Chapter 198 Chapter 198
Hearing this, Caroline's embarrassment reached its limit. She lowered her hands and stared at him with wide, angry eyes.
“Don't even think about it! I don't want you to... to do that...”
She stopped. It was too embarrassing even to imagine.
Instead of being annoyed by her rejection, he found her reaction adorable. He loved seeing her nervous.
“You don't want me to do what?” he asked innocently. “Use my mouth? My fingers?”
Caroline choked.
“Nicholas!”
That damn man. He was doing it on purpose.
“Humph! I'm not talking to you anymore!” She huffed, turning her back on him and wrapping herself in the blanket like an angry burrito.
Nicholas smiled, shaking his head. He stood by the bed, admiring the sulky “package” for a moment.
Then, without warning, he leaned down and picked her up, blanket and all.
He held her tightly in his arms, feeling her small, delicate body against his, and kissed her warm cheek.
“Sweetheart, the game is over. Are you hungry?” His voice was soft and affectionate again.
“Is there anything specific you want to eat?”
Caroline tilted her head to the side, trying to maintain her “I'm mad” posture, and ignored him.
It was unfair. He forced her to do “manual labor” and then teased her until she almost exploded. And now he was being nice? Low blow.
Carrying her in his arms like a princess, he walked toward the closet so she could get dressed.
“We're going out to dinner tonight,” he announced. “Didn't we agree to celebrate Sara's discharge? We postponed it yesterday because of the unexpected, so we'll make up for it today.”
Upon hearing her sister's name, Caroline's defensive posture crumbled.
She turned her face toward him, blinking, and frowned slightly.
“You mean... take Sara out to dinner with us?”
“Yes. Is there a problem?”
“No, there's no problem.” Caroline sighed, worried. “It's just that... Sara is in a very bad mood today. I don't know if she would want to go out. She seemed so sad when we got here...”
“It's precisely because she's in a bad mood that she needs to get out. Staying locked in her room will only make things worse.”
Nicholas replied with simple logic as they entered the spacious closet. He carried her to a velvet armchair in the center of the room and set her down carefully, as if she were a precious doll.
He turned and walked over to the shirt section, pulling out a black shirt and tailored pants of the same color.
Caroline watched and couldn't help but comment: “Do you only have black clothes in this giant closet? The world isn't black and white, you know?”
Nicholas stopped, holding the hanger. He looked at the clothes and then at her.
Caroline was right. His wardrobe was a sea of darkness: black, gunmetal gray, and midnight blue. It was elegant, but monotonous.
He thought for a second, shrugged, and put the black items back in their place.
Then he walked to another section and pulled out a white Egyptian cotton shirt, keeping the black pants.
“Well?” He turned, holding the white shirt against his chest. “What does my personal stylist think of this combination?”
Caroline was speechless.
She thought: It's practically the same thing. Black and white. You look like a chessboard.
His color palette was as restricted as the room's decor. Everything was sober, cold, and masculine.
She wanted to make a joke about him being color blind, but when she saw the slight expectation in his dark eyes—as if her opinion was the only one that mattered—she changed her mind.
“It's not bad.” She smiled. “The white brightens your face.”
“Okay. Then that's the one.”
With her approval, Nicholas didn't hesitate. He reached for the knot of his bathrobe and untied it with a single fluid motion.
The heavy fabric slid off his shoulders and fell to the floor, revealing the work of art underneath.
Caroline stopped breathing.
That man's proportions were unfair. His shoulders were broad, tapering to a narrow, powerful waist. His abdominal muscles were defined as if they had been carved from marble, and the famous “Adonis line”—the pelvic V—descended dangerously downward, disappearing into the waistband of his underwear.
He wore only tight black boxer shorts.
And that tight fabric did nothing to hide the... magnitude of the problem Caroline had just “solved” with her hand.
Caroline's face instantly flushed.
She looked away, but the image was burned into her retina. She knew exactly how... intimidating he was there. Whenever she helped him, her hand seemed too small for the task.
It wasn't the first time she'd seen him nearly naked.
But every time it happened, she felt like a deer frozen in the headlights. Her heart raced, her mouth went dry, and her brain short-circuited.
He was clearly doing nothing more than getting dressed.
But displaying that body, exuding masculine pheromones and raw power in front of her... wasn't that a trap?
That was blatant seduction!
“Nicholas!” Caroline squealed, covering her eyes with her fingers (because she wanted to see, after all). “What are you doing? Warn me before you take your clothes off!”
Even though they were married and intimate, she still couldn't maintain her composure in the face of his casual nudity. His body was... too aggressive for her senses.
She felt like he was doing it on purpose. He knew the effect he had on her.
Caroline bit her lip. Her treacherous mind was flooded with an insane desire to reach out and trace the contours of those rigid abdominal muscles.
Stop it, Caroline! You're turning into a pervert!
As Nicholas slowly put on his white shirt, without buttoning it immediately, the open fabric revealed glimpses of his chest and abdomen with every movement.
It was the kind of body that was deceiving.
Dressed, Nicholas looked slim, elegant, and slender. But undressed...
Those muscles weren't inflated or exaggerated like those of bodybuilders, which Caroline detested. They were functional, compact, and lethal muscles. It was the perfect balance between strength and aesthetics.
It was exactly Caroline's “favorite dish.”
She tried to look away, but her eyes, as if they had a will of their own, returned to his waist and the line of his hips.
Her mouth went dry.
Suddenly, a shadow fell over her.