“Let me sleep with you. Just once.”
Shen Qingli leaned against the edge of the table, her expression challenging.
“Sure. Do you want the innocent kind or the naughty kind?”
Pei Zhi’s lips curled into a careless smile as his gaze rested openly on her.
Her shapely figure was tightly encased in a black slip dress.
Who knew what she’d been raised on? She had all the right curves.
Where she couldn’t see, his hand, with its clearly defined knuckles, closed slightly around empty air.
Shen Qingli said, “We’re adults. Who still wants the innocent kind?”
Pei Zhi replied, “I do. I like the innocent kind.”
Shen Qingli gave a cold laugh and glanced down. “That’s called being impotent.”
“Charming.” Pei Zhi clicked his tongue. “It’s called keeping myself pure.”
“You’re inexperienced? I don’t sleep with inexperienced men.” Shen Qingli looked at him with open disdain.
Of course, she’d never slept with an experienced man, either.
Pei Zhi wore only a pair of gray shorts. The muscles across his abdomen were sharply defined, and the veins at his waist ran downward, disappearing beneath the waistband.
He wasn’t wearing a shirt.
Because she’d just torn it to shreds.
Pei Zhi’s mouth twitched in disbelief. “You’re into rotten cucumbers, too?”
“It’s hereditary. Just like my mom.”
She had no idea when her mother’s taste had gotten so bad.
Unable to have her cake, she’d gone and eaten shit instead, setting her sights on Pei Zhi’s father.
Now the father and son had moved right in, taking over their home as if it were theirs.
She wasn’t going to let either of them have an easy time.
“My dad isn’t a rotten cucumber,” Pei Zhi said.
After a pause, he added, “He’s just an old one.”
Shen Qingli didn’t want to keep arguing about whether cucumbers were rotten or old.
She just wanted to get on with it. “Are you going to let me sleep with you or not?”
“In such a hurry? All right. How about we start with a kiss?” Pei Zhi said.
Shen Qingli’s gaze fell on his lips. They were naturally pale pink, and their shape was beautiful.
She’d never imagined that one day she’d do something so intimate with someone she barely knew.
Seeing her staring blankly, Pei Zhi assumed she was waiting for him to make the first move. He crossed the room in a few strides, lifted a hand to her chin, and bent down to kiss her.
Shen Qingli didn’t know how to kiss. She instinctively held her breath, her hand reaching out nervously to grab something.
But Pei Zhi wasn’t wearing a shirt she could grab.
So her hand raked across his waist instead.
It tickled.
Her heart started to tingle, too.
Shen Qingli held her breath, her heart racing. Her skin was fair, and soon a blush spread across her face.
Pei Zhi seemed to be teasing her on purpose.
The more she held her breath, the deeper he kissed her.
Her lips began to hurt from the friction, and Shen Qingli’s teeth knocked against him.
She bit him.
With a hiss, he pulled away.
Shen Qingli was baffled. How was he such a good kisser?
Hadn’t he never done this before?
“You’re not one of those people who’s pure down there but dirty with your hands and mouth, are you?”
Pei Zhi frowned. “What’s all this about being pure or not? You have a lot of requirements.”
She’d bitten him just when he was enjoying the kiss most. Now he was in a foul mood, and it showed in his tone.
His irritation lasted barely a second before he noticed the young lady in front of him looking ready to blow up.
Pei Zhi ran a hand through his hair, revealing his refined features. “I’m pure. One hundred percent. You’re the only one I’ve ever waited on. Happy now?”
Shen Qingli turned her head away and gave a dry little “Mm.”
“Can we keep going?” Pei Zhi asked.
Shen Qingli was confused. Wasn’t she the one forcing him?
Why did he seem so eager?
Before she could think any further, his lips were on hers again.
He kissed her as he guided her toward the bed.
His mouth was busy, but that didn’t stop him from getting even busier.
His voice was low and muffled, his words indistinct as he kissed her and said, “I’ll be gentle.”
…
Shen Qingli lay on her side, a thin quilt draped lightly over her body.
Her clear eyes still glistened, and tears clung to her thick lashes.
Pei Zhi watched her, twirling a strand of her smooth black hair around his fingertip.
She’d already cried twice.
Afraid she couldn’t take any more, he hadn’t continued.
“Want to take a shower?” he asked.
Shen Qingli didn’t want to move. She was exhausted, body and soul, with a limp, weightless feeling like she’d fallen from the clouds. Her body had no strength left.
“No.”
Pei Zhi threw back the quilt and got up without waiting for her.
Shen Qingli looked at the crisscrossing scratches on his back and cursed, “You’re terrible in bed!”
Pei Zhi froze where he stood.
“The son follows in his father’s footsteps. Shouldn’t you have learned a few tricks from your dad? Or is he just as bad? Watch out, or my mom might kick him out of bed one day.”
Pei Zhi didn’t turn around. He squeezed the words through his teeth. “That bad?”
“Absolutely terrible,” Shen Qingli said.
Not just bad—really bad.
Putting someone down afterward was even more vicious than pulling up your pants and pretending you didn’t know them.
Pei Zhi gave a furious laugh. “Then go find someone who isn’t old or terrible.”
He glanced down at the large patches of scratches across his front, got up, and walked into the bathroom.
In front of the mirror, there wasn’t a single unmarked patch of skin on the man’s body.
His chest, arms, neck—even the side of his face.
Scratches or bite marks everywhere.
Oh, and a handprint, too.
He looked like a completely clawed-up scratching post.
The shower started up, water pattering steadily.
The phone on the bedside table buzzed.
Trying to ignore the pain in her body, Shen Qingli got up and reached for it.
She unlocked it. A message from her mother.
Li Rui: 【Sweetie, I won’t be home for your birthday. I’ll have my assistant send your present to the house.】
Shen Qingli: 【Okay. Thanks, Mom.】
It wasn’t as if she celebrated her birthday anyway. She was used to it; it was like this every year.
This year wouldn’t be any different.
Her finger hovered over the screen for a moment before she typed: 【What about Pei Zhi?】
Was he going to keep living at their house?
She didn’t like having an outsider in the house.
Shen Qingli stared at the screen until her eyes began to feel dry, then held down her last message.
There was still time to unsend it.
She was just about to tap unsend when Li Rui’s reply popped up:
【He’s living at home. You two get along.】
The shower stopped. Shen Qingli blinked, and a clear tear slipped from the corner of her eye and disappeared into the pillow.
Shen Qingli: 【We do NOT get along!!!】
Li Rui: 【Stop picking on him all the time. He’s not someone you can just push around.】
Shen Qingli locked her phone and tossed it onto the bed with a smack.
She rubbed the corner of her eye, then met Pei Zhi’s gaze as he came out of the bathroom.
He hadn’t even bothered to grab a towel.
Acting as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
How were they supposed to get along?
She was afraid she’d get a stye just looking at him.
Pei Zhi frowned. “Why are you crying?”
Shen Qingli looked away. “None of your business.”
“I must’ve owed you something in a past life.” Pei Zhi walked to the bed and reached to lift the quilt. “Let me take a look.”
“I don’t want you looking.” Shen Qingli held the quilt down with all her strength.
“If you don’t want me to look, who do you want to look? Should I take a picture and ask AI?” Pei Zhi asked.
Shen Qingli glared at him. “Why don’t you take a selfie and ask AI if the thing on top of your neck is the pig head that went missing from the Old Summer Palace?”