Chapter 64.2
Chapter 64.2
“Hmm? It’s been half a year. Look at my face. Did you really not want to see me even once?”
At his fervent plea, Jasmine’s fingers trembled for the first time since their reunion. She always found it hard to act tough when he showed weakness. She closed her eyes with a sigh.
How did it come to this again?
“I heard you wouldn’t be back for another five days,” she said. She never imagined they would meet like this.
“I hurried.” Richard looked at her tenderly. “Because I wanted to see you.”
“Don’t say things like that.”
“Why? I came all this way—did crazy things just to see you.”
Jasmine realized that he had moved even closer. His hot, restless body heat felt like it would overwhelm her at any moment, like a restless predator. His long legs almost touched hers. In the cramped carriage, their breaths mingled.
Jasmine felt surrounded again. She crossed her arms and pressed her back against the seat, instinctively taking a defensive posture.
She was acutely aware that his gaze was moving restlessly, taking in her rapidly heaving chest, her tightly clenched fingers, her repeatedly bitten lips, and the ankle peeking out from beneath her skirt. Her toes curled inside her shoes.
This man was blatantly desiring her.
Maybe it was because it had been so long, and he had been on a bloody battlefield, there was a rawer scent about him—more intense than before. Jasmine felt a faint sense of fear as if he might pounce and tear into her neck at any moment.
Could this be called fear? Excitement and fear are often two sides of the same coin.
She just… just wanted to run away.
At that moment, the carriage jolted and tilted sharply. Jasmine flinched and instinctively turned her head forward, and at the same time, Richard’s hand landed beside her head.
Their eyes met fiercely. Too close. She wanted to retreat, but there was nowhere to go. He asked in a rough voice.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine.”
She was not fine. But she had to be fine.
The carriage was passing through a construction area where the tiles were being replaced. Jasmine, a citizen of the capital, was well aware of this fact.
She stuck out her tongue to moisten her parched lips. As she looked out the window and furrowed her brow at the city scene, the duke’s gaze followed hers directly.
His lowered eyes persistently traced the redness of her lips and the subtle trembling of her fluttering eyelashes. The carriage jolted again. Her hips lifted slightly, and she frowned in discomfort from the uneasy ride, which he quietly watched.
Jasmine felt as if his long thumb was gently pressing between her eyebrows, just as he used to when he watched her read books on leisurely afternoons.
Or perhaps when he bent his head to kiss her there.
Jasmine bit her lower lip again. Her tongue felt parched. It felt like she was standing in a hot desert under the scorching sun. She was thirsty. If there were water, she would have gulped it down.
He seemed to share the same thought. His red tongue slowly licked his dry lips. Jasmine’s lowered eyelashes trembled, sensitive to his gesture. Sweat dampened the hand that clutched her skirt.
Thud!
“Ah!”
Once again, her body jolted violently. As her upper body swayed and lunged forward, he caught her as if he had been waiting. It was meant to be supportive, but it wasn’t. Such consideration couldn’t possibly be such a predatory and greedy gesture.
In an instant, Jasmine fell into his embrace. Time seemed to freeze as they remained motionless, feeling each other’s body heat.
It had been an excessively long time, enough to steal their breath since they had last felt each other’s scent, warmth, and bodies.
Jasmine came to her senses and tried to push him away, but there was a weak force in the hand on her waist and back. When Richard exhaled a rough sigh and rested his forehead on her shoulder, Jasmine’s mind went blank. Her heart was pounding.
He rubbed his head against her like a weary animal, a desperate movement.
“Just stay like this for a moment.”
“…”
“It’s dangerous.”
Jasmine knew the construction zone had already ended. But she didn’t say it out loud. She said nothing and just stayed quietly in his arms.
His scent, reminiscent of the cool sea, washed over her. It felt paralyzing and intoxicating—a dizzying sensation like falling off a soft cliff.
Richard rubbed his cheek against the pulsating side of her neck and exhaled a hot breath. As his breath clung to her skin like steam, her flesh quivered. He intently observed the bluish veins subtly visible on her milky neck, which fluttered softly like small birds.
Jasmine’s hand instinctively clenched, her fingernails digging into his shoulder. It felt like having a black wolf perched on her back.
His long, hook-like fingers slowly descended onto her shoulder blades. It was a soothing touch meant to calm her, yet it felt more intimate and left a deeper mark.
An awesome story 💖💖
Thank you for the translation 💜
You are welcome, Israella!