Stomp, Kick, Love

You’re strangely defenseless. If you’re not careful, someone’s gonna gobble you right up. What’s the best way to relax after a hard day’s work? If you ask Kaho, it’s to kick back at her favorite bar with her usual drinking buddy, Akira. Sure, everyone around her thinks he’s pretty hot, but he smokes, gets in fifights, and is a bit of a playboy—so defifinitely not boyfriend material. However, when she wakes up in his bed one morning, and then another, and another…well, it makes it infifinitely harder to pretend that there is absolutely nothing between them…

I saw the face he was making—he’s definitely carrying a torch for you. So you should tell him you’re already spoken for… Plan A—failure. Plan B—total disaster. It’s like the universe is playing a sick cosmic joke on Kaho. After all, even though she did kind of sleep with her devilishly handsome drinking buddy, Akira, she’s already determined that he is 100 percent absolutely NOT boyfriend material. So obviously, she should pretend it never happened and avoid him at all costs. But since he just keeps popping up everywhere Kaho looks, she can’t seem to catch a break! Worse, she’s so busy thinking about him that she doesn’t have the mental capacity to notice the attentions of a certain charming, considerate coworker who’s been inviting her out…

Easy, breezy, beautiful—Akira. That’s how Kaho’s always seen him anyway. A pretty face to look at, but not someone you’d ever date or have a serious relationship with. Except, now that he’s avoiding her and putting up walls, she’s starting to realize…she really misses him. After all, he’s the one person she can really be herself around, the one person who won’t judge her, the one person who doesn’t expect anything from her. Still, he’s clearly got commitment issues piled a mile high, so what’s a girl to do when a guy can’t get his head on straight…?!

Back to the same old humdrum relationship they always had— that’s the way it was supposed to be between Kaho and Akira. But something isn’t quite right: There’s a tension in the air that didn’t exist before! And although Akira keeps trying to push Kaho toward the princely Kase who will surely treat her like the queen of his castle, his jealous, possessive heart just can’t let her go…