CHAPTER 71: THE FIRST KISS

"God, I missed your smell," he said before placing his face in the crook of her neck, and for some unknown, explicit, out-of-the-world, incorrigible reason, she felt good.

The little sanity left in her mind that told her this was wrong, so wrong, and that he was a dangerous man she needed to stay away from, was pushed to a corner of her mind that she didn’t even know existed until she couldn’t find that little voice forcing reason in her head.

"Y-you, what are you doing here?" She asked.

Daniel smirked at her question, his lips stretching on her neck, making her clench her fists around his coat.

"I would say teach someone who betrayed me a good lesson, but you would get scared of the process. So let’s just say, I am here as your protector," Daniel said.

Elara suppressed the urge to roll her eyes.

That was one way to say it.

"Why?" She asked, unsure what she even wanted to hear at that point.

Daniel smiled, a rare, genuine smile, before he pinched her chin and forced her to look into his eyes.

"Because you will be my wife. And it’s my duty to protect you," Daniel whispered.

"Hehe, they say you’ll be my wife. In that case, isn’t it my duty to protect you?"

Elara heard a strange boyish voice in her head, making her wince in pain, her hand reaching out for her head.

"Y-you, I know you from before, right?" Elara muttered before groaning loudly.

Daniel’s expression changed when he heard her wince.

"Hey. What’s wrong? What’s going on?" He asked, his pupils dilating when she suddenly fell limp into his arms.

Without thinking twice, he took off his coat and placed it over her head before bending and picking her up.

When he emerged from behind the cartons, Alen and Antonio were about to say how overdramatic he was when they saw Elara’s unconscious state and rushed forward.

"Sir, what happened?"

"Miss Elara," Antonio tried to touch her head, but Daniel’s glare stopped him from doing so.

"She didn’t wish to be caught by Andrew. Stay away, or he’ll find out. I am taking her to the hospital. Bring her car there," Daniel said, and without waiting for his reply, he left the main building.

The manager, who had been wondering what else he needed to witness, rushed to the main lobby when he heard Mr. Macros was leaving.

However, by the time he reached there, the man was already gone.

At the same time, Andrew, who felt like he saw Antonio’s silhouette, the rude bodyguard of Elara, furrowed his brow when he reached the lobby and didn’t find anyone.

"What do you mean someone placed the keys to Room 606 on the table and you didn’t see who it was? Do you even know how important that person was?" The manager scolded the receptionist, and Andrew was about to walk to him when Sean stopped him.

"What are you looking at, man? Let’s get this over with quickly. I think the money he is asking for is reasonable," Sean said.

Andrew nodded in understanding. Though he felt the money was too much, it wasn’t his call at the end of the day.

Inside the car, Daniel didn’t let go of Elara even after sitting, letting her head rest on his chest as he hugged her closer, afraid something would happen to her if he let go of her even for a second.

Alen looked at his boss from the rearview mirror and felt his heart warm at the sight.

Was he really the same man who was hitting a betrayer with that thorny bat until he bled to death? He shook his head as he signaled Kevin to drive faster so they wouldn’t face their boss’s wrath.

Once they reached the hospital, Daniel walked inside the emergency room with Elara in his arms.

He placed Elara on the bed and looked around, calling for a doctor.

Alen rushed inside the emergency room with the doctor, and Daniel breathed a sigh of relief.

"Can you tell me what exactly happened?" The doctor asked, and Daniel nodded before explaining the entire situation.

Though his face looked calm while he narrated everything, the storm in his eyes was something that Alen could recognize easily after working with the man for so long.

After an hour~~~

"Why is she not opening her eyes?"

"The doctor said it was just stress. Why is she so stressed? Heck, I can bring all those shooting contracts for her and kill Andrew if he is bothering her, but she wouldn’t tell me anything!"

Elara’s brows furrowed as she heard someone talking loudly around her.

The voice was familiar, but the loudness made her a little uncomfortable.

Alen looked down, letting his boss throw his frustration around.

While the man was shouting, Antonio busied himself in cutting fruits for his madam, knowing the first thing she would ask for as soon as she woke up would be food.

