Chapter 27

Marley POV

"So, are we going to stay in bed all day?" I asked with a laugh.

"It's not the worst way to spend a day," he said, biting his lip suggestively.

"I think that is very true," I answered. "It's just, don't you want some fresh air?"

"We only have a few days together. I'm hoping a large part of that time, we're not wearing anything."

"Well, that time definitely won't be in the fresh air then," I replied, squeezing his thigh. He grabbed my hand and slid it higher up his leg, placing it dangerously close to where I could tease him just by stretching out my fingers a little. He closed his eyes for a minute as my hand moved higher before throwing me down on the bed and smothering me with kisses until he'd reduce me to a giggling mess.

"We don't have to stay in bed though, your room does have a large bath perfectly designed for more than one person," he suggested when I had calmed down a little.

"While that does sound relaxing, can we raincheck and stretch our legs first? I feel like my muscles might need moving before they cramp up from... overuse."

"If you realllllllly want to," he pouted.

"Tae," I laughed, "we need to get up sometime today. Shower, get dressed, do something other than what we've been doing up until now even though that has been very, very enjoyable." I leaned in, fluttering my eyelashes against his cheek before he turned suddenly, catching my lips in his.

"I vote shower," he answered, releasing me and tickling my side.

"Oh, you are terrible," I replied with a laugh.

"But you love it," he said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, I definitely love it," the word rolling easily off my tongue, aware that it wasn't a word we'd used to each other directly yet.

"OK, we can move. I don't think we can safely go anywhere though but I do have an idea of how we can move without leaving the suite. I am going to go and make a phone call."

He jumped up off the bed and I admired the view as he walked away from me, wearing absolutely nothing as he took his phone into the other room. "I can feel you watching me," he called out before disappearing round the corner, a small wiggle of his butt.

"Loving that look," I called back as his deep laugh flowed back to me.

Five minutes later he was back, sauntering into the room. "Done," he said, flopping down next to me as my eyes adjusted to all naked angles of Taehyung.

"Umm... what is done?" I asked, when I could speak.

"I have asked staff to have something delivered to our room. It might take an hour or so for them to sort but it will get us moving."

"OK, sounds interesting," I said, tracing my hand across his chest.

"That's not the interesting part. You missed the bit where I said we had an hour. So, plenty of time for a soak in the tub? Relax your muscles, get clean, tick those boxes?"

"If you insist," I answered with a smile as he kissed my stomach.

"Ah yes, I do. This part I am prepared for."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when I knew you were coming, I ordered in some things to make a bath more fun. It was meant for you but now it could be for both of us. I have them tucked in my bag, just in case."

"Oh wow, now I am very curious."

"Close your eyes so it's a surprise," he said, getting off the bed and opening his bag. I did as he asked while he rummaged around telling me to keep them closed while he went into the bathroom and shut the door. I heard the water start to flow into the tub and sank back into the bed, waiting to be told I was allowed to come through.

A few minutes later he came back, a towel wrapped around his waist. I raised an eyebrow, it hadn't bothered him a few minutes ago when he was walking around wearing nothing. He looked a little sheepish as I pointed that out. "I might have splashed hot water in an uncomfortable place," he said, reaching for my hand and opening the bathroom door.

Bubbles filled the whole tub, mango scent wafting off them, gorgeous deep red petals sprinkled along the wide edges of the bath. He even had small, candles, fake because the hotel wouldn't allow flames but cutely flickering and lighting up the whole room, the main lighting turned low. "Oh, this is perfect Tae," and he looked especially pleased with himself.

The water was the exact temperature I loved, steaming up the bathroom mirrors and I sunk down into it, the bubbles covering up to my neck in the deep bath. Tae climbed in after me, sitting at the other end so we were facing each other and resting his feet at my hips.

"There's something I've been meaning to ask," I said as he took one of my feet, resting it on his thigh, massaging it between his hands. "Am I still baby doll?"

He looked a little sheepish. "Yes, although only when it slips out now as they tease me about it too much. The members haven't seen me like this before so it's very funny to them."

"I think it's sweet but how did it start?"

His cheeks coloured a little, his lips twisted wryly before he spoke. "It was not long after we'd met and I was describing you to the members. Your features are dainty and I couldn't think how to explain them apart from a doll I'd seen my sister with when we were younger. I mean, you have big, beautiful eyes and the way you purse your lips together sometimes is very cute."

I puckered up my lips a few times in his direction and he smirked, rubbing my leg now instead of my foot.

"The first time I said it when I was with the members, I thought Jimin was going to choke on his ramen. He couldn't swallow them fast enough to start making jokes."

He'd reached my knee, rubbing up and over my thigh. It was becoming more than a little distracting.

