Chapter 162: Eyes On Me
Rose immediately shook the book as she clasped it close, her face turning crimson, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment as she quickly shook her head. One reason she usually borrowed books from the library was because she knew how she got when she read—she never stayed still. If a story got too intense, she’d roll around on her bed, scream into a pillow, or even argue with the characters out loud.
That was exactly why she borrowed those kinds of books instead of reading them at the library—there, she could be alone, free to pour out every emotion without judgment and shout all she wanted. But now... Zethan was here.
Not to mention the fact that, in all the books she’d read, she had never encountered such an out-of-the-blue part. It had certainly caught her off guard. Normally, the books she read built up to these kinds of scenes in the later Chapters. That was why she’d told him she would only be reading Chapter one.
"I... I... can’t, please," she pleaded, her hands now covering her face. This man was seriously something. Just because she told him she read books, now he wanted her to show him her "skill" in reading? How was she supposed to read this out loud—something she only ever read in her head?
"What is the matter? Is there something wrong?" Zethan asked quietly, as if he wasn’t the exact person who had laughed just moments ago. Rose shifted slightly—oh... her behind had rubbed against Zethan’s. She moved again, only to gasp as Zethan’s hands settled on her waist.
"Rose..." His deep voice made her pause.
The way those words left his lips—tight, restrained, like he was holding something back—worried her. And then there was the fact that she was sitting in his lap, right between his legs. She couldn’t quite see his face, so she began to turn toward him, ready to ask if he was okay. But before the words left her lips, his hand slid up around her neck, and his thumb and forefinger gently, yet firmly, turned her face away.
Her eyes widened immediately when she felt something poke her from behind. A deep flush spread across her cheeks as she stammered softly, "Z... Zethan, something is... poking me." Before Zethan could respond, her hand instinctively moved behind her, trying to push it away—only for her eyes to widen even further when her palm came to rest directly over his crotch.
They flew wider when she realized just where her hands were.
Just as she was about to pull away, Zethan’s hand caught hers—neither pushing it away nor letting it go, just holding it in place. His chest pressed to her back, their shared heat making it impossible to think straight. Her breath hitched as his other hand found her ankle, slowly gliding upward, pushing her gown along with it. Her back arched slightly, head tilting to the side as her eyes met his. Their intimate position was maddening—and she wasn’t even sure when those quiet, involuntary sounds had started slipping from her lips.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want him to touch her—she did, more than she cared to admit. But at the same time, she didn’t understand why her body wasn’t reacting the way she thought it would. Why she wasn’t pulling away. Or maybe... maybe she didn’t want to. Part of her still needed him to understand exactly what he was doing—and how close she was to letting it happen.