Date The CEO.com

Chapter 253: Night One: Bed in the Clouds

"Ambee, come here."

Eve raised her cellphone in one hand while the other one held Ambryan's. She tugged him closer, stopping him from walking. The screen reflected what the front camera could see. She beamed at the camera as Ambryan's legs appeared from the side.

Once he was close enough, she changed the angle so it would capture his face.

His head tilted sideways when he noticed that the device was recording. Then, dog ears and nose emerged on the screen, matching them to where they should appear on his face. His eyebrows shot up and the dog ears unfolded to mimic his expression.

Eve bursted into cackles. She ended the recording and clutched her stomach. 

It had turned out better than she expected! Her knees began to give up. The weight of the ballgown suddenly came flooding back to her senses. The photoshoots had finally ended. She could relax little, letting herself fall onto the side of her legs. 

Her stomach ached from the uncontrollable laughter. Her throat squeezed until she couldn't make a sound other than literal wheezing.

"I take it that was what you were laughing about?" Ambryan guessed. He got down on one knee beside her and scowled slightly.

"It was funny. You have to admit." She giggled and rewatched the whole thing. The video showed her first with the same filter. Her wide smile made her eyes squint. She could hardly see the hazel contact lenses. 

Another round of cackles barked out of her mouth when Ambryan came to the picture. 

Then, an idea flashed in her mind. "AH! Wait, wait, wait—"

Ambryan merely frowned. He debated on what to do. One hand, she was happy about the whole thing. On the other, she was making fun of him. They had teased each other countless times but this had to be the first time he felt embarrassed.

Eve took a screenshot of him with the filter.

His scowl deepened. "What are you—?"

The answer to his question came when she set the photo as her background for her lock screen. Eve tested it by pushing the power button then, pushing it again to make it light up. The shocked expression of Ambee the Dog greeted her sight.

"OHMY—AH! THIS IS TOO GOOD! I CAN'T!" Eve shrieked in amused hysterics. Somehow, she managed to capture a second screenshot with a serious Ambee the Dog and had it become her home screen.

Now, every time she turned her phone on, Ambee the Dog seemed shocked from the sudden intrusion. Then, his expression changed into a deadpan one as if waiting for her to let him live in peace behind a black screen.

With his face now both on her lock screen and her home screen, Ambryan considered it enough reason for him to protest. "So… you now see me as a laughing stock, huh?"

Eve straightened her spine and shook her head. His tone had dangerously gone low. The roots of her hair rose up. "What? Come on, you also tricked me into a photo for your phone! This is just payback. We're even now."

"At least, I had taken a nice photo of you."

"Well, I wanted a cute puppy photo of you." She lit up her lock screen, pressing the side of her phone to her face. "Why would I need a pet when I have this? I am willing to bet that pet owners would also be jealous." 

Ambryan arched an eyebrow. "I'm a pet?"

"I'm saying you're as cute as a puppy," Eve clarified. She patted his cheek twice. 

"Cute?" He repeated and leaned in closer. Her head recoiled until it hit the wall behind her. She tried to slide it across but he blocked her path with his hand. Then, his voice softened into a husky whisper. "Are you sure about that?"

Eve gulped. Major panic rushed into her veins. She pressed her cellphone against her chest. "Um… you're not about to prove that I'm wrong, are you?"

"Proof?" He smirked. "Now, that's the smartest idea you said all day."

"What? I—AMBEE!" 

The floor disappeared from under Eve. What astonished her wasn't even the fact that Ambryan had lifted her up bridal style but that he did so while she wore a humongous dress that was probably twice her weight. Her arms wrapped around his neck, worried that he might drop her.

He shifted her weight onto one arm and unlocked a room in the same hotel.

Her head snapped towards the end of the hallway. Neither Cale nor the crew was in sight. Since when had they been alone? Ambryan stepped inside sideways so her skirt would fit through. 

"Wait!" She objected, getting over her shock. They were only supposed to stroll. The crew had told them there was another route back to the dressing room. She thought they had been following behind them this whole time! Especially Cale!

