Page 37 of A World Apart (Between Worlds #1)

That’s where I found him. Jihoon was stood on the grass and looking up into the trees surrounding the pool.

His back was too me and he hadn’t noticed me yet, which allowed for shameless voyeurism for me.

He was wearing a pair of long board shorts, but he was topless, displaying his strong, muscled back which tapered down to a narrow waist.

My mouth went dry as I stood there, looking my fill, until I must have made a noise and he turned round to face me.

The full force of seeing him half-dressed made my knees feel weak.

Every time I thought I was past the constant shock of how attracted I was to him, I’d see him in a whole new light.

Butterflies swooped and dived in my belly and I didn’t try to fight the smile that inched up my face as we stood, looking at one another.

His own gaze lingered as they traveled up my body, despite the towel I had wrapped around me, and for the first time, I felt a sort of… equality in our relationship dynamic.

After a moment, he held out his hand to me. I walked out and past the stepping stones towards him, sliding my hand into his once he was close enough to touch. He rubbed his thumb back and forth over the back of my hand.

“Do you want to get in?” he asked.

“Yes, absolutely,” I said. The heat of the day, while well past its zenith, still lingered in the air, and honestly, the thought of sliding into that clear pool of water was irresistible.

Jihoon squeezed my hand before letting it go.

He sat down on the ledge before sliding into the pool in one graceful movement.

It wasn’t too deep this end, enough that when he stood, the water came up to his ribs, and I was momentarily again distracted by his bare chest, the water sliding down it in a way I almost envied.

Jihoon ran a hand through his wet hair, bringing my attention back to his face, a smirk tugging up his lips, letting me know he’d caught me looking.

I flushed and hastily knelt down and then swung my legs round so they were dangling in the water over the edge of the pool. He held my gaze as my hands loosened their hold on the towel I still clung to and, heart pounding, I lowered the thick fabric to the sides and let it fall to the grass.

Jihoon waded closer until his chest was nearly brushing against my legs.

His gaze was locked onto mine, unwavering, as he placed his hands on my knees, slowly guiding them apart.

He slipped between them, his palms gliding up my bare thighs until he was pressed against the edge, his face level with my chest, which rose and fell with each unsteady breath.

His hands left a trail of fire up my thighs, the burn settling into my hips as he grasped them firmly.

His fingers tightened, drawing a gasp from me, my mouth parting slightly.

I held his gaze, feeling the desire in his eyes and knowing it was mirrored in my own.

My hands trembled as I brought them up to cup his face, tilting it just so as I lowered to brush my lips over his.

Each of the times before when we’d kissed, it had been Jihoon who’d kissed me, now it was me kissing him and oh, how I’d missed him.

He opened his mouth without hesitation and I pressed against him more firmly, needy energy pulsing through me in a way I fought to satisfy.

I ran my tongue against his full lower lip, and he groaned into my mouth, which only made me more greedy.

There was too much space between our bodies, I tried to lessen it by pressing myself against him, but I couldn’t manage it with this angle.

Jihoon seemed to sense what I needed, as he tugged on my hips, which tore my lips from his, but tilted my pelvis as I slid further off the ledge.

Jihoon was right there, a physical wall of muscle and warm skin and as I slid into the pool, I wrapped my arms around his neck, sliding down his body in a way that made my abdomen clench in desire.

Fully in now, I held tight to his neck, our bodies pressed close, no room even for the water to lap between us. I felt each rise of his chest against mine, each shaky exhale stirring my hair.

This time, when he kissed me, it was with a different kind of fire that set ablaze the need in my chest. It was sweeter, less all-consuming but deeper, as if the embers were burning through my skin and into my heart, rather than setting me ablaze.

His hands roamed gently over my back, soothing me. My own hands smoothed up his neck, fingers twisting into the damp strands of his hair, long enough for a gentle tug. I gave a playful nip to his lip before pulling away .

