Southern Heat [21+] Completed

CHAPTER 15 ROOM FOR US BOTH

McKenna didn't think she could hold out any longer. Taehyung was a consummate beggar. For the last 15 minutes, he had been pestering her to teach him a song on the ukulele. It wasn't so much that the song was a problem, as much as it was that they were going to her room - alone - where her ukulele was - where her bed was - and everybody else seemed preoccupied and unlikely to interrupt them.

Part of her was dying to be alone with him because she wanted so badly to touch him. Part of her was terrified to be alone with him, because she wanted so badly to touch him.

McKenna had tried to snuggle with Mr. Fluff so her fidgeting wasn't as noticeable. But the damn traitor preferred Taehyung. The cat was siding with the enemy, lolling on Tae, taunting her with its sensuous rubbing.

She was getting more nervous by the second. Or was it excitement? What was going to happen? What did she want to happen? She wanted to stop worrying about it. Ugh!!

"Fine!" she said, exasperated. "I'll teach you 'Over the Rainbow.'"

She left Tae in her room while she brushed her teeth. When she came back, he was gone.

"Tae?"

"Up here!"

Shit! He had gone up the spiral staircase to the attic space that was her art studio. She didn't like people seeing her paintings and sketches.

Her first reaction was to be angry that he had gone without asking. She barreled up the small metal stairs.

"Can we paint one together?" Tae's face was bright and innocent.

She blinked a couple of times as her ire drained away. Complements bothered her as much as criticism, but he wasn't doing either. He wasn't judging her work in any way. She was so relieved.

"Um... yeah."

McKenna picked up her largest canvas. At 3 feet by 4 feet, it was huge. "Room for both of us."

Taehyung's eyes were shining with childlike excitement as McKenna gathered brushes and paints.

After a half hour, they had finished. McKenna's abstract style married perfectly with Tae's Picasso-esque faces.

"It's going in my room," Taehyung declared proudly.

"How are you getting this thing home?"

"Manager Sejin will know how to ship it."

They left the painting there to dry and climbed down. Tae grabbed the ukulele and started strumming on it. McKenna was fascinated with how fast he picked it up. Twenty minutes of learning the song and he was near flawless.

Twenty minutes of listening to him sing. His voice was airy and husky at the same time. She couldn't explain it. All she knew was that his voice made her stomach feel weird.

He put down the ukulele and said, " I'm sleeping in here with you."

"Ok," she said, sounding infinitely more nonchalant than she felt.