Don't Be a Tease, Mr. Blackwood

Chapter 184: Chapter 184: My Wife is So Fierce

Anne looked up, her gaze filled with confusion. "Why are you asking that?"

"Just answer me first."

"The bodyguards from the agency are all just coasting, not putting their minds to the job at all. They just go through the motions all day. Nina calls them good-for-nothings. She doesn’t get along with those good-for-nothings, so why would she ever throw herself into their arms?"

Ethan Austin let out a soft, "Oh." "Then why does she like throwing herself into my arms?"

"..."

Anne blinked a couple of times, thought for a moment, and said uncertainly, "Maybe because you’re not a good-for-nothing? And your eyes look a bit like Garland’s?"

"So besides being a personal bodyguard, I also have to be a stand-in?"

Anne put down her pen and turned to stare at her younger brother’s face. She noticed he didn’t look wronged at all; in fact, the corners of his lips were turned up in a faint smile. Clearly, he didn’t mind Nina Halloway getting close to him.

"If you’re not comfortable with it, you can just remind Nina to keep a certain social distance. Nina is pretty oblivious; she probably didn’t realize she was offending you."

Ethan Austin was silent for a few seconds before asking with a straight face, "Since she’s so oblivious, has she ever been like this with male co-stars?"

"Like what?"

"Acting cute when she doesn’t want to walk, asking a co-star to carry her, or burrowing into his arms."

"Are you asking about on-screen or off-screen?"

"Off-screen."

"No, she hasn’t done that."

Ethan Austin inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief and scratched his head. "If she tries to burrow into my arms again and I reject her, will that get you fired?"

"Well..."

"It definitely would, right?"

"There’s a certain possibility..."

However, Anne felt that Nina Halloway wasn’t the type to hold grudges, so she probably wouldn’t take it out on her.

After a moment of serious thought, she was about to tell Ethan Austin that while she loved money, she wouldn’t let her own brother sell himself. They, as brother and sister, still had to have some basic self-respect.

However, before she could voice her thoughts, Ethan Austin suddenly seemed to have made up his mind. He nodded and said, as if consoling himself, "Then I’ll just put up with it."

"You don’t really have to put up with it. Just say what’s on your mind. Nina is easy to talk to and get along with. The worst that could happen is she fires you."

"It’s fine, I can put up with it."

"Are you sure you want to put up with it?"

"Yeah. I’ve thought it over carefully. She’s a huge star with a hundred million fans. Her fans would kill for a chance to meet her, but I get to hold her every day."

The more Anne listened, the stranger his words sounded. "Ethan, you..."

"What about me?"

"Are you even listening to yourself?"

"..."

"Don’t tell me you’ve given up on pursuing Sophie Shaw and now you’re just throwing caution to the wind, trying to seduce your naive sugar mama so you can live off her?"

"No! Sis, where is your mind going? Am I that kind of person?"

"Then what were you trying to say just now?"

"What I meant was, as Nina’s personal bodyguard, some physical contact is inevitable on the job. Besides, she just went through a breakup. She’s so fragile and needs comforting. A hug is no big deal. As a grown man, I can’t be petty and quibble with a woman who’s been hurt by love."

With that, Ethan Austin got up and went back to his room, leaving Anne alone on the sofa to mull over his words.

’Something doesn’t feel right about this...’

Anne felt a little uneasy.

But she didn’t waste too many brain cells on it. Her attention quickly returned to her notebook, where she continued to jot down the ingredients to buy for tomorrow.

「At the same time.」

Sophie Shaw had already given Alaric Blackwood his medicine. After washing up, the two of them went to bed early.

She was wearing a matching pajama set with Alaric Blackwood—the festive, bright red robes the Blackwoods had prepared for them for the wedding.

Just like before, the man was draped over her dependently, his fluffy head buried in the crook of her neck.

"Didn’t you say you were going to tell me about Aiden Lloyd tonight?"

