Chapter 101: The Late Visitor
Hearing Dante’s words against the beating of her heart, Anastasia nervously swallowed as she attempted to grasp and hold onto her resolve before she lost herself in the moment. Whoever claimed that Prince Dante had no experience with women had to be thrown into the sea for spreading such falsehoods!
Her throat felt parched, and she felt hot. She averted her gaze, and her eyes fell on the glass of water on the bedside table.
"Thirsty?" Dante asked her before he grabbed hold of the glass.
However, when Anastasia reached out to take it, he pulled it away from her grasp, and her eyes met his red ones. There was something unruly in his eyes that looked at her like a predator biding his time, as if it were waiting to find the perfect moment to pounce.
"Dante," Anastasia asked for the water. Dante felt slightly amused that she used his name whenever she wanted to appease him, but he didn’t immediately hand her the glass.
Instead, Anastasia watched as he raised the glass to his lips and took a mouthful of the water. Her feeble attempt to distract and change the subject failed, and the butterfly in her stomach returned, anxiously fluttering as he leaned towards her and angled his face in front of hers. Hesitantly, she brought her lips closer to his before parting them.
Soon, she was able to drink the water from Dante’s lips, and when she was done taking a sip, a few drops of water spilt from the corner of her mouth. She gulped it down, becoming aware of how much saltwater she had consumed earlier.
"More?" he asked, tilting his head slightly.
Anastasia couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something different about Dante tonight, and it would be a lie if she said it didn’t daunt her. And it wasn’t just his piercing red eyes, which smouldered as he gazed at her, searing her from within when she vowed not to be affected. She found herself saying,
"You told me you would wait."
"In what regard?" Dante asked her, entranced by her flustered expression. He then said, "We did agree that we would wait for your feelings to catch up, but also that I would help you get there, didn’t we?"