Claire Sinclair slid to the foot of the bed, burrowed back under the covers, and patted the man’s calf. She called out timidly, "Adrian Quincy, it’s morning..." 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Her voice was muffled by the blankets, so she didn’t know if he’d heard her.

After a moment, the man stirred.

Claire Sinclair froze. Her mind suddenly blanked as she realized something...

’Why was I sleeping over here, and why was he sleeping over there?’

’Did this bizarre sleeping position mean we did something... strange last night?’

While her thoughts were in turmoil, the man suddenly slid over from under the covers, looming over and pinning her beneath him. His powerful, well-defined arms were right before her eyes.

Claire’s heart was about to pound out of her chest. She swallowed hard. "Um... Good morning."

His response was a gentle good morning kiss.

Claire Sinclair blinked innocently. As she felt his kiss deepen, her body grew increasingly stiff. Her hands rested on his chest, wanting to push him away, but she couldn’t seem to summon any strength.

Catching sight of the bite mark on his shoulder out of the corner of her eye, her heart skipped a beat. She abruptly lifted her hand, pushed his lips away, and gingerly touched the mark with her fingertips.

"Last night... what happened?"

"You don’t remember?"

"Not a single thing!"

A wicked smile played on Adrian Quincy’s lips. He leaned close to her ear, his voice captivating. "Last night, you got drunk. You insisted I stay, stripped me naked, and demanded I keep going until you were satisfied. In the end, I guess I just couldn’t please you, because you fell asleep."

"N-No way..." ’When did I become so shameless?!’

"The proof is right here on my body. And besides the one you can see, there are more on my back."

"..."

"Claire, you have to take responsibility for me. After last night, I love you even more. I’ll die if you leave me."

!!! ’This has to be a trick!’

She couldn’t remember a single thing about last night, so she had no way of knowing if he was telling the truth.

"Claire, stop trying to avoid it. Answer me."

"An-Answer you what?"

"Don’t divorce me. Stay my wife."

"But I already tore up my press pass..."

Adrian Quincy frowned slightly. "Report it as lost and have them issue a replacement. You’re in the system; they won’t remove your name just because you lost your ID."

"I guess that’s true, in principle..." What Claire really meant was that by tearing up her press pass, she was showing she didn’t want to be a journalist anymore.

"Claire?"

"I... I’ll think about it a little more... C-Can you get up fir— Ah, what are you doing?!" she suddenly cried out, ambushed by the man’s sudden move.

Claire’s hands trembled as she pushed forcefully against his chest, trying to shove the giant weight off of her, but she couldn’t budge him at all.

Gradually, her resolve crumbled, and she sank into his embrace.

「...」

Claire fell back asleep and didn’t wake up again until noon.

To her surprise, the man hadn’t left. He was still in the suite. At some point, he had taken out his laptop, and his long, slender fingers were now tapping away at the keyboard.

The sound of his typing drew Claire’s attention. She turned her head, but could only see his back.

He was already dressed in a suit now. Recalling how she had so pathetically succumbed to him that morning, she felt he was nothing but a sanctimonious hypocrite.

’So despicable and shameless!’

Claire got out of bed barefoot, stalked straight into the bathroom, and slammed the door shut.