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Hazel’s question made Xena turn around. She looked between Hazel and Jacob. Her friend was resting comfortably against Jacob’s shoulder. It looked so natural, as though their closeness had been there for a long time. Then Xena turned toward Max, who had been waiting all this time.

“No,” Xena said with a faint smile. “Why would I mind?” She then linked her arm through Max’s. “No matter where my room is, as long as I’m with my husband, I don’t mind.”

Max looked at Xena standing beside him.

“Come on, Hubby. I want to rest for a while. The trip here was tiring.”

Max cleared his throat briefly before nodding. He left Hazel and Jacob still at the reception desk. Jacob’s gaze sharpened again as he looked at Xena and Max, but Max ignored him.

Once they reached their room, Xena chose to unpack their belongings. She let Max attend to his own matters because as soon as they entered the room, Max’s phone rang. The man asked Xena’s permission to step out for a while because it was related to work.

Not long after, a message came in from Hazel.

[Hazel: Xena, could you come to my room for a moment? I need your help.]

Xena stared at the message for a while.

She did not know what kind of help Hazel wanted, but Xena eventually left her room.

Her steps stopped when she was almost in front of Hazel’s room. The door was not fully closed. Xena was about to knock, but the voices coming from inside made her hand stop in midair.

She heard Hazel’s voice, followed by Jacob’s. Slowly, she turned toward the gap in the open door. And what she saw made her body freeze.

“Darling ... faster,” Hazel whimpered, accompanied by a moan.

“Of course.” Jacob continued moving his body without hesitation. “You really know how to satisfy me, Honey.”

“Ugh!” Hazel moaned.

Xena’s heart immediately began beating faster. Jacob and Hazel were completely entwined, without a single thread of clothing between them. From time to time, their moans and gasps mingled with the sounds of their bodies coming together. There were also the sounds of kisses, wet traces left by Jacob as he kissed Hazel’s naked body.

There was not the slightest hesitation in Jacob’s eyes. As though this had happened many times before. Xena took a step backward. Her hand immediately covered her mouth to keep any sound from escaping. Her chest felt unbearably tight, while her eyes began to burn.

She did not know how she was still able to stand.

Three years.

Three years of marriage that she had believed still meant something, only to discover that she had been the only one holding on. Xena immediately turned around and walked back to her room. She did not dare look back. Even her steps felt unsteady as she closed the bedroom door behind her.

As soon as the door closed, all the defenses she had built up finally collapsed. Xena covered her mouth with both hands, trying to hold back her sobs.

But this time, she could no longer hold them back. The tears she had been holding in finally fell.

Xena walked over to the bed and sat on the edge. Her shoulders trembled, while her hands still covered her face. She wanted to get angry, scream in protest, and confront Jacob to ask why he could do all of this to her.

But she could not, because in front of everyone, she was nothing more than a woman who had lost her memory.

Xena lowered her head, burying it in the folds of her knees. “Why?” she whispered softly. “What did I do wrong? If I really am unattractive and boring, why didn’t he tell me before?”

Not long after, the door to her room opened. Xena hurriedly wiped away her tears, but it was already too late.

Max stood in the doorway and immediately realized Xena’s condition. His gaze turned concerned. He walked toward her without rushing, then stopped in front of Xena.

“What’s wrong?”

Xena did not answer.

Max looked at her face for a few moments before asking again in a calm voice, “What happened?”

Xena slowly shook her head. “I don’t know.” Her voice sounded unsteady. “I just feel so sad.”

Max fell silent for a moment.

He did not pressure Xena to explain. He simply looked at her with an attentive expression before finally asking gently, “What can I do to make you feel better?”

Xena lifted her face and stared intently at Max. There were still traces of tears in her eyes, but this time, there was something different in them. Without realizing it, she reached out and touched the face of the man who was her husband’s best friend.

If Jacob could do something like that with someone else, why couldn’t she? And ... was Xena really no longer attractive in other people’s eyes?

“You said you really wanted to touch me,” Xena said softly. “But these past few days, I was still recovering.”

