Dylan walked in, smoothly approaching her side of the bed.
Adelyn’s eyes followed him, staying fixed on him as he came to a stop beside her.
Before she could snap out of her daze, she found him leaning down toward her.
She didn’t realize what he was about to do, but her body reacted instinctively to the sudden closing proximity.
Her cheeks turned crimson, and something deep in the pit of her stomach clenched.
This ...
"Mr. Warren, what are you—?"
Before she could ask him anything, his hand pressed against her forehead —making her breath hitch slightly.
"You no longer have a temperature," Dylan said quietly.
His tone was serious, as though he meant nothing beyond checking her condition.
Adelyn stared up at him, completely flustered.
Did she misunderstand him?
How could she?
Why ...
Why was it that whenever she was around him, she couldn’t simply stay logical?
Of course, his leaning closer could only have been because he wanted to check her condition.
What was she even thinking in her dirty mind?
She had been running a fever last night, and he had stayed by her side the entire time to make sure she got better.
Naturally, he would come to check on her condition again.
That was only right, wasn’t it?
She bit her lip, silently chiding herself for letting her thoughts wander in such a ridiculous direction.
When she opened her eyes to look at him again, the first thing her gaze met was his firm chest.
Although he was wrapped in a bathrobe and she couldn’t get a proper view of his well-built, muscled chest, her imagination was already more than capable of filling in the blanks.
And, unfortunately ...
Her imagination was far too vivid.
It immediately brought back the memory of seeing him step out of his bathroom before, casually flaunting his half-naked body as though it were nothing.
Her throat moved.
Suddenly, it felt dry.
However, the moment she realized just how absurd her imagination had become, she immediately closed her eyes, trying to snap herself out of it.
Her imagination was wild; she wasn’t ...
She shouldn’t be thinking anything inappropriate.
She told herself that again and again.
And only after she had managed to compose herself did she open her eyes and look at him once more.
This time, she made absolutely sure her gaze met his directly.
She would not let her eyes wander anywhere else.
"Mr. Warren, I’m much better now. Thank you ..." She kept her lips curled into a polite smile. "For looking out for me last night."
Dylan glanced at her.
He didn’t say anything.
He simply watched her.
It was almost as though he were silently checking something about her. Something that she clearly seemed to have forgotten.
His gaze like that made Adelyn feel a little self-conscious. Without realizing it, she touched the tip of her nose before asking,
"What’s ... wrong, Mr. Warren? Did I trouble you a lot last night?"
She didn’t remember what she had done. But she sincerely hoped she hadn’t offended him in any way.
She had already offended him once back at The Imperial View, and had been forced to lie her way out of it.
She couldn’t do that again.
Lying wasn’t the best way to handle things. And she didn’t want to lie to him anymore.
He had already been so good to her.
Betraying his trust with more lies felt wrong.
She didn’t want to wrong him any more than she already had.
But when he didn’t answer, Adelyn hesitated.
Then, unable to suppress the worry any longer, she finally asked what she feared most.
"Did ... did I offend you in some way?"
Dylan arched a brow.
"Offend me?" he repeated, as though testing the words on his tongue.
Adelyn didn’t want to admit it, but she genuinely remembered nothing. So, she nodded and asked again,
"Did I?"
"What if you did?"
The question came back at her so smoothly that Adelyn’s heart immediately dropped.
Dylan’s gaze remained fixed on hers as he continued, "What are you going to do to make up for it?"
Adelyn pursed her lips.
She already had a terrible feeling about where this was going.
What could she do?
At this point, she could only go and die.
Because now, perhaps only death could save her from the embarrassment.
Doing something like that once with him and forgetting about it could still be understandable.
But doing it again ...
And still not remembering anything ...
That would practically be a blatant insult to his obvious charms.
How could she possibly explain something like that?
Just as she was sinking deeper into dread, Dylan spoke again.
"You don’t have a way to make up for it, yet you’re asking."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"Do you ... want me to help you come up with an idea?"
Adelyn turned toward him and blinked.
Although his words were nothing more than a cluster of simple sentences, combined with that intense gaze of his, they suddenly sounded far too suggestive.
So much so that, for a second, she didn’t even dare nod at him.
"No ... no, Mr. Warren." She quickly tried to explain herself. "That’s not what I meant. You are a man of such great status. If I really did offend you, I honestly wouldn’t know what to do."
Dylan took another slow step closer.
"It can be difficult for anyone, but ..."
He leaned down, bringing his face much closer to hers.
"... not for you."
Adelyn subconsciously leaned away.
Her back almost pressed into the headboard as she tried to create some distance between them.
"Wha ... what do you mean, Mr. Warren?" she asked, her voice becoming slightly flustered. "I don’t quite understand you."
Dylan merely smirked.
He stared directly into her eyes, and there was something strangely devilish about the charm radiating from him at that moment.
It was the kind of charm that made Adelyn instinctively want to retreat ...
Yet somehow made it impossible for her to look away.
His lips parted.
"You’re my woman."
He didn’t quite say it.
He breathed it.
The low, intimate tone made Adelyn’s heart skip a beat.
"Offending me in every way should be easy for you."
His gaze remained locked with hers.
"Shouldn’t it?"