From Broken to Beloved-Chapter 169- sober

Riley assumed Ford was feeling guilty and deliberately refusing to open the door. Just as she was about to actually kick it, the door suddenly opened from the inside.

Ford stood there with nothing but a towel tied around his waist, his gaze deep and steady as he looked at her. Water droplets slid down his firm chest—it was obvious he had just finished showering, dried his hair, and hadn’t yet had time to dry off completely or put on clothes.

Riley was still fuming and didn’t notice his state of undress at all. Besides, she was a model herself and had seen plenty of male bodies. When working with male models, exposed chests and abs were commonplace, so she was long used to it.

What she didn’t realize was that, at some point, the male model she worked with most often had quietly become Ford.

The moment Ford opened the door, Riley stormed straight inside.

Standing there with a cold expression, she snapped at him,

"Ford, you’re despicable!"

Ford looked completely innocent. He folded his arms and leaned casually against the cabinet, his posture effortlessly sexy, his eyes teasing as he looked at her.

"What’s wrong?" he asked.

Riley snorted coldly. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Tell me the truth—this so-called wedding photoshoot we’ve been doing these past few days. You had ulterior motives, didn’t you? You set me up on purpose, didn’t you?"

Riley was never the type to beat around the bush. She voiced her doubts immediately, staring straight at Ford, waiting to see what kind of answer he would give.

Ford curled his lips into a smile.

"And if I say yes?" he asked. "What would you do—beat me up? You couldn’t win anyway."

"You—"

Riley was so angry her teeth ached. He was right—she really couldn’t beat him. The physical difference between men and women made that obvious. Unless a woman was professionally trained, it was almost impossible to win in a real fight. And she only knew a few half-baked self-defense moves.

Ford stepped closer and lifted a hand to gently touch her smooth cheek, his gaze intense and passionate.

"Riley, I’ve never hidden my feelings for you," he said. "From the very beginning, I made it clear that I was serious about marriage. My pursuit of you wasn’t some impulsive whim, and I’m not the kind of person who acts on impulse. I’m serious about you. So why is it that you just won’t believe me?"

This trip to Phuket to shoot wedding photos was, of course, arranged by Ford.

It wasn’t that Ford was being willful or forcing her to date him or marry him. Rather, on an instinctive level, he could tell that she did feel something for him—she just refused to admit it.

Since she wouldn’t admit it, he had no choice but to push her this way, to force her to face it, to force her to acknowledge it.

Riley raised her hand and slapped away the one resting on her cheek, then took a step back.

"I believe you," she said, "but I don’t like you."

As he moved closer and closer, Riley finally realized how inappropriate the situation was. He was wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. Everywhere her eyes landed was his strong, well-built body, and for no apparent reason, her face began to heat up.

But he refused to let her retreat, pressing closer instead. His lips exhaled scorching breath that teased and stirred her.

"Then what kind of man do you like?" he asked.

Riley opened her mouth to answer—only to realize that everything she was about to say applied perfectly to him.

First, a good body. As a male model, his physique was flawless.

Second, good looks. He was undeniably handsome and captivating.

Third, a good family background—and his was impressive enough to leave her stunned.

And then there was temperament: gentle, considerate, ideally someone like Bert, the kind of man who doted on Catherine to no end. And Ford seemed more than considerate toward her as well.

Every reasonable—and unreasonable—requirement a woman might have for her future partner, he met them all.

That left Riley completely at a loss for words.

Embarrassed and irritated, she resorted to acting shamelessly stubborn.

"Anyway, I just don’t like you!"

Ford raised an eyebrow slightly.

"You don’t like me?"

Then he leaned in again, his voice so low it was almost dangerous.

"But that night we were together... you seemed to like it a lot. You looked very happy. You held onto me and kept telling me to go harder—"

Riley, who usually had skin thick enough to never blush, instantly turned red from her cheeks all the way to the tips of her ears.

She glared at him angrily.

"I was drunk that time! It doesn’t count!"

His body moved even closer, his hard, burning heat enveloping her completely. His breath brushed against her neck.

"Then what about now?" he murmured.

"You’re sober now. Do you feel anything?"

"No—mm—"

Riley was still stubbornly denying it when, in the very next second, her lips were captured by his. He kissed her deeply, changing angles, sucking and teasing with intent.

Phuket’s climate was hot, and Riley was wearing nothing more than a light camisole and short shorts. In just a few swift movements, he stripped away those flimsy constraints and tossed them aside. His body came down over hers as he wrapped her in his arms, and together they fell back onto the large bed.

Everything that followed was completely beyond Riley’s control. Like a fierce beast, he claimed her again and again, leaving nothing untouched.

These past few days of shooting wedding photos, Ford had deliberately held himself back. He didn’t want to leave any marks on her body, so he had been restraining himself the entire time. He had planned to find her after his shower—but instead, she had come straight to his door.

An opportunity like that was something he would never let slip by.

Besides, the wedding photoshoot was finally over, and there was nothing else scheduled afterward. Now, he could indulge himself freely.