Alaric Blackwood hummed in agreement, his voice low and husky. He dutifully explained the relationship between Lydia Wynn, Aiden Lloyd, and Ava Sterling into her ear, including Lydia Wynn’s almost pathological obsession with him.

After he finished, he chuckled softly. "Do you think I’m overthinking it?"

Sophie Shaw shook her head. "The world is a big place; anything is possible."

"You believe me?"

"I do."

She believed whatever Alaric Blackwood said.

"As long as you believe me."

He had always been confident in his intuition.

The man, who had been getting drowsy from the anti-inflammatory and pain medication, suddenly felt his heart pound with excitement upon hearing Sophie Shaw’s unthinking, subconscious "I do." In an instant, it was as if he’d been shot full of adrenaline, and his body was brimming with energy.

He lightly kissed her earlobe, his scorching kisses trailing down her fair neck until they captured her red lips.

"Don’t mess around."

"Your wound might reopen."

"Alaric Blackwood..."

The man ignored her words, instead pushing her pajama top up bit by bit.

A pair of hands gripped her waist and suddenly flipped her over...

She gripped the sheets beneath her tightly, her cheek pressed against the pillow. An incredibly soft kiss landed on her back, making her feel so weak she could have been boneless, a tingling numbness spreading through her entire body...

"Alaric Blackwood, you’re really terrible. You can’t do this right now."

"I can, wifey. Trust me."

...

The next day, the moment Sophie Shaw opened her eyes, she saw that fresh red blood had seeped through the gauze on Alaric Blackwood’s back, even staining the bedsheets.

She scrambled up in a panic and immediately rushed out of the room to find the butler.

"Quick, call Dr. Cole over."

The butler froze for a moment. "Young Madam, is the Young Master unwell?"

"His wound is bleeding again."

"Understood. I’ll contact Dr. Cole right away."

Seeing the butler pick up the landline in the living room, dial the number, and successfully connect with Dr. Cole, Sophie Shaw’s taut nerves relaxed a little.

She turned and went back upstairs, waking Alaric Blackwood and forcibly dragging him into the bathroom to help him clean up.

She carefully avoided his injuries, then draped a bathrobe over him.

"I told you that you couldn’t, but you didn’t listen."

The man chuckled deeply. "Wifey, don’t make a fuss. A little wound like this won’t kill me."

"So it doesn’t hurt anymore, is that it?"

"..."

"Dr. Cole will be here soon. From now on, you will follow the doctor’s orders. No more messing around."

Sophie Shaw’s expression was stern. Without giving Alaric Blackwood a chance to speak, she shoved the toothbrush, already loaded with toothpaste, into his hand. "Wash up!"

"Wifey’s so fierce."

Sophie Shaw’s brows furrowed. "I can be even fiercer. Want to try me?"

"..."

Alaric Blackwood pressed his lips together, turned to face the mirror over the sink, and obediently brushed his teeth and washed his face.

Half an hour later, Dr. Cole arrived.

Sophie Shaw had already washed up and was fully dressed.

She waited for Dr. Cole to finish re-bandaging Alaric Blackwood’s wound, then asked him, "Does he need another dressing change tomorrow?"

"He does."

Originally, if he just had one more dressing change today, Dr. Cole wouldn’t have needed to come again.

But who would have thought Alaric Blackwood would go and reopen his wound.

"May I ask, Mr. Blackwood, what exactly did you do yesterday?"

The man rested his arm on the sofa’s armrest, propped his chin on his hand, and said listlessly, "Just got some exercise."

Dr. Cole took a few deep breaths. He recalled seeing a hickey on his neck while treating the wound earlier, and suddenly, he understood everything.

’So full of youthful vigor!’

’Doing "bedtime exercises" while injured like this... he’s really not afraid of the wound repeatedly opening and getting infected.’

He patted his chest to calm himself down, then repeatedly warned Alaric Blackwood, "Mr. Blackwood, no more strenuous exercise until the wound has fully healed."