Sentenced to Marriage by MadlainQ
Chapter 50

The morning after

It was dawning when I opened my eyes after falling asleep in Aren's embrace. His arms were still around me, pulling my back against his chest. I kept blushing at the thought of last night. At some point, the intoxicating pleasure took away my ability to think clearly. Looking at the number of used condoms I saw in the basket bin, I was wondering if I would even be able to move one muscle today, but I didn't regret it. I didn't regret a second of it. I laughed inwardly, realizing how little I knew about sex and how it could feel. In Aren's arms, I felt... appreciated and cherished. It was amazing, but at the same time, it was terrifying since I knew how easily the need to feel this way again could become an addiction. Would this night change anything between us? Would it draw us closer together, or would it build an odd distance between us?

The sudden wave of anxiety wiped the smile off my face. I flinched in bed as if a cold wind brushed my skin. A second later, Aren's arms shifted, turning me around like a puppet and placing my head on his chest. "Are you sore, beautiful?" he asked with a hoarse, sleepy voice, his hands gently stroking my back

His words must have woken up the ache in every inch of my body. I hissed as I tried to move my legs, yet his body seemed completely unaffected. Was he a robot or something?! Then, as I thought about it, those muscles seemed to be made of steel... God... I was getting aroused just recalling what he did to me last night. I raised my eyes and caught myself admiring his beautiful face. His thick hair was ruffled, a few strands gracefully falling on his face, making it sexier than ever. His eyes, shining like black diamonds, were locked on me, making me bite my lip. His full lips, slightly swollen from the unimaginable numbe of kisses we shared last night, were curved in a warm smile. The sight of him was mesmerizing enough to make me drift into a whole lot of lewd thoughts. It took me a minute to remind myself that he had asked me a question...

"I am... a little sore," I lied. The more I tried to move, the more I felt as if I had been run over by a truck. He placed a quick kiss on my forehead before using one arm for support to bounce off the bed, swinging his legs over me. The second after his feet landed on the floor, he disappeared behind a bathroom door. I cursed at him inwardly. It wasn't fair! How was it possible that he could jump out of the bed as if nothing happened while I resembled an emergency care patient?!

A minute later, I heard the sound of a wide water stream, and then the clear sound of a running shower. Confused but curious, I lifted my head, trying to replace out what was going on. Since the door was closed, I decided to walk closer, pondering if I should open the door and take a peek.

Removing my feet from the bed and placing them on the floor was insanely hard and took me forever. It felt as if my inner thighs had turned into concrete. I seriously started to regret that I hadn't worked out often. By the time I sat up on the bed, wrapping myself in bedsheets, the water stopped running. Less than a minute later, Aren walked out of the bathroom, grinning at me. He was wet from the shower with a towel covering him low enough to expose his irresistible V-cut. The drops of water were merrily bouncing off his rigid abdominal muscles.

The morning shoe

His damp hair was combed up, fully exposing his mouthwatering features. My body started to throb again.

"Don't try to move, sunshine. I'll get you," he said as he walked my way

He scooped my body and lifted me in his arms. I gasped as I touched his cool skin. It instantly brought more shivers down my stomach. He took me to the bathroom and gently put my feet on the floor while supporting me.

"I made you a warm bath. It will help you with those sore muscles. I'll make us breakfast while you soak." He kissed my lips delicately but enticing enough to make me want to repeat everything we did last night. Not that I didn't realize that there was no way my body could handle another round in my current state

He unwrapped me from the sheets, his eyes wandering down my naked body, bringing my inner heat out onto the surface of my cheeks. He licked his lip and growled. "You make me want to call Neil and say that I'm quitting my job. Then I could lock you here with me forever."

Could his voice be a little less seductive?! I had to lower my head, unable to handle his intense gaze, only to replace myself staring at the knot of his towel... All of my hormones were happily screaming and sending wild thoughts to my head, telling me that I should drop down to my knees and suck him off.

"Why are you seducing me like that, sunshine?" He chuckled low as his fingers roamed down my shoulders and arms.

I jerked my head up in an instant. "I'm not doing anything!" He raised his eyebrows at me before meaningfully dropping his stare to my breasts. I gasped angrily. My hands moved to cover my chest, but that only earned me his laugh. A second later, he scooped me up in his arms and placed me in a hot bathtub.