"I have a nickname for you too," I said, attempting to continue making conversation.

"Oh? Have I heard it?"

"I only really use it in my head," I laughed, now feeling a little embarrassed. "I call you hottie."

"I very much like that, you can say that as often as you like," Tae said as he reached over, pushing a button on the wall and a slow vibration was felt as the jets kicked into gear, water pulsing around us. The downside of that was the bubbles started to evaporate quite quickly. The upside of it was, I could see much more of him than a few minutes earlier. He was watching as the bubbles disappeared and took my hand, pulling me to turn so I was leaning against his back. His hands slowly roamed down the front of my body and I lay my head back on his chest, revelling in the warmth of the water and the sensations of his touch. Before long I was gripping the edges of the bath.

"We're going to need more towels," he whispered against my back as water began to slosh onto the floor and I couldn't answer, too preoccupied by what his fingers were doing.

A text came through and he laughed, standing up to go to the door.

"I put the do not disturb sign on the door last night and my manager doesn't know whether to knock." We were back in the lounge after our bath, dressed for the first time that day. The relaxing bath had taken a turn which I had been expecting. We couldn't keep our hands to ourselves for long, the novelty of the new physical side of our relationship not going away anytime soon. It was better than I had dreamed and had brought about a new level of closeness which was making me know Tae on so many levels. He had shown more sides of himself than I knew there were and each time we were together, it felt new. He was strong, vulnerable, sexy, caring and I was infatuated.

Pulling the door opened, Tae rested inside the doorframe as he was handed a large shopping bag. They chatted for a few minutes, the words drifting back to me where I was curled up on the couch. The language was beautiful but foreign and I realised I might actually need to enrol in a course to learn it properly if this was going to go anywhere. He didn't need to just speak English when we were together, I wanted him to be comfortable to speak however he wanted.

The door closed and he came back through with the bag in hand. Sitting down he began to pull boxes out. "He was checking in on me, to make sure everything was OK. The only thing left on our schedule is an interview tomorrow which means I'll be gone about 2 hours."

"Might be a good chance for me to rest," I laughed. "Not that being kept up at night by you is a bad thing."

He smirked and wiggled his eyebrows. "You are my favourite reason to be awake at night time. He did remind me I should try and sleep tonight though. Apparently I have dark circles under my eyes."

I looked at his eyes, inspecting them in more detail than was necessary because the dark brown was captivating, my new favourite colour, no matter how many times I'd looked at them. "They look good to me."

"You're biased."

"You're definitely my bias," I answered.

"I should hope so," he said, opening a box and pulling out some electrical devices.

"What, you're not going to ask who my wrecker is," I joked.

"I don't want to know," he replied, stiffly.

"Oppa, I don't have one," and I leaned, kissing his cheek. He looked up from the next box he was opening and smiled.

"I love my hyung, I'd get why you might too. As long as it's not in the same way as you feel about me."

"Oh, there is no way I'm thinking of any of them the way I think about you."

"Thank goodness, most of them have bigger muscles than me and I didn't feel like fighting them."

All the boxes were opened and I had a feeling I knew what was coming but asked anyway. "So, what's all this?"

"The staff bought us a game console and dance games. That will help stretch our bodies in a different way."

"If it's a competition, you will win for sure. You dance for a living hottie, I've seen how you move."

He laughed at the nickname and shimmied his hips towards me which I found both endearing and incredibly sexy.

"Stop that or we'll be back in the bedroom."

He rotated his hips slowly again a few times while he bit his lip and I rolled my eyes at him with a grin, picking up a remote.

"Later Kim Taehyung, I want to beat you at this first."

"Later, so that's a promise?"

"There will definitely be a later," I answered, leaning in for a quick kiss. "Now, show me all your moves," quickly adding "in the game!"

A few hours later and I admitted defeat. I could dance but I was out of practice and he was more than equipped to win, each and every time. Not to mention how distracting it was when he was moving his body, it really didn't matter how. And he had been going hard, a small sheen of sweat on his brow.

"I concede, you're the best," I said, flopping onto the couch, out of breath.

"Concede?" he sat next to me, wiping at his face.

"It means I give in, I admit, you're the winner."

"Well, thank you. I enjoyed watching you dance, your body can move well. I already knew that though," and he winked, picking up his phone, glancing then putting it down.

"What will you do with the console when you fly out?"

"I will leave a note, asking it to be donated somewhere. Maybe the local hospital would like it to entertain the children?"

I climbed onto his lap, curling up as he wrapped me against his slightly damp chest and I didn't mind at all. "You are the sweetest and that was fun. Maybe a rematch tomorrow?"

"It's a date," and he pressed his lips to my arm.

