Chapter 171: They Won’t Find Out

Celine hung up the heart shaped number sign they were given from the restaurant outside their cottage as instructed, then she pushed open the wooden doors and went inside.

Tristan had walked over to the edge of the bridge while receiving a phone call.

Celine proceeded to take a warm shower before wearing her pajamas, however her steps halted while she approached the bed,

“There’s only one bed in the room…” She murmured under her breath in realization while her heart skipped a beat. Does this mean she would have to share a bed with Tristan?

Her breath momentarily hitched. Though it wasn’t as if she hadn’t shared a bed with him before, the thought of it made her nervous, but considering the fact that they were currently having a professional relationship, he should opt to gentlemanly take the couch right?

Celine’s gaze travelled over to the couch which looked quite small for someone of his height, even if he’d choose to take the couch himself, she wouldn’t feel good watching him curl himself up on a small couch like that.

At that moment while she was still contemplating, Tristan suddenly walked in, the sound of his movements almost made her jump in fright as she hadn’t expected he’d come in at that moment.

“Did I frighten you?” He asked seeing how she looked somewhat shocked, his voice was a low husk.

Celine slowly shook her head her gaze meeting his bright hazel ones whose color had somewhat darkened due to the dimly lit room.

Her hair was still slightly damp as it cascaded down her shoulders, her big doe like eyes staring straight into his own, unconsciously, his eyes stayed on a drop of water sliding down her cheeks as it slowly trailed down her jawline then her neck to her collarbones, Tristan clenched his jaw and averted his eyes.

He knew avoiding her in this sense wouldn’t be easy, as much as he didn’t want to give himself the liberty to get attached to her even more than he was, he still couldn’t help the strong attraction for her, nor the feelings and emotions that came with it. This deal was something he couldn’t afford to lose, so he would have to make himself endure through the time they would be staying here and have her pretend as his wife.

Celine stood there awkwardly for a while then moved towards the bed, she picked up a pillow and found an extra blanket in the closets then headed for the couch,

“I’ll sleep on the couch.” She told him while shifting things on the couch and placing her pillows to prepare for a comfortable sleep.

“You want to sleep on the couch?” He suddenly queried, his face looking expressionless.

“Yes.” She replied matter of factly slightly turning to see him giving her a look with his brows raised as if to ask, ’how is that possible?’

The couch was quite small even for someone like her, but Tristan didn’t say anything and just folded his arms and watched her, “Alright then.”

Celine scrunched her brows but didn’t say anything, and finished preparing her sleeping place, then laid down, she had to try a few times before she could finally make herself comfortable enough to sleep, with her legs curled up making her look like a snail that wanted to push itself into its shell.

Tristan resisted the urge to shake his head while his eyes glazed in amusement.

But without another word he walked past her into the bathroom, after sometime he emerged from the bathroom after a shower fully ready for bed.

Celine seemed to have fallen asleep by now, however she still continued shifting in her sleep, if she were to sleep like that the whole night she would definitely not be comfortable.

What did she think, that he would do something to her if they shared a bed, or was it because she wanted to keep a distance from him?

As his gaze fell on her beautiful sleeping face, her hair sprawled across the pillow while her shirt had somewhat shifted revealing her fair neck and collar bones. He suddenly realized that she indeed was right to keep a distance from him, he could already feel his body reacting just by looking at her, while other women would try so hard to seduce him but he wouldn’t feel a thing not to mention wanting to give them a second glance.

Tristan gritted his teeth then approached the couch, bending slightly he effortlessly scooped her up along with the blanket, the movement which suddenly woke her up,

“I… Tristan.” She breathed softly realizing she was in his arms, but before she could question him he had taken her over to the bed, he slowly lowered her onto it. Celine didn’t know why at that moment, a memory of the night they had shared together appeared in her mind making her cheeks burn up.

“You’ll sleep here.” He said with finality before turning around and going back into the bathroom leaving her with her heart pounding rapidly in her chest.

After a few seconds of calming her heart Celine let out a sigh then her gaze fell on the doors of the bathroom as she heard the sound of running water drifting over, she frowned thinking,

’Didn’t he already take a shower?’

She had clearly seen the dampness in his hair when he’d carried her just now, nevertheless a smile surfaced on her face as she lay down on the bed, but perhaps because her heart had gone on a rampage just now, she couldn’t immediately fall asleep.

The sound of running water seized from the bathroom and after some time Tristan emerged from the bathroom again.

Celine’s eyes followed him everywhere he moved, however he didn’t notice that she was still awake, after he was done he turned back to the bed, Celine almost thought she caught a hint of hesitation in his eyes before he slowly approached the bed walking towards the other side of the bed and lay down facing upwards.

Celine turned towards his side, “Tristan?”

“Hmm? You’re still awake.”

“What if… What if the island chief finds out we lied to them and we’re not truly a couple, we would lose the land acquisition then.” She voiced what had been bothering her for some time now. Truth be told she was still feeling guilty about lying, but the circumstances had forced them into doing so.

“They won’t find out, if we don’t give it away.” He stated, his tone somewhat confident then he added, “Let’s just play along with everything here for now until we can get the land acquisition.”

Celine nodded slightly then fell silent for a while. Tristan then slowly closed his eyes while placing his arm over his face as if he was ready to fall asleep.

“Tristan.” She called again peering over at him.

“Hmm?” He replied with a hum not removing his arm from his face, but his reply indicated he was listening to her.

“Goodnight.” She said in a whisper, something else had been on the tip of her tongue, but she decided against it, this wasn’t the right moment, so she chose to say goodnight instead.

He was silent for a few seconds, before he opened his mouth to say, “Goodnight.”

After which Celine turned away further pulling up her blanket, her eyes gazing up at the ceiling trying to take her attention away from the fact that they were currently sharing a bed right now, soon she slowly drifted off to sleep.

Hearing her steady breathing, Tristan slowly removed his arm from over his face tilting his head to gaze at her, with every rise and fall of her chest and her figure curled up beside him with a small lingering warmth coming from her and her lovely fragrance wafting into his nose he was made even more painfully aware of her presence beside him.

Tristan swallowed a low curse as he felt heat beginning to stir up within him again, he sighed loudly then got up and strode out of the cottage while shutting the door behind him so that the chilly breeze outside wouldn’t go inside the cottage where Celine was fast asleep. He stood at the edge of the bridge letting the cool breeze hit him to cool himself down.

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