Chapter 160: Chapter 160: It Takes Two to Tango
After Claire lay down, Adrian Quincy reached out and pulled her into his embrace, wanting to hold her as he slept.
Feeling the searing heat of his body against her back, Claire’s heart began to pound. She felt uneasy all over.
"Mr. Quincy, your belt buckle seems to be digging into me."
"Mm. Go to sleep." Though he’d acknowledged it, the man didn’t move, still holding her and refusing to let go.
"Mr. Quincy..."
"Good night."
Claire blinked. ’Can he really fall asleep like this?’
The man remained perfectly still, his breathing growing even and steady. He seemed to be asleep.
She glanced over and was met with a magnificent yet bizarre sight...
Good lord!
Claire was so startled she nearly fell off the bed. ’Can I just sleep on the floor?’
Just as she was reeling in shock, the man’s eyes snapped open. "Why aren’t you sleeping?"
"Uh... You stay on your side, and I’ll stay on mine."
"Your eyes seem to be telling me you’re just playing hard to get."
"I am not!"
"If you’re not, then go to sleep. While I’m still tired."
Claire immediately lay flat on her back again, deliberately leaving a fist’s width of space between them so he couldn’t touch her.
But Adrian rolled over and pulled her back into his embrace, holding her like a doll in the exact same position as before.
Except...
’Ugh, I guess I should just try to sleep.’
...
She barely slept a wink all night.
Claire nearly overslept. When she woke up, the man was gone, but he had thoughtfully prepared breakfast for her and had left Aiden Howkins to drive her to work.
When she arrived at the office, most of her colleagues were already there. They all gave her strange looks.
’It must be because of that thing on social media...’
These people were definitely kicking her while she was down, treating her as Ethan Kingsley’s mistress. The way they looked at her, as if they wished they didn’t know her, was so blatant.
Claire felt a surge of irritation. She walked back to her desk, sat down, and turned on her computer.
As both the subject of the gossip and its victim, she felt incredibly wronged. But she had no way to explain herself, and even if she could, there was no guarantee anyone would accept it.
As her thoughts churned, Phoebe Lockwood’s mocking voice cut through the air.
"You know a person’s face, but you never know their heart. Some people are born with the face of an angel, but who knows how many people have slept with them. I used to think only starlets were that filthy, but I never expected to find someone like that right here. TSK TSK TSK..."
The moment she finished speaking, other colleagues chimed in, echoing her sentiment.
"Sigh. It’s just unbelievable."
"Personally, I can’t stand that Ethan Kingsley. He has no respect for women; he just sees them as toys."
"I don’t know about that. It takes two to tango, doesn’t it? If women weren’t so vain and materialistic, throwing themselves at him, would Ethan Kingsley even be a ’scumbag’?"
"Either way, I don’t like either of them."
The gossip grew more and more brazen, with no one showing the slightest consideration for Claire’s feelings.
The color drained from Claire’s face. She was at her breaking point. Finally, unable to bear it a second longer, she exploded—
"Stop—"
"Say one more word of this nonsense and you can get the hell out!" a sudden voice boomed, cutting Claire off.
