A sense of guilt crept over me.
Dakota wrapped herself in the blanket like a burrito, still looking defiantly at him, if not for her trembling eyelashes, "You must have dragged me over here!"
Curtis: "..."
He slowly sat up, the blanket sliding down. His blue-black satin pajamas were slightly loose at the neck, clearly showing signs of having been rumpled.
Dakota cautiously wrapped the blanket around herself even tighter.
She stared at him.
Curtis slowly looked away and let out an ambiguous chuckle.
Dakota already felt a bit guilty, and Curtis's laugh made her scalp tingle, "What are you laughing at?"
"Nothing," Curtis said casually.
But Dakota couldn't stand this kind of torture, "No, you're definitely making fun of me."
"What exactly am I making fun of you for?" He tilted his head to look at her.
Dakota: "..."
Her cheeks turned red as she continued to argue, "You're mocking me for sleeping so deeply last night that you could take advantage of me without me noticing."
After a long silence,
Dakota still wasn't convinced, "Right?"
In response, she got another chuckle.
Dakota: "..."
She was so frustrated she wanted to kick the blanket, but she couldn't figure out why she ended up sleeping on his side.
Could it be that she had snuggled over there on her own?
That's impossible!
It must have been this shameless dog, taking advantage of her while she was asleep, and then blaming her.
"I'm too lazy to deal with you," Dakota gave up on arguing.
She threw off the blanket and ran into the bathroom, sniffing her pajamas as she went, which were full of the scent of Curtis's shower gel from the night before.
How long had she been hugging him?
It was like she had marinated in his scent!
"Click—"
Curtis only heard the bathroom door lock.
He lifted his chin arrogantly, got out of bed without a word, unwilling to argue further.
For the sake of how much she seemed to like him.
……
After breakfast at home, they bid farewell to the elders of both the Reagan and Pineda families, citing business at the gallery, and left Moonlit Bay with Curtis.
Inside the Bugatti Veyron,
Curtis rested his wrist on the steering wheel and casually turned to look at her, "Where to? Back to the wedding house?"
Dakota was busy rifling through her bag.
She reluctantly spared a moment to answer him, "Why would we go back to the honeymoon suite? No."
Curtis raised an eyebrow in surprise.
He steered the car out of Moonlit Bay with one hand, and once the road smoothed out, he turned to look at her, "Not going back? Mrs. Pineda, after all that cuddling last night, why are you being so coy now?"
Dakota confused.
She stopped rummaging for lipstick and looked up at him.
Only to hear Curtis ask a question that felt like a bolt out of the blue, "Didn't you want to sleep with me?"
"Curtis," Dakota stared at him for a moment.
Then, while pulling out her lipstick, she said sarcastically, "How innocent of you."
Curtis glanced at her with a sidelong look.
Dakota straightened up, pulled down the passenger-side sun visor, and applied lipstick while looking into the car mirror, "You can't possibly think—"
She checked herself in the mirror a bit narcissistically, "That after spending a night together, I would fall for you?"
Curtis: ...?
It was a red light, so he hit the brakes, and once the car was stationary, he slowly turned to look at her.
Doesn't she like him?
Didn't she crawl into his arms last night, holding him, clinging to him, even calling out 'mom'?
"What's wrong?"
Dakota put the lipstick away, looking at him oddly, "Did I do something last night that made you misunderstand?"
Curtis: "..."
Fine.
Great.
Looks like she's not planning to own up to it.
Curtis pursed his lips and looked away, the earlier bravado gone, his eyes dark and deep, practically spelling out his displeasure.
Dakota stared at him for a long time too.
To be honest, she was a bit uncertain too. After all, she had lived alone in Italy, only sleeping with her grandmother when she was very young.
She wasn't sure what her sleeping habits were, and she really didn't know what happened last night to make her end up in Curtis's arms, though it was unlikely that he had pulled her there—
Even though she said that.
She knew she was talking nonsense.
Fortunately, Curtis finally looked away, his jaw tense, saying coldly, "No."
Dakota's heart, which had been hanging, immediately dropped.
But Curtis gripped the steering wheel tightly, veins popping on the back of his hand, wishing he could throw Dakota out of the car right then.
Bitch!
……
In the end, Dakota returned to her small villa.
But Curtis couldn't return to the Pineda family home.
Since they got their marriage certificate, the residences under his name had informants reporting back regularly to see if he had actually moved into the wedding house with Dakota.
So he had to return to Whispering Pines alone.
Staring at the wedding characters on the window, Curtis couldn't sleep all night, thinking about one thing every day—
Whether Dakota actually likes me or not.
...Damn.
