Chapter 152: Chapter 152: Obtuse

“Darling,” Victor Morgan murmured while kissing Jessie Sterling. “You’ve been so distant lately.”

He nipped the soft flesh at the nape of Jessie’s neck and didn’t let go.

The action sent a shiver down Jessie’s spine. She wanted to pull away, but Victor had a firm grip on her slender waist, leaving her no escape.

Completely naked, Jessie couldn’t help but feel a little flustered.

“I’m… I’m just too tired.” Kissed until she was breathless, Jessie finally found a moment to explain.

“Then let me take care of you,” Victor said.

Jessie: “!!!”

’That’s not what I meant at all!’

But Victor gave her no chance to refuse. The next moment, another person was in the tub, and the sound of splashing water filled Jessie’s ears.

The bathwater, already shimmering with glitter from an essential oil bath bomb, churned violently. Under the lights, the fine specks seemed to sparkle even more dazzlingly.

Victor’s long arm wrapped around Jessie’s waist as her upper body draped over the edge of the tub.

Her skin, already flushed a delicate pink from the hot water, now seemed to deepen in color. The crimson blush was impossible to hide, appearing all the more vivid against the white porcelain of the bathtub.

After Victor carried her out of the bathroom, he held a cup of warm water to her lips, and she took a few sips. It finally soothed the parched feeling in her throat.

Once she’d recovered, Jessie had just lain down on the bed when she kicked out at Victor’s calf.

Victor had been considerate enough to please her first. But toward the end, she had clearly cried that it was enough, yet he had turned a deaf ear. Now, Jessie could already feel an ache deep in her thighs, and it wasn’t hard to imagine how sore she would be in the morning.

“Uncomfortable?” Having been kicked, Victor was feeling thoroughly satisfied and wasn’t the least bit impatient. He turned his head and asked, looking at Jessie’s flushed face.

As he spoke, Victor’s hand was already on Jessie’s waist, kneading it idly.

Jessie rolled her eyes at him.

If she were to call Victor reckless, she had to admit she wasn’t hurt.

But if she were to call him considerate, he had just spent ages wearing her out in the bathroom, ignoring her pleas for mercy.

To make matters worse, his attitude was so gentle now that Jessie felt a stifled frustration she couldn’t vent.

“What do you think?” Jessie huffed, finally letting her temper show. “My legs are sore,” she said.

Understanding her perfectly, Victor reached out, placed his hand on the side of her leg, and began massaging it with his palm.

The pressure felt so good that Jessie couldn’t help but let out a soft moan.

Victor’s hand, resting on her leg, paused for a moment.

His gaze on Jessie had, at some point, turned dangerous.

The smooth, dark gray silk sheets made Jessie’s fair skin look even more porcelain-like. Victor felt that the supple skin in his hand was even finer than the best silk, making it hard to let go.

“Don’t make that sound,” Victor murmured.

Jessie was about to ask why when she suddenly met Victor’s eyes. Her heart jumped as she instantly realized what he was thinking. She turned her face away, her tone a mixture of exasperation and indignation. “What on earth goes through that head of yours all day!”

’That was a moan of pleasure from the massage, okay?! Not… something else!’

But…

’In the bathroom earlier, I think I also cried out because it felt too good…’

Jessie shook her head. ’Either way, it can’t possibly be my fault. It’s because Victor’s mind is always full of indecent thoughts!’

Victor’s massage was making Jessie drowsy, but just as she was about to drift off, his voice sounded in her ear.

“Did work go well today?”

Jessie hummed noncommittally and gave a perfunctory nod.

“Very tired?”

’Even if I wasn’t tired before, after all that, I’m exhausted now,’ Jessie thought.

She thought she had answered Victor, but in reality, her lips had only moved without making a sound. Her head tilted to one side, and she fell fast asleep.

Victor didn’t get an answer. Instead, he heard the sound of even breathing next to him.

He turned his head and saw Jessie’s sweet, soundly sleeping face.

Victor gradually stopped his massage, leaned in, and gently tucked a stray strand of hair from Jessie’s cheek behind her ear.

He suddenly let out a low chuckle.

He had wanted to talk to Jessie, to get an answer to the question he’d asked when he first entered the bathroom. Who knew the woman beside him was so clever, falling asleep just like that without a word.

’Oh well,’ he thought. ’We have all the time in the world.’

Jessie truly didn’t know Victor was so perceptive, but even if she had known what he wanted to ask, she wouldn’t have admitted it.

’There was no way she would willingly hand Victor leverage over her. For something like this, wasn’t it better to let him figure it out on his own?’

「The next morning」

Jessie found herself once again sitting in Victor’s car.

She was holding a soft, jam-smeared brioche. She still hadn’t quite adapted to this new routine of going to work every day and often didn’t have time for breakfast, so she had to eat on the way.

“Don’t you have anything better to do?” Jessie asked as she buckled her seatbelt.

’If he wasn’t busy, why would Victor be driving her to work? It wasn’t like they didn’t have a chauffeur.’

Victor: “…”

President Morgan, a man who practically lived at the office, was momentarily speechless.

“I still have time to take you to work,” Victor said.

’If my wife won’t cling to me, then I’ll just have to be the one to take the initiative, won’t I?’

As he said this, Victor turned his head to give the woman beside him a deep look. Unfortunately, Jessie completely missed the deeper meaning in his eyes and just gave him a sweet smile.

Victor couldn’t help but sigh inwardly and console himself. ’This is actually pretty good, too.’

Jessie was very busy at Apex Films.

Since the change in ownership at the end of last year, Apex Films hadn’t launched a single project.

And the few television series that were filmed before had, without exception, all lost a significant amount of money.

The script selection was poor. On top of that, the A-list actors the company had previously cultivated had either started their own studios or jumped ship. As a result, the artists currently signed with Apex Films were a mixed bag.

Jessie had never paid much attention to entertainment industry celebrities before. She felt that while having a trending star to generate buzz for a show was one thing, making a good series ultimately came down to the actors’ skills.

Even without a trending celebrity who brought their own popularity, as long as the quality was there and the marketing was strong, a show could still become a hit.

The previous management team had been so hesitant and indecisive about casting precisely because they couldn’t find a trending star who could carry the show, right?

In the meeting today, Jessie established the casting criteria for the team: even casting a newcomer was better than choosing an empty-headed pretty face who had popularity but no acting skills.

Now that the boss had laid down the law, the team felt as if a weight had been lifted from their shoulders. The production team for *Glory* was fully assembled before the Qingming Festival.

Perhaps it was a coincidence, but the day *Glory* began filming was the exact same day that the teen drama from Thorne Pictures—the company Rachel Ford had defected to—also began production.

The two shows were kicking off on the very same day.

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