The End of Gods (A Welcome to the Underworld Novel, Book 4) (48 page)

His advancing legs mirrored her every retreating movement while his warm laughter reverberated throughout the room, further weakening any little strength she had left to “play hard to get”. His gait was graceful and confident. He wasn’t the least bit self-conscious about his body, and why would he be? He very well knew that he possessed the body that even Gods would envy and had absolutely no problem in exploiting this God-given gift when it came to her.

“Yeah?” Yoori asked stupidly, still admiring the stunning view before her. The strength in her legs waned the more she retreated from him. She clutched onto her towel. It was terribly embarrassing how willing and ready her body was for Tae Hyun. She was eager to give up on the foreplay and throw herself at his mercy, especially now that he had started to use his full sexual ammunition on her.

“I’m a demanding lover,” he drawled out, moving in a fluid motion that had him filling in the gap between them faster than a distracted Yoori had anticipated.  

His masculine and tall frame towered over her, reminding her how small she was compared to him and how much she wanted him. It was an overpowering feeling, but then again, everything that radiated off Tae Hyun was simply overpowering.

Nothing was left to the imagination when he pulled her against him. It was all too clear how much he wanted her.

“I’m arrogant, insatiable, dominant, and possessive in every sense of the word. Once I have you, I’ll probably never get enough. I’ll keep you in bed for as long as I can, probably until the end of our lifetimes. I’ll want to kiss every inch of that body of yours, and by the time I’m done, there will be no more questions about whether or not I’ve claimed every part of you—that you’re mine and only mine.” He smirked, staring down at her. “Can you handle that type of man? Can you handle me regardless of all those bad traits?”

“Those seem to be overbearing traits,” she murmured dazedly, staggering back at his sudden proximity. She had never felt more like a mindless fangirl, and they hadn’t even done
it
yet!

“Very overbearing,” he agreed delicately, taking note of how infatuated she was. They were still retreating backwards, him holding her while they moved closer and closer to the shower stall. “And to add to all that, I’m also poor now.”

Yoori laughed at the unexpected addition to his list of bad traits. “You’re poor now?”

He nodded, joining in her laughter. Even in the face of unimaginable sexual tension, they would never fail to find something random to laugh about.

“I gave up my job promotion for a certain someone. I’ve also been disowned by the world I grew up in. Unfortunately, this means that my bank accounts are now under surveillance. I can’t touch any of it ever again.”

Yoori feigned a pout. “So, you’re really poor now?”

“I’m broke,” he confirmed, feigning a pout of his own. “I’m completely broke now. All I have to offer is my body.”

Another string of unfiltered laughter escaped from Yoori’s lips. She shook her head, pretending to give him a scolding stare.

“
Slut
,
” she teased.

Her feet drifted over the tiles that were wet from its proximity to the running shower. Before she could help it, she was falling backwards and becoming one with gravity.

“Ah!”

The ground giving way from under her feet, Yoori tumbled backwards. She nearly slammed her head against the opened shower door when Tae Hyun looped an arm around her waist and pulled her up against him.

Sensuous eyes stared down at her while gorgeous lips lifted into a seductive smile.

“Falling for me already?” he inquired mischievously, allowing a free hand to trace the silk of her long black hair.

Nothing but desire teemed in her eyes as she gazed up at him. Resolution thundered inside her. She could no longer handle this teasing and she did not want to play around anymore. She wanted him and she wanted him
now
.

“You’re not going to seduce or tease me anymore?” he cajoled, smiling down at her. “I thought you’d hold out for a bit longer than that, Nemo.”

Yoori just smiled dumbly, not even knowing what to say. She was too shell-shocked. What could you say after seeing God’s gift to women in all his glory and being mindlessly seduced by him?

“For what it’s worth,” he began gently, moving them closer to the shower stall where the gentle sprinkles of water were splashing onto them, “you didn’t have to try to seduce me, Princess. You could be wearing a hoodie and simple pajama pants, and you’d still have me in the palm of your hand.”

Yoori returned the smile. Her emotions were seemingly rising to her throat as she watched his appreciative eyes run over her bare shoulders before landing on the towel that covered her. Then, she was unable to breathe when she felt his fingertips graze her cheek. His fingers trailed down the column of her neck, caressed the skin of her shoulder, and slowly rested on the little knot on her towel. His desire-filled eyes touched hers, and in that suspended moment, as if they could read each other’s thoughts, a silent understanding was shared between Choi Yoori and Kwon Tae Hyun.

After months of waiting for that perfect moment, it had finally arrived.

An onslaught of affection filled her as she stared at the one she loved. She wanted to do this; she wanted to experience this with Tae Hyun. There were no more ifs, ands, or buts. She wanted this with him—
only him
.

With his breath seemingly caught in his chest, a dazed Tae Hyun turned his attention to the innocuous fabric. He moved his eyes to her. “Can I?”

Even under the indomitable reign of his raging testosterone, Tae Hyun was still the gentleman. No matter what, he always put her needs before his.

With her heart beating out of her chest, Yoori could only nod in confirmation.

Exhilaration lit up in his eyes. With nothing more holding him back, he gripped the knot on Yoori’s towel. As though he was unwrapping a long-awaited birthday present, Tae Hyun slowly loosened the knot. Yoori’s breath, along with his sanity, was lost when the towel came flowing down and landed on the tiles, resting just above his feet.

“
Lord have mercy
,” came the guttural sound of his voice.

He exhaled a sharp breath that ran over every excited nerve in her body. He looked at her like she was a gift from God; he looked at her just as how she looked at him, like he had finally found heaven on earth. The way he looked at her made Yoori feel like the most powerful woman in the world.

