unrivaled

chapter 8

Jin  spent a few quiet minutes with JK, then left quickly after Jimin, a frown marring his beautiful face.

Dae sat forgotten as the remaining four men watched Hobi scroll on his phone for food delivery options.  They wanted to eat and drink themselves senseless then eat again.

That decided, they all stood and rambled to the door, laughing and celebrating working together on the project.

Dae knew she should not, but tears pricked her eyes as the door shut on the boisterous group in the hall, leaving her alone in the silence.

She was startled when Tae popped his head back in the room. “Come on boss!  We won’t leave you out.”

Dae hugged him quickly for remembering her, but told him to go with the others, she would be fine.
He hugged her and looked at her to make sure she was telling him the truth.  Satisfied, he hurried to rejoin the others.

As the door slammed Dae felt truly alone.

She thought about the night and Jin and her jumble of feelings.  Maybe it was time to try to find a real relationship. 

Jin was gone, Jimin did not have a late meeting, that was obvious.  Even Kookie had someone, at least for today, yet here she was alone.

After several minutes she stood and gathered her things.  As she made her way down to the lobby, she looked at herself in the distorted reflection of the elevator doors.  She shook her head at her mirror self, disappointment rising in the waste of a perfectly sexy outfit tonight.

What a loser, she thought, leather and cashmere in a room full of beautiful men and you are going home alone.

The doors opened and she made her way to the parking garage, gathering her keys and becoming alert to her surroundings.

As she entered the VIP parking area a sleek black sedan pulled from a parking spot and rolled to a stop in front of her.

She felt her heart begin to race as she looked around to see if Tae or any of the others were still near.

Just then her text tone chimed:

She looked down at the text, puzzled at what she saw, then she reread the text.

Sighing, she opened the car door and slid inside.  The car pulled off as soon as her door closed.

Her breath caught as the man seated inside handed her a flute of champagne and a bouquet of cream roses and pink hydrangeas. 

The scent took her back immediately to the terrace garden.

Jin saw she remembered as her breath caught and tears gathered in her eyes.  He moved the bouquet to the facing seat and drained the flute of champagne for her.

“What are you doing? Do you always get in strange cars with men with wicked intentions?” he asked, drawing her across his lap.

“Only when the contact name for the text is yours,“ she responded.

He kissed her under her ear and groaned “I knew I should have changed that" and the rest of that conversation was lost to Jin's kisses.

Dae relaxed against his chest and allowed Jin to kiss her, taking her mouth and pressing into her over and over.  As he deepened the kiss, she darted her tongue to stroke his and was rewarded with a deep moan.

Jin pulled away from her and took a deep breath.  He dropped his forehead to her's until their breathing evened out.

“Did you really think I would not celebrate with you tonight?” he asked.

He kissed her tenderly when he saw her answer in the hurt in her eyes.

“I'm sorry.  I wanted to surprise you.  I wanted to do something special tonight.”

As he finished speaking the car rolled to a stop.

“We're here,” he said sliding her off his lap.

Dae looked to see they had arrived at her favorite restaurant.  Jin smiled at the pleasure on her face. 

They were ushered in the side entrance and given a very exclusive table in the back.

Dae sighed deeply as she settled into her seat.  The low light and soft music sat the perfect background to relax and celebrate. 

She raised her champagne flute to Jin as the waiter left with their order.