I watched as he picked up his phone again, read a message and then put it down without replying.

"You can answer you know," I said.

"Oh I know, but I don't want to right now. My members are messaging me in our chat about what we are doing since I haven't replied in a few days and I am not filling them in on any of this."

"While I appreciate you keeping our private life private, I think the phone is going to keep going off until you say something," I replied as it pinged again.

"OK, I'll just say that I'm having a nice time," he answered, sending off a message and putting the phone down.

"Nice? Gee, thanks," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Well, I'm not exactly going to tell them I'm having the best time I've ever had as then they will want details. Do you want me to describe this morning when we woke up or our bath first?"

"Ah, no thank you. Next time I see them, I want to be able to look them in the eye again."

"They are asking if we want to go to dinner tomorrow night with them all? It is our last night though so we don't have to."

"I'd like to spend some more time with your friends and it will only be few hours, it might be nice to leave the room again," I laughed.

"OK, I'll say yes but warn them we won't stay long. I don't want to share my time with you too much as it's precious."

KTH POV

Me - We'll come to dinner tomorrow but we won't stay late as it's our last night together.

I flicked off the message and another beeped back almost straight away, starting a barrage of messages flooding through the chat.

Mochi – Ah he is alive after all. And?

Me – And what?

Mochi – And details, Taehyungie

Me – *Smiley face emoji*

Mochi – I knew it, spill!

Me – My smile has grown, multiple times over and that is all you are getting

NJ – You don't have to tell us anything Tae

Jin – How many times did he grill you when you first started dating?

NJ – That's true but if you remember, I didn't answer him with specifics

Yoongi – Neither has Tae and very sensible if they're coming to dinner with us tomorrow night. We don't need to know everything that has happened between them. Leave him alone Jiminie, you're just jealous you're not getting any

Mochi – oh you're no fun Yoongi-hyung! It'll be ok, Marley has a sense of humour and quite the tongue on her. She used it to cut me down when we met although I suppose I deserved it

Me – Yes, quite the tongue *Winky emoji*

Hobi – You can't say stuff like that and mic drop Tae!

Me – And again, that's all you're getting. You will not bring anything up with her, I am having the best time and you lot better not scare her away

Jungkook – What have I missed?

Mochi – Taehyungie has slept with Marley, now he's going to be unbareable to be around

Me – I don't remember saying that we'd slept together. And you're just jealous because Si-Woo couldn't come away with you this time. I am saying goodbye now, I have a much better offer than talking to you all. We might see you all tomorrow night if you promise that this conversation is over.

And I clicked out of the chat. I'd check back later to see if they had stopped with the teasing. It's not that I wasn't usually joining in when someone had a partner but this was very new and I wasn't just mucking around with Marley. And Jimin had been right about her tongue so now I was very distracted thinking about it, especially as she was still in my lap.

Marley POV

"I wish I could cook something for us to eat," I said as Tae put his phone down, pulling me close again and nuzzling against my throat with his lips. "It feels wrong to order in all the time."

He pulled away to answer. "It's what I'm used to. Even when we're not travelling I don't cook much, I"m not very good at it."

"I'd love to cook with you. I have fond memories of you helping me cook back home."

"I won't forget that was our first kiss and the kimchi was delicious."

"I'm sure when I make it again for you, it will be even better."

"You can see us cooking together again?"

I paused before answering, unsure as to what the question was actually asking, hoping he didn't still have doubts about how I felt about him. "I can, can't you?"

"I definitely can, that sounds calming. I'm trying to work out when it will be that we are somewhere that can happen. I'd like to have you in my kitchen."

I swallowed abruptly, realising when he looked at me questioningly, that the innuendo had been lost in translation. And that sent me into a peel of giggles as his face looked more and more confused.

"Wa, what did I miss?" he asked, leaning away to examine my face closely. I was still in his lap and I wriggled as I tried to think of the words to describe it. He held me in place, anchoring me so I stopped moving. "Marley, did I say something wrong?"

"No, it was very right. It just has more than one meaning."

His brain was ticking over, trying to remember what he said and I took pity, helping him out. "Well, you've had me in the bedroom, in the bathroom, on the floor in the living area, why not have me in the kitchen too?"

"Oh, oh, I see," he said, pursing his lips together and holding in a smirk."Well, I wasn't thinking about that but now I am." He released his lips, taking mine as his tongue investigated thoroughly.

"Tae," I said eventually, pulling away. "I need a shower after all that dancing, I feel gross."

"You feel amazing," he said, into my neck, hands roaming and I was lost for a moment.

"Your hands are incredible," I said, then blushed when I realised I'd said it out loud.

