he lost control. His cock spurted inside her, filling her with his seed.
“I hate you,” Vina groaned minutes later as he toweled her off.
“Of course you do.” He laughed as he threw a towel over her head and ruffled it over her hair. A moment later, he paused. When Vina lifted her gaze, she found him lowering his head as if to kiss her.
“Yah!” She shoved him away from her. “Go away.”
“Just one kiss.” He trailed her into the bedroom.
“There’s no such thing as one kiss with you.” She hopped onto the bed, crossed it and landed down on the other side to get away from him. “Stay right there.”
“Can’t you just stay tonight?” Orion asked as he tumbled onto the bed. “We’ve never spent a full night together.”
“Hah, you’re funny.” Vina whipped off the towel around her body so she could oil up. “Do you want be to be asked whether I’m giving you the milk for free again?”
Orion chuckled. “I still can’t believe that your family still think you’re a virgin.”
Vina grinned. “I have a feeling they know but they’re just too scared to acknowledge it.”
There was no way her family didn’t know that she and Orion were already intimate. The guy had no shame and was a big fan of PDA. The way he kissed her when saying goodbye, the way he watched her when he thought no one was looking… Yeah, they knew.
After the whole Dooshim-Yoon-ah debacle, her family were no longer blindly enamored with Orion. Though they weren’t pressuring Vina to break up with him, they weren’t pressuring her to marry him either. It was almost as if they’d adopted a wait-and-see attitude. If he married Vina, then they’d just breathe a sigh of relief that someone, anyone had taken her. If they broke up, then her family would just say good riddance to him, and immediately set her up on a date with a replacement.
Personally, Vina liked their new attitude. Maybe it was her juvenile, rebellious side rearing its ugly head but the fact that they didn’t approve of Orion pleased her immeasurably.
“Ready?” Orion asked minutes later when they were both dressed.
“Ready.” Vina led the way out of the apartment. She’d since stopped insisting that he let her take a cab because she always lost the argument. Orion refused to let her drive home alone in the dark, and that was that. They were midway there when she said, “Ah! I forgot to tell you. April and Roman were looking for someone to help them renovate their new house and I recommended you, is that okay?”
He smiled. “Of course it’s okay. Why wouldn’t it be?”
She made a face. “I know how some men can get about women interfering in their work.”
“And I’m not one of those men,” he countered simply.
Even though she already knew that he wasn’t like those men, his words still left her stunned for a minute. Who would’ve thought that hitting a guy’s bumper and skipping out on the repair bills could bring her this sort of fortune? Once again she was reminded of what a lucky woman she was just to have him in her life, and how much she really, really loved him.
Before she could think it through, she blurted out, “Should we move in together?”
Orion’s head spun so fast in her direction she was surprised he didn’t get whiplash. “What?”
She was just as shocked as she was that she’d made the suggestion. But the longer she thought about it, the more she realized that she really wanted to do it. With more confidence in her voice, she reiterated, “Do you want to move in together?”
“DO YOU WANT to move in together?” Her question sent shockwaves reverberating through him. His breath caught, his mouth went dry and his heart thudded. For a moment he couldn’t even think which was dangerous given the fact that he was driving,
“Just a minute,” he said through his suddenly tight throat. It was only after he brought his car to a stop by the side of the road that he spoke. “You want us to move in together.”
She nodded then rushed to add, “But if you don’t want to, it’s o-”
“I want to,” he quickly cut her off. Of course, he wanted to. Did she know how long he’d been waiting for her to green-light the next step in their relationship. He swallowed. “But are you sure that this is what you want to do?”
Though there was a hint of nervousness in her eyes, her nod was determined as was her tone. “This is what I want to do. I hate having to spend the night away from you.”
That was exactly how he felt. The last three months had only confirmed his love for her. Each day they spent together reaffirmed that he’d made the right decision by going after her. Though Vina was a complicated woman, she loved with all her heart. He could see how much she loved him in the way she looked at him, the way she called every night to make sure that his day had been okay, the way she listened to him quietly when he had problems at home or with his family.
Her love was in the little things she did – like sending him lunch from Tellers every day, recommending his business to her friends, cooking for his friends when they came over to watch a game. Even though she didn’t want to get married, it was plain as day that she was fully committed to him. Moving in wasn’t marriage, but it was way more than he’d expected from her.
Struggling to keep his excitement from spilling into his voice, he asked, “What about your family? Will they let you move?”
“They probably won’t like it, but it’s not like they can lock me up in my room.” She shrugged. “Besides the only one who really matters is my mom, and I think she’ll be fine with it.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure.” Cocking her head, she studied him. “What about you? Your mom?”
