Chapter 28
TWENTY-EIGHT
LUCA
Late morning light filters through the heavy curtains, muted but undeniable.
I wake up slowly, warm and heavy with sleep, Kai curled tightly against my chest. His head is tucked under my chin, one leg thrown over mine, arm draped across my stomach like he’s afraid I’ll disappear if he lets go. His breathing is deep and even, warm puffs against my collarbone.
For a second, everything feels perfect.
Then fear creeps in, quiet and insidious. What if he runs again? What if last night was just another moment of heat, and when the daylight hits, he remembers all the reasons he built those walls in the first place?
I tighten my arm around him without thinking, pulling him closer. His hair tickles my nose. He smells like sex and hotel shampoo and Kai.
The fear twists sharper.
Then Kai stirs.
He makes a soft, sleepy sound and nuzzles into my neck, pressing a lazy, open-mouthed kiss right there against my skin. Morning breath and all. It’s gross and perfect and so him that the fear scatters like dried leaves in the wind.
I huff a quiet laugh, voice still rough from sleep.
“You’re lucky I love you,” I murmur, the words slipping out before I can catch them. “Because you really need to brush your teeth, princess.”
Kai freezes against me.
Shit.
I feel the exact moment he registers what I said. His body goes still, breath catching.
I start to pull back, panic rising. “Wait—I didn’t mean—fuck, that came out wrong. I mean, I do, but I wasn’t trying to drop it like that—”
Kai presses a finger to my lips, shushing me gently. His eyes are soft, still heavy with sleep, but clear.
“Don’t take it back,” he whispers.
My heart stutters.
He shifts so he’s looking at me properly, our faces inches apart on the pillow. His finger slides from my lips to trace my jaw.
“I’m falling in love with you, too,” he says. A small, flirty smile tugs at the corner of his mouth. “Even with the morning breath. And that nickname that might be an insult.”
I let out a shaky laugh, relief flooding through me so fast it makes me dizzy. I roll us so I’m half on top of him, pinning him to the mattress with my weight.
“Yeah?” I ask, grinning down at him. “You like being my princess boyfriend?”
Kai rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling. “Shut up.”
“Make me,” I challenge, lowering my head until our noses brush.
He does.
He pulls me down into a slow, deep kiss that tastes like sleep and morning breath and the two of us. It’s messy and imperfect and somehow the best kiss we’ve ever had.
When we finally break apart, I rest my forehead against his, still grinning like an idiot.
“I might need you to pinch me, so I know that this is real and you’re really my boyfriend,” I say, testing the word again. It feels good. Right.
Kai’s fingers thread through my hair, tugging lightly. “I am your boyfriend,” he echoes, voice warm. “Now go brush your teeth before I change my mind about falling in love with you.”
I laugh and kiss him again anyway.
“Not a chance. You’re not allowed to stop, princess.” I prop myself up and then shift so I can pull him up too. “And I’m pretty sure it’s your breath that stinks.”
He huffs a laugh, letting me pull him to his feet. He looks amazing in the morning light, hair messy, eyes soft, skin still flushed from sleep and last night. If we don’t make it into the bathroom to brush our teeth soon, I don’t think I’m going to care about morning breath at all.
We stumble toward the bathroom together, shoulders bumping, hands brushing. Kai catches my eye in the mirror and gives me that crooked smile again, the one that makes my chest feel too tight.
I grab my hotel-provided toothbrush, load it with paste, and start brushing while he does the same with the second one.
We stand side by side like it’s the most normal thing in the world.
As though we’ve done this a hundred times instead of this being the first morning after we finally stopped fighting what we are.
I rinse, spit, and turn to him, leaning against the counter.
“So,” I say. “What exactly does it mean to be your boyfriend? Great sex? Amazing chemistry?”
Kai rinses his mouth and meets my eyes in the mirror. “All of that, and someone to lean on when times aren’t so great. Someone to do life with.”
I watch his face in the reflection, the way his expression shifts from playful to serious. I set my toothbrush down and turn to face him fully.
“We should talk about the running,” I say quietly. “Not just brush it off because the sex was good and we’re calling each other boyfriend now.”
Kai’s shoulders tense, but he doesn’t look away. He nods once, slow.
“Yeah. We should.”
