Chapter 7

"Y... you take requests too?" Vanessa asked as she instinctively stepped backward, matching Ryan's slow advance.

"Of course, Mrs. Johnson. We should get started while we still have enough time before nine," Ryan replied confidently.

Vanessa's nerves only grew worse.

"So... where do we even begin? I'm still not sure what we're supposed to do," she admitted, her eyes drifting toward Ryan's toned abdomen. It was the first time she had ever seen a man with such a well-defined physique.

"Haven't you done this plenty of times with Mr. Johnson? Why are you asking me?" Ryan asked with an easy smile as he reached out to touch the ends of Vanessa's long, fragrant hair.

Startled, Vanessa immediately slapped his hand away.

"Don't touch me," she snapped.

"I only touched your hair," Ryan replied innocently. "I figured that wasn't off-limits."

His casual response only made Vanessa more flustered.

"Stop joking around! I don't like you touching my hair."

Ryan laughed softly.

"If I can't even touch your hair, how am I supposed to help you have a baby? I barely touched you, and you're already upset."

Vanessa fell silent.

As much as she hated to admit it, he wasn't wrong.

She simply wasn't used to being touched by any man other than her husband.

To her, faithfulness had always come first.

"I... I'm just not used to another man touching me. I hope you can understand that," she said quietly.

Ryan smiled reassuringly as he stopped at a respectful distance in front of her.

"I understand. But tonight, things are different. Mr. Johnson is the one who asked us to do this, so we'll have to get through it together. Still, I won't touch you unless you tell me it's okay."

His courtesy caught Vanessa off guard.

Her heart pounded faster.

Ryan wasn't the most conventionally handsome man she'd ever met, yet there was something unexpectedly warm about his smile.

Vanessa remained frozen, unsure what to do.

Everything about this went against her beliefs. She had always been devoted to her husband, but now it was her husband himself who had asked her to go through with this.

Just as her thoughts became more tangled, her phone buzzed with a message.

"Hold on... let me check my phone first," Vanessa said.

She retrieved it from her purse, turning her back to Ryan, who waited patiently without saying a word.

A smile appeared on her face when she saw the message was from Richard.

She hoped he had changed his mind.

But after opening it, her hopeful smile slowly faded.

Richard had sent several photos of Ryan's children back in his hometown.

There were three of them, two boys and a little girl in the middle. The daughter, who strongly resembled Ryan, was his second child.

Richard had also included a message, pointing out that Ryan's children were healthy and growing well.

His eldest son was in the third grade, his second child was about to start first grade, and his youngest was only a year and a half old.

'Don't hesitate anymore, sweetheart. Look at Ryan's oldest boy. He's strong like his father, and he's already so tall for his age. Imagine if our kid grows up like that. Ryan has good genes. Come on.'

Vanessa read the message while rubbing her temple.

With a weary sigh, she locked her phone and placed it back on the bed beside her.

Perhaps this was the moment she had been trying to postpone.

She had no idea whether her heart would accept Ryan or reject him.

Ryan remained quietly standing behind her, patiently waiting.

Realizing she had no other choice, Vanessa finally turned to him to ask him to make the first move.

"All right, you go first. I'm not in the mood to start!" Vanessa commanded, giving Ryan permission to touch her.

"Of course, Mrs. Johnson. I'll follow your orders. Please, just relax—don't hold back. And don't worry, I would never hurt you," Ryan replied. He stepped closer to Vanessa, who stood only three paces ahead.

Vanessa was gripping her own hands nervously. Today, she was giving her body to another man.

It took only a second for Ryan to reach her. He leaned in close, his breath warm against the back of her neck, and his low voice sent an unexpected shiver across her skin.

"Are you ready, Mrs. Johnson?"

She nodded, eyes squeezed shut.

She wondered if she'd keep them closed the whole time, just as her husband had ordered her to do whenever Ryan performed his duty.

A smile curved Ryan's lips.

He couldn't deny it—his master's wife was stunning, sexy, and still young. Maybe five years younger than him.

He started by placing a hand on her shoulder. Vanessa's breath caught in her chest as those large fingers made contact with her bare skin.

His hands were rough. As a servant, of course he was required to handle all kinds of household work.

But despite that, there was a strange, tingling sensation as his palm slid down her arm, following its length until finally his fingers wrapped around hers and held tight.

Whatever else might be true, the grip of Ryan's hand felt nothing like when Richard held her.

Ryan could sense how nervous Vanessa was, and he did his best to put her at ease.

With every skill he possessed, he would give his mistress the finest service he could offer.

His lips—darkened slightly at the edges—began to press soft kisses along her shoulder, trailing from the tip all the way to the base of her neck.

A sudden wave of heat and cold rushed through Vanessa's body.

The faint stubble on Ryan's face added to the prickling sensation, a strange current that seemed to race straight to her nerve endings.

And the kisses didn't stop there. Ryan deepened his attention, moving upward along her neck with movements so exquisitely gentle and fluid it felt like a melody.

Vanessa, who had remained silent with her eyes closed, finally let out a breathy, needy sigh.

"Ahhhh!"

Meanwhile, one of Ryan's hands drifted to more dangerous territory.

That strong hand pushed aside her hair while the other circled her slender waist, drawing her closer to his body—already poised and ready to serve and impregnate his mistress.

Vanessa's skin prickled all over. She'd been certain she wouldn't feel a thing for this village man's touch.

But now, she was starting to sense strange vibrations stirring within her, urging her to be touched more deeply.

Ryan's kisses continued to trace the long column of her neck, especially now that her smooth back lay fully exposed before him.

One of Ryan's hands moved, slowly unzipping the gown his mistress wore.

The dress, worn without anything underneath, made it all too easy for Ryan to feel Vanessa's beautiful, tempting skin beneath his fingers.

The sound of the zipper opening signaled that her gown was now parting from her body.

Her eyes flew wide open as she realized the dress was about to slip away from her completely.

Then her eyes fluttered shut again as she felt something soft press against her back.

Yes—Ryan was placing tender kisses along her spine. Slowly, from the top, then downward, until finally his lips came to rest at the small of her back, just as her evening gown fell away entirely.