Somewhere Only We Know(34)

His arm was grazing my hair and I felt a pleasant warmth radiate off his body. Even when sweating in an overheated tram, Jack didn’t smell bad.

In fact, he smelled good. Really, terribly good.

Lucky. Do not have your sexual awakening on this tram, please. Today wasn’t for romance. It wasn’t for some thirst liberation.

It was for me.

Who says a quality life can’t have some selfishness in it? Despite the cynical feel of Jack’s mini lecture, I couldn’t help but turn these words over and over in my head.

When did I start to feel discontent about being “Lucky”? If I truly thought about it, maybe for a year now. And ever since then, I had been enduring it, not speaking up when I was tired or unhappy. All out of this idea of being “good.” A good idol to my fans. A good daughter to my parents. A good client to my managers.

But was it possible to have both? Freedom and this career?

When a bracing wind whipped through the cracked-open window of the tram, I let myself take a deep breath and focus on the views rather than my jumbled thoughts. And the sheer terror of the physics-defying tram ride.

We were creeping up a lush ravine—ropey trees and foliage enclosing us on both sides. Every once in a while there was a break in the trees, and I saw the Hong Kong skyline, the glimmering harbor waters, the pastel-hued apartment towers.

The tram lurched suddenly as it came to a halt and my body slammed into Jack’s. I grabbed a handful of his shirt to keep myself from falling.

“Wha-what in the world?” I stammered as I straightened myself up, trying to use incredulity to disguise my fluster at being so inappropriately smushed up against Jack.

But the fluster only grew, exponentially, as he rested both of his hands on my shoulders and steadied me. “You okay?” The crisp matter-of-factness of that action, that question, rendered me incredibly useless.

“Yeah, fine. Why did we stop?” I adjusted my jacket, my voice cool.

He pointed out the window. “More passengers.” There was an actual tram stop on this hillside angled at a barfy forty-five degrees. A sheltered stone bench that looked ancient marked the stop, and three people in business attire boarded the already-crowded tram.

“I didn’t know this was a commuter tourist tram,” I grumbled as we got more smushed.

I was so distracted by my proximity to Jack that I didn’t notice my hat was pushed off my face until I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the window. Before I could adjust it, I felt a tap on my shoulder. From the reflection, I could see it was a young woman. She was staring at me with her mouth slightly dropped open.

Blast.

I looked up at Jack but he was staring outside. The finger tapped me again and I stepped hard on Jack’s foot. He yelped, then looked over at me. “What?”

My heart was about to straight-up Astro Boy rocket out of my chest. I had watched enough K-dramas in my life to know what I needed to do.

So I slipped my hand onto the soft skin on the back of his neck and pressed my body to his. Hips bumping, torsos grazing. I saw his stunned expression for about half a second before I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed my lips to his.





CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR


JACK


The first thing I noticed was the coolness of her lips.

You expected lips to be warm.

The second thing I noticed was the awkwardness, the uncertainty.

I leaned into it by instinct—when a girl kisses you, you kiss back!—and her hand shifted from my neck to my hair, her fingers pushing into it.

Damn.

Her lips were seamed shut, almost pursed, and kinda smashing into mine.

I had seen the girl tapping on Lucky’s shoulder. I knew why she was doing this. Diversion tactic.

So we had to do it right.

I pulled back, slightly, so that she relaxed her lips. I reached up and grazed her jaw with my fingertips. Her eyelashes fluttered before I pressed my lips to hers again, softly. Moving over them slowly. Her mouth matched mine in response, with a gentle intake of breath.

That little sigh sent a jolt of crazy feelings through me before her hands clenched in my hair and on my waist. But I kept my touch light, barely holding her face, keeping the kisses soft. Like feathers. Petals.





CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE


LUCKY


When I had launched myself onto Jack’s lips, a tidal wave of embarrassment and panic crashed over me. I hadn’t given myself even a second to think it through before I kissed him.

But the mortification had disappeared the second Jack took over.

Everything was so soft. Gentle. I found myself melting into the kisses, feeling every overthinking piece of me float away.

So, this was what it was all about. The pages and pages in my romance novels. This was the feeling of getting a good, thorough kissing.

It was my first kiss.

With a complete stranger in front of other complete strangers. But it didn’t matter. All that mattered was him. Everything else disappeared and I was absorbed into pure feeling. His lips on mine, his hands on my face.

I understood now why the proper ladies in my books threw caution to the wind and got swept up by those hot scoundrels.

Jack was guiding me with each touch and I couldn’t get close enough. I dropped my hand from his neck to his back, pulling his body in, feeling the warmth envelop me. The second I did it, something switched, and his kisses weren’t so soft anymore. His right hand slid from my jaw to the nape of my neck and his other hand pressed into my lower back.