They were mere inches apart, and seeing her adorable, startled expression, he desperately wanted to kiss her parted red lips.

But her safety was more important.

Seth Quinn’s words snapped the dazed Clara Grant back to reality. Her senses returned, her eyes flickered, and she suddenly noticed that the man who had been stark naked just moments before was now fully dressed.

She was stunned for a moment, but then it all clicked.

She huffed. "If you don’t help me up right now, I’m really going to fall."

Seth Quinn quickly pulled her up, and they both stood straight.

The moment she was steady on her feet, Clara Grant shoved him away and glared. "Is it fun messing with me?"

Seth Quinn held up his hands helplessly. "Not fun at all."

Although seeing her get all shy and flustered had been rather amusing, it wasn’t fun at all when his prank almost made her fall and get hurt.

"If it’s not fun, then why did you do it?!"

With that, Clara Grant stopped paying him any mind, turned, walked to the door, opened it, and went straight downstairs.

Seth Quinn hurried after her. "Clara, I won’t do it again, alright?"

Clara Grant ignored him, not stopping until she reached the bottom of the stairs. Seth Quinn caught up and wrapped his arms around her from behind. He gazed at her profile and coaxed gently, "Don’t be mad, okay?"

In the past, he wouldn’t have dreamed of coaxing a woman so softly. Heck, just watching Linden Jennings dote on Poppy Vance like this used to make his skin crawl. He thought that being so meek and submissive with a woman stripped a man of all his pride. It was an embarrassment to manhood.

But now that he was doing the very same thing, he didn’t feel it was cringey or shameful in the slightest. On the contrary, he felt a profound sense of bliss.

It was true: even the most powerful and domineering man could become incredibly gentle when faced with the woman he loved.

Clara Grant hadn’t been that angry in the first place; she was just embarrassed from being teased by him and had felt a little flustered.

Now that he was being so gentle and coaxing, any lingering anger she had simply vanished.

Clara Grant opened her mouth, but just as she was about to speak, the doorbell rang. The words on her lips changed. "Is that the takeout? Hurry up and get the door."

Seth Quinn thought to himself, ’She must be really hungry. A second ago, she was ignoring me, but now that the food’s here, she’s completely forgotten she was angry.’

Seth Quinn let go of her and went to open the door.

Clara Grant stood there, craning her neck to see. A moment later, Seth Quinn came back carrying the takeout bags.

The two of them went into the dining room, where Seth Quinn began unpacking the food.

He had ordered from the best restaurant in Novaria, so the dishes looked exquisite, a feast of color, aroma, and flavor.

Clara Grant’s mouth was watering just from the sight and smell. The moment Seth Quinn handed her a pair of chopsticks, she dug in eagerly.

Seth Quinn sat across from her and started eating as well.

Clara Grant was an eternal optimist. In her opinion, there was no problem that couldn’t be solved with a delicious meal. And if one meal didn’t work, then two definitely would!

By now, she had long forgotten about being angry with Seth Quinn. Seeing him eating, she asked, "You haven’t eaten yet either?"

The last time they had takeout here, he had waited, hungry, until she woke up so they could eat together.

"I ate. I’m just hungry again." He paused for a beat, then added, "You need to eat up to have strength for other activities."

Seth Quinn’s casual remark almost made Clara Grant choke. She looked up at him, but his expression was perfectly composed. It didn’t seem like he was deliberately teasing her this time.

Clara Grant silently chided herself. ’Oh, Clara, Clara. Has your mind ended up in the gutter? How can you let your thoughts wander to... *that* over every little thing?’

’So completely shameless!!!’