He pulled away from my neck. "These things? Are you sure you want to shower now then and not ….. after?"

"I definitely want a shower now and there are no rules to say I can't have one later too. We've kind of skipped dinner, shall we just have snacks, showers and watch some Netflix before bed?"

"Shower or showers?"

"Kim Taehyung!" I replied, trying to get off his lap but he held my arm, preventing me from moving.

"You're the one who listed all the places we've been together and then is walking away," he answered against my cheek.

"Maybe you should make a bucket list of a few more places, think about it while you're showering and tell me after."

He unceremoniously moved me off his lap and onto the couch before jumping up. "I've got first shower then," he said, walking backward with an eyebrow wiggle and I collapsed on the couch, laughing at his cuteness, his sexiness, feeling the flutters he was constantly sending through my body.

Half an hour later I stood staring at the mirror, bathroom door locked firmly against any chance of interruption as I took a few deep breaths, adjusting my clothes. Or lack of them. Abby had talked me into a number of lingerie purchases and this was by far the most conservative, the white satin and lace covered by a navy robe that was currently belted around my waist. The hem settled mid thigh, long enough to cover everything but not really long enough to leave much to the imagination. And it was definitely stepping out of my comfort zone so I was currently too nervous to leave the room. Lingerie was something Matty and I had giggled about as teens although the hormones raging at that age meant it really didn't matter what we were wearing, the clothing didn't stay on for long.

Now, as an adult and with someone new, it felt exciting but incredibly daunting and I had contemplated putting my t-shirt back on instead of carrying through with my outfit choice. But I stood in front of the mirror, talking myself into unlocking the bathroom door and leaving the room. It's not like he hadn't seen me without clothes on, multiple times already. I just wasn't used to doing anything like this, it had been a long time since I'd dressed like this for anyone. Having a toddler meant I was often in a state of exhaustion and then it was too late and I wished I'd made more time for the spice in our relationship when I could've. So that's part of the reason I was willing to be vulnerable now, I didn't want to regret not making the most of the time while we had it. And with Tae, that time was quickly running out.

I knew I had been in here a lot longer than it took to shower and he must be wondering what was taking so long. I just had to trust, that like everything so far, it would be more than OK, if I just took a step. So I did, unlocking the door and walking round the corner, leaning on the wall for support when I came into view so my legs didn't shake with nerves.

"I was beginning to wonder if I needed to come in and...," he said as his voice trailed away. He'd been looking at his phone and paused before, very slowly, placing it on the side table without breaking eye contact. The way his eyes grew heavy as he looked at me made me feel like I was already undressed, swallowing hard to stop myself from looking away from him. Time seemed to stretch forever with nothing said as he moistened his lips a few times before clearing his throat.

"Are you going to take that off?" he asked, his voice husky and lower than I'd ever heard it, his eyes drifting up and down my body.

"I was kind of hoping you would be the one to do that," I answered, shyness flooding my cheeks pink.

Tae stood up, walking very purposely to where I stood in the doorway of the bedroom, my heart beating faster with each step. His movements reminded me a little of a tiger stalking it's prey although the kind of danger in his eyes sparked excitement in me, not fear. When he arrived in front of me, my heart rate was already erratic from nerves and he kept a small distance between us without touching although I saw his hands twitch at his sides.

His mouth moved gradually towards mine, taking his time as he carefully slotted our lips together, our eyes shutting as he closed the gap between us. When his hands ran down my sides, settling on my hips, the kisses intensified, my fingers lacing in his hair as the air between our kisses disappeared. He began to undo the belt on my robe, our mouths slowing and he pulled back to open his eyes, watching my face as he did. As the robe fell open, he kept his eyes on mine, drawing me in before placing a kiss on the soft of my throat as I tilted my neck up to give access, mouth slipping slightly open at the feel of his tongue tasting my skin.

As he moved his hands under the robe to rest on the satin at my waist, his thumbs brushed against the fabric and he blinked a few times, steadying himself in my eyes with a small smile before swallowing as they drifted down my body, taking in what I was wearing. When they met mine again, the tiger was back in his expression and Tae gave a low rumble as he consumed my mouth, biting down softly on my lip.

"Did you just growl?" I asked, against his mouth, the hint of a laugh in my voice.

"Marley. You. Need. To. Stop. Talking. Right. Now," he answered, each word punctuated by a kiss that silenced my words, sped up my heart, sending a spike of desire through my whole body as he devoured me with his mouth. I was pressed against the wall as he dipped his head lower, the thin strap peeled from my shoulder as he traced further down, kisses following his touches. "I'm going to take my time with this," he murmured against my skin and I couldn't answer as I zoned everything out but Tae, my legs beginning to shake now for a different reason.