Act Like You Love Me (Jessica) novel Chapter 210

Chapter 210

Daphne’s pov

The ocean breeze tugged gently at my hair as I leaned against the balcony railing of our villa.

Sunlight danced across the water, turning the sea into a sparkling mirror that stretched endlessly toward the horizon. It should have been peaceful, but my mind refused to settle.

Ever since I had bumped into Julie earlier, a restless feeling had settled deep in my chest.

She had looked so lost-distressed, broken, empty, like someone else was pulling the strings behind her eyes. That strange energy around her unsettled me more than I wanted to admit.

It wasn’t just sadness; it felt heavier, more confusing.

“The girls are going to have fun in the sea-wouldn’t you tag along?” David’s voice floated over from behind me, carried on the same breeze.

I barely registered the words at first. My thoughts kept circling back to Julie’s face, the hesitant way she had spoken, the way her eyes had lingered on my bandaged finger.

“Daphne?” David nudged my arm lightly, pulling me out of my head. “Are you listening to me?”

I blinked and turned slowly to face him. He stood close, studying me with open concern in his blue eyes.

The sunlight caught the angles of his face, making him look even more striking than usual.

“What did you say? Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.” My voice came out quieter than I intended.

David didn’t answer immediately. He searched my face, his gaze traveling over my eyes and the tense line of my jaw as if he were reading a complicated report.

The silence stretched between us, filled only by the distant sound of someone laughing on a lower deck and the steady wash of the waves.

Then he repeated himself, his tone patient. “I said the girls are going down to the sea for some swimming and games. Wouldn’t you like to tag along?”

I shook my head and looked away, back toward the horizon.

The thought of putting on a swimsuit and pretending to be carefree with Julie and his cousins felt like a mountain I wasn’t equipped to climb.

“No, I want to rest,” I whispered.

I felt his movement before I saw it. He reached out and grabbed my arm, not painfully, but with enough force to turn me

back toward him.

“What’s wrong, Daphne?” he asked, his voice dropping an octave. He started to say something else, but his gaze snagged on my hand.

He went still. His eyes fixed on the small, white bandage wrapped around my index finger-the one I’d put on after the needle prick.

I watched his face transform. A dark, protective fury took its place, coupled with a worry that seemed far too intense for a

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Chapter 210

tiny cut.

“What happened to you?” he demanded, his grip on my arm tightening just a fraction.

“It’s nothing, David. Really,” I said, trying to pull my hand back. “I was just helping your mother with her embroidery. I was distracted and the needle… it just pricked me. It’s not even a big deal.”

David didn’t let go. Instead, he lifted my hand carefully, turning it so he could see the bandage better.

‘It’s really not a big deal. It barely even bled after the first minute.”

He ignored my protest and gently peeled back the edge of the bandage, inspecting the small puncture.

His fingers were warm against my skin, and for a moment I just stared at him, watching the way his jaw tightened with worry, the way his touch lingered as if he could somehow fix it just by looking.

The question rose unbidden in my mind: Was any of this real? Or was he still playing the part we had agreed on? The caring boyfriend for the family’s sake.

The protective man who made my stomach flutter even when I told myself not to read too much into it.

‘It stung a little, but it’s fine now,” I added, my voice breathy.

He didn’t look up. He continued to caress the back of my hand.

‘You should be more careful,” he murmured.

The closeness, the scent of him, and the lingering fire from the night before were all swirling together in my head.

But the image of that woman in the hallway wouldn’t leave me. It was a cold splash of reality in the middle of this fever dream.

‘Why is Julie here?”

David froze, his thumb still resting against my finger. Slowly, he lifted his gaze from my hand to my eyes.

‘Sorry? Come again?” He said, though I knew he’d heard me perfectly.

I shook my head quickly, heat rising to my cheeks. I hadn’t meant to say it out loud, at least not like that. But now that it was hanging in the air, I couldn’t take it back.

He waited, his expression patient but insistent, so I finally repeated myself, my voice barely above a whisper.

“I bumped into her,” I said, my voice gaining a bit of strength. “In the hallway near the observation deck. Why is she here,

David?”

He let out a short, sharp breath and shrugged, though his eyes remained fixed on mine.

“I have no idea. This is a family cruise, Daphne. People show up. And I didn’t invite her, if that’s what you’re asking.”

I scoffed softly and shook my head, pulling my hand away from his.

“How could you not know? You’re literally the only person she’s close to. She showed up at your house that night, and now she’s here on a family trip. It doesn’t make sense.”

David raised an eyebrow, and a slow smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. He leaned in closer, his voice dropping lower.

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11:18 am P

Chapter 210

“Are you jealous, Daphne?”

The question caught me off guard. I felt my face grow warmer.

“No,” I said quickly, maybe too quickly. “I’m not jealous. I’m just… confused. And concerned. She didn’t look well when I saw her.”

He didn’t back off. Instead, he took a small step forward, closing the distance between us until I could feel the warmth radiating from his body.

“If you’re not jealous, then there shouldn’t be any reason for you to care so much about why Julie is here, right?”

I opened my mouth to argue, but the words tangled in my throat. His eyes held mine, intense and searching, and the smirk on his face softened into something deeper.

The restless energy that had been swirling inside me since morning shifted, turning into a different kind of heat.

Before I could find a proper response, David cupped the side of my face with one hand, his thumb brushing lightly over my cheek.

The kiss came suddenly-possessive, urgent, and full of everything we hadn’t said out loud.

One of his hands slid to the small of my back, pulling me flush against him, while the other stayed tangled in my hair.

I kissed him back just as fiercely, my fingers gripping the front of his shirt.

All the confusion about Julie, the worry about what was real between us, the strange pull I’d felt since the drinks last night- it all poured into that kiss.

It wasn’t gentle or careful. It was hungry and jealous and honest in a way our fake relationship had never been..

When we finally broke apart, both of us breathing harder, David rested his forehead against mine. His voice was rough when he spoke again.

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