Jiang Nuan’s mind went blank for a full two seconds.
Then her heart began to pound.
The image of him lifting her chin in the interrogation room, the helplessness she had felt in the metal chair, all surged back at once.
Mixed with it was a faint, indescribable thrill, fizzing through her veins like carbonated water.
She looked at the man before her.
The captain of Squad Zero. The man who had single-handedly held up half of the collapsing Poseidon Building, who had risen to the position of governor in an almost lifelike alternate world within a year, a man of absolute strength and an overwhelming need for control.
And now, he was handing that permission to her as casually as if it were nothing.
This was an opportunity delivered straight to her door!
She really wanted to see it.
What would this untouchable iceberg look like when he was dragged down from his pedestal?
At the thought, Jiang Nuan’s eyes lit up.
The last shred of reason left in her mind was waving flags frantically.
You’re playing with fire, Jiang Nuan. You know you can’t possibly win against him.
She knew.
But she simply couldn’t stop.
“You said it yourself.” She tried to suppress the tremor of excitement in her voice, making it sound as threatening as possible.
Lu Shiyan’s fingers paused.
“A captain’s word is his bond,” Jiang Nuan said. As soon as he finished applying the ointment to her other wrist, she sprang up from the sofa.
She quickly scanned the room, her eyes sweeping across the living room.
Then she spotted the black governor’s uniform jacket draped over the armrest of the sofa.
Beside it lay the tie Lu Shiyan had casually pulled off before entering the kitchen.
Black, with a subtle pattern, it rested silently over the back of a chair.
She picked it up.
Lu Shiyan was sitting in that chair, looking up at her. One of his eyebrows twitched almost imperceptibly.
Jiang Nuan lifted her chin. “Turn around.”
Lu Shiyan looked at her. Without hesitation, he slowly turned his back to her.
He even adjusted his posture slightly, bringing his wrists together.
Jiang Nuan walked around behind the chair.
And then—
She stood over him, surveying her handiwork.
Lu Shiyan sat in the chair, his broad shoulders pressed against the backrest, the front of his shirt pulled taut. The rise and fall of his chest and the outline of his muscles were faintly visible.
He tilted his head back slightly to look at her.
His eyes seemed to hold dark currents, slowly shifting in the light.
Jiang Nuan’s heart skipped half a beat.
She extended one finger and pressed it against his chin.
Mimicking the way he had tilted up her chin in the interrogation room, she raised his slightly.
“Captain, you’re mine now.”
Lu Shiyan didn’t struggle.
He let out a low laugh.
The sound resonated from his chest, carrying the unmistakable note of someone who had just been indulged.
His gaze traveled from her fingertip up along her wrist, finally settling on the tips of her ears, which had flushed a faint red.
“I’m yours.”
He watched her without blinking, as though waiting for her next move.
Jiang Nuan’s heart quickened by another half beat.
It was almost as if he were counting down.
This man… didn’t look even remotely like a captured prisoner should!
She bent forward, and her half-damp hair slipped over her shoulder. One strand brushed against his ear.
Her fingers left his chin, trailing slowly downward along his jaw.
They passed over his Adam’s apple.
The curve of it shifted.
Jiang Nuan continued lower.
His breathing grew heavier.
A burst of triumph welled up inside her, and she continued playing the game.
“Tell me, Governor,” she murmured, lowering her voice. “You’ve been infiltrating my territory for over a year. What exactly are you after?”
Then Lu Shiyan spoke.
“You really want to know?”
“Of course.”
“Bring your ear closer.”
Driven by curiosity, her body moved before she could think. She leaned in, bringing her ear to his lips.
“My purpose—”
he said,
“was to find prey as bold and reckless as you.”
Jiang Nuan’s heart jolted.
An arm tightened around her waist.
She looked down.
At some point, Lu Shiyan’s hands had been freed.
One of them was now at her waist.
“Have you had enough of tying me up?”
He raised his head to look at her.
In his eyes, something long suppressed was surging violently beneath the surface.
Jiang Nuan’s mind raced as she tried to think of something to ease the situation.
But it was too late.
The touch of the silk against her wrists was gentle.
The force pulling it tight, however, left not the slightest bit of slack.
He tied a knot.
Clean and decisive.
Compared with the knot she had spent ages fumbling over, it was incomparably faster.
Then he swept one arm across her waist and back, supporting her as he lifted her to her feet.
The chair scraped across the floor behind them with a sharp, grating sound.
Jiang Nuan had nothing to hold on to. Her entire weight fell into the crook of his arm.
His heartbeat came through the fabric of his shirt, each beat faster than the last.
She couldn’t tell whether it was hers or his.
“Now—”
His voice was low and hoarse.
“It’s your turn.”