I lean back against the counter, crossing my arms. “When you left the villa that morning… it fucking hurt. I let you in. All the way in. And you walked out like it was nothing. As if I was something you could just decide wasn’t worth the risk.”
Kai flinches, but he stays right there, facing it.
“I know,” he says, voice low. “I was scared. The foster stuff… it messes with my head. I keep expecting people to change their minds about keeping me. So when it started feeling real, I panicked and ran. It was the only thing I thought I could do to protect myself, if I cut it off before you did.” He swallows hard. “It just hurt both of us.”
I nod, letting the honesty sit for a moment.
“It did hurt,” I admit. “Ten days of wondering if I was ever going to be enough for anyone. I almost didn’t come back to the plane in L.A.”
Kai’s eyes darken with regret. He steps closer, hands coming up to rest lightly on my waist.
“I’m sorry,” he says. His voice is raw. “I hate that I made you feel like that. I don’t want to run anymore. I want to stay. Even when it scares me. Especially when it scares me.”
I search his face for a long second, then let out a slow breath.
“I believe you,” I say. “But if we’re doing this, being boyfriends, falling in love, all of it, you can’t keep running every time it gets real. We talk instead. Even if it’s messy.”
Kai nods, fingers tightening on my hips. “Deal. No more running.”
The tension between us eases, replaced by something steadier. I lean in and press a soft kiss to his forehead.
“Good,” I murmur against his skin. “Because I kind of like having my control-freak princess boyfriend around.”
He huffs a quiet laugh and tilts his head up to kiss me properly. It’s the kind of kiss that tells me we’re solid now. We’re still wrapped up in each other, foreheads pressed together, when a loud knock sounds on the closed bedroom door.
“Oi!” Michael’s voice booms through the wood. “If you two don’t stop fucking each other senseless in there, we’re going to be late to the meet and greet! Tasha’s already threatening to drag you both out by your dicks!”
Kai buries his face in my neck, laughing. I grin against his hair.
“Be right out!” I call back.
Michael mutters something that sounds like “fucking finally” before his footsteps fade away.
I pull back just enough to look at Kai, both of us still smiling.
“Ready to face the world as boyfriends?” I ask, thumb brushing his cheek.
Kai’s eyes are warm, steady. “Yeah. Let’s do it.”
The meet-and-greet room is loud with excited chatter and camera clicks. Super fans line up in neat rows, phones ready, eyes wide as they wait for their few precious minutes with Eclipse.
I’m trying to focus. Smiling for photos, signing photos, answering questions about the show last night. But my attention keeps drifting to Kai.
Even when we’re apart—him at one end of the long table, me at the other—we keep finding each other.
Every time I look up, his eyes are already on me.
He gives me these small, private looks that make my stomach flip.
A quick raise of his eyebrows when a fan asks something ridiculous.
A soft smile when our gazes lock for a second too long.
It’s stupid how much those little looks affect me.
When the line brings fans over to our section together, it gets worse.
Kai and I end up side by side for a group photo.
The second the fan steps between us, my hand finds the small of his back.
I can’t stop myself. My fingers brush lightly over the fabric of his shirt, a casual touch that probably looks innocent to everyone else.
But I feel the way Kai leans into it just slightly, the tiny shiver that runs through him.
Another fan wants a selfie with the whole band.
I slide in behind Kai, my chest barely brushing his back as I rest my hand on his shoulder.
My thumb strokes once, right over the spot where his tattoo climbs toward his neck, the same spot I worshiped with my tongue last night.
He doesn’t pull away. If anything, he presses back against my touch for half a second before the camera flashes.
Michael catches my eye from across the group and smirks as though he knows exactly what’s happening. Min-ho just looks quietly amused.
I should probably behave.
Every chance I get when we’re near each other, my hand finds him.
A light brush of fingers along his arm when we switch places for the next fan.
A palm pressed briefly to his lower back as I lean in to sign something over his shoulder.
Each touch is small, almost innocent, but the heat building between us is anything but.
Kai’s cheeks stay faintly pink the whole time. Every time my fingers graze his skin, he shoots me a look, half warning, half please don’t stop. It makes me want to drag him into the nearest hallway and forget the rest of the meet-and-greet entirely.
During a brief lull, he steps closer under the pretense of grabbing a water bottle from the table between us. His arm brushes mine deliberately. I let my fingers trail down his side as he straightens, just enough to make his breath hitch.