“Sebastian, why aren't you saying anything?”

Seeing him frozen beside me, I tried to sit up. The movement pulled at the wound on my head, and I sucked in a breath.

“Careful!”

He immediately steadied my shoulders, his touch firm and gentle.

I took the opportunity to hold him.

My cheek pressed against his white coat. The familiar disinfectant mingled with his cool, woody scent, and I sighed in relief.

“I don't even remember why I was in the car. Was I on my way to see you?”

“I was so scared. What if I'd never seen you again?”

“We'd only just gotten together. Getting hurt now would be such a waste...”

My warm tears soaked into his shirt.

Sebastian lowered his gaze stiffly to the head nestled against him.

I had always clung to him like this. He had never dared let it last very long.

I didn't know he was nothing like the cool, ascetic man I saw.

Inside him was a caged beast, full of desperate hunger and ugly obsession.

On the first day I had run toward him smiling, fresh as a gardenia, he had wanted to hide me away and drown me in his scent.

He had wanted me to belong to him alone.

He had held back for six months before the night I arranged to get drunk finally brought us together.

But before his hunger was satisfied, exhaustion overcame me. Even in my sleep, I had murmured that he was too intense.

How could he dare show me what he really was?

He could only retreat, conceal himself, pretend to be indifferent. He wrapped himself in cold restraint and called it the respect I deserved.

He had never imagined I would leave.

He had thought he'd lost me for the rest of his life.

And now my whole world was him again.

Could it be that even heaven couldn't bear to separate us?

A wild, shameful, dark thought wrapped itself around his heart.

Terrifying emotion surged through his eyes.

Slowly, he raised his arms and tightened them around me, pressing me fiercely to his chest.

“I'm not pretending anything.”

He lowered his head, his lips brushing my hair.

“I'm your boyfriend. I was before. I am now. I always will be.”

The door opened as a nurse came in on her rounds, carrying a tray.

Seeing the man everyone considered so untouchable holding me with such tenderness, she nearly dropped it.

“Dr... Dr. Hale...”

His gaze turned cold. He pressed my face into his chest, hiding me from her view.

“Get out.”

The nurse nodded hurriedly and fled, closing the door behind her.

I peeked out of his arms.

“You're so mean to your coworkers. You won't get that cold with me, will you?”

His throat tightened.

He stroked the crown of my head.

“No.”

If I left him even when he wore his disguise, he might as well let me see the real man.

As the night deepened, the medication sent me into a heavy sleep.

Sebastian sat beside the bed, his long fingers tracing my features with hungry tenderness.

Suddenly, the phone on the bedside table vibrated.

It was mine, recovered from the crash.

Xavier Sutton's name flashed on the screen.

Sebastian answered without speaking.

Xavier's voice was gentle but anxious.

“Sophie? Your phone's finally on. Why weren't you on the flight to Paris? Tessa can't reach you either. Where are you?”

Sebastian's expression darkened completely.

He deliberately lowered his voice, giving it the lazy possessiveness of a man at home with his woman.

“She's just had a shower. She's tired. She's asleep.”

The line went silent.

Then Xavier's voice hardened with restrained anger.

“Sebastian? You broke up. What have you done to her?”

“You're overstepping, sir.”

Sebastian crossed his long legs, his gaze traveling over my face. His voice was cold as frost.

“Sophie is my girlfriend. People who have nothing to do with us should have the decency to stay out of our private life.”