His slender fingers pierced through her hair and pressed on her neck, forcing her to raise her head.
His tongue pried open her teeth, and she could taste him.
Her heart beat wildly.
She did not want to kiss this strange, impassive man.
She pushed against his chest.
Jasper grabbed her resisting hand, and his kiss became domineering and wild, he started with gently touching her tongue, and it gradually became a wild twist of
She felt his heavy breath on her face, getting deeper and deeper, lingering deeper and deeper.
This brought to her memories of that fateful day, three years ago, the man had also entered her with such brute force.
Again and again, he penetrated her, he chipped away at her soul until she was completely broken.
She had been in pain for a few days after the incident.
Stella trembled and thumped Jasper's back.
Jasper did not want to stop but he finally let go of her red and swollen lips.
Stella looked at him cautiously, she wanted to slap him in the face.
But... she had promised him to pretend.
If she hit him, she would be breaking her promise.
Her caution made his eyes darken.
Katty clenched her fists, her eyes red with fury. She turned her face away, walked to the bar and poured herself some beer.
She was overwhelmed with such jealousy, she thought she would go crazy.
Simon sighed and comforted her, "Give up. There are many good men in the world."
"But they are not Jasper." Katty was stubborn and downed all the wine in her glass in one gulp.
She looked at Stella with jealousy and held up two bottles of beer. She shouted at Stella "Hey, you, would you dare to drink with me?"
Stella turned to Katty.
"I'll drink on her behalf." Jasper said in disgust.
Katty smashed a bottle of beer and shouted uncontrollably, "Why does she need you to drink on her behalf? This is a battle between women. I am declaring war against her. Jasper, I will say this again. You are mine. Before this, I have allowed you to hurt me."
Looking at Katty's deranged behavior, Stella felt a dull throb of pain in her heart.
Are all women in the world the same? It was painful if you could not get what you love.
And women would hurt themselves to vent their pain.
She was in a bad mood too.
For her mother, for herself, and for Federick.
"Okay, I'll drink with you." Stella said softly and walked toward Katty.
Katty was surprised that Stella had risen to the challenge. She smiled disdainfully. Katty did not get drunk easily, so Stella was bound to lose.
"If you lose, you will take off your clothes and dance right here. If you don't want to, give my man back to me." Katty said with hatred.
"What if you lose?" Stella asked casually, with sympathy in her eyes.
Perhaps, Katty did not understand that if a man didn't love her, she could not force him.
Stella was well versed at this.
"I won't lose." Katty said conceitedly.
"If you lose, you will go and shout on the deck. Jasper, I don't love you anymore! Is that okay?" Stella said softly, raising the corner of her mouth slightly with bitterness.
If she didn't love Federick, she could ignore him fooling around with other women.
If she did not love Federick, she would not get hurt.
She hoped that this love could go away sooner. So she could live with dignity and that it won't have to be so painful.
"Well, don't say I did not give you a chance. Three bottles of beer, the fastest drinker wins." Katty said.
Stella took a bottle and raised it to her lips, but Jasper held her back.
His eyes flashed with concern, and he said in a low voice, "Don't drink!"
She smiled at him with her eyes fluctuating and something damp was surging.
"Even if I get drunk. I still have you, right?" Stella said softly.
Her trust in him startled him.
His dark eyes grew deeper with meaning. He stared at her, her face so elegant yet sad, and loosened his grip.
"You have me if you get drunk." Jasper promised.
Stella raised the bottle to her mouth.
One bottle, followed by another.
She had no time to swallow, the beer spilled over onto her clothes.
But she still felt pain in her heart.
After finishing the third bottle of beer, Stella put it down and wiped her mouth. When she saw the three empty bottles on Katty's table, she gave a sad smile.
"I lost." Stella admitted.
She lost!
In the game of love, whoever gives away their whole heart loses, and Stella was the one who gave away her heart completely.
Katty proudly raised her chin and said sarcastically, "Take off your clothes and dance or give up Jasper. I want to see how shameless you are."
"Enough, Katty, I'm not a pawn in a game." Jasper stood in front of Stella.
"If you accept a challenge, you must bear the consequences." Katty widened her bloodshot eyes. "If I had lost, I would have run to the deck and shouted, "I don't love you, Jasper." Do you know that? I actually do not want to love you."
Stella listened, her eyelashes trembling.
Federick hated her, and she also wanted to make herself hate him.
"I'll dance." Stella said calmly.
"Music!" Katty roared fiercely.
The music came on.
She walked onto the dance floor and danced to the rhythm of the music as if she was the only person in the world, and nothing else existed.
In fact, she was the only person in her world.
Where was the person she loved, who did not love her? And who was out there who loved her?
"Take off your clothes." Katty shouted fiercely.
Stella looked at her.
She kept to her promise, as she did not want to make Katty look bad.
Stella began to unbutton her shirt.
Her flexible waist twisted rhythmically to the music.