The look he gave me as he held his fingers to his lip froze the giggle that had been bubbling up my throat. The dangerous way he looked up at me from under his eyelashes had me backing away, pulse pounding in my throat.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” he growled as he followed my retreat, backing me up against the edge of the pool, caging me in with an arm on either side of me. He leaned in close, his mouth skimming my ear as he whispered something I didn’t understand, before running his tongue up the length of my neck.

I gasped in shock, arching my back, pushing my breasts into his hard chest.

He groaned against my skin, peppering little kisses in the wake of his tongue.

His arm fell from the wall and ran down my side before settling onto my hip, pulling me against him so hard I could feel the evidence of his arousal pressing into my belly.

I went loose and taut at the same time, a sigh slipping from between my parted lips, so lost in delirium that I barely noticed when his lips fastened around the sensitive skin of my neck, his tongue lapping softly until he sucked harder, the sharp nip making me squirm.

His fingers dug in tighter before his mouth released my neck.

He met my eyes with an expression I could only describe as smug, while all I could do was pant.

In direct contradiction to the dangerous mood he’d just set, Jihoon leaned in and placed a sweet kiss to the tip of my nose and rubbed my hip gently.

I lifted a hand to where my neck tingled.

“Did you just give me a hickey?” I accused.

He smirked, that taunting tilt of his lips that did dangerous things to me.

“You bit me.”

I bluescreened for a hot second, torn between disbelief and wanting to laugh.

Laughing won out in the end, a peal of giggles I could no more contain than the cloud can hold in its rain.

We splashed and floated around in the pool until the sun began to set in earnest, the sky streaking with shades of pink and orange before the solar lights strung around the garden winked on in unison, casting a golden glow over the pool.

“Wah,” Jihoon sighed, “so pretty.”

“Why, thank you,” I quipped, flicking water at him.

“Not you,” he scoffed, “the sky is pretty.”

Just as my pride was taking a tumble down a steep hill, he added, “You’re beautiful.” He met my eyes with that searing look of his that made me melt and squirm all at once.

I drifted over to the ladder and put my hand on the rung, about to climb up when I felt Jihoon press up against my back, the heat of him like a warm blanket.

“Let me help,” he murmured against my ear, sending shivers dancing up and down my spine like a line of lit fireworks.

I took my hand off the ladder and twisted around to face him. The smile he gave me… I could stare at it all day and consider it a day well spent.

Gently, he pushed my back up against the wall, instantly bringing to mind the events of only a couple hours ago. The way we’d played chase and shark since then had not erased the desire I felt for this man in front of me .

When he put his hands firmly around my waist, I saw from the way he moistened his lips and the dark look in his eyes that he was remembering it too.

But all he did was lift me, effortlessly it seemed, out of the water to sit me on the edge of the pool.

I scooted back until my butt was on the grass, and not a second too soon, because Jihoon pushed himself out immediately after, and…

good God, if I’d thought seeing him in the pool was something ? seeing the way he pushed himself out of it, water dripping down his arms, muscles so clearly defined in the fading light of the day, that was a whole different kind of something.

I bit my lip as I shamelessly watched. He put one knee on the edge, and then the other, his arms casually caging me in as he all-but-crawled over me.

I leant back further on my elbows as I helplessly watched him crawl up me until his face hovered above my own.

There’s no way he wasn’t acutely aware of the effect he had on me, the way he smiled down at me; he knew.

“Are you hungry?” His words implied a completely different question to the one his tone asked.

“Starving,” I whimpered, and honestly it was a valid answer to both questions.

He grinned and leaned back on his heels before rising to his feet. I will never get used to how graceful he is. If I tried doing that, I would fall ass-backwards into the pool.

Jihoon reached down both hands for me and I reached up immediately, his large hands gripping mine firmly as he pulled me to my feet.

“Come on, let’s get changed and order something to eat.”

The dangerous duality of this man…

I could only nod as we walked, hand-in-hand back into the house.

He led me back upstairs to the master bedroom before turning around and leaving me, like we’d just finished a date and he’d walked me to my front door.

My head spun as I walked through the bedroom to the bathroom and turned on the shower.

