Page 55 of When Worlds Collide (Between Worlds #2)

I woke up as Jihoon ran his hot tongue up the length of my throat to my jaw.

“Hmm, good morning.” I smiled, opening my eyes slowly, enjoying the feel of Jihoon’s large hand stroking its way up my sternum between my breasts to lay over my heart.

“Saengil chukha, jagiya.”

I grinned.

Happy birthday, indeed. Twenty-three was already off to a good start, I thought lazily to myself as I stretched.

“I love when you do that,” Jihoon murmured as he pressed butterfly kisses to my pulse point.

In reaction, I arched my back, bowing like a violin string under his masterful hands. His fingers lightly danced across my breast, thumbing my nipple a little harder, making me gasp.

I reached for him, any part of him, needing to feel the smoothness of his hot skin under my greedy hands, but quicker than I could jump from one thought to the next, his hand shot out to grasp my wrist, holding it gently, but firmly as he placed it above my head.

“Ah, ah, ah,” he chided me. “Today, you just lie here.” He pressed a kiss to my pouting mouth. “Like a princess.”

“But I want to touch you,” I whined. He grinned, but it was a predatory sort of smile.

“I know.”

I moved my other hand to cup his face, running my thumb over his full bottom lip. He turned his face slightly, catching my thumb gently in between his teeth. He gave me a slight nip.

I gasped. “Ow.”

Jihoon plucked my hand away from his face and lifted it to where my other hand lay above my head. He held my hands caged in his hand, pressing them down firmly enough with his body weight that I knew I’d struggle to get free. If I wanted to.

“Ssh,” he soothed, lowering his head enough to run his nose gently over mine before laying his hot mouth on mine. His lips moved, and mine parted on a sigh.

He pulled back slightly, releasing my hands.

“Good girl,” he murmured against my lips as I left my hands where they were.

I watched through hazy eyes as he raised himself up, looking down at me where I lay beneath him. His eyes, normally so warm, were now dark, raking over me with an almost physical sensation that had me squirming.

Slowly, he began to unbutton my shirt. It was one of his. I’d started sleeping in them recently because he said he liked how they looked on me. With how he was looking at me now, I think it was also because he liked taking them off me.

Unbuttoned, he pushed the fabric to the sides, revealing my body to his hungry gaze. He looked over me like he hadn’t seen me in weeks. It made my breaths come faster, my chest heaving.

His eyes flashed back up to mine. “So perfect.”

I loved it when his accent got a little less refined, his natural Satoori more recognisable when he stopped caring. And with the way he was looking at me right then, I felt perfect. It was a heady aphrodisiac.

“Tell me what you want, cheonsa.”

His lips quirked, but it wasn’t with amusement. He slid between my legs, nudging them aside with his knees until all of me was bared to him. He looked down and groaned, closing his eyes briefly. He said something in Korean, and it sounded like he was praying.

“I only want you.” I was breathless, my hips moving of their own accord, desperately seeking.

“Hmm, is that all?”

“Isn’t that enough?” I whined, only just awake and already so ready for him that I ached.

“This?” He ground his hips against me, a fleeting pressure that had me throwing my head back, eyes fluttering closed.

“Yes,” I gasped. “Except naked.”

He was still wearing his briefs, not that they were hiding much at that moment.

He chuckled, but it was strained, as if he too was struggling to hold himself back. My fists clenched in the pillow above my head, desperate to touch him.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to be gentle?” He raised one eyebrow at me, but he already knew what I wanted.

“Be gentle later,” I panted, “fuck now.”

He tutted at me. “Such language, cheonsa.”

But between one breath and the next, he was on me, pressing his demanding mouth against mine, claiming my lips in a punishing, almost bruising kiss that sent all other thoughts scattering like dandelion seeds.

One of his hands raised to clasp my wrists once more, pressing them into the pillow.

His body moulded against mine, as though he also couldn’t bear any space between our skin, and close as he was, I felt when his other hand pushed down the thin barrier of his briefs.

His thigh nudged mine higher, until he lifted my leg and hooked it around his hip, widening me almost to the point of pain.

But, as soon as that thought came, it was pushed aside as I felt him line himself up at my entrance.

“Joon!”

His name was torn from my lips as he pushed into me with one hard thrust. I expected to feel a pinch of discomfort at the sudden entrance, but all I felt was the immediate wash of relief that always followed the intense need he inspired in me. I wondered wildly if it was like this for everyone.

Jihoon rested a moment, his body covering mine so completely that he overwhelmed my every sense. I felt his heart thudding against my skin, the steady, but frantic pace surely matching my own.

“Mine," he gasped.

He pressed a kiss to my racing pulse point before rising up.

Still holding my hands firmly, he looked down the length of our bodies to where we were joined.

He ran his other hand down my thigh, pulling it higher on his hip.

He loomed over me, his eyes holding me as firmly as his hand held my wrists.

“Mine,” he said again, almost growling the word at me. “Say it.”

He pulled out slightly, making me gasp.

“Say it.”

“Yours,” I panted.

He slid back in, and I cried out.

“Again.”

He pulled out, almost entirely.

“Yours!”

He rocked back into me, and then there were no more words. Not for a long time.

Later.

We were sat at the kitchen counter. I was wrapped up in a towel, fresh out of the bath Jihoon had run for me.

And yeah, okay, maybe he’d misjudged the oil-to-water ratio, so I was a little slippier than normal, and I smelled like I’d rolled in patchouli but the thought was nice.

He was feeding me bites of coconut cake off a fork, and while I was perfectly capable of feeding myself, why the hell wouldn’t I let my gorgeous boyfriend feed me cake on my birthday?

I looked down at the little charm bracelet Jihoon had given me. It was a simple, silver chain with only two charms. A shimmering little fish, and an infinity symbol.

“A Koi,” he’d explained, fastening the chain around my wrist.

“They’re a symbol of endurance in the face of hardship.”

His eyes flicked up to mine, and I knew his thoughts mirrored my own. He continued. “A fish is also the sign of Pisces.”

I’d smiled at that.

“Where we met,” I said.

He nodded. “Yes, and it’s also your birth sign.” He looked up again, and this time he held my gaze. “We met at the place of your birth sign. It was fate.”

“Maybe it was,” I agreed, easily enough. Who was I to argue with fate?

“What do you want to do next?” he asked, wiping a bit of frosting off my lip.

“Nothing,” I said. “Just this.”

“Just this?” He cocked an eyebrow at me.

“Just this. Forever.”

He smiled softly at me, and it was everything.

“Okay.”