HeartBeat (Saranghaeyo Book 2) (11 page)

Some things just seemed to be pure instinct.

His hand slid from her breast to slide beneath her t-shirt, eager to touch bare skin.  

She’s so soft, he thought in rapt wonder, the smooth dark skin beneath his questing fingertips teasing his senses. He was so hard he was sure he'd lose circulation to his lower body if he didn’t gain release. When one of Leila’s hands left his hair to trail light fingers over his erection, the torture became too much.  

G.K. shot up, pulling Leila with him. He released her, breathing heavily as if he'd just run a mile at full speed.

Leila was confused by this turn of events, her mind still hazy with passion.
"G.K. are you okay? What’s wrong? Did I do something?” she asked breathlessly.

The irony of this conversation was not lost on the moment. “Trust me that’s definitely not the problem.”

            
 
You’ve got to tell her
, his mind whispered to him.

“Oh, Okay, then why’d you…”

“I’m a virgin.” He said quickly, nervousness racking his body.

They had spoken at the same time, and Leila’s eyes widened at his quiet confession. He wasn’t looking at her, but past her. When she didn’t respond, he repeated his admission. “You’re not saying anything, what are you thinking?”

She blinked a few times in surprise. “I’m just trying to process it, that’s all.” At her tone of bewilderment G.K. forced his eyes to meet hers.

Embarrassment flooded him at her stunned expression, as G.K. battled the urge to flee in shame.

Chapter Eight

I'm a virgin.

Leila hadn't expected that. A well-traveled, famous musician was a virgin?

Had she won the lottery? Found gold at the end of the rainbow? Been given the keys to a brand new Corvette?

 “Well?” he asked after another few beats of silence.

“Well What?” she answered lamely.

            
 
G.K. exhaled in frustration. “Well, what do you think? How do you feel about it? Talk to me.”

She looked at him and saw the uncertainty and the panic on his face.

"You think something is wrong with me don’t you?" he said dejectedly. "Guys my age should already have had tons of experience."

She disagreed, "No, I think you're
you
. Do you really think it matters to me?"

"Doesn’t it?"

Leila shook her head. "I admit I’m a little surprised.”

"Why? I told you I'd never had a girlfriend before,” G.K. said defensively.

“That doesn’t mean anything. Lots of men sleep with women they aren’t involved with."

His expression was one of disgust. "I’m not one of them.”

There was another pause before Leila asked, “Why?”

G.K. understood her deceptively simple question.
“I don’t know. I just haven’t really wanted to.” Leila’s face became bewildered and G.K. rushed on
,
“I mean, I do want to be intimate with someone. I AM human after all. The thing is I want to make
love
, not just have sex.”

Was this man too good to be true? Talented, sexy, sweet
and
a virgin? G.K. was like the quadruple-crown of guys. 

 Leila gave G.K. a reassuring smile. "Well, you certainly don't kiss like a virgin," she teased. "And you didn't
feel
like one." Her eyes trailed slowly downward, resting on his crotch. It twitched.

G.K. intertwined her fingers with his own. “So are you okay with this? You don’t want to make a break for it, and run for the hills?”

Her answer was in the kiss.

***

"Leila! Guess who got lead in the new…”

Marcia flew into the loft a flurry of hair and excitement. Her words were halted upon seeing Leila and G.K. spring apart guiltily on the couch. Marcia bit back laughter as a wide eyed Leila adjusted her shirt, smoothing a hand over her hair.

“Hey, uh Marcia! You got another part?"  Leila chirped.

Feeling mischievous, Marcia plopped right down between them, the smug look even bigger. “I know it’s great right? They can't keep this woman down for long! But enough about me, how did the MTV thing go?"Looking at the both of them, the answer was more than obvious.

The embarrassing moment ended when G.K.’s phone rang. The women watched as he rose, just as disheveled, to answer it. Marcia grinned at her friend and mouthed the words "You go girl!"

“It’s Kai," G.K. told her, the phone away from his ear. "They're going out to dinner and want to know if you'd like to come."

Before Leila could say a word, Marcia jumped up and said, “I’ve got a better idea! Why don't we invite them over here for dinner? It could be like an impromptu dinner party or something!"

Leila looked at G.K. He looked at Leila, who mulled the idea over for a minute then grinned. "Sure, why not? Marcia can whip up some of her grandmother's world famous homemade chicken and sour cream enchiladas for us..."

"Or we can do take-out," she suggested quickly, sticking her tongue out at Leila who returned the gesture. G.K.'s conversation continued for a few minutes then he hung up.

"I hope you can handle it," he mock-warned them. "Kai said to go ahead and order take-out." Marcia's sigh of relief was audible. "Better order a lot. Boom alone, will eat you out of house and home."

***

Before he caught a taxi back to the hotel for a shower, since he hadn’t changed since his performance, G.K. gave Leila his credit card.

"What's this for?"

"Order the food with it." When she started to protest that she and Marcia would split the cost, the singer stopped her with a quick but firm kiss on her lips.

"Trust me, it’ll cost a lot to feed the bottomless pits."

The cab pulled up to the curb. Before he got in, G.K. drew her in for another embrace, his lips against her ear.

"Order Chinese," he said, laughter in his voice. "A lot of it!"

Leila showered and changed into a pair of black ankle-length jeans and a short sleeved grey tee. She then strolled into the kitchen where Marcia oversaw two delivery men spreading out enough take-out containers to feed a small army. She raised an eyebrow at her roommate for the amount of food she'd ordered and for the skimpy bandana that Marcia claimed was a dress.

