Chapter 456

The car glided smoothly through the night. Ethan Roscente gazed down at the woman resting on his lap.

Sophia Lowell slept soundly, her long lashes casting delicate shadows beneath her eyes. She nuzzled unconsciously against his thigh, strands of hair framing her snow-pale cheeks.

He reached to brush the stray locks from her face.

Suddenly she turned, wrapping an arm around his waist. The warmth of her breath seeped through his dress shirt. Ethan's Adam's apple bobbed as his hovering hand froze midair.

Despite the car's chilled AC, she radiated heat like a furnace.

His pupils darkened, fingers curling slightly. In sleep, Sophia looked utterly defenseless—parted lips, collar slightly open to reveal delicate collarbones.

He shut his eyes briefly, forcing his gaze away.

"We've arrived, Mr. Roscente," the driver murmured.

Ethan raised a hand for silence. Outside, Zachary Evans and Vincent Laurent approached but halted upon glimpsing through the half-open window. They tactfully turned away.

Sophia stirred in his arms.

Her drowsy eyes fluttered open, meeting his smoldering gaze. Both froze in that electric moment.

"I..." Her voice carried sleep-softened sweetness.

Belatedly realizing she was sprawled across Ethan, she scrambled to sit up. Her knee accidentally grazed a sensitive area. He gritted out a groan.

Sophia went rigid.

"Had your fill?" Ethan's voice roughened as his palm anchored at the small of her back, preventing escape. "Time to pay up."

"Pay for wh—"

His scorching kiss swallowed the protest.

Sophia's eyes flew wide, hands braced against his chest. He easily captured her wrists, lifting her fully onto his lap with one arm beneath her hips.

"Let go—" The fragmented plea dissolved between them.

Ethan kissed with pent-up ferocity, as if unleashing weeks of restraint. Sophia's resistance gradually melted, her hands sliding up to clasp behind his neck.

Amid tangled breaths came the metallic click of a belt buckle.

Cool fingers slipped beneath her blouse. Sophia jolted awake, shoving him away. "Ethan Roscente!"

Desire still darkened his eyes as he chuckled at her reaction. "Problem? You seemed to enjoy it moments ago."

"You—!" Flushed with fury, she fumbled with her disheveled clothes.

Ethan leisurely adjusted his tie, gaze never leaving her. At approaching footsteps outside, he leaned close to whisper, "We'll continue tonight."