My Summer in Seoul

Warmth crept over me. I liked the way I thought of us as a we.

Even though I knew it could be bad, I couldn’t help but smile to myself, remembering his kisses the night before, his playful teasing, and the way even right now, my lips hummed with awareness from his kisses.

“You’re in a good mood.” Rae’s voice came from next to me.

I jumped a foot, my heart hammering painfully against my ribs, its echo drumming in my ears. I eased out a shaky breath and turned to him.

“Please don’t tell me you’re thinking of stealing one of the horses…” He hesitated. “Or maybe you’re thinking about the tiramisu?”

“Hey!” I jabbed him with my finger since we were behind the curtain getting ready for them to go out and do a special performance for their fans. “Not funny. I’ve never been to a horse race before, so I wouldn’t steal one.”

“It shows.” Jay came up behind us.

I rolled my eyes. “And you know how I feel about dessert.”

Rae’s eyes didn’t leave mine.

Lucas snorted and twirled his wine. “Wow, does he?”

Uncomfortable with what Lucas had said, I looked away. “Okay, you guys all know where you’re supposed to be. Think of it as your last rehearsal before the start of the comeback tomorrow afternoon, all right?”

“Does she think that makes us feel less nervous?” Jay asked nobody in particular. “Every time I hear comeback and stage in the same sentence, I feel like puking.”

I slapped him in the shoulder. “Try to keep the kimchi in.”

Jay pressed a hand against his stomach. “I ate too much of it, but that’s what happens when Sookie’s mom drops off food. I have no self-control.”

“I told you to stop,” I pointed out. “But do you listen to me? Nooooo.”

“I liked her better when she was scared of us.” Kai yawned, stretching his hands overhead and doing a few little jumps in place. “And that kimchi was incredible.”

“If I knew that was how to win you guys over…”

“Poisoning us is never the way to win us over,” Lucas joined in with a wink.

One that Rae caught. He did a double take, then seemed to shake it off.

“So tired.” Kai yawned again.

“Hold up,” I quickly grabbed my bag and pulled out an energy drink that I’d brought along for myself. I handed it over to Kai, “Only drink half since I know you get bad anxiety if you finish the whole thing.”

“It tastes good though,” he grumbled, already opening up the can and downing half of it, careful not to mess up his carefully constructed makeup and, yes—lip gloss.

The guys were in similar versions of their historical outfits; only a few had leather pants on this time, which had to be hotter than hell, and long, double-breasted black jackets with rips as if they’d gotten in a fight with a werewolf and lost.

Their makeup was similar; each of them had such gorgeous eyes it was hard to look directly at them.

At home, it was easier since they had nothing to accentuate the different shapes, eye colors—but with red eyeliner or even a bit of dark shadow—damn, it just made a person go from hot to I-may-sell-my-soul-for-one-kiss status.

“Uncle Siu—” I flinched. “That is, Manager or CEO—what do you guys even call him now? You know what? Never mind. He’ll be here for the end of the performance. He had to go make a call.” I checked my phone. “All right, you have three minutes.”

After they filed out, I was too busy checking and rechecking the schedule to notice that Lucas had stayed back; his fingers grazed my hip as he leaned in and whispered without looking at me, “You’re doing a great job, you know.”

My heart beamed with the compliment. “Does that mean you don’t hate me as much anymore?”

“Oh, I still hate you—want me to prove it later?”

My knees buckled as I looked around and cleared my throat nervously. “Pretty sure that’s a bad idea.”

“Or the best idea I’ve ever had.”

“Maybe.” Heat pumped into my cheeks.

“A date,” Lucas whispered so low I almost missed it.

“Wh-what?” Seriously, these guys were going to be the death of me. I hadn’t recovered from Rae’s non-date; I wouldn’t survive Lucas’s.

“Let me take you out on a date after the concert.” His smile was so sexy and devious that I wanted to melt into a puddle at his feet. Wait, he’d said, “after the concert.” Duh, that was impossible. He was clearly kidding because of last night. “Stop teasing, we’ll be here with the rest of the guys.”

Leaning in, he whispered, “Only the two of us will know it’s a date… like dating in secret, but in front of everyone.” He shrugged. “I mean, if you’re too scared…”

“You have one minute to get your ass to stage left!” I started to shove him, but he refused to move. When did he get so heavy? “Lucas, seriously!”