How could someone so chivalrous be so skilled at seduction?

Because I was absolutely certain I had been thoroughly seduced, and just like that evening we’d spent on the beach, I knew completely that if he’d laid me down in the grass, I would have let him .

As I stripped and then stood under the spray ? perfect temperature and pressure ? I examined my feelings on this.

Did I want to sleep with Jihoon? Judging by the lingerie Becka had stuffed in my bag, she was betting I would, but when I thought about it, I wasn’t sure how I felt.

I was unarguably, inexcusably attracted to Jihoon, I mean, who wouldn’t be?

But past just being nice to look at, the attraction went far deeper, I knew that.

I wanted him and I wanted to know him. I wasn’t sure I could skip that step, and while I felt like I was getting there, I wasn’t sure if I felt secure enough in our ‘whatever-this-was-ship’ yet.

Half of me felt conflicted by my own resistance. Intellectually, I knew and agreed with the idea that ‘virginity’ was a social construct… patriarchy... yada, yada, yada. But the other part of me did see it as a big deal.

I sighed. I wasn’t going to solve this in the span of one shower.

Not long later, I was clean and smelling like sea moss and citrus ? according to the fancy bottles I’d found in the shower. Wrapped in a fluffy robe, I was just rifling through my bag for something comfortable to lounge in, when a knock at the door sounded.

“Come in,” I called, without thinking. Jihoon opened the door and stepped into the room before he stopped abruptly and turned back around to face the door. I looked at him in confusion.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“You’re not dressed.” He rasped.

Hastily, I glanced down at myself in case my robe had parted, but it was tightly tied.

“Jihoon, I’m wearing a robe, I’m not naked.” I fought the self-conscious laugh brewing in my chest.

He glanced over his shoulder but turned back around just as fast. I put my hands on my hips.

“Jihoon, I was wearing less in the pool,” I said, reasonably. “Turn around, please.”

He did, but kept his eyes pointed at the floor. I walked towards him, adding in a little sway, just because. I stood in front of him and looked up until I caught his eyes .

“You can look at me,” I said gently. He lifted his head, but kept his eyes on mine. I wanted to reach out, but I didn’t want to overstep. I didn’t know where the boundaries where.

I took a breath and decided to be mature and actually ask him.

“I don’t understand why this?” I motioned to myself, “is worse than me in a bikini. I need you to tell me so I don’t do something wrong.” My voice wavered at the end, the events of the day, the emotional roller-coaster of it all catching up with me.

Jihoon frowned, his mouth an unhappy line.

“You’ve done nothing wrong, it’s not bad.” He sighed and reached for my face, cupping me gently, as if he was scared of hurting me. Then a look passed across his face, a subtle change that had me swaying towards him ever so slightly.

“It’s different, because I know that if I were to pull this?” he moved one hand to the tie that fastened the robe around my waist and pulled on it lightly, but enough that my robe loosened just a tiny bit.

I swallowed, my heart hammering a frantic pulse.

“And if I put my hand just here?” he moved his hand from the tie to slightly further up, where the robe was folded over my chest, placing it flat against my ribs.

“I could slide my hand inside.” To illustrate his point, he pressed slightly.

I gasped when I felt his finger tip lightly graze my skin.

He softly ran it up and down, barely even touching me, not really, but in that moment, I was hyper fixated on every centimetre of skin he grazed.

I willed him to kiss me, to slide his hand all the way in, but instead he caressed my cheek with his other hand and then took a respectable step back.

I almost went with him, that irresistible magnetism I felt nearly taking me with it.

Instead, I drew a steadying breath into my lungs and was gratified to see he was scarcely more composed than I was.

“I’ll get dressed and meet you downstairs.” I croaked. He ran a hand through his damp hair, nodding as he turned around and left.

I huffed out a long breath, turning back around to consider my clothing options, trying my damnedest to ignore my pounding heart and mounting desire, something I’d done a half-assed job of ignoring up until this point, but there it was.

“Holy hell,” I breathed.