My Summer in Seoul

Rae’s door opened, and he poked his head out. “What are you doing?” Of course he was still up. He was always up. Always working. Always worrying.

“Nothing,” I said like a guilty teen. “Just grabbing some water.”

His eyes went from me to Grace and back again. “Get some sleep.”

Shit, it really did feel like my dad just caught me, only worse because Rae saw everything.

“I will.” I strutted over to the kitchen and grabbed one water, then told myself this would be the last time I’d think about her—grabbed another and dropped it on the table next to the couch on my way back to my room.

I didn’t look over my shoulder, even though I wanted to.

And I didn’t check on her again.

It wasn’t my place.

And she wasn’t mine to begin with.

Plus, she was the last girl in the world I would go for.

Dead. Last.

Chapter Seventeen

If it was easy everyone would do it…

Lucas

She was still out on the couch.

Dead to the world.

And we had to leave in the next hour if we were going to make it to rehearsal on time. An evil part of me wanted to shove her off the couch and yell, “Fire!”

Instead, I tried to channel my inner gentleman and slowly approached like one does an animal in the wild because, truly, it was the only comparison my brain could come up with—I reached out to shake her shoulder when she flipped around and threw her arms up, pulling my body on top of her.

“Grace!” I shoved against her.

How the hell was she so strong?

She wrapped a leg around me, pinning me against the couch as her arms twined around my neck. Her nose was cold, pressed against the spot below my ear.

She moaned.

Fuck.

Talk about a scandal.

If any fan saw this, I’d be blacklisted.

If the guys saw this, I wouldn’t hear the end of it; they’d assume I slept with her on the couch and— No, no, wasn’t going to let that happen.

“Grace…” I hissed her name again, but it only seemed to encourage her to pin me harder against the couch; her legs were like a vise. What the hell? Did she study Jiu-jitsu in another life?

I decided to unwrap her legs first and reached down to pull her right leg off me. My fingers dug into her muscular thigh. For complaining about working out, she sure felt strong.

Not like I was feeling her up.

I inwardly groaned. This was getting worse by the second, and the guys would be out to eat breakfast any minute.

I squeezed my eyes shut and shoved, finally getting her right leg off me and pressing her onto her back.

Her arms were still hooked around my neck, forcing me to face her.

She looked so peaceful, and honestly, a lot prettier when she wasn’t talking twenty-four seven.

Huh, imagine that! Just tape her mouth shut, and she becomes attractive.

I smiled at my own joke.

Her eyelashes were dark like her eyebrows, and her hair was light, but I could tell she needed to dye it again.

It still looked good.

What was I saying?

Nothing about her was good, even if she did save my ass. I wasn’t dumb; I knew that our label was thinking very seriously about not letting me on stage.

It was business, not personal, and the last thing they wanted was for my scandal to affect the group in a negative way—even though I was innocent.

Angry all over again, I forgot about prying her hands away.

A door slammed.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

“Sleepover?” Sookie asked in Korean.

“Help me!” I hissed. “She won’t let me go. And no, I didn’t sleep over. I was trying to tell her to get up, and she attacked me.”

“In her sleep?” Why did it have to be Sookie and not Jay? At least Jay would help first, ask questions later. Sookie would probably ask if we hugged all night or held hands or who knew.

“Yes,” I snapped. “In her sleep, now help.”

“Fine.” His sheepish grin wasn’t helping as he went to the front of the couch and grabbed her hands, trying to untwist them from around my neck. “She’s so strong!”

“Believe me, I’m aware,” I grumbled. “Just pull her right hand, yeah, then the left…”

“Are we sure she isn’t awake?” he asked.

A very unattractive snore escaped her mouth.

Panicked, I looked up. “What do you think?”

“It’s cute.”

“Say she’s cute one more time…” I threatened.

“Sorry, sorry!” His cheeks flushed pink. “Okay, if you pull up, I’ll pull her left hand out, and you can roll to the floor.”

“Perfect way to start my day,” I complained. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

“One, two, three—” He pulled, I pushed. Whatever we did, it worked, and I was free, then falling back onto the floor with a loud thud just as Rae and Kai walked into the living room, their expressions confused.

“What’s going on?” Rae, of course, crossed his arms like he was concerned for my welfare—or maybe it was hers?