Chapter 5 DISCIPLINE OF DESIRE

His silence was louder than anything I'd ever heard.

I stood at the edge of the bed, my robe barely clinging to my shoulders, as if it, too, was waiting for his permission to fall. The city lights poured through the floor-to-ceiling windows behind me, painting our shadows against the wall. We hadn't said a word since dinner. Not really. Just glances. Breaths. Heat crackling in the spaces between us. And now he was sitting in the armchair, one leg crossed over the other, like he was in complete control of the moment-of me.

"Take it off."

Three words. That was all he said. And my body responded before my brain had a chance to rebel.

The robe slipped down my arms and pooled onto the floor. The cold kissed my skin, but it was his eyes that set me on fire. I stood there, naked in every sense-my skin bare, my walls down, my heart hammering in surrender.

He rose slowly, deliberately, like he knew the effect his presence had on me. And he did. Oh, he did.

"You like control, don't you?" he said, walking behind me. His voice brushed against my spine.

"I do," I whispered, surprised by the honesty in my voice.

"But not tonight."

His hand slid around my waist, his lips pressing against the back of my neck. I shivered.

"Tonight, I want your obedience. Not your strength. Not your power. Just you, soft and willing."

My knees trembled.

His fingers traced down my sides, gentle but firm, like he was learning me with intention. When he turned me around to face him, I couldn't meet his eyes. Something in me was too raw, too open.

"Look at me."

I did.

And in that moment, everything I was-CEO, perfectionist, untouchable-melted under the weight of his gaze. He wasn't looking at Eun-mi, the woman the world bowed to. He was seeing the woman beneath. And somehow, he made me feel like that version of me was even more powerful.

He led me to the bed, sat down, and pulled me across his lap. The gesture stunned me. But my body didn't fight it. My body, treacherous and needy, arched into him.

"Say it," he murmured against my ear. "Say you want this."

"I want this," I breathed.

He slid his palm down the curve of my ass, slow and tender, and then gave it a sharp, measured slap. I gasped. The sound echoed like a sacred prayer.

"That's for how you tease me at work," he said.

Another. "For pretending you don't crave me."

Another, hotter this time. "For hiding behind that cold mask."

I whimpered, lost in the mix of pleasure and shame and unbearable heat.

He massaged the sting away with careful hands, and then pulled me up to straddle him. I was flushed, dizzy, pulsing in places that had forgotten what it meant to be alive. My thighs gripped his hips. My lips found his. And that kiss-God, that kiss-it tasted like salvation.

"You're mine here," he whispered, dragging his mouth across my jaw. "Not theirs. Not the world's. Just mine."

"Yes," I whispered. "Only yours."

He took his time. Fingers in my hair, mouth on my skin, tongue mapping every sigh. He laid me down slowly, as if he didn't want to break the spell. And then he climbed over me, his eyes searching my face like he was reading every secret I didn't even know I carried.

I opened my legs to him, not just physically but emotionally. I bared it all. My hunger. My hurt. My need to be claimed in a way that had nothing to do with power and everything to do with presence.

When he slid inside me, there was no gentleness. Not anymore. He needed to own me from the inside out. His thrusts were deep, paced, commanding-but never cruel. He didn't just take me. He made me feel taken.

"Eun-mi," he groaned, saying my name like it was sacred. "You feel like you were made for me."

My nails clawed into his back. My legs wrapped around him. And when I came, I wasn't quiet. I cried out, raw and real, no longer the woman who kept everything locked inside.

He followed after, holding me so tightly I felt like we could dissolve into each other.

When it was over, we stayed tangled together. Breathing. Sweating. Shaking. And somehow, in that silence, I found more comfort than I had in years.

"Tell me I didn't imagine all of this," I whispered into the space between his collarbone and throat.

He kissed my temple.

"You didn't. I've wanted this-wanted you-longer than you know."

And in that moment, I believed him.

Not as the woman who ran a company. Not as someone who always needed to be in charge. But as Eun-mi. Just... Eun-mi.