"You're insanely fuckable, sunshine, and I keep thinking about all the things I want to do to you..." He bit his lip, leaning over me while I lay in the water. "But you are too fragile right now, and I don't want to hurt you." He smirked before leaving me in the bathroom alone.

My heart nearly burst out of my chest. I couldn't tell how it was possible, but I wanted him more with every second. I felt as if some cavewoman took over my body, littering my head with lustful ideas and filling me with an agonizing desire. I immersed my head under the water, helplessly looking for my lost composure.

***

I finally managed to crawl out of the bathtub when the water was already cold. Fortunately, soaking there helped me cure my soreness... enough to walk at least. With my hands glued to the railing, I came down to the kitchen. Aren stifled a laugh, watching me wobble down the stairs. I frowned at him, and he instantly responded by raising his hands in surrender, although that didn't wipe the amusement off his face.

My fiancé was sitting at the kitchen table, working on his laptop and drinking coffee. There was another cup along with a covered plate next to him. "I made you breakfast, beautiful," he said as he removed the cover from the plate, presenting a delicious-looking omelet.

I smiled, easily forgiving him for teasing me. "You're spoiling me." "It's easy to spoil you." He winked at me before shifting his eyes back to the computer screen. I glanced at the watch on his wrist. It was almost eight o'clock "I should get myself ready to work as well," I muttered, taking a bite of my omelet. "You are not going anywhere today. You need to recover." His words were firm, nonetheless, he couldn't hide his wicked grin while pointing out my state. My gaze narrowed at him. "You think this is funny, don't you?" "Not at all. It's only that when I look at your beautiful face now, I recall how it looked covered in sweat, beautifully blushing, not to mention the way you screamed my name..."

His stare at me definitely turned my face the reddest of red. I wasn't used to this. Callan rarely talked about sex except for the moments he wanted to fuck me. The language and tone he used disgusted me and made me feel degraded to a thing, a sex toy. When Aren talked about it, it was a completely different type of embarrassment. He didn't make me feel as if he was using me to pleasure himself. On the contrary, his hunger for me had grown along with the satisfaction he'd given me. He made me want to return the pleasure in ways I had never considered while being with Callan. Was it weird? "I'm heading to the office. I think your friends won't have any problems with monitoring the company's system without you for one day," he said, getting up from his seat and packing his laptop. I nodded, realizing the change in his voice. As the firm edges surfaced in his tone, he was already in his boss mode. Even his gaze at me cooled down unpleasantly as he was leaving the penthouse. Was this what he meant when he said that we would never have an emotional bond? He was able to separate the intimacy we shared when we were alone from everything else that concerned his business. Only now did I begin to understand that the price of being with him was accepting this separation. The question was... Would I be able to adjust to it without getting hurt?

Maturity

Aren was right about one thing going to work in this state would have been a huge mistake With the aching body I had, I could either resemble a stupid rookie who decided to run a marathon without a warm up or... a woman whose body wasn't prepared for the amount of late-night activities she experienced, since I was obvious to both Norton and Alan that i would never run in a marathon... then yes, not going to work was an excellent decision I was certain that I would never be able to handle discussing my sex life with them,

As much as I was glad to have some time to recover, I wasn't completely comfortable staying, alone with my thoughts. After a sweet moment of bliss, I'd become anxious, Now, I kept wondering whether it was him acting cold and arrogant or me, being, cornpletely immature Perhaps it was supposed to be like this - there's time for work and time for aflection, except for the situations when we would make love in his office... Oh, God... Had I just seriously thought about that?! Fine, let's face it, my desire for him was stronger as I had become fully aware of what it meant to be with him. I bet that this guy could have easily turned every nálve and innocent girl into a sex addict! It would have been perfect if I wasn't so terrified of developing emotions toward him. I knew that I had sworn to myself that I would never fall in love with ar arrogant rich guy, but my calculations had never considered meeting someone like Aren. I pondered about my situation while applying some strange ointments delivered to me by Aren's order on my sore thighs. Then I realized it was time to grow up and stop wearing my heart on my sleeve. I bet that if I had told Grandma about my situation, she would have given me a lecture on how to build an emotion-proof armor... The thought of that made me realize that I hadn't been to visit her recently.

