Clara had only seen him in formal wears. The texture she felt just now, however, was incredibly smooth and soft. Horace was obviously wearing silk pajamas.

"Why is he here? In his pajamas? And in my bed?" Clara wondered.

The more she thought about it, the more she didn't feel right. She couldn't help but feel him up with both her hands.

When she touched his body, she blushed a little.

Well, although she had seen his body before, feeling it with her own hands was a totally different story. Touching it was much better than just looking at it. His eight-pack was so incredibly firm and solid. She could can even feel the lines of his abs...

Lost in thought, she worked her way down a little bit more and accidentally touched something.

Horace let out a muffled grunt. "Clara, are you tempting me?" His voice was hoarse.

Clara realized what was the bulge and hurriedly retracted her hands.

However, Horace grabbed her by the wrist and drew her hands to his solid chest.

"Horace..." Clara now knew for sure that Horace was indeed wearing pajamas and lying next to her, "What are you doing here? Why didn't you go home?"

"I'm here to keep you company," Horace murmured.

"Keep me company?" Clara froze.

Her slightly opened mouth was the tell that she was really shocked. Horace could picture the look on her face although she was wearing a sleep mask. He couldn't hold back the smile.

His heart softened. The fuming rage that welled up his mind a second ago out of worrying about Clara's safety dissipated.

He wrapped his arm around the small of her back and drew her into his embrace.

He buried his head in her neck, greedily inhaling the fragrance emanating from her hair. "Sorry," he whispered.

It took Clara a minute to come around. "For what?"

"For what happened today." He regretted yelling at Clara and smashing the pendant right in front of her.

How come that he just lost control like that?

He always thought that nothing would agitate him after what he had been through ten years ago. But there was just something about Clara that would make him lose his cool. Clara recalled the sharp noise when the pendant was hurled at the tile. She felt a bit fluttered.

Horace must be regretting smashing that pendant.

There was a stirring of emotions in her chest.

Clara forced a smile. "Yeah, that pendant is so important to you. You shouldn't have done that."

Even in the dark, Horace could still see how forced that smile was.

He frowned, and hugged Clara even tighter.

"I'm not talking about that pendant," He whispered into her ear.

Clara froze for a moment and said, "But it was your ex-girlfriend's..."

She regretted the second the words came out of her mouth.

Shoot.

She shouldn't have brought up Laura. She was in no place to do so. Bringing up his late ex-girlfriend was like touching his raw nerve.

Horace froze for a second before saying, "You are quite well-informed, aren't you?"

He didn't show any emotion. Clara felt a little embarrassed and didn't answer him.

Clara's body tensed up. Horace, on the other hand, couldn't be more relaxed. He smelt the fragrance of Clara and fondled with a stroke of her hair.

"This necklace does have a special meaning for me," Horace continued. Clara was kind of surprised that he admitted it that easily. Her face darkened a little. But soon she heard Horace say, "But if keeping the pendant means that you would risk your life for it another time, I'd rather toss it down the garbage chute."

Clara froze again.

Horace did say something similar earlier today. But she thought he said that in the spur of the moment and didn't mean that.

However, right now, in the dead of the night, Horace repeated it again, sounding serious. The words reverberated in the background of Clara's brain like an incantation.

"So," Horace added, his voice low, "If you really care about my feelings, don't ever risk your life again for anything. Your safety is the most precious thing to me." "Your safety is the most precious thing to me."

The words stunned Clara into a daze. When she came around, blood rushed to her heart as if it was going to explode.

She felt relieved that it was dark and she was wearing the sleep mask so Horace couldn't see how red her cheeks were and how flustered she looked. She was just thinking that she was lucky when she felt something cool on her face.

She was startled, but quickly recognized that it was Horace's hand.

"You are burning." Horace chuckled.

Indeed, Horace's fingertips felt ice-cold on her boiling hot cheeks.

For a moment, Clara was so embarrassed that she wanted this sleep mask to be permanently set on her so that Horace could never see her face again. She tried to calm down. But before she could, Horace's voice sounded in her ear. "Clara."

His voice was deep and enchanting.

Clara responded to the call of her name and instinctively raised her head. The next second, she felt something cool and soft on her lips.

Clara was wearing the sleep mask and couldn't see anything. She froze.

"What's happening?"

Her question was answered soon enough.

His lips gently grazed on hers. Then, he possessively pried open her mouth with his tongue, and kissed her with fervent urgent as if wanting to breathe her in.

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