After Rebirth, I Accept The Arranged Marriage-Chapter 49: Cold Shower

If you listened closely, you could hear muffled, heavy breaths coming from the bathroom.

Victor Morgan’s eyes were squeezed shut. He tried not to overthink it, but his hand moved with a rough, urgent motion that seemed to offer his body no relief at all.

For a moment, he couldn’t keep his thoughts at bay. Suddenly, an image of Jessie Sterling flashed through his mind—the woman he had just been holding, her small red lips parted as she gasped for breath in front of him.

The moment her dazed, fragile, and helpless expression appeared in his mind, so pitiable it made his heart ache, Victor Morgan couldn’t help but let out a low grunt, his hand ceasing its movements.

He braced one hand against the bathroom wall, casually rinsed the other, and let out a deep sigh.

By the time Victor Morgan got into bed, his mind was unusually wired.

He knew the reason for his excitement all too well.

’This is not a good sign.’

In truth, Victor Morgan was far from the poised, experienced man Jessie Sterling imagined him to be. For over twenty years, he’d had no women in his life. Even before the engagement, he hadn’t thought having a wife would affect him much.

But now, Victor was no longer so sure.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t considered maintaining his public persona in front of Jessie Sterling. But when he was actually with her, he had to admit he was losing control. And as for his previous plans, they had all gone up in smoke.

That was why he had been so frank about his desires with Jessie tonight. He was afraid of losing control and scaring her off if he wasn’t careful.

「By the time they reached New Zealand for the shoot, it was the last stop on their two-week trip.」

Compared to their previous locations, this was the one Jessie had been anticipating the most.

The photographer also thought New Zealand was a great choice. Because the newlywed couple before him finally seemed to have found their rhythm. They were no longer as stiff as they had been during previous shoots, where they’d looked more like two strangers who happened to be traveling together.

Snow-capped mountains, lakes, verdant forests, and fields of blooming flowers. While it was now bleak late autumn back home, New Zealand was the complete opposite—a bright, sunny spring where everything was coming back to life, brimming with vitality.

"Groom, lift the bride’s veil. Yes, yes, just like that. Hold it, don’t move..."

After four in the afternoon, when the light was at its softest, the photographer found the perfect angle and began giving directions.

On a green pasture of blooming flowers beneath a snow-capped mountain, the bride shyly lowered her head while the groom gazed intently at his beloved. The photographer felt that if he could just capture this shot, it would be legendary.

But in the next instant, the photographer saw the very couple he had just repeatedly instructed to hold still... press their lips together.

Through his lens, the photographer watched the tall, handsome man lift the bride’s veil with one hand. He lowered his head, his other hand coming to rest on the bride’s cheek, cradling her face as he pressed his lips to hers.

Jessie was startled by Victor’s action. But maybe it was because he seemed so gentle and patient in that moment, his lips just moving softly against hers without any push for more. Eventually, as if bewitched, she reached up and grabbed the front of his shirt. Tilting her head back, she looked both obedient and needy, as if asking for the kiss herself.

After a moment of speechlessness, the photographer quickly raised his camera. CLICK, CLICK, CLICK. He froze the scene before him in time.

It seemed spontaneity possessed a beauty that could never be staged.

The image before him was far more moving.

After the photoshoot, Jessie went to their room to change first.

This outdoor set was for the photos she planned to display at their wedding reception. She had chosen a form-fitting, handmade lace mermaid gown, tailored exactly to her measurements, which wasn’t very easy to get on and off.

Jessie had just stepped inside, taken off her veil, and was reaching for the invisible zipper at her waist when a knock sounded at the door.

Since it was their last day of shooting and the schedule wasn’t as rushed, and because Jessie loved New Zealand at this time of year, Victor had decided against taking the private jet home right away. He chose to stay so he could spend more time with Jessie by the lake, among the lupines.

Hearing the knock, Jessie opened the door without a second thought.

They were staying in a lakeside villa, and the staff they’d brought along were in another wing. Right now, it was just her and Victor in this part of the house.

She opened the door, and just as she expected, Victor was standing outside.

Jessie was about to ask Victor what he was doing there—she hadn’t even changed yet—but before she could get a word out, she felt herself being lifted into the air. He had swept her right off her feet.

The next moment, Jessie felt her back pressed against the cool surface of a wall, and her breath was stolen away.

Victor had wanted to do this ever since the photoshoot.

’If they hadn’t been outside—wrong place, wrong time, and far too little privacy—he would have parted her lips the moment he lifted her veil, kissing her fiercely, plundering her sweetness, and making her moan beneath him.’

’The spark of desire he had suppressed hadn’t vanished. On the contrary, the moment it was unleashed, it raged even higher, becoming nearly impossible to control.’

In that instant, Jessie became keenly aware of just how gentle his kiss had been outdoors. The contrast with his current ferocity made it all the more obvious.

Jessie felt the base of her tongue begin to ache from the way he was sucking on it. Her entire body was draped over Victor, and she could do nothing but cling tightly to him.

The zipper at her waist, which she herself had partially unfastened, now proved rather convenient for Victor.

At first, Victor had only intended to place his hand on Jessie’s waist, wanting to give it a gentle squeeze or two, just like the night before.

’His fiancée’s waist was impossibly soft. It had plagued him all through the previous night, refusing to release him even in his dreams.’

Victor didn’t tell Jessie that the first thing he’d done after waking up this morning was take a cold shower.

’In all his years, this was the first time he’d ever lost control like this, completely unable to rein himself in. His mind was so full of her that he couldn’t even concentrate on his work.’

Now, as his fingers met a patch of smooth, unhindered skin, Victor’s movements paused for a fraction of a second.

"Doing this on purpose?" Victor asked, his voice hoarse as he spoke close to Jessie’s ear.

He loved Jessie’s soft little ears. Yesterday, just touching them with his hands hadn’t been enough. Today, he used his mouth, leaving them slick and wet.

And now, held tight in his arms, Jessie had nowhere to run.

Hearing Victor’s accusation, Jessie was clearly indignant.

"You’re the one with the bad timing!"