Volume One Chapter 14: Craving You

The next morning.

Jiang Wan awoke in bed, her limbs aching as if she’d been in a fight.

She whimpered, rolling over, planning to lie there a while longer before getting up, just as she usually did.

But as she shifted, the unfamiliar pattern on the bedding and the smooth, silken texture beneath her fingertips sent a jolt of alarm through her foggy mind.

Her eyes snapped open.

The distinctive, all-too-familiar sheets and the unmistakable layout of a presidential suite’s bedroom yanked her back to reality.

She started up like a startled bird, nearly bolting upright.

Before she could, a man’s arm wrapped firmly around her waist, holding her down with undeniable strength.

“It’s still early,” came Lu Wenzhou’s voice from behind her, low and husky, tinged with lazy calm, as if all was perfectly ordinary.

His chest was pressed to her back, muscles hard and pronounced, his body radiating heat.

The gesture was so natural, as if nothing had changed between them.

But as the memories of the night before flashed through her mind, fury ignited in Jiang Wan’s chest.

“You’re insane!” she snapped, wrenching his hand from her waist.

“I’m a married woman, and you still let me spend the night here?!”

She threw off the covers, rousing the man behind her, who opened his eyes—dark, cold, and utterly indifferent.

Lu Wenzhou seized her, yanking her back and pinning her wrists with one hand, holding her captive beneath him.

He loomed over her, his gaze glacial. “Or should I have sent you back to your marital bed?” he sneered, each word dripping with icy disdain.

At such close proximity, Jiang Wan saw the angry red marks slashed across his bare chest, as if clawed by a wildcat—evidence enough of last night’s violence.

She bit her lip in frustration. The last thing she remembered was vomiting in the bathroom; after that, her memory was blank.

The man above her read her thoughts in her eyes.

He narrowed his eyes dangerously, his tone mocking. “You know you can’t hold your liquor, but you still dared to drink?”

He sounded as though he knew her inside and out.

Jiang Wan bristled, refusing to back down. “Why wouldn’t I? Who says I haven’t improved?”

He gave a humorless laugh, his eyes darkening. “So proud of yourself, are you?”

“If you ever drink again, I’ll kill you,” he said, enunciating every word, a command and a threat all at once.

She scoffed, her eyes full of contempt. “If I hadn’t taken that drink last night, would you have had the chance to take advantage of me?”

“When you were pressuring Wang Dexing, you were already calculating the terms of the deal, weren’t you?”

A cold, mocking smile curled on her lips. “Trading one night for an inspection certificate—you really are despicable.”

His grip on her wrist tightened, as if he meant to crush her bones.

“That’s what you think of me?” he ground out, voice icy.

“What else should I think?” Her gaze flickered over the scratches on his chest. “Dare you say your real motive in bringing me here wasn’t to sleep with me?”

She twisted the knife, reminding him, “After a year, you got bored, and now you’re hungry again?”

“As expected, men always covet what they can’t have.”

The temperature in the room seemed to plummet, the air around her so cold it could freeze.

Her mockery was scathing, her judgment final.

Lu Wenzhou let out a bitter laugh, his sharp features shadowed with frost.

“You’re not wrong.”

He leaned in, his tone flat and emotionless.

“I am hungry for you.”

And as his words fell, so did his kiss, sealing her protests with his actions.

“Lu—” she sputtered, face flushed with anger, trying to resist.

But the rest of his name was swallowed by his mouth, giving her no chance to speak.

When her nightdress was torn from her body, Lu Wenzhou took her again, relentless and possessive.

Jiang Wan glared at him, eyes red with pain and fury.

He clenched his jaw. “Since you know my intentions, you’d best behave,” he murmured harshly against her ear, voice like a devil’s whisper.

“Unless you want to get hurt.”

Before she could retort, he claimed her completely, dragging her down with him, her consciousness swept away by his overwhelming presence.

*

The battle between them lasted a long while.

Only when his desire was finally sated did Lu Wenzhou let her go.

He belted his robe and crossed to the window, lighting a cigarette.

“There are new clothes in the wardrobe. Change into them later,” he said calmly, his tall figure unruffled.

Only a sheer curtain veiled the floor-to-ceiling window, filtering the morning light.

The Cloudtop Hotel was the tallest building in Rong City, and the presidential suite was the epitome of privacy.

She lay limp on the bed, watching his unbothered silhouette.

She bit her lip in annoyance. “Stallion,” she muttered. “Rabid dog in heat.”

Her low curses dispersed the last traces of intimacy from the air.

*

A strange silence hung between them.

Until the phone suddenly rang, slicing through the quiet.

Jiang Wan frowned, irritated.

Lu Wenzhou stubbed out his cigarette and stepped over to answer.

“Hello, sir, Miss Lin is here to see you. She’s in the lobby. Should we send her up, or…?” the receptionist’s gentle voice inquired.

“I’ll come down,” he replied curtly, hanging up.

He offered Jiang Wan no explanation; she had heard everything clearly.

The room was so quiet that every sound seemed amplified.

She made no move, no reaction.

Lu Wenzhou glanced at her, then dressed and left without another word. “Wait here for me.”

The door shut.

Now only Jiang Wan remained in the vast bedroom.

Wait for him?

In his dreams.

A cold smile touched her lips as she forced her trembling legs to carry her to the wardrobe.

She opened the doors. Inside hung a collection of women’s clothing for the season—every item was a new or limited edition from the world’s top brands, tags still attached.

Her gaze skimmed over the selection.

She picked up a bra to put on, but her fingers froze at the size printed on the label:

[75C]

It wasn’t her size.

Jiang Wan’s slender frame had always made it difficult to find well-fitting lingerie abroad; Lu Wenzhou had even commissioned custom pieces for her from local tailors.

Even the designers had remarked that her 32C measurements put her in a rare five percent of women.

She stood there, the bra dangling from her hand.

Only then did she realize these clothes were not prepared for her.

She and Lin Zhi were close in age and build, nearly identical in height and shape, though Jiang Wan was more striking in certain details.

But this was Lin Zhi’s size.

If Lin Zhi could show up so early in the morning, she and Lu Wenzhou must have already been involved here.

At the thought, a wave of disgust rose in Jiang Wan’s chest.

She flung the bra aside and slammed the wardrobe shut.

*

When Lu Wenzhou returned to the suite, he was carrying the purse Jiang Wan had left in the restaurant the night before.

He strode straight to the bedroom, pressing down the handle and pushing open the door…