Once I was able to more or less walk again, I called Benjamin and asked him to take me to Crawford's Neurological Clinic. Absentmindedly, I went to the clinic's fifth floor and walked through the bright corridors led by autopilot. I opened the well-known door ready to greet my silently lying Granny, but as I raised my eyes, I found the room empty. My chest squeezed and my whole body started to shiver. I walked out into the corridor with tear-heavy eyes and headed straight to Doctor Crawford's office.

"Ms. Bell?" I heard a familiar female voice behind my back.

I turned around to see Mia, one of the nurses that used to take care of my Grandma.

"Are you looking for Mrs. Bell?" she asked before I gathered a reasonable sentence.

I nodded, desperately trying to regain my composure.

"She's no longer on the fifth floor. I thought that you knew..." she said as a hesitant smile brightened her face.

"So where is she now?" I instantly felt my temple vein throb.

"Oh, she's on the seventh," she replied, slightly covering her mouth to giggle. I stared at her in disbelief. "But... I thought that the seventh floor was VIP-only?"

"Yes!" she sang merrily, "Your grandma is in the Rose Room now."

I tilted my head to one side, my lips twitching in a wry smile. "What's a Rose Room?"

She cackled, "II's the most beautiful and the most expensive roorn in our clinic. A few female actresses have stayed there before."

My confusion only rose. "But what is my Grandmother doing there?"

Her amusement grew by the second. "A nice gentleman in an elegant suit came here and said that his employer is going to take care of the finances concerning Mrs. Sophia Bell. Then he asked what the nices room we had in our clinic was, and he told us to move Mrs. Bell there," she explained.

A nervous chuckle left my throat. "Was this man tall but quite thin with brown eyes and hair?"

"Yes." Mia nodded agitatedly.

"Neil..." I muttered under my breath before smiling back at the nurse. "Could you take me to this Rose Room then?"

"Certainly." She grinned and gestured at me to follow her.

While we were in the elevator, she kept glancing at me, barely restraining herself from snickering. It took her a minute before she surrendered to the urge to open her mouth. "Um... if you don't mind me asking... is that true?" She blinked her big grey eyes. I smiled awkwardly. "What exactly are you asking me about?"

"Mr. Aren Lan... Is he Ms. Bell's fiancé?" She gaped at me, holding her breath.

A peal of nervous laughter escaped my throat as I nodded.

"Wow! I saw pictures of him and a mysterious girlfriend in the magazine. The girls and I looked closely at those pictures, and in one of the photos, the girl was smiling. Then we knew right away that it was you, Ms. Bell! And when Mr. Lan came here himself..." She paused to heave a dreamy sigh.

My eyes widened. "Wait... Aren... Mr. Lan was here?!"

She nodded and grinned. "You are so lucky, Ms. Bell. Your fiancée came here to talk to Doctor William Crawford. I heard that they discussed a very advanced procedure for Mrs. Sophia Bell, and we all heard him say that he'd pay for everything no matter how expensive it'd be. Your future husband must be a very caring and generous man. You are such a lucky girl, Ms. Bell."

My lips stretched into an odd thin line as mixed emotions swirled inside my heart. "Yes, I must be the luckiest girl in the world."

Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised. After all, Aren did what he promised. I guess that the thing I couldn't believe was the fact that he handled it personally. I could assume that he would engage poor Neil in that matter, but then why would he talk to Doctor William about my Grandma's operation himself?! Hearing about it made my heart flutter... again.

The nurse opened the door of my Grandma's new room using a key card, then she gave one to me. As we entered, I realized that the "rose" in the room's name wasn't coincidental. The whole room was bright with light pink and white colors on the walls, the flooring, the fluffy carpet by the bed, and the curtains. If it weren't for the monitoring equipment, I would have thought that it was a spacious, five-star hotel suite. Once the nurse left, I sat by Grandma's

new, more comfortable bed and stroked her grey hair. She seemed to be serene, with a faint smile painting her lips. I sighed in relief, knowing that she had even better care now than before. Would she approve of the choice I made? As much as she hated the rich people just as I did, I thought she would like Aren. I even thought that she could deal with him much better than I did...