Chapter 388

"Would it kill you to admit you're in pain?"

Ethan Roscente glared at her stubborn profile, his thumb roughly brushing over the wound on her arm.

Sophia Lowell trembled violently but clenched her jaw.

"It doesn't hurt."

She forced back her tears, nails digging into her palms.

Ethan's eyes darkened. Without warning, he leaned down and pressed his lips to the furrow between her brows.

"Why put on this act with me?"

His warm mouth traced the tension in her forehead. Sophia's lashes fluttered wildly.

A tear splashed onto his knuckle.

"I'm sorry." His Adam's apple bobbed as he kissed the wet trails on her cheeks. "I failed to protect you."

Those words broke the dam.

Sophia's composure shattered.

Ethan cupped her chin and captured her mouth in a searing kiss.

It was unbearably tender.

Her mind went blank, the pain in her arm fading into nothingness.

Only when she gasped for air did she shove him away.

"Seems..." Ethan panted against her forehead, "kissing works better than painkillers."

Sophia jerked back, yanking a blanket around herself.

"Does Mr. Roscente pamper all his women like this?"

Her voice was ice, but her pulse hammered wildly.

Ethan's expression turned stormy.

The woman who'd melted in his arms moments ago now bristled with hostility again.

"Let me dress your wound."

He twisted open the ointment tube, but she grabbed his wrist.

"I'm allergic."

Ethan narrowed his eyes. "Since when?"

"Do you care?" Sophia's lips curled mockingly. "Mr. Roscente only pays attention to bedroom matters, no?"

The tube slammed onto the coffee table.

"Sophia." His grip tightened on her nape. "Must you always provoke me?"

She turned her face away, evading his scorching gaze.

"Am I wrong? Your fiancée sends assassins after me, and her devoted fiancé swoops in to play hero—"

Ethan crushed her into the couch before she could finish.

His punishing kiss swallowed her words.