Chapter 18
Over the next few days, Ji-Su couldn’t stop thinking of the way Raul saw him.
Responsibility. The word bounced around his head like a rubber bouncy ball.
No wonder Raul didn’t want to drink from him or kiss him.
He was his responsibility. He’d read the situation completely wrong thinking that Raul was attracted to him.
Even though he’d agreed to stay, Ji-Su still considered leaving the ranch before his contract was up.
He didn’t want to break an agreement that he’d signed in good faith.
But if Raul hadn’t found him on the highway after the incident with Cedric, he wouldn’t even be here.
In fact, Raul probably hadn’t intended to ever see him again after their meeting at the theater.
Their flirtation that night had clearly meant more to him than it had to Raul.
Raul was probably only looking for a way to pass the intermission while Ji-Su had foolishly thought he had a connection with the gorgeous, dark-haired vampire.
And now because of his kind, protective nature, he was out over a million dollars and had a houseguest for the better part of a year.
Ji-Su ached with shame for what he’d put Raul through. But he worried if he left, it might negatively affect Raul’s standing with the blood agencies in Dear Lake. He didn’t want Raul to be black listed like Cedric. So, he stayed.
As he thought back to that night at the theater—he remembered the two humans Raul had been there with.
Both were tall, elegantly dressed, and visually stunning.
Ji-Su knew that he was nothing like them.
He was short and preferred to wear comfortable clothes such as big hoodies and relaxed jeans.
Even his suit that night had been as comfortable as possible—more cute than elegant.
Cedric’s cruel taunt that there was nothing attractive about him flashed into his head.
Maybe he was the problem. Raul simply didn’t find him desirable and clearly that affected whether or not he wanted to drink from him.
That explained why Raul was easily able to stop drinking his blood, even after spending a million dollars to get him away from Cedric.
Raul had shrugged off drinking his blood as easily as throwing away a five-dollar coffee that didn’t taste right because he didn’t want to drink from him.
Ji-Su sucked in a deep breath and slowly let it out.
He needed to occupy his mind with something else before he started down a spiral of low self-confidence.
Since he didn’t have any streams or practices scheduled for the night, he decided to watch some of the top Delta Combat Force players who recorded their game play and uploaded it to their YouTube channels.
He considered it work since he was basically scouting the competition.
Other gamers did the same to him, showing up in his live streams under their gamer tag or secretly watching him from an anonymous account.
The night passed with Ji-Su in his most comfortable gaming chair, feet up on the cushion, arms wrapped around his knees as he watched. He got up a few times for snacks or to refill his water bottle but other than that he barely moved for hours.
Around two a.m., his back and his butt muscles started to protest being in one spot for so long.
He paused the playthrough he was watching to stand and stretch.
His back popped, but the stretch didn’t relieve the soreness in his butt.
Remembering the Jacuzzi with the big screen TV, he realized he could continue to watch while relaxing his body with a hot soak.
He went up to his room to change. Since he didn’t have any swim trunks there at the ranch, he slipped into a pair of clean pajama shorts.
They weren’t swim attire, but no one would see him and he’d have a towel.
His slippers quietly shuffled along the polished hardwood floors as he made his way through the massive house to the Jacuzzi room.
Eager to get in the soothing, frothy water, he practically skipped down the wide steps that lead to the hot tub.
The three big glass walls surrounding the hot tub looked out onto a grassy expanse.
Outside, torches and the moon both shone over flowering shrubs, delicately highlighting their pink blooms. The tub was already on, with the water bubbling away.
Ji-Su kicked off his slippers and set his folded towel down on the bench. Before he got into the Jacuzzi, he turned on the TV, navigated to YouTube and pulled up the next game play-through in his Watch Later list. The video started as he stepped up to the hot tub.
He let out a groan of pleasure when he eased into the hot water.
It felt richly decadent to watch TV while in a giant tub with bubbles foaming all around him.
Maybe he should have brought a glass of champagne.
Ji-Su giggled as he imagined himself drinking bubbly while laid back in a hot tub.
He’d be living his best Tony Montana life.
Maybe next time he’d do champagne. For tonight, he was simply happy to let the hot, swirling water soothe his tension away.
