Love O2O- Beyond a Beautiful Smile

Chapter 21- Bring to the boil, then simmer.

There needed to be a rule against office romances. With the presence of A Shuang on the Zhi Yi team, no one had seen a reason to raise the subject; no women in the office meant no romance. Except for when it didn't.

    Nearly a week after returning from Chengde, laosan's backup plan was complete and Hao Mei was exhausted. Not from the programming, although he did enough complaining about cramped fingers and a sore back to fool even laosan (he hoped), but from dealing with KO on a daily basis. With only the three of them in the office, KO had progressed from guerrilla tactics to a full scale, trench warfare.  

    Every time Xiao Nai left the offices, Hao Mei found himself dragged on to KO's lap and kissed until steam whistled from his ears. With precision timing, he would be picked up and placed back on his own computer chair just as the elevator dinged with Xiao Nai's return. Face red and jeans uncomfortably tight, Mei would struggle his way through more coding before he and KO left together. Always leaving together, always stopping for food together, and always heading back to Hao Mei's... together. Each night, KO would take him home, brushing his knuckles against the back of Mei's hand as they walked, and taking advantage of every darkened corner he could find. Before their trip to Chengde, Mei had no idea how many alleys, streets with broken lights, recessed store fronts, and thick shrubbery, could be found between the office and his house. He had now obtained an intimate knowledge of all areas in which one could be brought to the edge of passion, in public yet completely invisible to the passing cars.

    War hadn't just been declared on the streets.

    Each night, KO would take his hand as they stepped into the elevator of Mei's apartment block, tangling their fingers together in a fluid dance that sent tingles along Mei's already sensitised skin. They would walk, together, down the hallway, and each night Mei found himself torn between cursing or praising his decision to take the last apartment on the corridor; the only door tucked around a corner. Out of sight should any of his neighbours decide to take a midnight stroll, Mei would inevitably find himself pressed against his door with KO's lips driving him wild.

   He'd discovered, over the course of the past week, that the man had equal talents for cooking, coding, and kissing. He could also read Mei as easily as any recipe; knowing just when to turn his light, almost chaste kisses into a deep, passionate, tango of tongues. When he traced a finger along  Mei's jaw as they kissed, and heard a soft whimper, KO would pull back teasingly, nibbling at Mei's lower lip then licking the soft bites better. When Mei flushed, staining his cheeks a delicate pink, KO's hands would tighten on his shoulders and pull him closer- devouring him against the door until his mind was filled with the wet heat and he'd forgotten how to breath.

    Unlike that time in Chengde, KO's hands never wandered lower than Mei's shoulders. He would hold Mei in place, pressing him against the wooden door with nothing more than a hand on the shoulder and sheer presence. When Mei set his hands on KO's chest, they were ignored. When he set them on KO's hips, they were removed and pinned above his head with one hand while the other tilted his chin up for a bruising, sanity-stealing kiss. Desperate for more contact with KO's body, Mei would try leaning towards him, lifting a leg to rub against KO's... last night he'd even attempted to climb the man; jumping and wrapping his legs around his waist! His attempt was foiled and KO had simply peeled him off, opened the door with the spare key that he'd commandeered the night they returned from their trip, and pushed Mei inside the apartment.

    Alone.

   Skin flushed and tingling, lips swollen and bruised, and so aroused that he had started a night time tradition of icy showers before bed. The showers helped cool him down enough to sleep but he would wake, in the early hours of the morning, hard and aching and cursing KO's  iron-clad self control.

Which was why, the Friday before the rest of the office returned from their leave, Mei was seriously considering begging his laosan to... what the hell am I going to ask him? What would I tell him?  Hao Mei groaned and thumped his head against folded arms on the desk. It wasn't like he wanted KO to keep his distance- a bit less distance would be good- and it wasn't as though he objected to the attention- a bit more attention would be good and oh... he sounded like a pervert. A very horny pervert.

    "I'm worse than A Shuang!" Mei's wail was muffled by his arms.

    "What did you say?" KO's gruff query sent ice down Mei's spine. Had he heard? Did he know Yu Ban Shan's theory on why A Shuang wouldn't work with women around? Was he reading his mind again?

    "Nothing... eh... nothing. I'm going now. I have some errands to run." Face the colour of a traffic light and certain he was about to start stammering if he kept talking, Hao Mei raced from the office without a backward glance. Tonight, at least, he would go home by himself would be able to fall asleep without a cold shower.

   From his office, Xiao Nai watched him go, a slight smile on his face as he then headed out to consult KO. "He's completely flustered.

    "Hmm." Self-satisfaction made KO's eyes gleam.

    "No one will think he's worried about anything other than your relationship."

    "Ah..." KO rubbed the back of his neck.

    "Hmm?"

    "I might have over done it."

    "Over done it? Do I want to know?" Xiao Nai was openly laughing at the chagrin on KO's face.

    "I don't think he is worried about anything else." KO cleared his throat. "I think he's forgotten what we've been working on... and why... he's just been blindly coding what we tell him to."

    "Peh!" Xiao Nai coughed. "He's that distracted? What have you done to him?" When KO raised an eyebrow at him, Xiao Nai lifted his hands to forestall an explanation. "I don't think I want to know. The tension in this office for the past days has been difficult enough to withstand with Wei Wei at home. It's been making me wish she was here."

    "I haven't done anything. Much."

    His laoda abruptly changed tune. "Why not?"

    "He's not ready for too much more."

    "He may not ever be. He's only ever been attracted to girls before."

    "What a horrible curse. May Wei Wei test your self-control as Mei does mine."

    The two men glowered at each other, each painfully aware of the difficulties involved with dating their own beauties.

At a nearby restaurant, Hao Mei sneezed while waiting for the food he'd ordered to go.

A/N: This is as risqué as the chapters will get without being set to private.

The next chapter will bring us back in alignment with the series- it will start with Wei Wei's arrival at the office as an intern.

Also, the semester officially starts the day after tomorrow and I'm not as close to finished as I had hoped (I'd wanted to be done but certain characters insisted on things going their way and throwing my plans out of whack) so I will continue writing throughout the semester BUT only when I need a mental break from my studies... so you may get one update (minimum) a week, you may get three. I don't know. I'll update tomorrow and then see how it goes.

P.S. Don't forget Tom and Will. They will return to the story later. :)