Loving A STRANGER

He said lightly: "Turn around."

"Turn… Turn around?" Knowing that she was thinking too much, Kylie blushed. Couldn"t he say that in a normal way? He had been so close to her that she had misunderstood!

Kylie turned around. There was an infinity pool on the other side of the living room; its surface was as still as a mirror, without a single ripple. Nothing else… "What am I looking at?" Kylie turned her head back.

But she hadn"t realized how near the man"s head was to her shoulder so that when Kylie turned, she brushed him with the tip of her nose.

He had glorious smooth skin, and Kylie could smell the faint scent of shower gel. Before Kylie had time to feel embarra.s.sed, she was directly pressed into the couch.

Ethan bent one knee onto the couch, then came at her with all of his weight, holding her waist tightly with one hand, while the other hand lay on the back of her head.

"It"s you who started this," the man said. His voice sounded h.o.r.n.y, and the storm of his kisses rained on Kylie"s face, neck, and…

Having been kissed several times that day, not only were her lips sore, but Kylie believed that her b.o.o.bs would explode because of how swollen they felt.

The man bit her once when he sensed that she was distracted. "Ah!" Kylie held his busy head. "Stop it, and I have to be on the show in a few days…"

But Ethan ignored her.

Suddenly, a pink hue spread over the room, then faded away when Kylie came back to her senses.

Ethan raised his head, wiping his thin lips with his hand, and pulled Kylie up from the couch. The man was holding her hand and led her to the side of the infinity pool. A light blue color spread through the sky once again.

"Fireworks!" Kylie yelled with surprise, leaning wholly against the railings. She stood up on tiptoe with a delighted face. It had been years since she had last seen fireworks.

The returning joy was accompanied by the pain of nostalgia, which made Kylie sob a little. "It"s breathtaking…"

Ethan stood behind her and circled her waist with his arms. He rested his jaw on the top of her head. "Do you like it?" he asked.

Kylie looked up at him. His features were vague in the shadows cast by the clouds and the fireworks, but she could nonetheless sense his serious mood by the strong heartbeat against her back.

It was she who had wanted to come to Connell on the spur of the moment. She hadn"t expected that he would have time to prepare any surprises, but he had—a wonderful dinner followed by a fabulous firework show.

"Why?" Kylie felt that her happiness was too good to be true.

"It"s our honeymoon." The man"s voice was charming as usual, as it flowed by slowly, like the wind. Kylie was leaning her chest against the railing, appreciating the colorful firework show.

Since the man was in such a good mood, she attempted: "Look at the beautiful night."

"Yeah," the man answered lightly.

"So, the night isn"t that frightening, right?" she asked. She felt the man"s body suddenly stiffen for a second.

He understood that it was a hint from Kylie.

Before the next round of colorful fireworks arrived, the man standing at the opposite window broke his coffee cup with force.

A flower of dark brown stains appeared on the white carpet! Seeing the couple happily leaning against each other, and looking up at the same sky as him, Aiden Parker was more than jealous.

What"s worse, the last round of fireworks exploded into a line of words: Happy Wedding! Although no name followed, he knew to whom the message was intended.

His uncle Ethan was cold, stubborn, and, in his memory, seldom smiled. Since when had he learned such tricks for entertaining girls? He was more and more uncomfortable to see Kylie"s delighted face. He pulled the curtain shut with all his strength, and turned to find Khloe.

She was in the bedroom.

"Edit the video I sent you, but wait to release it until I"ve told you so." Khloe was on the phone with Lucas Jackson and hung up as soon as she saw Aiden push the door open.

"Dear Aiden, let"s play games." Aiden was in a terrible mood, but he nodded casually, then lay on the bed with Khloe and started the game.

The video game that Aiden and Khloe were playing was of the teamwork variety. He was invading at the front while Khloe was filling up from behind. When the two had just connected their game consoles, another couple joined in. The female player was apparently a newbie because she was directly killed when it was a remote attack.

Aiden unleashed his anger on the game. He typed fast: "Dumba.s.s! Do you know how to play or not?!" Then he killed her with one shot.

"Ethan Parker!" Kylie kicked the man who was viewing doc.u.ments on the other side of the sofa. "What?" The man"s sight was momentarily turned away from his doc.u.ments. "What happened?"

"I was killed!" Kylie bit her lip.

Ethan put the doc.u.ments down and sat beside Kylie, looking at her game. She had been running and was chased by someone as soon as she had logged in. Kylie wasn"t familiar with the b.u.t.tons, so she was killed within seconds, and before she could find a safe place to hide.

"s.h.i.t! This is the third time! Now I"m mad…" Kylie said, logging in again, and getting killed by a lightning bolt once more.

She looked up at Ethan for help. "Do you play it? Kill him for me!"

"I don"t," Ethan replied with honesty. Still, he took over Kylie"s phone, observing for a while, then he asked: "Is this one for attacking?"

"Yep, you"re right." Kylie came around his side and began introducing every b.u.t.ton"s function to him.

Within a minute, Ethan was online. The man in the game abandoned the monster and rushed towards Kylie, or who he thought was Kylie"s persona. Ethan remained calm and closely stared at the screen, but his movements weren"t smooth, and he was killed.

The man stayed cool, thought about it for ten seconds, then logged in again. This time, Ethan hit several b.u.t.tons simultaneously.

Then his character on the screen was running at high speed. The other male character was killed before he could realize it, and so was the a.s.sistant female character who was hiding close by.

"Gee! You can rush!" Kylie was shocked and yelled out with pride. Now, whenever the opposite male character was online, Ethan would kill him within a minute.

After a continuous five killings, the other male yielded: "My dear Lord, I apologize. I"m a newbie; please let me go." Ethan returned Kylie"s phone to her and picked up his doc.u.ments again.

"If anyone else takes advantage of you, come to me, your husband."

Kylie instantly smiled."Ethan, I could never have believed that such a big boss like you could also be good at games."

Ethan looked down at his doc.u.ments and turned the pages without raising his head. "It was because of the trash enemy."

On the other side, Khloe threw her phone on the bed. "Aiden, honey, I quit! I"ve lost all my equipment. Didn"t you just say she was merely a newbie? How come she is so good all of a sudden?"

Aiden frowned. "She was a newbie at the beginning… Did she cheat?"