My Clingy CEO Husband

Chapter 67: Chapter 67: She Wants Him Too

###Chapter 67: She Wanted Him Too

The last thread of Ethan Hawthorne’s reason finally snapped.

Lost in a haze of passion, all barriers were stripped away. Just as his kisses fell wantonly upon her, Maxine Rhodes’s body suddenly stiffened. A familiar, heavy ache spread from her lower abdomen.

"Wait..."

Her voice held a hint of panic as her hands instinctively pressed against his chest. "Ethan Hawthorne, I..."

Everything came to a screeching halt.

Ethan pushed himself up, keenly aware that something was wrong. In the lamplight, his eyes fell on the dark red stain on the bedsheet, and he instantly understood.

’Why did it have to be now?!’

Maxine was so mortified she wanted to crawl into a hole. "I... I didn’t know... It’s early..."

There wasn’t a trace of impatience in Ethan’s eyes. With immense self-control, he rose from on top of her.

First, he pulled the blanket over, carefully tucking her in to make sure she wouldn’t get cold. Then, he turned, walked to the wardrobe, and took out a clean set of sheets. His voice was gentle and soothing. "It’s okay. I’ll take care of it."

Curled up in the blankets, Maxine watched his tall, imposing figure busy at the side of the bed.

His movements were a little clumsy, but he diligently stripped the soiled sheet and replaced it with a fresh, clean one.

To Maxine, this sight was more heart-stirring than any time she had seen him as a master strategist in the business world.

"I’m going to go clean up..." she said, slipping into the bathroom.

"Okay." His steady reply came from outside the door, followed by the soft click of it closing. He had left.

About ten minutes later, there was another sound from outside.

A soft knock came from the bathroom door. Maxine hesitantly pulled it open a crack, and Ethan handed her a plastic convenience store bag.

She took it and looked inside. The bag was stuffed with a dazzling array of sanitary pads of all different brands and sizes, and even some disposable heating pads.

"I didn’t know which kind you use, so I bought them all."

After speaking, Ethan thoughtfully pulled the door closed. freeweɓnovel.cøm

When Maxine emerged from the bathroom, all sorted out, she was greeted by the rich aroma of brown sugar ginger tea wafting through the air.

Ethan was standing in the kitchen, slicing ginger. In a small pot on the stove, a dark-colored sugar-water mixture was simmering away.

The swirling steam softened the normally stern lines of his shoulders.

Maxine leaned against the doorframe without entering. A complex mix of emotions churned in her chest: the lingering passion, a slight sense of emptiness from their interruption, and a much deeper flutter of excitement that came from being so tenderly cared for.

If her period hadn’t come early, she and Ethan would have just crossed the final line.

The realization made her heart race, but she felt no shame or regret.

She stared directly at the man in the kitchen, a single thought crystal clear in her mind: she wanted him.

This desire wasn’t a fleeting impulse. It was like a meticulously planned hunt, the seeds of which had long been planted in her heart. Now, in the sweet, steamy air fragrant with brown sugar, it finally sprouted.

The kitchen fell silent the moment Ethan turned off the stove. He turned around, and their eyes met. The breathless pants and the searing touch of skin from the bedroom instantly flooded back.

It was as if invisible threads were gently pulling them together in the air.

Maxine didn’t avert her gaze. Instead, she took the initiative, walking toward him step by step until only a breath of space remained between them.

The warm yellow light of the kitchen danced in her eyes. She tilted her head up, the corners of her lips curling into a seductive arc.

"Ethan Hawthorne," she began, her voice lower and huskier than usual, like a feather tickling the heart. "About what happened earlier..."

She paused deliberately, and only after her eyes had taken in the satisfying sight of his Adam’s apple bobbing did she continue in a slow, deliberate tone, at a volume only they could hear, "...let’s call it a rain check."

Her gaze lingered boldly on his lips for a moment before meeting his suddenly intense eyes. Her tone was soft, yet held an air of absolute certainty. "When my body is... more cooperative... we’ll continue."

Her words hit them like a silent thunderclap.

This was no shy retreat, no passive acceptance. It was an active invitation.

A storm instantly surged in Ethan Hawthorne’s eyes. The dam of his self-control, shattered by her words, crumbled in an instant.

The muscles in his arms tensed. It took every ounce of his willpower not to pull her into his embrace right then and there.

He lowered his head, their heated breaths mingling together.

"Maxine Rhodes," he said, using her full name, his voice impossibly hoarse. "Do you have any idea what you’re saying?"

"Of course I do." She didn’t back down, her tone even a little defiant. "We’re a legally married couple, are we not? Mr. Hawthorne."

Ethan Hawthorne stared at her, then finally let out a low chuckle, his heart filled with a pleased delight and a newly ignited, all-consuming anticipation.

"Fine," he promised, but his gaze was as hot as molten lava. "I’ll hold you to that."

「Late that night.」

In the master bedroom, Maxine was already fast asleep. But in the guest room, just a wall away, Ethan Hawthorne was leaning against the headboard, wide awake.

The quiet of the night amplified all his senses. In the darkness, the images and sensations he had forcibly suppressed came rushing back.

The feel of her delicate skin as her dress slipped off, the soft weight of her as she straddled his lap, the hazy shimmer in her eyes as she looked up at him, and that sly, bold tone as she breathed by his ear, telling him to call it a rain check...

Each memory was a spark landing on dry tinder.

A wave of heat surged from his lower abdomen. Ethan’s mouth went dry, and it felt as if a wildfire—searing and urgent—was blazing through his body.

He couldn’t help but grind his back teeth, a powerful impulse rising within him.

Finally, he opened his eyes, their color as deep as undiluted ink. He took out his phone, found the encrypted album with Maxine’s photos, and then silently pulled down his underwear...

After a long while...

Only then did the heaving of Ethan’s chest gradually return to normal, his ragged breaths slowly dissipating into the quiet room.

He got up, tidied the "crime scene," and threw away what needed to be disposed of in the trash can.

Only after doing all this did he lie back down on the bed, the turmoil in his body seemingly placated for the time being.

In the darkness, the corners of Ethan Hawthorne’s mouth lifted into a silent smirk. This was one debt he would be sure to collect from her, with interest.

*****