Chapter 1416
Alaric’s ragged breath fanned across Hertha’s face, his long lashes brushing her cheek, sending shivers down her spine like a current of electricity. His alluring face was inches away, his lips pressed fervently against hers.
It was the tremble, the heart–racing, the thrill she had dreamed of countless times, where she and Alaric were locked in a passionate embrace, just like this.
Hertha felt as if her toes were curling.
For three years, she had daydreamed and nightdreamed about this man.
Hertha was no innocent like Thalassa. When she missed a man, she entertained vivid dreams of rolling in the hay with him, kissing him endlessly, sleeping with him through countless imagined encounters.
Now, her dreams were coming to life. She could feel Alaric’s potent masculine presence enveloping her, his kiss intense with an undercurrent of spite and anger.
Yes, spite and anger.
Hertha’s softened heart snapped back to reality abruptly. She placed her hands on Alaric’s face and pushed him away, her wide, watery eyes filled with indignation as she panted, “Alaric, I am not a pawn for you to use in your games with your fiancée!”
She hated being used as a tool, just as Thalassa had been treated by Lysander, especially being used by Alaric as a strategy to get under Georgia’s skin!
Alaric’s striking eyes held hers, and beneath the anger, there was an undeniable longing that had surged unbidden when he kissed her. It was the same desire that had roared within him three years ago, the night they had crossed the point of no return, his body clamoring for her.
“I never saw you as a pawn.” Alaric’s voice was hoarse, tinged with raw emotion.
He had suppressed his feelings for three long years. He had wanted to find Hertha, to explain to her that he didn’t want to be with Georgia. He just wanted to be with her.
But the memory of that night in the hotel, when Hertha saw him with Georgia and stormed out, haunted him. He had chased after her, only to see her with Spencer, looking so happy and content, a stark contrast to how she was with him.
Alaric knew women, and he knew they only showed their softest side to the man they truly cherished. Seeing Hertha’s affection for Spencer had made him step back.
After that, Hertha had vanished from his life, no longer appearing before him and never reaching out.
Meanwhile, his mother had pushed him into an engagement with Georgia, insisting that he was honor–bound to make it right since he had slept with her.
Alaric thought, if he had made a mistake, he might as well live with it.
His mother was right. If he had slipped up and gotten involved with Georgia, he owed it to her to take responsibility.
After all, he was bound to marry someday, and of all the women he’d known, none but Hertha had truly stirred his heart.
Marrying any of the others made no difference to him.
Why not Georgia then? At the very least, his mother adored her.
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