Chapter 1045: Chapter 1045: Sweet Blessing
The room was dim with no lights on, only the cold, muted moonlight streaming in through the window.
Wrapped in his arm, Miles Sterling could feel that Vanessa Sterling’s body was still taut, nowhere near completely relaxed.
She was clearly still uneasy.
"Can’t sleep?" Miles asked softly.
Vanessa lay with her back against his chest, only opening her eyes without making a sound in reply.
"How about I go sleep outside instead."
Vanessa turned around, slipped her arms around Miles’s waist, and whispered an explanation: "...I’m just not used to it yet, it’s not because of what happened before."
Miles chuckled. "I know."
"That’s why we have to ease into it before it feels natural."
"Truth is, I can’t sleep either."
Vanessa lifted her head to look at him, her dark eyes glinting. "Then should we talk for a bit?"
Miles looked down at her in his arms, his Adam’s apple bobbing unconsciously, his voice turning hoarse. "How about I tell you a story?"
Vanessa shook her head in refusal. "I’m not a kid."
Miles’s hand resting by her side cautiously tested the waters, lifting the hem of her clothes.
The moment his fingertips brushed Vanessa’s skin, she clearly flinched, a flush rising to her cheeks as her dark eyes looked at him with shy embarrassment.
They stared at each other for a long time, neither looking away.
Miles shifted closer to her, his breathing noticeably more labored than before.
His damp, hot breath washed over Vanessa’s face; she only felt the temperature climb, her skin tingling as if tiny ants were crawling and biting.
Her emotions were tangled, but her mind had gone blank.
Miles kissed her with extreme care, watching her every reaction, terrified of stirring up any discomfort in her.
In Vanessa’s mind, their last time together did surface—and that had been her first time.
The panic, helplessness, and despair from back then could still replay vividly in her head; her body instinctively recoiled, but she forced herself to endure, wanting to wipe away those unbearable memories, wanting to shatter the demons in her heart.
She kept telling herself that the Miles Sterling in front of her was no longer that furious, cruel devil from before.
And it was true. Every one of Miles’s movements was gentle and cautious, his eyes filled with nothing but tenderness and pity.
"Vanessa..." he murmured her name softly against her ear.
Vanessa, who had kept her eyes shut, finally opened them. They were already wet, and with a single blink, tears slid down along her temple.
Miles wiped the tears from her face, his heart aching, his voice low and rough. "...Is this okay?"
Vanessa nervously pressed her lips together, turning her head aside to dodge his gaze in shy embarrassment, and gave the smallest of nods.
"...Just relax."
Same room, same Miles Sterling, yet for Vanessa it was two completely different states of mind.
One had been destruction; this time was healing.
The night was cold, but her heart was warm.
She thought that this bout of madness and impulse was not a wrong decision.
At the very least, in this moment, she could taste what it felt like to be loved.
The next morning, a light rain was pattering outside the window. The sky was heavy and overcast, the wind blowing fallen leaves all over the ground.
Miles had been awake for a long while, yet he kept the posture he woke up in, quietly watching Vanessa still sleeping soundly.
He held her left hand, thumb rubbing over the rough, uneven nail of her ring finger.
His eyes were filled with remorse and tenderness, and in his heart he silently vowed to risk everything in the rest of his life to love the girl in his arms.
It was repayment, it was atonement, and it was a sweet kind of grace.
