Taehyung's pov

Friday afternoon, a few of us from the marketing department had ordered in lunch and were sitting around the break room eating while we talked about our plans for the weekend.

"Do you think we'll work again this weekend?" I asked Lia.

"I don't think so. Jae is going away on that Pre-Cana retreat weekend his fiancée is making him do. And I think Bossman has a hot date Saturday night."

"Hot date?"

"City Gala. A bunch of rich people throw a big party to raise millions for food for the homeless. It's at some swanky hotel this year, and Jungkook is being honored. I heard him tell his secretary to book a suite with a fancy name. The last two years he's gone with models from our ad campaigns. Life must be rough when you're rich and gorgeous."

Of course, Jungkook walked in right at that moment. I looked away but felt his eyes on me as he went to the coffee machine. He'd spent so much time and effort getting me to agree to not date other people-I couldn't imagine he would already be violating his own terms. But I also couldn't stop a pang of jealousy from creeping up inside of me.

"Hey, boss," Lia called. "We're not working this weekend, are we?"

"No. Not this weekend. I have some things I need to take care of."

"I was sort of hoping we would be."

"What about you, Taehyung? Plans this weekend?"

Jimin had been bugging me to go to some new club for the last month. I had no desire to go. Until that moment. "Guys' night on Saturday. My friend Jimin and I are going to check out delight's downtown."

I caught the slight flex of his jaw, but he answered unaffected. "Sounds like fun."

"And what about you? Hot date?"

It wasn't exactly an appropriate question to ask your new boss. But Jungkook was not a traditional boss anyway.

"Just a fundraiser we donate to. I'd prefer to just write the check, but somehow they talk me into showing up every year."

I smiled. It was completely fake, but no one really knew me well enough to notice. Except Jungkook. "Well, enjoy your date."

I avoided Jungkook for the afternoon after that. At one point, he came down the hall toward my office, and I quickly popped into Jae's so we wouldn't be alone. Part of me knew I was being silly. This was exactly the reason I avoided office romance. Work needed to be about work, instead of letting my personal life interfere in places it didn't belong. So when Jungkook showed up at my office door at six o'clock, I was determined to keep things strictly professional.

"Share a meal together Sunday night?"

"I don't think so. I'm going out clubbing Saturday and you-" I waved my hand as if saying whatever. "-have your date Saturday night. I'm sure we'll both need Sunday to recover."

He looked confused by my response. "Is everything okay, Tae?"

"It's fine. Why wouldn't it be?"

"I don't know. You seem like something's bothering you."

"Nope," I answered, fast and curt.

"I feel like it's about Saturday night. But I figured you'd never go for a night when you had to wear a suite as our non-date, casual sharing of a meal."

I cocked my head. "I'm sure you'll have a better time with a real date anyway."

His brows gathered again, and then his face transformed with a smug smile. "I wouldn't exactly call Sam a real date."

"Sam?"

"That's who I'm taking. Who did you think I was going with?" He moved closer.

"I don't know."

"Did you think I was taking a date? After what we'd discussed the other night at dinner?"

"Someone might have mentioned that you usually took a model and were staying overnight at the hotel this weekend."

"I'm taking Sam. To network. I booked a suite for her and her husband to stay afterward. It was part of the deal I made with her."

"Oh."

He edged closer again. "You were jealous."

"I was not."

"Bullshit."

"Whatever. It doesn't matter."

"It does to me."

"Why?"

"Because if you're jealous that means you want to be with me as much as I want to be with you. You like to leave me out there dangling, not knowing what you're thinking."

He closed in on me as I sat in my chair. Placing one hand on each armrest, he lowered his face to mine. "I'm glad it's mutual."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever."

"Sunday night? Share a meal with me."

"Lunch."

"Dinner."

"Lunch. It's more casual."

He held my stare, trying to pull off serious, but I saw the corner of his mouth hint at a smile.

"Fine. But I'm taking you someplace romantic for lunch."

-

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I was never into clubbing to begin with, but I really put in the extra effort Saturday night. Jungkook and I didn't get to spend much time together, and I missed him.