"You told me G.K. said to order a lot of food, right?"

There was hardly any space left on the kitchen island. "He did."

One of the delivery men chuckled to his co-worker. "You all must be having a party, or you two are some serious eaters!"

Marcia and Leila laughed knowingly as the last container was placed precariously on the edge of the island. Leila grabbed it, and was greeted with something that smelled wonderful and her stomach made it known that half a turkey on ciabatta sandwich was not sufficient enough to be called dinner.

Soon as they'd left--with a generous tip from Marcia--the two set out their best Crate and Barrel plates and tried to organize the chaos into something like a buffet. Both gave into the temptation to sample the goods.

Leila used chopsticks to try a piece of chicken out of some stir fry.

"You’re not actually wearing that, are you?"

Momentary confusion marked Marcia's face as she munched on piece of gyoza, then she looked at her dress. "Too much?” she asked worriedly.

"Not enough. I hate to think of the wardrobe malfunction if you sneeze."

"Be right back."

G.K. stood in front of the guys like a general inspecting his troops.

“You guys need to be on your best behavior," he began only to be interrupted by Kwan.

"Geez G.K., chill," he huffed. "We're not kids. We know how to behave."

The young man eyed them suspiciously. “I know that, but can you all try to keep the embarrassing facts to a minimum please.” He pointed at Kibum. “And
you
, let other people eat instead of sucking everything down like a human vacuum cleaner."

Boom began mumbling about being treated like a child but G.K. ignored him looking at Kai, who ignored them all, as he scrolled through his phone, staring at the screen intensely.

“Kai…Kai,” G.K. called, pulling his cousin’s eyes to him.

               “Can you at least
try
and look like you want to be here, even if you don’t.”

Kai complained, “I don’t even know why I’m coming, you know Noel convinced JinYung to let her come to New York for a few days…”

“I do, but she’s on a plane, she’s not here, so you can focus.”

Kwan spoke up, “Enough G.K. you sound like my mother, let’s get going.” He grumbled, moving around a still fussing G.K.

The doorbell rang and Leila, as calm as she could make herself considering that she was hosting, in essence what could be considered her first celebrity dinner party went to answer it.

"Hi guys."

"Hi Leila," Kwan said. "Can you do something about your boyfriend please?"

"Yeah, he thinks we don't know how to act," complained Boom.

She looked at G.K. who looked like he wanted to strangle his band mates.

"Come on in," she ushered them inside. They filed in, leaving their shoes by the door.

Leila made the introductions. “Marcia, this is Kai, Boom, Young, and Kwan. Guys this is my roommate Marcia.”

She'd changed into jeans and long-sleeved green scoop neck top. Her eyes twinkled as she waved. "So which one of you is single?"

"Marcia!"

Kwan and Young laughed, sensing a kindred spirit. Leila and G.K. looked mortified. Kai was surreptitiously checking his phone, when all eyes suddenly fell on him.

 "Sorry. Noel's on her way from Seoul. I want to make sure I'm at the airport when she comes in."

"Jin Yung said he'd have a car for her when she arrives," G.K. said, his irritation thinly disguised. It dissipated when Leila took his hand and gave it a light squeeze.

"Wow," gushed Boom. "Everything smells so good. You guys must have bought out the store."

Leila and Marcia looked at each other and laughed in agreement, “The delivery people seemed to think so too.”

Marcia handed him a plate. "It's not going to eat itself guys. Have at!"

Ignoring G.K.'s glare, Boom and Young gleefully piled their plates high with various stir fry, rice, and large bowls of soup. Marcia quickly joined them and the kitchen was soon filled with raucous chatter.

They didn’t listen to anything I said
G.K. thought angrily.

He'd wanted them to make a good impression on Leila beyond that of their working interaction. Instead Boom, Kwan and Young seemed hell-bent on doing the exact opposite. Worse, a rather disinterested Kai clung to his cell as if his life depended on it.

“Hey, why the long face?” Leila asked, hugging him from the side.

G.K. waved a hand in exasperation. “They’re doing everything I asked them not to do. Kai’s being rude, Boom is eating his weight in food, I bet Kwan is making fun of me, and Young is staring at your roommate like he wants to swallow her whole!”

She grabbed his hand and led him away toward her room. Once out of sight, he took her into his arms.

"I just wanted this to be a nice, casual dinner," he said as he slowly relaxed into her embrace.

She grinned, toying with a lock of his hair. "If it gets any more casual, we'll be eating on the floor." The attempt at humor helped slightly. "Everything is fine G.K., really. I don't like stuffy dinner parties anyway. If Boom eats the way you say he does, sign his butt up for that hot dog-eating contest."

G.K. chuckled at that. "He'd probably win."

"And my roomie's a huge flirt, but it's all in fun. She likes people who are real and make her laugh."

"Kwan's probably giving her plenty to laugh about," he grumbled.

"And in case you've forgotten, your cousin is a happy man in love.  He's being completely normal."

G.K. sighed. "Sorry, Leila. I'm being, what do they call it, a wet pillow? I'm just so used to looking out for them."

"You mean a 'wet blanket'. Stop worrying, everything is fine."

Once Leila’s sweet lips fixed on G.K.’s, it no longer mattered if Boom stuffed himself silly.

This will relax me alright
, his mind sang in response. They kissed for a long time, breathing heavily, and hands wandering. The food smelled wonderful, but not as wonderful as Leila's fruit-scented skin.

Unfortunately his stomach did not agree and loudly growled its displeasure. They broke away, Leila giggled and he chuckled too.