Chapter 25

Celine was blissfully unaware of how much trouble her presence was stirring up, enjoying the silent night drive. She wished she could have the windows down though so she could better enjoy the sights, this made her glance at the driver as she contemplated it. If she were driving with Asher or Jael, she would never dream of asking but the fact that it was potentially a hired bodyguard gave her the confidence to.

“S-Sorry,” She apologized before even speaking, “Could you wind the windows down a bit?”

The Beta chuckled, genuinely amused by her request. His tone wasn’t mocking. “The windows are bulletproof.”

It took a moment for the meaning of his words to sink in, her eyes going wide in horror. “Oh,” She managed to say, falling silent. She didn’t know if she should be appreciative of how safe the car was, or if she should be troubled by the fact that a bulletproof car was needed.

Celine was so relieved to be back in the mansion, choosing to eat dinner before changing out of her outfit. As she ate alone, she thought of ways to tell Asher that she needed to go to the hotel where her things still were. She had never tried to make any requests of him so she was rightfully nervous but it had to be done regardless, the longer she let it drag out, the more likely her things were to go missing.

With renewed determination, she finished eating and returned to her room, taking off a glove as soon as the door clicked shut behind her. After Asher told her to stop dressing in the walk-in closet, she had taken to doing so in the bedroom, and she had expected it to be more harrowing than it turned out to be. Because Asher was hardly around, she ended up having the same amount of privacy she already had.

With a single glove off, she sat at the dresser to take her shoes off. The dresser was made in a sturdy design, the rich red wood complementing the warm theme of the bedroom nicely. She barely had the strap of the first shoe off before the door swung open, making her look up sharply as her shoe fell of her feet, the carpet muffling the sound of it hitting the ground.

She watched Asher stride in with wide panicked eyes; when he sent her ahead, she hadn’t been expecting him to practically follow right behind her. She was frozen in place as he approached her, an dark expression on his handsome face.

“I-I didn’t expect yo-you back s-so soon,” She stuttered hard as he came closer, unable to hold his gaze.

Celine held the edge of her short dress tightly when he gently held her jaw and tilted her head to the side so he could access the column of her neck. The time she spent alone with Asher was mostly silent, she was too terrified to speak to him and he mostly studied her with amusement, so she had surprised herself by saying that.

“Did you miss me?” He murmured against her neck, sending shivers down her spine.

Celine had no answer to that, desperately wishing that she could hide away in the walk-in closet.

Her silence brought Asher’s head up, and she might be seeing things but he looked less upset than when he first walked in, “Hm?” He prodded, the familiar amusement in his warm eyes.

Celine momentarily panicked, the unhelpful memory of when he first asked her a question she couldn’t answer resurfacing. *Would he bite her tongue again?* Even the threat of that couldn’t force an answer out of her.

Like he could read her thoughts on her face, Asher chuckled but instead of walking off like she expected him to, he leaned forward. Celine closed her eyes unconsciously at what was her first kiss, the wave of Asher’s dark scent that swept over her made her feel boneless, her lips parting for his tongue to dip into her mouth.

It was easy to drown in the kiss, following his lead as she didn’t know what to do. She should probably be protesting but she might have been waiting for this moment to come so she let Asher explore her mouth, going pliant in his hands. She was completely startled when he suddenly pulled away with what she was certain was a curse under his breath.

She blinked wide crystal blue eyes as he hurried over to a shelf, took something out, and stormed out of the bedroom. After a few seconds, the initial shock wore off and she was just sad. She lifted her gloved hand to her lips, a sad smile on her face; she kept trying to tell herself otherwise but it was clear that Asher didn’t find her desirable. She even tried her best not to tremble this time and he was still turned off, it meant that the first time wasn’t a fluke.

Rapidly blinking to keep the tears at bay, she focused on undressing, relying on the monotonous task to keep her from breaking down. She definitely needed to get her things now to comfort herself, or she would go insane if this were to continue.

Celine slept off before Asher could return but for the first time, she woke up to him getting dressed. She was so startled by this that she tried to pretend that she was still sleeping but her plan was outed by Asher.

“Sleep well?” He asked conversationally, shrugging on a mink coat.

Celine wanted to tell him that she very much didn’t sleep well because of what happened the night before but she swallowed it down, “Y-Yes,” She said instead, her voice coming out shakier than she planned.

Asher was already heading to the door at that point, making her sit upright in panic, the delicate satin sleeves of her night shirt slipping down her bare shoulders to reveal a lot of cleavage.

“W-Wait!” She called out, flinching when Asher listened and turned to look at her, too caught up in her head to notice his eyes darken at her reaction. “I-I need to get something from a hotel, i-if that’s fine.” Celine had no idea why she was stuttering so hard, words were usually not this difficult for her.

“I’ll have Jael take you.” Asher said curtly, continuing to the door.