Chapter 103
It was an irksome statement, but Layla couldn't deny its truth.
Sometimes she couldn't figure it out. Women were always flocking around Samuel, enough to circle the globe twice. What did he see in her?
Beauty? Although she had always been considered the prettiest in her class, there was no shortage of beautiful women around him.
Grace? She couldn't hold a candle to those privileged ladies she'd grown up alongside.
What was he after with her?
Could it be that love had no reason at all?
Layla feared Samuel's affection wouldn't last. In truth, this was her own insecurity. He seemed as distant as a star, while she felt like mere earth beneath his feet.
Once again, she couldn't help feeling inferior.
"It's time to eat," Samuel said, placing the food in front of her.
It seemed like she had brought the meal from home.
Layla always said, "If you want a healthy baby, you've got to start with eating well." From now on, she was going to take every meal seriously.
"Twice a day with these hearty meals, you're treating me like you're fattening up a pig," Layla said, chewing on a piece of steak.
"Mmm, you're my pig, all set to give me a litter of piglets."
"Do I look like a sow to you? One is enough."
Samuel sat down, calm and collected, dressed in a suit that spoke of restrained luxury and pride. His posture was straight, yet he had an air of relaxation around her that he showed nowhere else. Crossing his arms with a lazy smile, he said, "At least two. A boy and a girl. The boy will be like me."
"The girl like me?"
"Like me too," Samuel replied. "If she inherits your brains, that's trouble."
"I had great grades. What's wrong with my smarts?" Layla pouted, her cheeks puffing out adorably. "If she gets your temper, no one will marry her. That'd be the real horror."
"Good, I don't have to marry her off. I can afford to keep her!"
Layla almost spat out her food. In her heart, she prayed, 'Please don't let it be a girl, not a girl.' They say fathers pamper their daughters, but Samuel? Being his daughter would be bliss and... probably celibate by default.
"I'd prefer a boy, you know. A son is a mom's little sweetheart."
"And you think I don't want my little girl to wrap around my finger?" Samuel countered.
Layla really wanted to snap back: 'Someone like you deserves to be left out in the cold.'
After a satisfying meal, Layla gently rubbed her rounded belly. "I'm full now, you can leave."
"Leave? And go where?" Samuel looked up from his phone.
"How should I know where you're off to? Wherever you like."
"I like it right here," he stated simply.
Her eyes widened, "You... you're staying over tonight?"
"Is there anything weird about that?" Samuel asked, his voice bored, despite her exaggerated expression.
"There's only one bed," she raised her voice an octave.
"Hmm, perfectly fine," he said nonchalantly.
The one-point-eight-meter-wide bed in her hospital room could fit two people without a problem.
"It's absurd to sleep in the hospital. You're not sick, are you?"
"Who said I'm sleeping in the hospital? I'm sleeping with you."
"..."
Layla protested continuously, coming up with every excuse in the book, but Samuel deftly countered each one, finally settling in as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
"If you're out of excuses, I'm going to take a shower. You can think of some more while I'm in there," Samuel said with a crooked smile.
Layla suspected this man must have been a lawyer in a previous life. How else could someone be so convincing?
She wondered, 'Can I possibly request a room change?'
Racking her brain for ways to get rid of him, her phone buzzed with a message. Lynn was asking her some urgent work-related questions.
Layla, immersed in crafting a reply, looked up unexpectedly to find Samuel emerging from the bathroom.
He stood before her, shirtless, with his impressively toned upper body on display, absentmindedly drying hair with one hand.
A white towel wrapped around his waist, each bronze muscle well-defined and glistening with beads of water, his irresistibly sexy physique sculpted, exuding undeniable raw masculinity.
His abs trailed off into the towel...
Without realizing, Layla subconsciously licked her lips.
"Drooling much?" Samuel teased, a mischievous playful glint in his damp eyes, a sly smile playing on his lips.
"What?" Layla touched her mouth only to find she had been tricked, her face flushing with embarrassment.
"You... can't you put on some clothes?"
"Can't. I'm all about fairness. So, it's only fair that you can go without clothes too."
Fair? She thought it was sheer shamelessness.
Layla swiftly hurled a pillow at him which Samuel caught effortlessly and placed back on the bed.
"Alright, time for bed."
As he closed the distance with his majestic leonine form, Layla tried to make a dash for it, "I... I need to use the restroom..."
"Running away?"
Before she knew it, Samuel had pinned her down on the bed. Her eyes widened, but quickly, his intense masculine scent was all around her face.
So close, his eyes sparkled with amusement, like an elegant yet ambitious wolf.
And the way he looked at her, it was as if a wolf had set its sights on a juicy piece of meat - direct, burning, unashamed.
"Scared? Haven't we been here before?" Samuel grasped her chin, her skin burning up, soft as silken tofu.
Her body softened, overwhelmed by her rapid breathing, her racing heart, and his coarse pants.
She knew he had been holding back far too long, desperate to meld her into his very being, to conquer without restraint.
"Holland..." She swallowed hard, "Samuel, I... I'm pregnant now... you can't mess around..."
That first night, she had fully experienced his domineering and fierce nature, which left her aching for days. Her body couldn't endure another storm like his-it'd break her to pieces.
"If it weren't for your condition, you wouldn't be getting off so easily. Men with a newfound appetite can be like wolves-intense and insatiable."