“Jennifer, we’re supposed to get married someday.


    How could you be so heartless to me?” Hilliard frowned.


    His gaze bore into her, his expression one of innocent bewilderment.


    Jennifer, feeling utterly embarrassed, buried her face beneath the covers, wishing she could vanish on the spot.


    “If I tell you it was an ident, will you believe me?”


    “Of course!” Hilliard replied earnestly, nodding his head.


    “I believe everything you say.


    Besides, if you truly meant me harm, you wouldn’t have been so gentle just now.


    ”


    He regarded her with frankness, while Jennifer’s embarrassment was palpable.


    She stated, “Well, let’s go to sleep then.


    We have an early start tomorrow.


    ”


    Turning away from Hilliard, Jennifer closed her eyes and feigned sleep.


    She curled up at the edge of the bed, her body tense with the lingering awkwardness of the moment.


    Silently staring at the back of her head, Hilliard felt a restlessness creeping over him as he recalled Cyrus’ words.


    For a moment, he considered reaching out to touch Jennifer’s back.


    But he hesitated and withdrew his hand.


    In his sober state, Hilliard found himself unable to act upon his feelings for Jennifer,


    overwhelmed by embarrassment.All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    Feeling despondent, he sat up and noticed a marble table across from him.


    On ity an unopened bottle of red wine, a pair of sses, and undisturbed candles.


    Driven by an impulse, he rose from the bed and hurried over to the table.


    Hastily, he uncorked the bottle.


    Startled by the noise, Jennifer slowly sat up and inquired, “Hilliard, what are you doing?”


    Ignoring her question, Hilliard poured himself a generous ss of wine and downed it in one decisive gulp.


    It was a familiar tactic for a coward to seek sce and courage in alcohol.


    Picking up the empty ss from the table, Hilliard gazed at Jennifer and propositioned, “Can you fall asleep, Jennifer? How about joining me for a drink?”


    “No, thanks.


    ” Jennifer declined politely.


    Without further ado, Hilliard proceeded to consume five sses of wine in rapid session.


    As the alcohol coursed through his veins, Hilliard began to feel dizzy, his face flushing with the effects.


    Despite the difort of sleeping in just a bath towel, Jennifer found a sense of security in it.


    Hilliard couldn’t help but notice Jennifer’s delicate and alluring corbone, exposed by the bath towel, along with her beautiful shoulders.


    Hilliard fixed his gaze on Jennifer from a distance.


    Under the influence of alcohol, he found her slender and attractive figure on the bed increasingly tempting.


    Setting down his ss, he eschewed conventional drinking etiquette and drank directly from the bottle.