Instantly, the air became thick with tension.
She realized she should not have said that and regretted it immediately. Just as she was about to try and cover it up, she felt a warm palm pin the back of her head, and his thin lips captured hers in a kiss.
He parted her lips and deepened the kiss, embracing her fiercely.
Although her body shrank away from him instinctively, he held her firmly in his arms.
She pressed her hands against his chest, practically gasping for air.
When he thought she had received sufficient punishment, he released her lips. He gazed at her darkly, and it frightened her to the point that she swallowed the barrage of angry words she had been ready to utter. She bit her lip, feeling a little scared.
“Are you going to say things like that again? Hmm?” Curtis asked.
Despite shooting him a glare, she was so afraid that she quickly shook her head and softened her tone. “No, not anymore.”
She felt somewhat annoyed that he still made no move to let her go even after a few seconds had ticked by. Using the fact that she was pregnant as an excuse, she said firmly, “Give me some room. You’re crushing my stomach, and it’s very uncomfortable.”
He loosened his embrace immediately, and his gaze flitted to her belly. “Is it still uncomfortable?”
“Yes!” Observing that her tactic had worked, she grew bolder and jabbed a finger at him. “I wasn’t being serious. Why did you have to get so fierce? Does bullying a pregnant woman give you a sense of satisfaction?”
Massaging her waist, she went to lie on the couch and pretended to groan as though she were in severe discomfort. That made Curtis’ anger vanished immediately, and he even tried coaxing her in a tender tone.
He placed the apple he had peeled on a plate, then grabbed a tissue to wipe his hands. “What do you feel like having for lunch?”
“Ice cream!”
He looked up at her and pretended not to have heard what she said. “Roast beef?”
“I said ice cream,” she repeated.
I seldom eat anything cold since getting pregnant, much less things like ice cream. However, I’ve been feeling hot all over, so I want some ice cream to satisfy my craving.
The more she thought about it, the stronger her craving became. She got up from the couch and asked, “I recall that Carl bought a lot previously. Is there any left?”
Her eyes lit up when she pulled the freezer drawer open and spotted that there were still several bars of ice cream inside.
Just as she was about to reach for them, a figure stopped her and unceremoniously closed the refrigerator door.
The towering figure completely blocked her path to the refrigerator.
Rayna rolled her eyes at Curtis and tried to push him aside. “What’s wrong with you? I don’t want any lunch. Just eating ice cream is enough.”
However, no matter how she pushed and shoved, he did not move an inch.
“You can’t eat ice cream or any cold dishes. Be good and have more apples and grapes. I’ll make roast beef this afternoon. You’ll love it,” Curtis said coaxingly.
Somewhat irritated, she paced back and forth in front of the refrigerator, trying to find an opportunity to open the door. Alas, her efforts were to no avail.
“Your cooking sucks, so I’m sure it won’t taste nice,” she retorted, attempting to provoke him.
“Well, it wouldn’t be the first time you complained about my cooking. If you don’t fancy eating my cooking, I can order lunch from Good Times Restaurant or ask Mdm. Lovett to whip something up,” he replied, unaffected by her remark.
Rayna gazed at him pleadingly and raised a finger. “Can I have just one, pretty please?”
Nonetheless, he was now adamant when it came to such matters. “No. Do you want roast beef or not?”
She made no response.
“I’ll take your silence as a ‘yes,’ then,” he said, deciding it on his own.
He called to arrange for someone to deliver the ingredients he would need to the apartment, then dialed Good Times Restaurant’s number and ordered some soup.
After a stalemate of ten minutes, Rayna glared at him when she realized he was not going to give in. She returned to the living room and ate the fruit glumly as she went through her work emails.
She chose an ice cream sandwich. After paying for it, she was too impatient to wait any longer and quickly took a bite.
The combination of the coldness and sweetness made her feel much better, and she hummed to herself happily.
As soon as she turned around, however, she discovered that the man who was supposed to be cleaning the house was standing a hundred meters away from her with a stern expression.
Rayna was so startled that she could not think straight. She swiftly hid the ice cream behind her and flashed him a sheepish smile. “Well… You see… I was passing by this place while on my way to collect the package. It was the ice cream that ran into my hand.”
Curtis strode over to stand in front of her, then stretched out his hand and said, “Give it to me.”
“Um, there’s no need for that, right?” She shuffled backward as she tried to refuse and negotiate. “Look outside. With such scorching hot weather, the ice cream is melting so quickly that it doesn’t even feel cold when I eat it…”
His expression hardened even further, and he showed signs that he was about to lose his temper. “Give me the ice cream.”
She stared at him wordlessly.
Seeing that she refused to hand the ice cream to him, he reached over to grab it from her.
She turned around in a panic, opened her mouth, and bit off more than half of the ice cream. Then, she handed him the rest.
Her mouth was so full of freezing-cold ice cream that she started shivering. Despite that, she still wanted to eat it.
No sooner did she think she had gotten away with her clever trick than he kissed her and used his tongue to swipe the ice cream out of her mouth.
Rayna was dumbfounded. She ran her tongue over her cold mouth, which no longer had anything sweet in it, and glared at the person in front of her who was responsible for that.
After swallowing the mouthful of ice cream, Curtis even frowned and said, “It’s too cold and sweet. What’s so nice about it?”
“Curtis Faymon…” she uttered, her lips trembling from anger. Staring greedily at the remaining ice cream in his hand, she lunged toward him. “Give it to me. I’ll have just one bite, okay?”
He raised his hand high, not allowing her to reach it. “No way. Look at how big of a bite you took just now. If I didn’t eat it for you, you’d have a stomachache later this afternoon.”
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