Chapter 26

Marley POV

I blinked against the light that was drifting through half closed curtains, unnoticed until now. Raising up on my elbows, I looked across at Tae. His arm was partially tucked behind his head, face relaxed in sleep, eyes closed. His skin had a beautiful caramel colour which I now felt very acquainted with and a blush crept across my cheeks as I remembered the feel of it against mine. Sitting up carefully so not to wake him, I reached out for a blanket that was discarded in a pile and wrapped it around my bare shoulders, feeling the deliciously achy feeling of tired muscles.

"Your cheeks are pink," he said softly, stretching out the night and I turned to him with a shy smile, holding the blanket against my body.

"Hi," I replied quietly.

"Hi," he answered, reaching out to stroke my arm. The look in his eyes was stunning, partly sleepy and partly with adoration. My heart skipped a few times as I got lost in his eyes. We both blinked after a few moments and he laughed, his voice low and leisurely.

"Last night, wow, I mean, really, wow. The waiting was killing me but so, so worth it." He pushed his hair out of his eyes and I reached out to touch it, running my fingers through the dark length, kissing his cheek and enjoying the soft feeling under my lips. He linked his fingers with mine, bringing our hands to his bare chest and I felt the warmth coming off his body.

As he stared up at me, I blushed under the intensity of his gaze. "It was wow for me too," I replied, stumbling a little over my words. "Not just that though, I enjoyed the whole day with you yesterday. Actually, I've enjoyed all my time with you."

"Same. Very much the same," he nodded and he couldn't stop smiling, pulling his lips together in a cute, kissable expression. "Are you OK?"

"More than OK. You don't have to worry, I was ready Tae."

Sitting up, he peeled back the blanket slightly to press a kiss to my shoulder. Then he pushed it further down, dropping it to pool around my waist and I resisted the sudden desire to cover myself up. Last night, the lights were mostly off, only the lights of the city being our guide through the open curtains. It felt raw and confronting to be so visible now. I went to cover myself and he stilled my hand. Embarrassed, I looked down at my stomach, a few stretch marks faintly visible from my pregnancies. He followed my gaze and touching them gently with his fingers, he looked up at my eyes and touched my nose. "Why do you look shy?"

"I'm just aware I'm not perfect. You're used to being around people like female idols who are amazing and I don't have a body like them. This is all the real me," I said, feeling incredibly vulnerable.

His eye contact continued as he moved down my torso with his lips, breaking it only by placing a soft kiss on my stomach before sliding back up my body. "These are beautiful. War stripes you earned for Sophia."

I melted in that moment, turning my eyes to look at him, admiring his face. The cheek bones softened by his cheeks that puffed up when he smiled a certain way. His lips, full and inviting. The eyes that held a hundred emotions, could slay you with one look or reel you into their depth. His hair, currently dark and messy. A faint shadow across his upper lip and on his chin begging to be stroked.

Reaching over and touching his face, I felt the stubble rough against my palm. "I like this," I said, continuing my exploration.

"Oh you do?" he asked with a smirk, covering my hand in his and guiding it across his features.

"The photos I've seen of you, you're clean shaven. This feels like something only I get to see and touch."

I watched his eyes so close to mine, lower slowly, eyelashes brushing against his cheeks then look at me again with a calculated expression. Holding my gaze, he continued to guide my hand as it moved from his face, down his body. He paused at his stomach, letting me feel the abs under my fingertips. His teeth grazed against his bottom lip briefly, eyes squeezing tight, taking a big breath as I travelled past his belly button, then I was flipped onto my back, looking up at him. As he gazed down at me with determination, my hands were pinned next to my head on the pillow, his stubble skimming my cheek as he brought his face close.

"Marley, it is all just for you." And minutes later, as my neck arched back on the pillow, gasps erupting from my lips, his low voice murmured "Go baby," against my stomach and I went.

"I can confirm it's not true," Tae said and I looked up at him from where I was curled against his chest.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you said your face goes red when you exercise. Your cheeks do go a delightful shade of pink but even after a lot of exercise, there's no red. Or weren't we exercising hard enough," he was smirking, quite proud of himself as I felt my cheeks flame.

"Maybe you missed it, you seemed to be thinking of other things," I replied, stretching to kiss the underside of his jaw.

"My eyes were definitely on you the whole time, I would've seen. But no matter, there are still plenty of ways to set your body on fire," and I inhaled sharply, blinking then closing my eyes as his hand began to trail down my side.

