2 Impulse Over Reason

The moment Calder smelled that fragrance, the strange heat rising through his body grew even stronger.

After spending so many years in business circles, he knew exactly what was wrong with him. He just could not figure out where he had fallen into the trap.

The most urgent thing now was a cold shower.

After returning to the room, Calder took off his jacket. The instant he noticed the girl lying on the bed, his mind went blank with a violent crash.

Why was Nola in his room?

“Hey, get up.”

Calder realized how serious the situation was. He immediately pulled the girl up from the bed, intending to send her back to the bridal room.

Nola was dragged up in a daze. Thinking it was Meryl, she wrapped her arms around the body in front of her and murmured softly, “Don’t go...”

She did not want her sister to leave.

She did not want to be apart from her sister.

Calder fell silent.

The girl’s soft, delicate body pressed tightly against him. Her small head rubbed against his chest, and a faint, pleasant scent clung to her, even drifting from her hair and filling his senses.

In an instant, his blood seemed to boil.

Calder’s eyes darkened. His throat moved soundlessly, and veins stood out at his temples as he fought to restrain himself.

“Come with me. Now.”

“No... I’m not going... I don’t want to go...”

The harder Calder tried to pull her away, the tighter Nola held on.

The train of her wedding dress was too long. His leather shoe stepped on the hem, and amid the pulling and struggling, Nola lost her balance and fell backward. Calder was dragged down with her, and they both collapsed onto the soft bed.

Her small body took all of his weight.

Nola let out a faint, displeased whimper. It sounded like a kitten’s cry, light as a feather brushing over the heart.

At that moment, the heat inside Calder’s body broke loose completely. A red haze crept into his dark eyes, and sweat beaded across his forehead.

He had always had excellent control. After twenty years as a widower, all kinds of women had appeared around him, but he had never been interested in touching any of them.

Yet tonight, the self control he had always taken pride in collapsed completely, falling apart like loose sand.

He could not.

He could not touch this girl.

She was supposed to be the Rook family’s daughter in law.

Morality and ethics, reason and desire, tore wildly at each other. More sweat gathered on his skin, and the red in his eyes grew darker.

Until...

“You’re hurting me...”

Nola loosened her hands and tried to push away the heavy weight pressing down on her, but she could not move him at all.

The girl’s soft, almost coquettish words cut through the final taut string.

Snap.

The most primitive impulse in his heart took over.

When Calder bent down and kissed her lips, his mind exploded, like a flood breaking through a dam. Everything began racing toward the point of no return.

Room 716.

Soren had been locked inside the room. He tried to open the door and leave, but the people guarding outside refused to let him out.

With no other choice, he could only return to the room.

A woman lay curled beneath the covers on the bed, her face hidden from view.

Anger flickered across his rebellious, unruly face.

They wanted him to marry some little girl who had barely grown up. He had no interest in her at all.

“Nola, listen to me... My dad forced me to marry you... I will never touch you...”

Forget it.

Soren was dizzy, so he took off his clothes, lay down, and prepared to sleep.

Just as he was about to drift off, a hand reached over and wrapped around him.

The room was pitch black. Even when Soren opened his eyes, he could not make out the other person’s face. He shook the hand off in disgust and turned his back to the woman.

But not long after, that restless hand reached over again, holding him from behind, then slowly touching him from top to bottom.

Meryl had a habit. She could only fall asleep while hugging a pillow.

Even after falling asleep, her subconscious would keep searching for one. Once she found it, she could hug it and sleep comfortably.

“That’s going too far.”

The woman’s soft, boneless hand stirred heat through Soren. He wanted to push her away again, but the warm, fragrant touch sent a tingling current through him.

His throat moved, and even his breathing grew uneven.

“Hey, woman, I’m warning you...”

Soren turned around to face her, intending to warn her not to mess around. But when he caught the familiar scent on her body, his mind buzzed.

This scent...

It was familiar.

Could it be her?

He switched on the bedside lamp. When he saw the woman’s face clearly, disbelief flashed through him.

It really was her.

That time at the private club, this woman had taken the initiative to flirt with him. He had already taken off his pants, but in the end, she said she did not want to sleep with a boy who had barely grown up, then ran away.

Thinking of the humiliation she had left him with, anger burned fiercely in Soren’s chest.

Right now, he only wanted to get even with her.

He pulled the pink diamond necklace from her pale neck. Her soft hair spilled instantly across the white pillow.

Rip.

With one sweep of his hand, Soren tore through the dress on her body. The sight of her jade white skin made his eyes narrow.

Meryl was still drifting between sleep and wakefulness when a weight pressed down on her lips, stealing all her breath in an instant.

She thought she was dreaming.

But this dream felt far too real.

On the other side.

The evening gown had been torn into scraps of fabric, scattered messily across the floor.

The blanket slipped down, revealing the man’s broad, powerful back. His muscles were firm and defined, and the contrast between his skin and the girl’s was striking.

The girl did not know how to kiss at all. She was inexperienced and clumsy.

Nola hovered between sleep and waking. As she was kissed, she thought the man was her new husband.

Her sister had told her that married women all had to go through this.

But in reality, it hurt a thousand times more than she had imagined.

Nola began to cry, but the man covered every sound with his kisses.

Her young, delicate body trembled in Calder’s arms.

“Wuu...”

Nola let out helpless sobs. The tip of her nose was red, her eyes wet, and tears slid down from the corners of her eyes, making her look like a poor abandoned kitten.

Even in the heat of passion, the man’s brows still held back his desire. He looked down at the girl in his arms and kissed her lips again and again.

Her lips were like intoxicating wine, clean and sweet, drawing his mind into chaos.

A long time passed before the girl in his arms finally stopped crying.

Then her small hands began to move restlessly again.

Her voice came out small and aggrieved.

“Mmm... it hurts...”