We bounced around early in the night, dancing at places before they became so packed that it was impossible to do anything but rub up against sweaty people on the dance floor. By the time we arrived at Delight's I saw the line to get in- the one that extended almost a full city block-I decided the little half empty Irish pub we'd just passed wasn't looking half bad.

"Look at that line," I groaned.

Jimin grinned and grabbed my hand, pulling me toward the door. "What line?"

A handsome bouncer wrapped one arm around Jules and lifted her off the ground. "You showed up!"

"How could I resist free drinks and no line?"

"And here I thought you came for me."

"Maybe a little of that, too." He bumped his tiny shoulder into his chest. "What time do you get off?"

He looked at his phone. "About an hour."

Jimin remembered me standing next to him. "This is Taehyung. Taehyung, this is my cousin brother's best friend, Suga."

"Nice to meet you, Taehyung." He nodded to me and turned his attention right back to Jimin.

"How about you drop the introduction as your cousin brother's best friend now?"

"But you are."

"Been trying to get you to see me as something different the last month." He leaned down. "In case you hadn't noticed."

Jimin waved him off, but I could tell there was a reason we were at Delight's tonight, and it didn't have anything to do with being able to skip the line. "Any chance you can get us a table?

"You going to have a drink with me when I get off?"

"If you're buying."

He chuckled and shook his head. Lifting a walkie-talkie, he called to someone inside and said he had VIPs who needed taking care of. A minute later, a woman who had to be six feet tall without her gargantuan heels came to greet us.

"Jesus," Jimin mumbled.

Suga smiled. "Kiki, this is Jimin and Taehyung. Could you find them some seating on the second floor and hook them up with some drinks for me?"

"Sure thing, sweetie."

We ordered extra-dirty martinis and looked around in awe in the fancy club.

"I feel like a celebrity," I said. "And you're fooling around with your brother's best friend? How does Bepm-gyu feel about that?"

"I'm not fooling around with Suga. Yet. And Gyu doesn't know."

"How will that go over?"

"We're all adults. He can't tell me who I should go out with."

I smirked. "So he's gonna have a shit fit, huh?"

A grin spread across his face. "Pretty much."

"Give me the backstory."

"Gyu and Suga have been friends since pee-wee football. When I was thirteen, and Suga was fifteen, he was big, but not huge like he is now. One afternoon, I walked in on him changing, and the thing was enormous, even back then. I mean, dangling enormous."

"And?"

The waitress brought our drinks. "And what?"

"What's the rest of the story?"

He shrugged. "That's it."

"So you've been pining to see his junk again for fifteen years."

He sipped his drink with a wicked smile. "Pretty much

"He's a cop?"

"Yep. I ran into him on the street a few weeks ago, and we started texting. He looks so good in his uniform-the shirt, the pants. I'm totally making him cuff me and play cops and robbers."

"Good for you. He seems into you-couldn't keep his eyes off of you even when hot Amazonian woman was standing next to us."

"What about you? How is that delicious boss of yours?"

I lifted the plastic toothpick from my martini and slipped off an olive using my teeth. "Even more delicious than this olive, and you know how I love my martini condiments." I sighed. "But...he's still my boss."

"I absolutely get the reason you've put up the wall at work to separate business and pleasure. Not having one cost you a job you loved.

But damn...I might consider making an exception for that man."

"Well, he's definitely trying to get me to make an exception. Somehow he got me to agree to twice-a-week meal sharing."

"Meal sharing? Like a date?"

"Nope. Sharing a meal in a non-dating capacity?"

"Let me get this straight...you're sharing a meal twice a week, alone with him?"

"That's right. In a non-dating capacity."

"Which means what? You won't be fucking at the end of the night?" I sipped my drink. "Exactly."

Jimin cracked up. "He talked you into this crap?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're dating him and don't even know it. I might love this man." I wasn't dating him. Was I? We were just sharing a meal twice a week. Getting to know each other. Not seeing other people. And thinking of each other while we took care of ourselves. OMG. I am dating him!

Jimin sipped his drink and watched me, amused, as I came around to the same conclusion she'd gotten to in two seconds flat.

"Holy shit. Am I really this big of an idiot?"

"Sweetheart, I know you. You didn't put up that wall to keep him out. You put it up to watch him break it down to get to you."

