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Not a no, but a not now. For so many reasons. His eyes pinched, but he nodded.

“And besides, we don’t need a penthouse. I have an empty hotel room.” I waggled my eyebrows at him.

“Reporter Thompson,” he gasped, scandalised. “Are you propositioning me?”

He raised his hand to my wrist, turning my hand to press a kiss to my palm.

“Depends,” I said, my breath catching. “Is it working?”

“Always.”

Later, back in my empty hotel room, I was about to remove the bracelet.

“Leave it on,” he murmured in my ear, as his arms wound around me from behind. “I want to see how it looks when I pin your hands above your head.”

Chapter 38

July 23rd

Jihoon groaned as his alarm woke us both up.

“I am getting sick of having to sneak out of your room, jagiya.”

I made a sleepy noise in the back of my throat as his arm wound around my waist, and he pulled me tighter against his warm chest. I tilted my head up to look at him, pressing a kiss to his chin before giggling. He opened one eye and looked down at me.

“Are you laughing at your boyfriend?” he rumbled.

My toes curled as he used that word again. “Your chin is all prickly.”

He grumbled. “I’ll shave later. Ssh. No more laughing.”

He closed his eyes and dropped his head to rest against mine, huffing sleepily.

I melted into the embrace for a moment before I sighed.

“Hey, don’t fall asleep. You have to sneak out of my room, remember?”

He made a frustrated noise, and squeezed me tighter before pressing a kiss to the top of my head and rolling away, like the quicker he did it, the easier it would be to leave. I immediately felt colder, and wrapped the covers tighter around my naked body.

I watched him get dressed, although I tried to pretend I wasn’t. He’d brought a change of clothes last night so it wouldn’t be as glaringly obvious that he was walking around the hotel at six in the morning in last night’s clothes. It seemed excessive to me, seeing as how he was only going upstairs to change into a totally new outfit for the airport.

He and the rest of the group would be flying to Berlin this morning via a private airport transfer, whilst I was going commercial with the rest of the tour.

“Joon,” I said, sitting up in bed as I remembered something.

He paused, pulling on a Henley shirt.

“About Berlin. Sihyeon is rejoining the tour, so she’ll be there.”

He gave me a blank look.

“Sihyeon,” I said again, slower. “My roommate?”

Comprehension dawned on his face, and he made a noise of understanding, and then another noise, more grumble than acknowledgement.

“I can get you a private room,” he said decisively, yanking his top down as if the matter was settled.

“Joon, no!” I laughed. “You can’t just get me a private room.”