The Man Who Never Looked Away novel Chapter 376

His Adam's apple bobbed heavily, but no words came out.

Lavinia looked up at him. "Do I look bad?"

He finally managed a single word. "Good."

She reached up and draped her arms loosely around his neck. "I didn't wear the gown you got me for the ceremony today. I promised I'd make it up to you."

She blinked innocently. "Does Mr. Sheffield like this compensation?"

Charley looked away, his lips pressed into a tight, hard line.

She tilted her head, pressing the issue. "You don't like it?"

He gave a stiff nod, then said, rather clumsily, "I should go check on Saul. I'm a bit worried about him."

He grabbed her hands, pulling them off his shoulders, and turned to leave.

Lavinia stood frozen, staring after him, completely baffled by his reaction.

Ever since they had officially started dating, he had been incredibly restrained. Did he just not find her attractive?

She couldn't help but wonder—did he really even like her?

Charley had already pulled the door open and stepped halfway out. Glancing back, he saw her standing there, looking utterly lost and dejected. Reality suddenly hit him. He stopped, closed the door, and walked back to her, gently brushing his thumb across the corner of her eye. "What's wrong?"

"Is it possible... you don't actually like me that much?" she asked quietly.

He froze. "Why would you think that?"

"Because you're clearly not interested in me."

He stood there for a long time, eventually looking away with a self-deprecating smile on his lips.

After a heavy pause, he finally spoke. "I don't know how other men operate. But with you... the moment I even entertain those kinds of thoughts, I feel intensely guilty."

His pupils suddenly dilated, then blew out dark and blown. For a few seconds, his mind simply flatlined.

Then, her sweet voice filtered through the haze, sounding as if it were coming from underwater. "Don't you get it? I want to be with you."

A string snapped in his brain. His body took over on pure instinct. Sweeping her up into his arms, his hands firmly grasping her thighs, he strode over to the bed. His foot bumped the frame as they tumbled backward into the mattress together.

Sinking into the softness below, he clung to the very last thread of his sanity, locking eyes with her. "Lavinia, I only have so much self-control."

She held his gaze for two seconds before wrapping her arms around his neck again.

"Kiss me," she whispered, squeezing her eyes shut and tilting her chin up.

He stared at her puckered lips for a moment, then abruptly turned his face into the pillows.

His head was buried, his bangs hiding his expression, but judging by the shaking of his broad shoulders, she realized what was happening. He was laughing.

In a moment this highly charged and intimate, he was actually laughing!