<h4>Chapter 171: Chapter 171 Bathroom Consensus</h4>


    Cecilia’s pov


    I swam up from the depths of sleep, consciousness returning in slow, heavy waves.


    My fingers were dead weights, too tired to even twitch.


    The ache between my legs was the first thing that registered, a deep, throbbing reminder of everything we’d done.


    My body felt like it had been taken apart and clumsily put back together, every musclenguid and heavy.


    The sheets were a lost cause, stuck to my skin with a cocktail of sweat and... well, him.


    I felt filthy, deliciously so, but the sticky sensation was starting to grate.


    I needed a bath. Now.


    I tried to shift, a slow, pathetic squirm, but the arm draped possessively over my waist tightened instantly.


    "Don’t move," his voice was a low, sleep-roughened rumble against my ear.


    His lips found the sensitive spot just beneath my lobe, and a full-body shiver wracked my exhausted frame. "You’re not going anywhere. This is your bed."


    "My bed, my rules," I mumbled, my face heating. "...I need a bath. I feel like I’ve been zed."


    Sebastian’s eyes opened, those dark, intense pools fixing on me in the dim light. "I’ll help you."


    Panic, pure and undiluted, licked up my spine. "...On second thought, I’m suddenly very sleepy. Forget I said anything."


    His low chuckle was a threat and a promise.


    He was already moving, pulling on his boxers with an infuriating grace. "You want a bath. You’ll got one. I prefer you clean."


    He leaned over, his fingers prying mine from the death grip I had on the crumpled sheet.


    "My hero," I deadpanned, my sarcasm doing nothing to hide my trepidation.


    He just smirked and scooped me up with an ease that was both impressive and irritating.


    I yelped, my arms automatically looping around his neck.


    The hard nes of his chest were a stark contrast to my boneless softness.


    In the bathroom, he set me down on the cool countertop while he bent to fill the tub. I watched the muscles y across his bare back, a fresh wave of heat pooling low in my belly.


    Moon Goddess, he was fucking beautiful.


    He poured in my expensive bubble bath and, with a theatrical flourish, scattered a handful of dried rose petals from the jar on the windowsill.


    "Your majesty," he said, his tone dry.


    I managed a weak smile and slid into the gloriously hot, fragrant water, sinking down until the bubbles covered me up to my chin.


    The relief was immediate.


    I nced at him, still looming by the tub, and decided to go for it.Better to rip the band-aid off.


    "You should... you should probably head out, Sebastian."


    The air in the room went cold.


    He didn’t move, then slowly leaned forward and lowered his head, gripping my chin so hard that I stared at him.


    His jaw was tight. "What did you just say, Cecilia?"


    I swallowed, my courage faltering. "I said... you should go. It’ste."


    Hisugh was short, harsh. "Un-fucking-believable. You’re really doing this again? Use my cock until you’re screaming, then toss me out like yesterday’s garbage? What am I, your favorite fucking call boy?"


    My face med.


    "...No! Of course not. It’s just... this was fun. Adult fun. I’m not saying I don’t acknowledge it happened." I was backpedaling fast, the words tumbling out. "I’m just suggesting a... graceful exit."


    "An exit," he repeated, his voice dangerously soft.


    He sat on the wide lip of the tub, his presence overwhelming the steamy space. "Cecilia, you can’t just fuck me into aa and then pretend it was a casual hookup every single time."


    Guilt, sharp and unwee, pricked at me.


    He was right. It was a shitty pattern.


    I took a shaky breath, thepromise he’d shoved down my throat in the car suddenly seeming like the only way out of this without setting himpletely off.


    "Fine. Fine. We’ll do what you said in the car. The... girlfriend thing."


    He watched me, his expression unreadable.


    "The ’pretend’ girlfriend thing," he rified, a mocking edge to his voice.


    "Yes. That. But," I added, seizing on a shred of self-preservation, "we keep it quiet. For now. We can’t just announce this at the office. It would be a disaster for both of us, don’t you think?"


    I tried to sound pragmatic, like I was considering our professional reputations.


    In truth, I was banking on this little charade fizzling out on its own once the novelty wore off for him.


    A clean, quiet end.


    He was silent for a long moment, his gaze boring into me.


    "Alright," he finally conceded. "We’ll keep it between us."


    A shaky breath of relief escaped my lips. "Good. That’s... good."


    Then he shifted, his hand going to the back of his neck. "I’m pretty sticky myself, you know."


    My eyes widened.


    I pointed a trembling, bubble-covered finger towards the ss-walled shower. "The shower’s all yours. Knock yourself out."


    He shook his head, a slow, predatory smile spreading across his face as he looked at the rose petals floating on the water’s surface.


    "No. I like this. " he murmured, his gaze on the petal-strewn water. "I think I’ll join you."


    His fingers went to the buttons of his shirt, the one he’d just put on.


    "Oh, for fuck’s sake, have it!" I scrambled, grabbing for a towel, one leg sloshing out of the water. "It’s all yours!"


    I didn’t make it an inch.


    In a sh, he had me, towel and all, hauled back into the water.


    He settled into the tub, pulling me down to straddle hisp, the water sloshing violently over the sides.


    "Don’t be wasteful, Cecilia," he chided, his voice a low, serious growl, though his eyes were zing with dark amusement. "There are ces in the world suffering from a drought. We’ll share."


    His cock, a rigid, demanding pressure against my inner thigh, was now positioned right at my entrance, a brutal, undeniable truth.


    "Share," my ass. This was a takeover.


    One of his big, wet hands mped onto my hip, holding me steady, while the other slid between our bodies, his fingers not asking, but finding.


    He parted my pussy with a rough, knowing touch, his thumb circling my clit once, twice, a jolt of pure lightning that made my whole body jolt.


    A ragged, broken sound tore from my throat.


    He didn’t wait for me to get used to it.


    With a grunt that was all primal satisfaction, he used his grip on my hip to guide me down onto him, and he shoved himself upward.


    There was no gentle easing, no slow eptance.


    It was one, brutal, fucking inch after another, a searing, stretching invasion that filled me to the point of breaking.


    I cried out, my nails digging into the wet, hard muscle of his shoulders as my body was forced to amodate his girth, the water sloshing with the violence of the motion.


    "That’s it,"he growled into my ear, his breath scalding hot. "Take it. All of it."


    And I did. Because I had no other fucking choice.


    My body, traitor that it was, began to adjust, the initial sharp burn melting into a deep, throbbing fullness.


    He held me there for a long moment, both of us panting, the water still around us.


    Then he moved.


    His pace was merciless.


    He bucked up into me, his cock dragging against every sensitive spot within me, each thrust making the water p against the porcin and our slick skin.


    My head lolled back on his shoulder, my every gasp and whimper muffled by the steamy air.


    I waspletely at his mercy, a puppet on hisp, my own hips starting to move in a desperate, matching rhythm.


    One of his hands remained on my hip, controlling the pace, while the other snaked up to my chest, roughly palming my breast, pinching my nipple until I arched against him with a sharp cry.


    He was everywhere - his scent, his heat, the sheer, overwhelming force of him filling me, surrounding me.


    The world narrowed to this tub, to the p of wet skin, his guttural groans in my ear, and the relentless, building pressure coiling deep in my core.