But something else tickled in the back of her mind. "This isn't right! We can't just barge into a room! I know this is a hotel but it's not even open yet!"

"I have it rented," Ambryan stated. He set her down on the bed.

"This room?" Eve gaped, supporting herself with her hands behind her. They dug into the soft duvet. Her eyes fluttered around the room. It looked exactly like how she pictured a luxurious hotel. 

Pressing one knee beside her legs, Ambryan pulled off his undone bow tie. "This estate."

Her hazel eyes widened in his direction. "You rented the whole place?!"

Another smirk stretched on his lips. He lowered his head until their foreheads touched again. His hands rested on the duvet, trapping her in place. Her only way out would be to crawl backwards but he'd catch up quickly. 

The alarm bells came back to Eve. That meant he temporarily commanded everything under this roof. She was right! She knew he had a plan! How could this one slip her mind?!

"I figured you'd be exhausted after today's shoot," Ambryan explained softly. His fingertips traced the outline of her ear. "So I asked Chris if I could rent it for the weekend. The hotel may be closed but it has enough staff to keep it clean. There is food in the kitchen and other activities. Treat it as a weekend getaway." 

He moved to the side until they were cheek to cheek. "We are also more than welcome to use any room however we want."

"Wait, I—"

Anything she had to say died when he kissed her lips. He parted them open and invited himself in. His hand circled around her waist to support her lower back. Lifting her up by the knees, he moved her further back until her head rested on the pillows. 

"Ambee, we can't—" Eve gasped when he trailed kisses along her jaw. Her eyes stayed close.

Ambryan continued on his path, searching for the sensitive spots on her neck. "Can't what?"

She turned her head to the side and pressed her lips together. "You know…"

"I know what?" He teased her. The corner of his lips curled up when she moaned in her throat. 

"Please don't make me say it," Eve begged.  josei

Ambryan stopped to see her face. He cupped her cheek and brushed his thumb over it. Her hazel eyes stared up at him deliriously. She was completely vulnerable under him. 

"Are you scared?" He kissed the tip of her nose. "So am I."

Eve blinked, waiting for her vision to clear. "Huh?"

"I've never wanted you more than I have now," Ambryan admitted. He undid the first two buttons of his dress shirt, suddenly feeling a little too hot. The flecks in his violet eyes had darkened significantly. "I may not be able to control myself."

"Wait—Huh—What—" Eve tried to control her consciousness. It had started to slip away again when his lips kissed the spot under her ear. Her eyes half-closed on instinct. "Ambee, please."

This time, he responded without looking and traced a path back to her lips. "We won't go all the way if you don't want to. But I really have no intentions to let you go tonight."

Ambryan reached for the back of her dress. It really was big. He couldn't kneel properly because of the hoop skirt that forced his knees to be further apart. His finger pinched the zipper's pull and played with it, asking for her permission to open the dress.

Eve grabbed both of his cheeks and pushed him off long enough to breathe. True to his word, Ambryan simply moved to tease her under her jaw. His lips grazed places she'd never thought about, particularly a spot that nestled along her neck and under her chin.

"I just feel like this is happening a little too fast," she said in between breaths. 

Ambryan pulled the zipper by a centimeter, testing her reaction. "How?"

"I don't know—I just—there's still so much to talk about—" Eve managed to stutter. Slowly, everything came rushing back to her. The magic that transpired since he joined her on the shoot dissipated. 

He didn't even know the truth yet. Would this be okay? A hot kiss that seared the skin where her neck and shoulder met distracted her for a second. She gasped, sucking in a breath and pausing. Her lips clamped shut but a moan had managed to slip out. 

'No!' She scolded herself. She had to tell him! And she had to do it now! It could ruin everything up to this point but that didn't matter. What was important was that he knew exactly who she was. 

So if they were to keep going, she wanted him to accept her wholly,

"Like what, Eve?" Eve heard him say when she hadn't said anything else in a while—as if mocking her for losing her concentration. He was doing it on purpose and was rubbing it in!

She wasn't about to let him this time around!

"Like—" That was when her brain suffered from a shot circuit as his words sank in. 

She pushed his shoulders back so she could see his face. "What did you just say?"