"Starting after we eat though," he said, pulling away to reach for the phone. "For some reason, I'm very, very hungry now."

We opted for quick and simple, sharing noodles on the floor of the living area, wrapped in hotel robes.

"I can't believe you like horror," he said, astonished. We'd been talking about movies. Tae liked film noir, I liked musicals, he liked rom coms, I did too but also thrillers and horrors. This apparently didn't line up with what he assumed. "But why? Doesn't your heart beat too fast when you watch them?"

"That's part of the fun. Reaching to grab hold of someone when it gets too scary. The perfect date movie." I laughed at his expression of disbelief, reaching for the chopsticks to have some more food. He was right, we had worked up an appetite.

Tae was watching me struggle with the noodles, reaching for the chopsticks and easily taking the food, holding it out for me to eat. Why that felt so intimate and yet so comfortable I didn't know but I ate the noodles off the chopsticks, watching as he grabbed some for himself. He glanced at me a few times and looked away as our eyes met. Finally I had to ask what was going on.

"OK, you look like something is eating away at you, what do you want to say?"

"Eating away at me?" he asked, obviously not understanding the phrase or maybe avoiding having to answer.

"You look like something is bothering you."

"Not bothering me exactly, I just have a question."

"Ask away," I replied as he leaned in to feed me some more noodles.

He took a breath, went to speak and then stopped, glancing away so he wasn't looking at me when he finally spoke. "I was worried. When we are together, are you satisfied?"

I had to stare at him while my brain connected all his words. Surely he couldn't be asking about when we were intimate? Because, that didn't make sense. I needed to clarify.

"Do you mean when we're together, physically?" I don't know why I couldn't ask if he meant sex, for some reason I didn't want to use that word and making love sounded too cliché.

He nodded without looking at me, his mouth conveniently full of food so he didn't have to answer. I noticed his ears had gone a little red and the look on his face told me his question had left him feeling vulnerable and exposed. Despite how crazy it sounded, I knew I needed to spell it out so he didn't have any reason to doubt.

"Tae oppa, your kisses, your touches, when we're together, all of it, every single moment, I am incredibly satisfied. More than satisfied, many, many times over. You are a very considerate lover."

He had turned to face me, a small smile on his lips. "What does considerate mean?"

"You think of me and what I might like, putting me first. Which has proven to be amazing in bed."

"I want to make you happy."

"You do."

"More than happy," he continued, reaching for my hand as he pushed the food aside.

"I'm not sure how you could make me happier," I replied as he reached for the ties on my robes, our lunch abandoned as I set about proving my words and he took them as a challenge to put even more of a smile on my face.

Closing my eyes and laying my head back against the headboard of the bed for a moment, I ran through the last 48 hours, playing it out like screenshots of a movie. Arriving, seeing him, the small moments, the night, yes our first night joined together. I wondered how many people had spent a night like that with Tae. How many had seen his beautiful face as he came undone, the way his eyes held mine for as long as possible then closed at the last moment when he rolled his head back and lost control. My mouth parted at the thought, tongue resting on the roof of my mouth as I smiled at how I was now one of those few people.

"Your face is telling many pictures," he said quietly and my eyes popped open to see him watching me. "What was that last smile about?"

My face instantly flushed and I couldn't meet his eyes. He chuckled. "It did look like you were thinking about something you were enjoying."

"Well yes, and I can't talk about it."

"No secrets, remember?" he answered, touching my pink cheeks with the tips of his fingers.

"I'm not sure that it's OK to talk about and I don't want to step over any lines."

"Marley, we slept together last night. And this morning. And hopefully again later." He raised his eyebrow as a question with a grin before continuing. "What other lines can't we cross?"

"Well, I'm a little embarrassed," I answered, covering my face in both hands.

"Now I am very interested," he said, reaching over to remove both my hands and pushing hair away from where it had made a small barrier across my face.

"OK, OK, I'll tell you, let me take a minute to regroup." Swallowing, I looked down before talking myself into looking him directly in the eyes when I answered. "I was remembering your face, when you ummmm... when we..."

"Ahhhhh, and that made you smile?" he asked, tipping his head to the side almost coyly.

"Yes, it was definitely something I won't forget. It was amazing." He blinked shyly at the compliment. "But I smiled thinking I was one of only a few people that got the pleasure of seeing that."

"Yes, just a few" he said.

