23

Her hips immediately caught my attention, drawing my gaze down before I could stop myself. I had no idea she possessed such breathtaking, curvy hips; from a distance, she always appeared a bit slim, with a tiny, delicate waist that looked like it would fit perfectly between my two hands. My eyes slowly traced upward to her smooth, exposed neck, and a sudden, fierce urge to press my lips against her skin flared deep in my gut. The white towel wrapped tightly around her chest pushed her breasts upward in a way that made it impossible to look away. They weren't overly large, nor were they too small; they were the absolute definition of perfection—exactly the way I liked it.

It felt as if perfection had taken a human form and walked straight into my private sanctuary. If the gods ever came down and allowed me to choose just one single prize from this entire world, I would have chosen her without a moment of hesitation. Yet, the irony wasn't lost on me. The universe had handed me the most beautiful, tempting apple in the orchard, but it had also placed a curse on me that ensured I could never eat it.

The moment she bolted out of the room in a panic, closing the door behind her, I drew in a long, shaky breath to steady my racing pulse. I turned back to the mirror, grabbed a clean towel, and began drying off my skin, rubbing the cotton roughly against my arms and chest to shake off the lingering warmth of her presence. Once I finished cleaning my body, I wrapped a dark towel securely around my waist and walked over to the bathroom door. I turned the handle and pushed it open slowly, making absolutely no sound as I stepped into the bedroom—and found her standing by the shelf, completely absorbed in my personal laptop.

A quiet smirk touched the corner of my lips as I watched her fingers navigate the keys. *So, curiosity really does kill the cat,* I thought, crossing my arms as I leaned casually against the wooden doorframe. I stood completely still, watching her closely from the shadows while she remained totally oblivious to my presence. After a couple of minutes of just observing her quiet focus, I decided I had spent enough time standing around. I purposely stepped back, opening the heavy bathroom door a fraction wider and closing it with a sharp, deliberate click to see exactly how she would react.

She jumped violently into the air, her eyes widening in pure terror as the laptop slipped from her grip. Her feet tangled in her long towel, and she stumbled backward, her balance completely gone as she began falling toward the hard floor. Moving on pure instinct, I covered the distance between us in a fraction of a second, rushing forward to catch her mid-air before she could crash into the ground.

The second my hands securely gripped her waist, she gasped and scrambled to pull herself out of my hold, her face flushing a deep, fiery red. She quickly tightened the knot of her towel, pulling it closer to her chest with trembling fingers. "I... I..." she stammered, her voice cracking as she frantically looked around the floor. She rushed down, scooping up the fallen laptop from the rug and using her palm to desperately wipe off the invisible dust. She kept her eyes glued to the screen, refusing to meet my gaze. "Oh, sorry! I was just coming over to check if you were finally done with your shower, and then my foot slipped on the rug!"

A low chuckle rumbled in my chest as I stepped closer, looking down at her terrible lying skills. "Oh, is that so? That's very nice," I murmured, leaning over to gently take the device out of her hands. I tilted the screen toward her face, a mocking smile playing on my lips. "Wow... you really seem to like my personal pictures, don't you? And from the looks of it, it seems you were right in the middle of editing this specific one."

She instantly began scratching the back of her head, her cheeks burning even hotter as she looked everywhere but at me. "No, I swear I wasn't doing anything like that," she protested weakly, her voice dropping into a guilty whisper.

Before she could invent another excuse, I cut her off with a sharp nod. "Why don't you just come and finish editing it for me then?" I suggested, gesturing toward the desk chair. "I have actually been looking for a skilled editor to manage these files for weeks, but I haven't been able to find anyone trustworthy."

Realizing she had trapped herself in her own lie and had absolutely no way out, she swallowed hard and gave a stiff nod. She walked over to the desk, sat down in the wooden chair, and pulled the laptop closer to her. Her fingers began flying across the keyboard as she opened the image files. "To make an unedited picture like this look professional and clearer," she explained, her voice steadying as she focused on the task, "you can't just adjust the basic brightness. You have to fine-tune the contrast to balance the dark areas, modify the highlights so the details aren't washed out, and adjust the color saturation and white balance to make the skin tones look completely natural."

I leaned over her shoulder, pretending to study the screen, but my focus completely shifted the moment she leaned forward. As she pressed the keys, the knot of her towel slipped a fraction of an inch, revealing a teasing glimpse of her cleavage and the soft curve of her breast. My breath caught in my throat, my eyes locking onto the exposed skin. Oh God, I was absolutely certain that her skin would feel impossibly soft under my touch.

*Oh, snap back to reality, Michael,* a harsh voice screamed inside my head, forcing a cold wave of discipline through my veins. I clenching my fists tightly at my sides, tearing my eyes away from her body. *She is just a tool for the pack's survival—a sacrifice and nothing more. You cannot keep looking at her like this.*

I jerked my head back, turning my face toward the window as my expression hardened into a cold, indifferent mask. "Go take your bath immediately," I ordered, my voice sharp and completely empty of emotion as I walked away from the desk. "I've seen enough for today."