I absolutely needed another drink. Make that a double.

Jimin gave me a funny smile. "Tell me what you like about Bossman."

"He's smart, cocky, hard, but sort of soft at the same time. Does that make sense?" I thought he was distracted looking for Suga when I caught his eyes over my head. "Are you even paying attention to me?"

"I am." He tossed back the rest of the liquid in his fancy glass. "So what were you saying? You liked his persistence? That it was a turn-on?"

I hadn't said that, but he wasn't wrong. "I swear, if he pushed me up against the door of my office, I'd have no willpower. Him being the boss is why I'm keeping away from him, yet his bossiness totally does it for me."

Jimin was grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" When he just kept on smiling, I knew. I knew. "He's standing right behind me, isn't he?"

A warm hand touched my shoulder over the thin material of my dress shirt.

I closed my eyes and mumbled to my best friend, "I'm going to kill you."

He shimmied out of the booth and kissed me on the cheek. "I should check and see if my cop is off work yet. Be back in a bit." He wiggled his fingers in a cute wave. "Hey, Bossman." Then he disappeared.

Jungkook didn't even have the decency to feign modesty. He slipped into the seat next to me, rather than sitting across the table as Jimin had been. God, I wanted to smack that cocky, full-of-himself smile off his face. His gorgeous, perfectly chiseled, God, I want to kiss you even more now that I'm drunk face.

"What are you doing here, Jungkook?"

"Making your dreams come true, apparently."

I turned, facing him head on for the first time, which was probably a mistake. He was too good-looking for my sober thoughts; alcohol could only make things less bearable. Tonight he wore a tuxedo.

"You look...so different."

"Different bad or different good?"

I couldn't lie. I'd had too much truth serum. "You look like an old-time movie star, very classically handsome. I like it."

"I'll be investing in additional hair gel first thing tomorrow morning."

A little smile I'd tried to hold back escaped. Jungkook ran his thumb down my cheek, then traced the corner of my lips.

"Maybe a case, if it brings out that smile," he added.

"What are you doing here?"

"You said you were coming here the other day."

I had but... "Shouldn't you be at the charity event?"

"It's almost over. Besides, I couldn't stop thinking about you all night. I wasn't sure if I should come, and now I'm glad I did."

"Why is that?"

"You like my persistence. What was that you said? My bossiness turns you on?"

I rolled my eyes. "I need another drink."

"Yes, let's both" Jungkook flagged down the waitress and ordered us both drinks. Looking
around the busy club, he asked, "So do you do this often? Go out clubbing with your friends?"

"Not much anymore. I like to dance, but it's kind of a meat market." His finger stopped tracing.

"Is that what you were doing tonight? Shopping for meat?"

"Nope. Just enjoying a night out with my friend."

"Because if meat is what you're looking for..."

I smacked his abs playfully, but I could feel how hard his body was underneath his shirt. Note to self, keep your hands at your sides at all times, for your own safety.

"Is this how you meet men and women? You go stalking at clubs looking all sexy at midnight?"

"Not generally. This is the first time I've been inside a club-unless it was for an event I had to attend-in years."

"Where do you meet then?"

"Various places."

"That's specific." I rolled my eyes.

The waitress brought our drinks, and Jungkook gulped half his glass.

"Thirsty?"

"Just trying to take the edge off."

"Okay. What would you like to talk about then?"

"Why don't we start with all the things I thought about doing to you tonight?" His gaze slid down my face and took its time as it appreciated my body that was dressed in black silk shirt with tight leather pants.

Watching him look at me with all that hunger weakened my resistance. I swallowed. "Jungkook..."

He responded by lifting my hand and bringing it to his lips for a gentle kiss. "How much have you had to drink tonight?"

"Enough."

"That's a shame."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not a man who takes advantage only because alcohol has relaxed a man's or woman's uncertainty."

It was my turn to gulp from my glass. I was feeling lightheaded, and it had nothing to do with the alcohol. "So are you saying that no matter what I say or do, you won't be sleeping with me tonight""

The heat in his eyes said otherwise. "That's right."

I smiled devilishly. "That sounds like a challenge. Dance with me."

-

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To be continued.....

Naughty babies...🌝