"I guess I kind of wondered if there might be a girl in every city," I continued cautiously. Saying that made me feel exposed. Basically I was asking him if he slept with someone everywhere he went and I didn't really know if I wanted to know the answer. I didn't want to just be a number.

He looked shocked. "Who has time?" he answered with a laugh, clearly not too bothered by what I had insinuated. "When we travel we are filming or interviews, concert, practices. We come back to the hotel, eat and sleep. It can be very tiring and there are always people. We do not get much time on our own. That was why my walk to the park was part of a perfect day. No noise, no rushing. And you," he finished, placing a gentle kiss on my lips.

I returned the kiss, placing my hands on his face, stroking it lightly but I had more questions."So how do you date or meet people then?" I asked, curiously.

"Well, I haven't actually dated much at all. There have been a few who have come into my world but when we were younger, we lived all together and you couldn't bring someone back without everyone knowing especially as we shared rooms for a long time. And the company has rules which I'm probably breaking now. So it was very hard and relationships don't last like that." He reached out and linked fingers with me as he finished talking, curling himself around me. "It can work though, some of the members have been or are in relationships. It's just a lot they needed to work through to stay together."

Looking down at our joined hands, I knew it was true. How could a relationship like that last, how could anything with us be more than just a few days here and there?

He stroked my thumb with his, reading my mind. "You said last night to not think too much. You are doing that now."

"This is amazing, really. Two weeks ago I couldn't have dreamed I'd be here with you. There is so much more happiness in my world now. But,"

His thumb came up to press my mouth closed. "No but. There is always a way around things. One day at a time."

I nodded then rested my head against his shoulder, his arm automatically coming round to hold me close. This was warmth and comfort and everything I had been missing. But more than that, Tae was a depth I was still exploring and it was making me so happy to do that. We were quiet a moment and then he asked "Am I allowed to ask if there have been many men who have won your heart?"

"Won my heart or who I've slept with?" I replied, twisting so I could see his face.

"We don't talk of these things very openly back home but I am interested in everything about you."

"Well, I'm sure my number is less than yours considering it's just been Matty. And now you," I replied quietly.

He stopped has hand where it had been tracing up and down my arm. "Just two? But you're gorgeous," he stated, very matter of factly.

"That's sweet of you to say but I believe sex has to go together with real feelings and I haven't been in love enough to want to share that with very many men."

"Only two," he repeated quietly. "I feel, I think the word is honoured to share this with you." He linked his fingers with mine, staring into my eyes. "And I'll try not to feel like you're comparing us."

"Do you really think that I would?"

"Well, with two it can't be anyone else. I can worry too. Being famous doesn't change that."

"So, because I'm not famous I can't worry about the fact you've been with a whole lot more than two? That's a lot more people to compare me to." I was feeling like this conversation could head down a dangerous road.

"It's not a whole lot more than two, I haven't been intimate with that many people. And I definitely was not doing any comparing the last 24 hours. That's not what I'm thinking about when we're together."

"Ditto."

"Are you mad at me? He asked, his brow furrowed. "You sound a little?"

"Not mad, maybe frustrated. It just reminded me that I'm fairly new to all of this again. I've only had one partner my whole adult life to learn with and I feel like I might not live up to what you want from a relationship."

He gripped my hand tight before tucking me into his side. "Not live up to? You have gone past anything I could've imagined. And I did a lot of imagining while we were apart those few days." He laughed and the sound was deep and calming. "I don't want you to think that there's ever anyone else on my mind when I'm kissing you or touching you because I'm only thinking of you."

"Thank you, I feel a little silly."

"Silly for sharing your feelings? We have no secrets so even about this, we need to talk. Maybe that will put your mind at ease. Do I need to tell you more often, how amazing you are? Because you are. And how I can't keep my hands to myself when you're around me? Because I can't."

"You've already shown me with your actions that you're attracted to me. I think, if you can be patient, I'll get over myself and trust that you like me as much as I like you."

"More than like you, let's be very clear on that," he answered as his mouth began to roam over my body again, reassuring me that it was just the two of us here in this moment.

**OK, so yes. It's a new relationship, physically, so they're doing a lot of exploring in the short amount of time they have together. Please review if you have time and you're enjoying it, I already have the whole story plotted out and we're about 60% of the way in. Plus I have another story I'm working on starting soon and a collection of shorts. Reviews remind me why I'm doing this :) **