“Ah! My mom.” Letting his head fall back against his seat, he sighed. “That’s a little tricky. She wanted me to marry a tiger not cohabit with one.” When Vina frowned, he quickly rushed in with, “But don’t worry – she may make a fuss but eventually, she’ll be okay.”
“Maybe we should wait then. Give them a little-”
“No way.” Orion leaned across their seats and shut her up with a kiss. “You’re not slipping out of this. We’re moving in together with or without our families’ approval.”
“Okay, okay.” She chuckled. “I guess we are.”
“When?”
“Soon.”
“When is soon? Today?”
She laughed. “Ri-on!”
He sighed. “Fine. Soon tomorrow.”
“Next week. Friday,” she offered.
“That’s so far off,” he whined
But all his whining did was earn him an amused chuckle and an adamant. “Friday.”
He lifted his arms in surrender. Friday it was. But then a sudden idea struck him. “Why don’t we tell them together? Then if your family reacts badly, at least I’ll be there.”
Expecting Vina to protest, he started to mull over arguments to back up his offer, but she surprised him by smiling. “It would be nice to have you there, and it might actually keep my dad from throwing a tantrum.” She paused then added, “I think I’ll warn my mom first though so she’s not blindsided.”
“That’s okay.” Orion straightened in his seat and slipped his hand behind her nape. Locking gazes with her, he said, “As long as you don’t change your mind.”
Vina smiled. “I won’t.”
Grinning, he brought her towards him for another kiss.
CHAPTER 21
Maybe if Vina hadn’t been so excited, she would’ve been more careful when sharing her good news with her mother. If she’d been more careful, she would’ve noticed her grandmother standing at the door to the kitchen when she cheerfully told Na-ri, “Eomma, Orion and I are moving in together?”
“What?” Both Na-ri and Dooshim exclaimed, but it was Dooshim’s voice that had Vina spinning to face the door.
Her eyes wide with shock, Vina exclaimed, “Halmeoni, I didn’t know you were at the door.”
“What did you just say?” Dooshim gaped.
“Nothing.” Through suddenly dry lips, Vina insisted, “I said nothing.”
“She was joking,” Na-ri jumped in too, griping Vina’s arm tightly. “It was just a joke.”
But the elderly woman wasn’t fooled. Her eyes narrowed. “It didn’t sound like a joke.”
“Tell her it was a joke.” Na-ri tugged at Vina’s arm.
Lying would’ve been easy, and Vina had done it for so long that it came instinctively. She a
ctually opened her mouth to agree with her mother, but then a thought struck her. Did she really want to do this? Weren’t the lies she’d already told enough? If she lied now, then she’d need to keep lying, and adding on to it more and more just so she could keep seeing Orion. Was she going to force him to lie along with her again? No, she couldn’t do this to him. She couldn’t do this to herself.
She faced her grandmother. “It’s true.”
“Im-na!” Na-ri exclaimed, her fingers trembling as they dug into Vina’s arm.
Vina ignored her and addressed Dooshim. “I’m moving in with Orion.”
“Maybe I’m not hearing right.” Dooshim tapped her ear as if to make sure it was still functioning. “Maybe you mean that you two are getting married.”
“No, I don’t,” Vina refuted quietly.
Dooshim blinked. Then blinked again. “Aigoo, Song Im-na, have you gone crazy?” She pulled in a long sharp breath before turning slightly to face the outside of the room, Dooshim. “Min-kyu. Min-ky-”
“Eomoni, there’s no need to call Im-na’s father.” Na-ri rushed to her mother-in-law’s side. “Why don’t we just discuss it-”
“Min-kyu. Min-kyu,” the elderly woman’s piercing shouts echoed in the house.
Moments later, Vina’s father came up behind her. Frowning, he asked, “What is going in here?”
“Omo! Omo! Omo!” Dooshim pressed her fists to her waist and shook her head slowly. “Your daughter has finally gone crazy. Our Im-na has finally lost her mind.”
Min-kyu’s gaze shifted past his mother to his daughter. “What’s she talking about?”
Vina opened her mouth to speak, but for some reason she couldn’t get any words out. She’d thought that she was brave but apparently this was as far as it went. Now that she was in front of her father, fear had taken complete control of her, leaving her speechless and quaking in her slippers.
Dooshim, however, was only too willing to take over the explaining. “She says that she and that man are moving in together.”
For a moment, Min-kyu just stared at Vina with this cold, unfathomable gaze that gave no hint as to what his thoughts were on the matter or if he’d even understood what was going on. But then he transformed. His lip curled and war-like rage filled his eyes. His arm already rising, he moved swiftly towards Vina. But his wife got there before him.