After His Sweetheart Moved In, He Came Home Every Night-Chapter 173: Only Knows How to Take Off Her Clothes
Wyatt Sterling pulled away from her lips, turning his head to look under the bed. "He’s hiding there?"
Alice York shook her head, panting.
Wyatt Sterling scoffed. "We’re being so loud. It wouldn’t be good if he heard us."
Alice’s heart pounded like a drum, her face so red she could feel the blood rushing to it. She balled her hand into a fist and hit him. "It’s all your fault... HISSS..."
In her agitation, she’d forgotten about the injury on her hand. The impact sent a jolt of pain through her, making her eyes water.
Wyatt’s brow furrowed. "What’s wrong with your hand?"
"Nothing, it just hurt when I hit you."
The pain was real, but her explanation was laughably poor.
Wyatt, of course, didn’t believe her. He grabbed her wrist and reached with his other hand to pull off her glove. Alice moved faster, blocking his hand. "Third Uncle, don’t."
Wyatt’s gaze was fixed on her.
Alice said, "It’s just a small scrape. I was worried it would look bad, so I wore gloves."
Wyatt: "I can’t even take a look?"
"It’s not that you can’t see it." This time, Alice wasn’t lying. "The medical adhesive for the wound is stuck to the inside of the glove. If you force it off, you’ll rip off the gauze underneath."
When she finished, she could clearly feel the anger radiating from Wyatt. He said, "I’ve only been gone for less than two days."
’What was that supposed to mean? It wasn’t as if his presence would have prevented her from getting hurt. This was an accident, not something anyone could have foreseen and avoided.’
She was angry, and she blurted out what she was thinking. "Yeah, you’ve only been gone for less than two days, not returning calls or messages. You wouldn’t care even if I died."
"What nonsense are you talking about."
Wyatt’s tone was heavy, his anger deepening.
Alice flinched, but the next second, he pulled her back. Carefully avoiding her injured hand, he pressed her into his arms. "It’s my fault."
Alice pretended not to fall for it. "How could that be? Anyone can be wrong, but not Third Uncle."
He let out an exasperated laugh, his arms tightening around her. "It’s because I missed you too much."
Alice froze for a moment.
He said it again. "I was taking care of business here, but I never stopped thinking about you."
That single phrase, "I never stopped thinking about you," instantly swept away all the gloom in Alice’s heart.
Perhaps she wasn’t waiting for a full explanation. He had his own things to do, and he couldn’t tell her everything. If their roles were reversed, she couldn’t do that either.
In truth, all she wanted was for him to soothe her.
A word or two would have been fine, as long as it wasn’t a perfunctory dismissal.
It didn’t even matter if he vanished for weeks on end, as long as he was willing to comfort her like this.
Wyatt released her and walked to the side of the bed. "Get out."
However, there was no sound from under the bed.
Worried something had happened, Alice was about to crouch down to look when Wyatt grabbed her wrist. "I’ll give you to the count of three. One..."
"You don’t need to count to three! I’m coming out now."
Nathan Sterling’s voice came from under the bed. He sounded defiant, but he was already scrambling out.
When Nathan stood up, Alice saw that his forehead was covered in sweat. Before she could say a word of concern, he had already darted behind her.
"I’m not afraid of you!" Hiding behind Alice, Nathan only dared to peek his head out to make his brave declaration.
Wyatt raised an eyebrow. "If you’re not afraid, then come out and say that to my face."
Nathan: "It’s cooler behind my sister."
"Then I’ll come to you."
With that, Wyatt started walking toward Nathan.
Nathan’s face went pale, and he immediately burst into wails. "Third Uncle, I was wrong! I’m sorry, I really know I was wrong..."
Alice blocked Wyatt. "Alright, Third Uncle, don’t scare Nathan. He’s timid; he scares easily."
Wyatt scoffed. "He seemed pretty brave when he was threatening me."
Nathan’s voice was thick with sniffles. "I won’t do it again."
Alice quickly nudged Nathan, who was behind her. "You should go out first."
Nathan stood his ground. He looked at Wyatt, then back at Alice, as if he had a lot bottled up that he wanted to say. Alice noticed, turned around, and guessed his intention. She said, "Don’t get involved in things between Third Uncle and me. I’ll handle it."
Nathan was only eight; what could he possibly understand about the complexities of love and romance?
All he knew was that Wyatt Sterling was a terrifying person, and nothing good would come from Alice being with him.
"Be good. Go outside and wait for a bit. I’ll be out soon." Alice gently patted Nathan’s shoulder to soothe him.
"Okay."
Nathan turned, took two steps, and glanced back one last time. Only after the door closed did Alice finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Then she heard Wyatt say from behind her, "That kid has always cared a lot about you."
Alice pressed her lips together. "You noticed too, Third Uncle."
Wyatt said flatly, "Isn’t it obvious?"
Alice lowered her eyes. "I only realized it recently."
Before, she had always felt that Nathan hated her guts. He opposed her at every turn, targeting and teasing her whenever she returned to the old family estate, and he always seemed to enjoy watching her make a fool of herself.
But now, she thought she understood why.
Because she wasn’t well-liked among the Sterlings—ignored by the old master, neglected by her mother, and even bullied by the servants—every time she came back, Nathan would try everything to drive her away. By doing so, he helped her avoid a lot of trouble.
At some point, Nathan had figured out that Alice hated returning to the family estate.
Perhaps he had directly sensed his mother’s favoritism, seen the servants’ disrespect toward Alice with his own eyes, or overheard his grandfather and the others discussing Alice as if she were a commodity to be gifted away...
So, he used the nastiest methods to push Alice away, denying others the chance to bully her. He was always the first to drive her off, so they wouldn’t get to torment her.
Alice snapped back to the present and looked up at Wyatt. "Third Uncle, I should go out too."
Wyatt said, "Mason Cheney is watching him."
"I know," Alice said. "But this is the Sawyer Family’s house. We can’t be alone together for too long."
Wyatt walked toward her. "What are you afraid of?"
He raised a hand to caress her lips. He had been rough with that kiss earlier, leaving them a vibrant red, making one want to taste them again.
"Third Uncle, don’t mess around," Alice warned, noticing the deepening intensity in his gaze.
"If I wanted to, could you stop me?" Despite his words, Wyatt had no intention of actually messing around.
He took out his phone, made a call, and asked someone to bring a first-aid kit.
Alice calculated the time and realized it was indeed time to change the gauze, so she didn’t refuse.
Putting his phone away, Wyatt gently took Alice’s wrist, careful not to hurt her. "Take off the glove in a bit. We’ll change the dressing."
Alice didn’t move. "You can take it off too, Third Uncle."
Wyatt glanced at her. "I only know how to take off your clothes."
"..."
Seeing her stunned, vivid reaction, Wyatt deliberately added, "And put them back on for you. I can fasten your bra clasp with my eyes closed."
"That’s enough!" Alice’s face turned red. "Don’t say things like that so brazenly."
Wyatt, however, said, "There’s no one else here, is there?"
"..."
She was rendered utterly speechless.
After the glove was slowly removed, Wyatt saw the wound in the palm of Alice’s hand. His expression turned frosty. "You call this a scrape? Who did this?"
