[Chapter 28]
Natalie was somewhat dependent on him. Sebastian had always given her a sense of security. Even today, he had stood up for her like a knight in shiny armor.
Thus, she rested assured about her safety as long as she stayed with him.
Something else was causing her to worry though. Her mind teemed with several unfavorable things that might happen. "Ike won't let this slide. I'm sure I would be fired from my job. I had my heart in my mouth earlier. Due to the way you rained blows on him, I was afraid that he would be disabled or worse still, die. Do you know if any of that had happened, you would be sent to jail?"
"Don't worry your pretty head over such things. None of it will ever happen. I won't go to jail," Sebastian responded in a calm voice
The next second, his eyes darkened and he held her more tightly. "Besides, why are you afraid of Ike? He's just a nobody who has a big mouth!"
"Uh-huh. I hear you. Anyway, why were you also in the hotel?"
Natalie's mind drifted to the women she had seen in the private dining room a while ago. She couldn't help but wonder if Sebastian was also there to hook up with other women.
Insecurity set in and caused the gleam in her eyes to change suddenly.
Garrett was a philanderer. He changed women as if he was changing his underwear. Tonight, he had taken Sebastian to such a messy place to have fun. It seemed like he wanted to introduce him to his bad ways.
"Nothing much. My boss just invited me to have dinner with him."
"Oh," Natalie muttered. Whenever people affixed the two words, 'nothing much' to their response there was a high chance that they had done the exact opposite. She began to worry again. She pursed her lips and buried her face in his chest silently.
As soon as they arrived at the apartment, Natalie rushed into the bathroom.
The disgusting smell of the cigarettes and alcohol was kicking up her gag reflex. It reminded her of Ike's ugly face. She wanted to take a bath to get rid of all the traces of that disgusting man.
Immediately she turned on the shower, hot water flowed to her head and went down to her body. Her sight soon became blurry. The glass became misty. The mixed scent of her shower gel and the steam soothed her tensed nerves.
Natalie scrubbed her body as if she had fallen into a muddy ditch. When she was done, she began to look for clothes to wear. It suddenly occurred to her that she had rushed to the bathroom absentmindedly. She hadn't brought anything to change into. Her original clothes were already wet.
Biting her lower lip hard, she gave herself a knock on the head. She felt too stupid at the moment.
She wrapped her body with a bath towel. It was so short that it barely covered her cleavage down to her thighs.
Out of frustration, she held her head and squatted on the floor. She couldn't go out like this, nor could she ask Sebastian to help her fetch her clothes. It would be so embarrassing. Her underwear was in the same drawer as the pajamas. She didn't want a man to see her private clothes.
Natalie pressed her ear against the bathroom door and listened carefully. No sound came from outside. After listening carefully for a while, she slowly opened the door and poked her head out.
There was no one in the living room.
It seemed that Sebastian was in his room.
With her heart beating fast, Natalie placed her hand on her bosom to prevent the towel from falling. She then walked out of the bathroom, intending to sneak back into her room.
She had calculated that she would make it to her bedroom without Sebastian seeing her.
Unfortunately, she had only taken two steps on her tiptoes when the knob of Sebastian's bedroom door was suddenly turned. The door swung open in a trice.
Just as Sebastian was about to walk out of the bedroom, Natalie, wearing nothing but a bath towel, came out of the bathroom and met his gaze.
The two looked at each other wordlessly for a moment. Sebastian then slipped one hand into his trouser pocket, while the other hand was holding a mug.
Nobody spoke for what seemed like an eternity.
Sebastian, truth be told, was stunned speechless. His Adam's apple bobbed as he gulped excitedly.
He was much taller than Natalie, so he could clearly see her cleavage peeking from above the bath towel.
When Natalie realized what he was looking at, she blushed a bright red and tried to rush into her room, intending to pretend that nothing had happened.
But the corridor wasn't that big. It only took Sebastian two steps to grab her by the wrist and pull her into his arms from behind.
The woman's skin was smooth and supple, subconsciously making him want to caress it.
"Honey, you shouldn't dress like this and walk around," He teased in a low voice, deliberately poking fun of her.
Natalie opened her mouth to say something, but soon found that she was at a loss for words.
"Wh-what are you talking about? I just forgot to bring my clothes into the bathroom. Let go of me!" Covering her chest with one hand, Natalie looked up at him stubbornly.
Sebastian did the opposite and pulled her even closer to him. She could feel his breath on the back of her neck.
He took in her scent. She smelled like fresh body wash, similar to how her room smelled.
"Don't worry. I won't bite. Let me just walk with you, okay?" Sebastian pinched her gently on the waist and asked, "Why are you shaking? Are you cold?"
Biting her lower lip, Natalie almost cried out when he pinched her. His behavior gave her goose bumps.
Sebastian's warm breath tickled the back of her ear.
She tightly clenched the bath towel that was wrapped around her.
Stammering, she realized she was still scared of Sebastian. "It… It's improper for a man to touch a woman like this. Just let me go, Sebastian. Stop teasing me."
"What're you talking about? We're married. It's only right for us to be intimate like this." With a serious look on his face, Sebastian suddenly loosened his grip so that he could look Natalie up and down to see if there were any bruises on her body. "Are you really okay?"
Natalie blushed, thinking that he was ogling her. She held her arms over her chest protectively, blocking Sebastian's view of her cleavage. "I'm fine," she said hurriedly. "Just let me go back to my room."
She struggled, trying to squirm out of Sebastian's arms.
But if she kept struggling like this, her bath towel would definitely unravel and fall to the ground.
"We've kissed each other already. Why are you still so shy?" The corners of Sebastian's mouth twitched. He was flirting with her on purpose. Pinching her cheek, he suddenly grew serious. "I hope you've learned your lesson. You're young and beautiful. Quite an easy target. I can't guarantee I'll be there to save you all the time."
When Sebastian came back, the image of Natalie crying silently kept replaying in his mind.
He frowned slightly, thinking that he shouldn't have let that lecherous man off the hook so easily. He should've beaten him until he could never stand up again.
Her doe-like eyes widened and she nodded obediently. All of a sudden, she found herself smiling. She couldn't help but feel flattered by his compliment about her beauty.
"Okay, okay. Can you let me go now?" Natalie's pouted, albeit red-faced.
The bath towel was in a precarious position. She could feel it loosening around her body.
Sebastian hesitated for a few seconds. His eyes were fixed on her blushed face and he stole a glance at her charming chest. He was, in a word, captivated by her.
His eyes clouded over and he couldn't think straight. In a hoarse voice, he whispered, "Do you want me to come inside with you?"