What happened after that became an exquisite blur to Yoori.

For the first time in his life, Kwon Tae Hyun was an inarticulate idiot. He stupidly mumbled something along the lines of how gorgeous she was, how perfect she was, and added to that by passionately stating that he was the luckiest fu
c
king bastard in the whole world.

Possessed with passion, he wrapped his arms around her and covered her with the heat from his body. He savagely threw her into the shower stall, his hands catching her back before she made contact with the hard exterior of the marble wall. With deliberate care, he positioned her against the wall, his body protecting her from the wrath of the water. Even under the pretense of uninhibited desires, Tae Hyun continued to subconsciously take care of Yoori. The bandage wrap that covered over her bullet wound was still present on her left arm, and he was still careful to protect it. 

Taking care of her was his first priority, but kissing her was his second and most prevailing priority.

The kiss was done without thought.

Mindlessly, mind-numbingly, and mind-blowingly, he kissed her. The kiss reminded her of how much they had been through, how far they had come, and how much she loved him. In the past, she had never understood why her body told her to wait for this moment—that when the right time came, she would know. She had never understood why . . . until now.

As she stared up at Tae Hyun, Yoori felt grateful that she listened to her own intuition and waited for the right man she wanted to give this intimate part of herself to.

“It took us,” he breathed out, pressing his forehead against hers, “a while to get here.”

Yoori happily nodded as water splashed across his back. The world around them silenced as they stood in the darkness.

“Can you believe we spent these past few days arguing about Nemo DVDs, stupid pre-teen books, faulty boats, and boomerangs?” There was awe in her voice when she recalled the day where they fought in the business district like Gods. It was surreal how things went from something so horrible and menacing to something so ordinary and simple.

Warmth rippled in his eyes while he reflected the same train of thoughts. “We bicker about the most stupid things.”

She nodded again, thinking about everything they had been through. They had been through a world of hell as Gods; it was truly a blessing to finally be standing together as humans.

“Thank you for waiting for me,” she murmured, touching him while the showerhead sprayed in the back, dimming in presence as they stared at one another.

She felt her heart swell at the enormity of all her thoughts. The events of her life replayed like a movie in her mind. She was still in disbelief that, after everything that came between them, they had finally made it here.

“I wouldn’t give up these moments with you for anything,” she whispered, meaning it with all her heart. “If I had to go through everything I did just to get here again, I would do it.”

Tae Hyun appreciatively stroked her face. “Thank you for coming back, baby,” he whispered, cradling her cheek in his hand. His tone of voice was humble, grateful. “Thank you for being here with me—for giving me these moments. I wouldn’t want these moments with anyone else but you.”

Yoori swallowed past the suffusion of emotions that were fighting to escape from her eyes. 

As she did this, another smile of amazement crossed his face.

“Do you know what’s crazy?” he inquired softly. He reached behind his neck to unclasp the necklace that held the ring she had given him for his birthday. Once off his neck, he held each of the clasps in between his fingers, allowing the necklace to briefly hang in the air before he brushed it over the skin of her neck. He clasped the necklace around her and allowed their ring to swim atop her chest. The silver ring glinted in the soft darkness while water sprayed in the background.

“What?” she asked quietly, feeling white-hot heat wash over her at the intimacy they shared. The weight of their ring pulled gently on her neck, reminding her of the moment she bought this for him and the moment she first saw him wear it. How far they had come . .
.

“Do you realize that our whole lives, every decision we’ve made, all the roads we’ve chosen—good, bad, big, and small—
everything
has led us to this very moment in time?”

Yoori smiled in nostalgia, remembering that they had this conversation when they first visited the lake house. Not understanding why he was bringing this up, but humoring him anyway, she merely replied, “What a crazy thought.”

It was only after she said that while gazing into Tae Hyun’s eyes, and while feeling the weight of their ring weigh above her chest, did
another
realization dawn upon her. At long last, she was finally enlightened with a reality that seemed like a lifetime ago—a reality that had somehow come full circle in her life and found its way back to her.

Soft voices entered her mind as various images drifted from her memory.

She didn’t know how it all fell into place for her.

It was possibly because of the hints Tae Hyun gave her or possibly because of the plethora of emotions that were making their way through her body, but for reasons unknown to her, a door that she never knew existed opened in the depths of her mind. From behind it, the memory from a lifetime ago came to her, finally bringing everything full circle for Yoori.

Her eyes lit up as she saw his face, as she saw them underneath that table, and as she saw them sadly walk away from each other when their borrowed time was up . . .

 “
The boy with the teacup
,”
she finally whispered, causing Tae Hyun’s eyes to light up.

Tears glistened in Yoori’s eyes while the distant memory resurfaced in her mind, making her realize how small her world was and how simple it became as the contents of how she actually met Tae Hyun came into her mind.
That
was how the tea was created, that was how it all began, and that was where it had all started—the first real beginning for them.

He favored her with a smile, relieved that she finally remembered their first true meeting.

“Hi Princess,” he said to her, that nickname meaning more to her now than it ever did. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“How . . . how long have you known?” she asked incredulously, staring at him like he was a dream. Emotions overwhelmed her; she couldn’t believe that, after all these years,
somehow
, they had found their way back to one another.

“When you spoke about Paris on the dock, I was reminded of that little girl, but I wasn’t sure. But when we were sitting in the park the other night playing drinking games, and you accused me of stealing the tea mix that you created, I knew then that it was you—that you were that bratty girl I met at the masquerade party, the one who took part in creating that tea.” He laughed, his demeanor still amazed as well. “That was how I knew we belonged together, that you had always been mine and that you will always be mine.”