RAUL’S NECK AND SHOULDERS were knotted with tension as the Cullinan swept up the drive to his home.
Normally he was able to shake off the stress of work by the time he returned to the ranch.
But tonight, it lingered. When they parked, he waved David off and stepped out of the backseat without waiting for the driver to open his door.
“Enjoy the rest of your night, sir,” Sam said as he closed the car door for him.
“You too, Sam.”
Glad to be home, Raul went up the stairs to the main house. Gloria opened the door, welcoming him back.
Inside, Raul let out a deep, tired sigh as he sat down on the entryway bench to take off his boots.
“Rough day?” Gloria asked.
“Unfortunately, yes,” he answered as he tried to rub the tension from the back of his neck. “There’s a new gaming commission assistant determined to make my life difficult. And my online security team found evidence of a scam artist ring attempting to use our system for one of their scams.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, sir.”
Raul sighed again. “No, I’m sorry for unloading on you, Gloria. Thank you for keeping things here running smoothly so that I can relax once I’m at home.”
Gloria gave him a warm, sympathetic smile. “You should take a hot soak in the Jacuzzi before dinner. That might help relax you even more.”
Raul thought of the Jacuzzi. It had been a while since he’d used it. And he could watch the replay of last night’s ball game while he soaked. “I might do that. Thanks for the suggestion.”
“You’re welcome, Mr. Raul.”
Gloria went off to handle whatever was next on her task list for the night and Raul made his way upstairs.
By the time he’d reached his bedroom to change out of his work clothes, he’d decided that a soak in the hot tub was exactly what he needed.
He pulled on a pair of swim trunks and grabbed a towel before making his way to the quiet, tucked away section of the ranch house where the Jacuzzi was installed.
The sound of the TV playing alerted him to the fact that someone was already there.
And unless he had an unexpected guest on the ranch, there was only one person who would be sitting in his hot tub right now.
Sure enough, when he rounded the corner, the back of Ji-Su’s smooth shoulders and damp blond hair were visible over the edge of the tub.
Raul’s first thought was that he owed Gloria a raise because she had to have known Ji-Su was here when she suggested he use the hot tub.
His second was that he could retreat, Ji-Su hadn’t noticed him yet.
Except he didn’t want to retreat. Despite the awkwardness between them, he wanted some private time relaxing with Ji-Su.
Instead of turning back, he went down the short set of steps and called out his blood pet’s name.
“JI-SU.”
Ji-Su startled when he heard his name called out.
He twisted to look over his shoulder, water splashing all around him.
Raul was there. He hadn’t heard him approach over the noise of the game play on screen.
Raul came further into the room, moving to stand at the far end of the hot tub.
Slowly turning back around to face the front, Ji-Su took in his patron from head to toe.
The vampire wore short black swim trunks that revealed powerful, muscular thighs and long, well-defined calves.
He’d slung a towel over his shoulder but other than that his chest was bare.
Everywhere Ji-Su looked he saw tawny brown skin.
Chest, forearms, thighs, and calves. all slightly roughened with fine black hair.
A line of dark hair started just beneath his navel and went down to disappear into his swim trunks.
Ji-Su’s mouth went dry when he noticed that Raul’s left nipple was pierced with a small gold hoop.
How had he missed that the night of the storm?
Raul cleared his throat. Ji-Su snapped his eyes up from that hypnotizing gold hoop to meet his gaze.
“I didn’t think you’d be home this early. Is it okay that I used the Jacuzzi?”
“It’s fine. I was going to use it myself but I can come back later.”
“No. It’s your hot tub. I’ll go and you can get in.
” He rose, water dripping down his body, and stepped out of the Jacuzzi.
His towel was on the other side of the tub right next to Raul.
His cheeks burning hot with embarrassment, he padded over to retrieve it.
“Excuse me,” he said as he reached for the towel.
Before he had hold of it, Raul caught his wrist.
“You don’t have to go. The tub is big enough for both of us.”
Ji-Su looked down at the hand wrapped around his wrist before he raised his head to look at Raul. Share a hot tub with Raul? That sounded perfect. Or like perfect torture. Still, he nodded. “Okay, if you’re sure.” Ji-Su inwardly winced at how soft and breathy his voice was.