Max fell silent.

Xena looked at him without breaking eye contact. “Now I’ve recovered. So ... do you still not want to touch me?”

The question left Max completely silent.

He knew what Xena was doing. She was testing him, but at the same time, he also knew that Xena was off-limits to him, yet ...

Max let out a quiet sigh.

For a moment, the man truly seemed to be standing at a crossroads. He could step back and keep his distance as he usually did, or accept what Xena herself was offering him.

In the end, Max looked at Xena with an unreadable expression. “If the temptation is this strong,” he said calmly, “what can I do?”

Xena did not have time to answer before Max moved closer.

The kiss Max gave her landed softly yet deeply on Xena’s lips, as though all the restraint he had built up collapsed in an instant. Max cupped both of Xena’s cheeks with his warm palms, tilting his head to deepen the kiss as it slowly turned into desire.

Xena held her breath for a moment before finally returning the kiss, curling her fingers around the curve of Max’s neck and pulling him closer. The hesitant touches at first were now replaced by the hot, wet rhythm of their lips meeting, growing more impatient.

Max’s kisses moved along her jaw before trailing down to Xena’s neck, leaving behind small bites and wet kisses that made Xena tilt her head back in surrender. Their breathing grew faster and heavier in the silence of the room.

Max looked directly into Xena’s eyes, slightly teary from the surge of desire, holding himself back for a moment to make sure she was certain. “Are you ... sure?”

Xena smiled faintly despite breathing somewhat heavily. “Yes.”

Without saying much, Max continued kissing her, starting from her neck, down to her cleavage, and then her flat stomach, until ... “Spread your legs wider, Sweetheart.”

Xena gasped, but she would not back down. Memories of the past came one after another, clouding her judgment, but what she had just seen was enough to reaffirm her decision.

Jacob had gone too far. Why shouldn’t she do the same?

In front of her, the man named Maximillian Gareth was far more physically perfect. Why should Xena waste the opportunity?

“ARGH!” Xena moaned as she unconsciously gripped Max’s hair tightly. It was all because the tip of Max’s tongue brushed against Xena’s most intimate area. “Max!”

Max looked up. His gaze resembled that of a predator ready to pounce on its prey. He quickly removed his shirt. Even his belt and trousers were tossed aside carelessly.

Revealing something that made Xena stare in disbelief.

“Max?”

“Yes?”

Xena’s gaze moved back and forth over Max’s body. As though he knew the doubt in Xena’s eyes, Max kissed Xena again. “Are you sure about all this?” he asked between their kisses.

“Yes,” Xena said without hesitation.

“You won’t regret it?” Max asked once again. His eyes were already clouded with desire, but he still had to keep control of his senses.

“If I’m doing this with you, what could I possibly regret?”

Xena blinked as she continued matching the way Max kissed her. Max truly gave Xena not even the slightest pause to catch her breath. Was it because of what she had just said? And without realizing it, Xena’s legs opened wider.

That made Max smile faintly as he said in a low, heavy voice, “Give me your permission quickly, Sweety.”

Xena finally nodded in surrender and said, “Please ... go slowly.”

Once he had her permission, Max did not hesitate to bring their bodies together. Xena’s cry filled their room. Before long, their moans and gasps mingled with each other. Their room became a witness to their union.

Max treated her so gently that Xena truly never expected the man who had always seemed so calm and difficult to approach could behave that way toward her. Every touch of his felt controlled, yet he was still capable of making Xena lose herself completely.

Xena did not know whether she was running away from her pain or had truly begun to enjoy having Max by her side. But for that night, she chose not to think about it. She only wanted to forget everything she had just seen.

She wanted to forget Jacob and Hazel entwined intimately, who knew for how long. And for a moment, she only wanted to enjoy the comfort Max was giving her.

Until suddenly ...

The bedroom door opened without warning.

Xena immediately flinched.

Max turned as well.

Jacob stood in the doorway, his eyes wide as though he could not believe what he had just seen. His face had turned deathly pale.

“What are you doing, Max?”