Tempting Him to Lose Control

Chapter 73: Chapter 73: About to Faint from a Kiss

Miles Warren picked up a dry towel and tossed it over Claire Kendall’s head.

"Dry yourself off when you’re done. Don’t catch a cold."

"I’ll go get a first-aid kit."

Peeking through a gap in the towel, Claire Kendall watched his hurried retreat, a small smile playing on her lips.

At the bar on the first floor, the owner pulled out a small first-aid kit and handed it to Miles Warren, speaking earnestly.

"A girl like her is hard to find, young man. Make sure you cherish her."

Miles Warren took the first-aid kit. His movements paused for a beat. He didn’t deny it, simply nodding his head.

The moment he stepped into their room on the second floor, the overhead light flickered, then went out with a POP. The power was out.

The entire inn was plunged into darkness.

A loud THUD echoed from the bathroom, followed immediately by Claire Kendall’s short cry of alarm.

"AH—"

"Claire Kendall?!"

Relying on memory, Miles Warren stumbled through the dark and rushed to the bathroom door.

"What happened?"

"I’m fine," she hissed softly, her voice laced with suppressed pain. "I just slipped. Is the power out?"

"Yeah, the rain’s too heavy. Can you get up?"

Silence from inside.

After a long moment, her small, pitiful voice came from within.

"I can’t. Miles Warren, I think I twisted my ankle. I can’t move."

He grew frantic. "Wrap a towel around yourself. I’m carrying you out."

"Okay..." Claire Kendall grunted in pain, her reply muffled.

The room was pitch-black, with only a pitifully faint sliver of moonlight filtering through the window.

Miles Warren pulled open the bathroom door. A wave of warm, humid steam billowed out, carrying a faint, sweet fragrance.

It was her scent.

The windowless bathroom was even darker. Acting on instinct, Miles Warren crouched down, fumbling in the blackness for her.

"I’m over here," she said, her voice trembling.

Miles Warren reached out, his fingertips brushing against an expanse of warm skin.

Soft, damp, and silky.

He froze, not daring to move any further. "Grab my hand. I’ll help you up."

He bent over, carefully avoiding any places he shouldn’t touch, and placed a large hand on her shoulder.

"Oof, that hurts..." she whimpered. Her legs gave out, and she stumbled toward him.

Miles Warren reached out instinctively, and she fell right into his arms.

"I really did twist it," she said, her voice delicate and soft. "I can’t walk at all."

"Miles Warren, carry me."

Utterly helpless against her, the man slid his strong arms under her and scooped her into his embrace.

As if it were the most natural thing in the world, Claire Kendall wrapped her arms around his neck.

In the darkness, her warm breath brushed against his ear.

Her tone held an unidentifiable, seductive quality. "Miles Warren, can you feel it?"

As her words faded, he finally realized what she meant.

His body tensed instantly.

The woman in his arms... she wasn’t wearing anything.

It felt as if the blood in Miles Warren’s veins was flowing backward.

He hurried across the room, nearly tripping in the darkness before quickly placing her on the bed.

He turned his back to her, but she grabbed his wrist.

"Dr. Warren, it’s really twisted. Aren’t you going to take a look?"

"Claire Kendall!" He wanted to shake her hand off but couldn’t bring himself to use too much force.

He took a deep breath. "Put some clothes on first. I’ll get a flashlight."

"How am I supposed to see in this darkness?" she retorted brazenly. "Or maybe Dr. Warren could help me get dressed?"

Miles Warren caught her hand, which had begun to gently and provocatively wander.

His rejection was unmistakable.

Claire Kendall scoffed. ’This old man is hopeless!’

’So boring.’ She grabbed his shirt from the nightstand and pulled it on.

"There. Now come take a look. It really hurts."

Miles Warren fought back the filthy, rampaging thoughts in his head and switched on the flashlight. There was hardly an unblemished spot on her body, especially her legs, which were covered in injuries.

"What were you doing in Viridell County? To get yourself into this state."

Miles Warren knelt before her, dabbing her wounds with antiseptic.

His words seemed to remind her of something. She grabbed her backpack and, after digging around inside, pulled out a small, red velvet pouch.

"I almost forgot. Here, this is for you. It’s a birthday present. Oh, right, you don’t do birthdays."

Her eyes curved into crescents. "Then it’s just a regular gift. I wanted to give it to you, in the hopes that you’ll always be safe and well."

She opened the velvet pouch. A string of exquisite, smooth beads, giving off the scent of temple incense, lay quietly in her palm.

But her palm was also crisscrossed with raw, bloody scrapes.

"You went to Viridell Temple?"

Claire Kendall nodded. "They say the blessed prayer beads you get here are especially potent."

Miles Warren suddenly understood what the inn’s owner had meant earlier.

To receive the blessed prayer beads from Viridell Temple, supplicants must kowtow once every hundred steps.

He walked this path from the base of the mountain to the summit every year on his birthday. He knew better than anyone how difficult and agonizing those three thousand six hundred steps were.

Let alone the requirement to kneel and kowtow every hundred steps.

He had assumed her injuries were from a car accident, but now it seemed they were mostly because of this string of beads.

His thoughts reeled, his voice cracking.

"Claire Kendall... it was just a matter of going back to the family home for a birthday dinner."

"I could have gone. You didn’t have to go this far."

’If I had known, I would have just agreed in the first place.’

"What are you mumbling about?"

Without giving him a chance to object, Claire Kendall grabbed his wrist and slipped the Buddha Beads onto it. "Perfect! This color looks great on you! It gives you the vibe of one of those cold, detached ascetics from a novel."

She tilted her small face up at him, looking confused.

"What were you just saying? Don’t you ever celebrate your birthday? Why suddenly talk about going back to the family home?"

Her words made Miles Warren freeze.

’So—she never intended to take me to the family home. She never thought about using me to gain favors with his father.’

’All those schemes and calculations I’d accused her of... they were just figments of my own imagination.’

’So what was I being so difficult about these past two days? I almost hurt her.’

Completely oblivious, Claire Kendall lowered her head again to adjust the beads, stroking them one by one with her fingers.

"You can’t take them off except for showering, exercising, or sleeping. They’ve been consecrated. The master said that’s the only way to guarantee you’ll always be safe and sound..."

Before she could finish, Miles Warren suddenly shot up, knocking the first-aid kit to the floor.

Claire Kendall froze, his hand closing around the nape of her neck.

He turned the tables on her, kissing her with an urgency that left no room for retreat.

He didn’t pull back until her face was flushed and she was struggling to breathe.

"Miles Warren, you..."

This time, he was gentler, but still just as domineering.

He kissed Claire Kendall so intensely she was on the verge of tears.

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