"Oh. Shut up!" They all heard a voice, and Alen froze.

Who would dare to say that to his boss? He looked up, his surprise matching Daniel’s, but the man was surprised for a different reason.

He didn’t waste a single second in walking to Elara’s side.

"Elara, how are you feeling?" Daniel asked, and Elara furrowed her brows.

"Send everyone out. You stay." It was a simple request, but Daniel couldn’t explain how his heart fluttered at the words.

He nodded quickly and glared at everyone who didn’t get the hint.

Alen and Antonio left the room without saying anything.

Once Elara ensured she was alone, she sat with Daniel’s help.

"Come closer," she whispered.

The man leaned closer.

Elara looked at the man, remembering how he had cornered her in that building, held her waist, and almost kissed her neck, and without thinking twice, she raised her hand and slapped him hard across the face.

"Please eat the fruits —" Andrew opened the door, but seeing the scene unfolding, he quickly closed it, frozen.

Alen raised his brows.

"What happened? Why are you so shocked? Don’t tell me they are kissing?!" Alen clapped his hands excitedly while Antonio glared at him.

"My boss just slapped your boss," he said, and Alen’s smile faltered for a second before he cleared his throat.

"Well, I won’t disagree with that. My boss probably deserved it. He doesn’t have a bone of romance in his spine," Alen rolled his eyes.

Daniel sat stuck in his place, his eyes darkening with each passing second, and he closed his eyes briefly to control his emotions, not because he was angry with her and wanted to hurt her but because the urge to push her on the bed and kiss her senseless until her anger was gone was so strong that he was afraid he might really do it.

"Elara, I—" Daniel’s voice cut through the air, low and dangerous, but Elara lifted her hand again, a clear sign she was going to smack him again.

However, this time, he didn’t allow it. He let his desires take over.

His fingers closed around her wrist, firm but not painful, and in one fluid motion, he drew her backward until her spine touched the pillow with a thud.

His hands caged her between his as he leaned over her, yes, scrutinizing, observing, letting her breathe heavily under him in a way her body touched his with every breath.

His breath ghosted over her mouth, warm, steady, and claiming.

Elara froze.

Daniel’s eyes were no longer just sharp; they were predatory, locked on her as though she were something he’d waited too long to touch. The intensity of it made her pulse tremble in her throat.

She should push him away.

She should

slap him and tell him she is still married.

She should say something—anything.

But her body... her traitorous, infuriating body wasn’t listening.

It leaned into him, trusted him, and remembered him in ways she never allowed her mind to.

The realization sparked a flicker of rage in her chest.

"How dare you—" she began, but the words broke off when Daniel did the last thing she expected.

He dipped his head and brushed his lips over hers, just a soft touch, barely there, but enough to steal the breath right out of her lungs.

His voice came next, rough and gentle all at once, grazing her skin like velvet over steel.

"Push me, Elara... if you truly want me gone. Then do it."

Her fingers curled against his shirt.

But she didn’t push.

She didn’t pull him closer either—and that stillness, that helpless pause, was all the permission he needed.

Daniel’s eyes flickered with victory, the kind of triumph a wolf gets when the prey walks toward its jaws willingly.

Slowly, deliberately, he returned to her lips, slower this time, surer. He caught her bottom lip between his and tugged, tasting, claiming, savoring. The faint, helpless sound that escaped her throat only made him deepen the kiss.

His forehead pressed against hers, his voice dropping to a growl that made a shudder run down her spine.

"Too late. Elara," he murmured.

"From now on... you’re mine."

The kiss that followed wasn’t gentle.

It was consuming. He sucked her lips like he was sucking on them for life, tasting her like she was the elixir that could keep him alive, pushing his tongue, her hot, intoxicating breath driving him crazy.

And Elara—

She closed her eyes.

She let the heat of him override the logic screaming in her head.

She let the kiss pull her under.

She let it happen.

Because for the first time in a very long time... she wanted to.

Outside the ward, Alen looked at Antonio before shaking his head.

"My boss’s attitude is sometimes beyond my understanding," he said.

Antonio remembered all the recent incidents and rolled his eyes.

"Tell me about it," he scoffed.