She was sometimes seductive, and sometimes gentle and beautiful, She was completely at ease with the music.
Everyone was impressed, including Jasper. His eyes were deeply locked on her.
Jasper did not know that she could dance so well.
The men around her stared at her like predators looking for prey.
Jasper frowned. "Simon, bring your sister away."
Katty felt that her plan had backfired. She had let this woman steal the limelight.
Jasper took off his suit and walked toward Stella to cover her, shielding her skin from greedy eyes.
Her body exuded a sweet fragrance of sweat, penetrating his nostrils.
"How interesting. " Stella giggled with undisguised sadness in her eyes, which were welling up with tears. "I must look very stupid now."
His gaze was deep and he blurted out, "Do you want me to like you?"
"What?" Stella felt that she must have misheard him. Had she imagined what he said?
Jasper pulled her away and said in a low voice, "You are drunk."
Stella lowered her eyes.
She must be drunk...
After a while, he pulled her to the second floor and handed her a door card. "You'll stay in this room tonight."
"Are we not leaving tonight? I have to go to work tomorrow." Stella said worriedly.
"We leave tomorrow morning. I will send you to the hospital. I won't let you be late. Don't worry." Jasper promised.
Given the circumstances, she gave in as not to cause him an inconvenience. After all, this was not her boat. "Thank you." She said.
Stella turned around, opened the door, and walked into the room.
He glanced at her swollen feet and frowned. Pity rose in his eyes, he turned around and left.
Stella entered the room, sat on the sofa, and took off her shoes.
The shoes Eli had given her were so hard, the skin on her heels had blistered.
She should not have worn them.
Stella caught a whiff of alcohol from her body.
She had to go to work tomorrow.
She changed into a pair of slippers and went into the bathroom.
After washing her hair and body, she washed all her clothes and left them hanging in the bathroom.
She walked out of the bathroom, wrapped only in a bath towel.
Jasper was sitting on the sofa.
There was a medicine box in front of him, and he was searching through it.
When he saw Stella coming out of the bathroom from the corner of his eyes, he looked up at her.
Her beautiful collarbone peeked out above the towel wrapped around her. The short towel also revealed her beautiful, slender legs.
Stella was shocked to see him. After all, she was naked.
"Why are you here?" Stella asked nervously.
"Come here." Jasper ordered.
Stella explained awkwardly, "My clothes have been washed. This is not convenient."
"What are you worried about?" He was a little angry and said in a low voice, "Come here."
There was an irresistible aggressiveness in his tone.
She slowly walked away and whispered, "I want to rest!"
Jasper ignored her and found bandage in the medicine box. "Sit down."
He did not bother to look up. He tore off the paper on both sides of the bandage and put it on the table.
Stella understood his intentions and felt warmth in her heart. She said softly, "I can do it by myself. Thank you."
Jasper no longer ordered her to sit.
This woman was more stubborn than he had imagined.
He grabbed her hand and pulled her to his side.
Before she could sit down properly, he picked up her feet and put them on his legs. His movements were neat and quick, coming and going like a lightning flash.
Stella was shocked. She had no clothes on beneath her towel, she would be exposed easily.
She immediately turned to hold her towel to make sure there was no gap at her thighs.
Jasper didn't seem to notice it. He picked up the iodine and gently applied it on her feet.
This gentleness did not match his impression on others.
She did not feel any pain when he applied alcohol on her feet.
On the contrary, his warm hands were very comforting.
"The shoes' are too hard. Don't wear them in the future." Jasper reminded.
"Okay," Stella replied.
"Your other foot," Jasper said in a low voice.
Stella moved aside and lifted her foot.
Jasper felt that her movements were awkward, so he grabbed her ankle and put it in his hand quickly.
Stella exclaimed.
He looked over without thinking.
And he caught a glimpse of her.. down there.
It was only a fraction of a second.
But he had seen it.
Stella blushed and did not know if he had seen it. She turned her face away and didn't dare to look at him.
Jasper cleared his throat, lowered his head, and helped her with the wound.
Neither of them spoke.
The air between them was full of mutual attraction, this made them panic.
"Are you done?" Stella urged.
"Don't move." Jasper reminded.
His voice was a little hoarse, hormonal, and dangerous.
"After leaving this boat, I won't be meeting you again, will I?" Stella asked.
Jasper's eyes turned cold. "If you don't want to see me, then I think there will not be any chance of us meeting again in the future."
What he said carried some ambiguity. What did he mean by "if she did not want to see him - what if she wants to? Did that mean that they could meet each other? Under what circumstances would they meet?
After all, they happened to share several warm episodes of life despite coming from different worlds.
Tomorrow, she would return to her normal life.
"Okay," Stella uttered only a word, but it seemed to mean that she did not want to see him.
Jasper's face darkened.
He applied the bandage and did not wait for her to withdraw her foot.
Jasper stood up straight and looked down at her. His gaze was deep, and a hint of anger flashed in them. "I'll sleep here tonight."