Chapter 237 – Payback

He tasted surreal. Sweeter than fresh spring, smoother than the most intoxicating wine. I suppose I should’ve expected none less from what an immortal had to offer. What HE had to offer. Slowly sliding my lips, I licked him clean until he fell to his knees, almost tumbling us over together with the crate.

His eyes were half-closed and unfocused as he leaned against me, chest heaving while the residual tremors continued to pulse through him. Heavens, this was too sensual a sight for me to take. It stirred the flaming heat inside my body, sending it roaring so high that I completely forgot about the original intent of my revenge … Until he lifted an unsteady hand and clutched my waist. The half-pinch, half-tickle made me whimper over his shoulders.

“I hope you’re ready for your payback when we get home,” he breathed.

“Payback?” Thrust back into reality, I pretended not to understand what he meant. “Did I do something wrong?”

Except almost undoing him like this with so many ears around us, of course.

He opened his eyes then, and he gave me a look dark enough to devour my soul. Tidying his clothes, he all but lifted me out of the crate by the scruff of my neck.

~ ~

I regretted what I had done soon afterward. I regretted not remembering how vengeful a man I was dealing with. The “payback” lasted the entire night, while he played havoc on my body and drove my senses to madness so many times that I lost count. I must’ve moaned and whimpered and cried for hours, because by the time he finally let me rest my limp form within his arms and take a break under the utterly soiled bedding, my voice was so hoarse that I could barely let out a coherent sound.

And I was way too glad the next morning that our return visit to Vermilion Shrine wasn’t so immediate, because my legs were still wobbly like noodles, and I wouldn’t know how to hide all those love bites on my neck.

Chewing a hazelnut pastry for breakfast, I glanced at the culprit. He was still under the blankets, propped up on one arm and looking at me with a smirk on his face. “When are you going to get out of bed?” I asked, swallowing the last bite and pretending to talk casually. “I need to put the door couplets on,” —because I needed to find myself something to do to flush out those cheek-burning memories from my mind— “and I can’t do it all by myself. I’m not tall enough to reach over the lintel.”

“After you feed me something to eat. I’m famished.” He stretched out an arm and scooped me into the bed—the cabin was small enough that the table I was sitting at was easily within his reach. Taking my hand that was just holding the pastry I had eaten, he closed his lips around my fingers, swirling his tongue and slowly licking them clean.

“…” Was he trying to remind me more of last night? I stared at him speechlessly for a few seconds before realizing that heat was already starting to creep onto my cheeks. Pulling my hand back hastily, I gave him a glare. “Bai Ye! We didn’t leave Mount Hua so that you can sit in bed and seduce me all day!”

He let out a low chuckle. “I can do more than seduce you …” he whispered, and the curl of those wicked lips told me what they wanted to do next. But perhaps my protest had knocked some reason into his head for once, as he simply leaned back without proceeding further. “But since you asked,” he said and raised a palm, summoning the door couplets from our storage artifact, “I suppose I should help you with this first.”

Without giving me any time to respond, he swept a robe over his shoulders and scooped me up in his arms.

“W-Wait!” I protested as he strode towards the door with me in his embrace. “What are you doing? I just need you to help me put those horizontal scrolls up!”

“I am helping,” he said, straightening his arms to lift me up once we crossed the threshold. I yelped as I looked down over the top of his head, my waist almost raised past his shoulders. “Is this enough for you to reach where you want to hang them?” he asked with a grin.

I hadn’t been picked up like this for years, not since I was a child. My cheeks burned again for a completely different reason. “Let me down!” I wiggled. “Don’t be so silly! Who lifts a grown-up like that?”

He chuckled. “Apparently I do, and you’ll get used to it soon.” Lowering me a little so that I was at eye level with him, he pecked my lips. “When we end up finding a permanent place to live, with a house of our own and neighbors passing by our doorsteps every day, they’ll get used to it too … and more.”

And more … My eyes widened as I realized he was referring to all the sounds we made last night. “You said you wanted to keep that for your ears only!” I blurted, and I wondered if it’d be wiser to simply stay at this cabin forever for that purpose. “We’re not going to … do it like that, if our house is surrounded by neighbors!”

He kissed me again with a low laugh. “I disapprove. That would be too much to sacrifice,” he breathed into my mouth. “But we’re not the first ones faced with this problem, my love. Why do you think all the rich people’s mansions come with large gardens dense with trees?”

As if to prove his point of not willing to make the sacrifice I suggested, he took a stride forward and wedged me against the door, his tongue slipping through my lips to deepen the kiss.. The scrolls we were still holding were soon forgotten.