Chapter 164: Banter

After some time had passed, Rong Shen finally ended the long kiss and wrapped an arm around the back of the girl’s neck, drawing her into his embrace.

An Tong’s head was spinning. Her lips tingled faintly, and she had gone limp against the seat. Her arms still curled around the man’s shoulders and neck. In that moment, it felt as though the world held only the two of them.

He was deeply stirred, yet made no further move.

An Tong rested quietly against his shoulder, the corners of her mouth lifting without her noticing. In the still air of the car, she could hear Rong Shen’s heavy, restrained breathing. He had not lost control, but he was certainly not as unruffled as he seemed.

Her heart softened. She rubbed her forehead against his neck and was just about to speak when the arm around her waist tightened abruptly.

“Don’t want to go home anymore?”

“Huh?” An Tong didn’t understand at first. She looked up in confusion, only to meet the man’s fathomless eyes, their silent, searing possessiveness impossible to miss. Her voice faltered. “I do want to go home…”

She knew that look all too well. She had seen it on every one of their passionate nights.

An Tong’s eyelid twitched. Her gaze kept darting toward the windshield, as if trying to remind him of something without saying it outright.

Rong Shen, of course, noticed her deliberate little expressions. He bent down and sucked hard at her lips, then said in a deep, husky voice, “Turn on the heat.”

The car wasn’t cold, but An Tong obediently started the engine and switched on the climate control.

At the same time, the passenger door opened, and the man leaned out.

An Tong watched him through the window for several seconds. Wisps of smoke drifted into the air.

He was smoking.

Resting her arms on the steering wheel, An Tong leaned forward and gazed at Rong Shen outside. A knowing smile slowly curved her lips.

A few minutes later, cool air carrying the faint scent of tobacco wafted into the car. The man opened the door and got back into the passenger seat. The girl was still sprawled over the steering wheel, her pose playfully languid.

Rong Shen fastened his seat belt and ruffled the top of her head. “Drive. Let’s go home.”

An Tong smiled, shifted into gear, and drove out of the underground garage.

As for Cheng Feng, who had been hauling a suitcase around looking for the car, he finally found the van parked in Section F shortly before seven.

In other words, he had spent more than an hour circling the vast Sections B and C, never once remembering he had left the car in Section F.

Heaven knew how close he had come to reporting it stolen.

…

They returned to the Yuefu villa before six. An Tong stretched as soon as she stepped inside, weariness showing in her eyes.

“Tired?”

Rong Shen set his briefcase on the console by the entrance and rested a hand on her shoulder blade. With a gentle pull, he drew her into his arms.

An Tong clutched the coat at his waist and nodded against him. “A little sleepy. I only got three hours of sleep last night…”

Rong Shen’s brows drew together, a trace of concern surfacing in his eyes.

After a few quiet seconds, he patted her back soothingly and coaxed, “Go upstairs and get some more sleep. Come down for breakfast later.”

“Aren’t you going to sleep?” An Tong frowned at him, pressing her lips together. She had thought he would nap with her.

Rong Shen studied her lovely, clear features, his gaze narrowing. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he asked with interest, “Want me to keep you company?”

“Mm.” An Tong answered without hesitation and leaned her head back against his chest. “Even if the flight was comfortable, sitting on a plane for more than ten hours must be exhausting. It’s still early. Come nap with me.”

The man’s gaze darkened.

An Tong really was tired, and her attention wasn’t nearly as sharp as usual. So when Rong Shen lifted her and carried her toward the stairs, she was still congratulating herself, convinced that her coaxing had worked.

At the bedroom door, he set her down.

The curtains were still drawn. The dim, quiet light seemed to cradle the room in an intimate haze.

An Tong had barely stepped inside when he caught her by the arm. By the time she realized what was happening, her back was already against the door.

Then came another deep, lingering kiss.

He lifted her wrist to his shoulder and cupped her face with his other hand, kissing her urgently and fiercely.

They had gone nearly a week without being intimate. Once things began, there was no stopping them—no satisfaction, no surrender.

An Tong was already exhausted, and her reactions were inevitably sluggish.

Later, when the man got what he wanted, she stared at the ceiling, dazed and bewildered.

She had only wanted him to nap with her.

How had it come to this?

…

When An Tong woke again, it was only a few minutes before noon.

The soreness in her body was unmistakable. Hugging the blanket around herself, she sat up and pressed a hand to her lower back, hissing twice.

The bed beside her was empty. She smoothed her tangled hair and glanced around, then noticed neatly folded clothes at the corner of the bedside table.

The man must have brought them over.

After changing, An Tong went straight downstairs. As she entered the living room, she heard a familiar voice.

“This is my fault. She’s probably really angry this time; otherwise, she wouldn’t have blocked you too.”

It was Xiao Mingyu.

An Tong slowly descended the stairs. The two men chatting in the living room looked up at the same time.

For some reason, the moment she met Rong Shen’s dark gaze, she couldn’t stop herself from blushing.

The man rose and came over to her. He tugged at the neckline of her little V-neck sweater, his voice low and tender. “Hungry?”

“A little.”

Rong Shen put an arm around her shoulders and led her toward the dining room, deftly shielding her from Xiao Mingyu’s scrutinizing gaze.

As soon as the man came back out, teasing remarks followed.

“Your living room isn’t exactly enormous. Does An Tong not know her way around, or is she blind? It’s only a few steps. You really had to escort her all the way to the dining room?”

He’d been in love before, but he had never seen anyone as hands-on and clingy as Rong Shen. The man acted like he’d never seen a woman in his life.

Rong Shen bent to pick up the cigarette case on the coffee table and nodded toward the window. Xiao Mingyu understood and followed him outside.

The two men lit cigarettes in the indoor garden and talked as smoke drifted around them.

In the dining room, An Tong’s cheeks were bright red as she held up her phone and used the front-facing camera to inspect her neck.

Just before Rong Shen had left, he had leaned close and murmured in her ear, “We have company. After you eat, change into a turtleneck, okay?”

After he was gone, An Tong belatedly realized what he meant.

There was no mirror nearby, so she opened her phone’s front-facing camera.

It wasn’t as bad as she had imagined, but near the edge of her collar, a few red marks stood out on the skin of her neck, suggestive enough to invite speculation.

She hadn’t noticed the faint traces around her neckline when she washed her face. Maybe she had been distracted, and her loose hair had fallen on either side, making her miss them.

She pressed her lips together and sighed. She rubbed her neck several times, only to make the marks even redder.

An Tong: “…”