"Chels, you're turned on too, aren't you?"

During a visit to the haunted house with my best friend, Chelsea Higgins, and her boyfriend, Ivan Benton, Ivan has mistaken me for Chelsea and has embraced me from behind.

I can feel his warm palm slowly sliding up the hem of my skirt in the pitch-black darkness. At the same time, his hot breath keeps splaying over my nape and my earlobe.

The most embarrassing thing is, I'm starting to get turned on by Ivan's actions for real.

"The Asylum of Horrors! This is going to be the bomb! Ariel Davidson, let's go for this!"

My best friend, Chelsea Higgins, pointed to a dark, eerie-looking building in the distance inside the amusement park, her eyes shining in excitement.

I hesitated as I glanced at the building, instinctively feeling a little awkward about it.

I had never liked haunted houses or other scary, bumpy rides. More importantly, I had also felt increasingly uneasy about always being the third wheel on dates with her ever since she got herself a boyfriend, Ivan Benton.

Chelsea could tell what was going on in my head and clicked her tongue at me. "Look at yourself, Ariel. There used to be so many guys lining up to pursue you while you were in college, but you just refused to date them. I bet you're regretting it so much now."

She suddenly leaned close to me and whispered in my ear in a low voice.

"If you really can't help it, then maybe I can lend Ivan to you for a bit to help you out if you want? He may look docile and unassuming, but let me tell you, he's oh-so-good in bed… I always can't walk straight the next day every time we do it."

"Chels! What nonsense are you saying!"

My face, neck, and ears turned a bright red color as I clapped my hand over her mouth. However, I couldn't help glancing toward Ivan, who was just a few steps away from us.

He was wearing a plain white shirt and looked tall, handsome, and charming as he smiled at us.

I didn't know if it was just my imagination, but his eyes seemed to darken a little when his gaze swept over my short pleated skirt and exposed legs. His inexplicable aggression kind of made me feel exposed.

In the end, I still gave in to Chelsea after she pleaded with me to go into the haunted house.

"Don't worry! I'll protect you!"

Before entering, Ivan walked next to me and spoke in his warm, gentle voice as he shielded me from the crowd with his broad shoulders.

His faint masculine pheromones, mingled with the crisp scent of cedarwood, lingered at the tip of my nose.

The sunlight outside was completely blocked out as soon as we stepped into the haunted house.

The passage grew more and more narrow as we walked, and I could barely see the path beneath my feet as it was dim inside.

Chelsea was braver than I, and she led the way, scouting ahead and leaving me sandwiched in the middle between her and Ivan in the back. It was so cramped that I could even feel Ivan's warm chest brushing against my back as we moved.

Just as we reached a narrow corner and made a turn, there was a loud crash, followed by an ear-piercing scream.

A beam of blood-red strobe light suddenly lit up, and a ghost character leaped out from the wall with its face covered in blood.

Terrified screams erupted everywhere, and the players immediately scattered like mice, running into each other and making me lose my bearings as we were also scattered apart.

I got such a fright that my heart wouldn't stop thumping in my chest, and my mind went absolutely blank. I screamed and ran back the way we had come.

In my panic, I bumped right into an incredibly strong and broad chest.

Before I could even find my balance, the man's strong arms suddenly reached out in the darkness and circled themselves around my waist, pulling me right into his embrace.

His warmth seeped through the fabric of his clothes, creating a stark contrast with the chill of the haunted house, sending a shiver down my spine.

I was just about to exclaim out loud when I suddenly heard his deep, husky voice from above my head.

"Don't be afraid, Chels. I'm here."

My blood froze at once.

It was Ivan.

He had mistaken me for Chelsea because of the darkness and earlier chaos!

My brain raced. I was overcome with embarrassment and didn't dare to make a sound. If I spoke now, I wouldn't just expose my identity to him—we'd both end up in an extremely awkward and embarrassing situation, too.

I bit my lower lip and tried to shove him off without making a sound.

However, just as I was struggling to back away from him, I accidentally stepped on something soft, probably a prop, and my high heel caused me to twist my ankle, lose my balance, and fall backward.

"Careful!"

Ivan reacted swiftly and scooped me up with his arms, catching me firmly. However, because I was wearing a short pleated skirt, his hand was fatally misaligned while trying to catch me earlier.

His hand had gone right under my skirt, and his palm was now pressing firmly against my inner thigh and butt.

Even worse, his knuckles slipped due to the momentum of his movement. They sank straight into the soft, hidden crevice of my slit, firmly trapped in place by the thin, taut fabric covering it.

I felt a powerful electric jolt shooting from my tailbone straight to the top of my head.

"Mmh…"

That extremely private and strange, forbidden sensation immediately made my legs go weak, and a sweet, embarrassing moan escaped my lips uncontrollably.

I instinctively covered my mouth, not daring to breathe, terrified that Ivan would discover my real identity at any moment.

However, I never thought that Ivan's hand would freeze for only a split second before he began to thrust his fingers deeper into the heat without restraint.

Even the slightest touch was magnified indefinitely in the face of total, absolute darkness.

The shame dawned on me, and I instinctively began struggling violently against Ivan, but I'd completely forgotten just how dangerous our current position was.

Ivan didn't remove his fingers from the edge of my slit, even with my wiggling and twisting. Instead, they sank even farther into my slit while still being blocked by the silky smooth fabric.

He went deeper and deeper, and it almost felt as though his calloused fingers were about to touch my most intimate spot.

I felt as though my entire body was on fire, and I couldn't help arching in his hands, throwing my head back while feeling desire pooling in my lower abdomen.

"Shh, stop moving!" Ivan hissed and gasped in the dark.

He tried steadying my thrashing body with one hand while his other instinctively reached upward, circling my chest and pressing me back tightly into his burning embrace.

Then, his hand, which was still nestled against my sensitive parts, slowly began drawing out.

Everything felt like it was in slow motion.

His fingertips brushed against every inch of my most delicate and sensitive skin.

I bit my lower lip and kept gulping to keep my voice down, letting only my unsteady breathing be heard.

By the time he finally completely removed his hand from my crotch, my legs felt like jelly. I held on to the last bit of rationale I still had and turned around to leave.

However, before I could even take a step away, he suddenly grabbed me by my wrist and yanked me back toward him.

"What are you in such a hurry for? Are you trying to trip and fall again?"

I didn't dare to speak for fear of exposing my identity. So, I ended up stiffening in Ivan's arms like a petrified prey as he guided me forward in the darkness.

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks, lowered his head, and brushed his lips against my earlobe. He chuckled slyly and asked, "Why are you being so sensitive today, Chels? You weren't like this last time…"

He hesitated for a while before clicking his tongue. "You're also a little wetter than before…"

I immediately felt all the blood rush to my cheeks. I trembled in anger, wanting nothing more than to unleash a torrent of curses in his face. However, I didn't dare to say a word in this situation.

Ivan ended up taking my silence as some sort of coy resistance.

His hand caressed my waist intimately as he continued whispering in my ear, "You're doing this on purpose, aren't you? You love the thrill of doing such things outside in public, don't you?

"It's just like… Like when we did it in Ariel's study back then," he said, panting lightly in my ear as he savored the memory. "You insisted that I crawl under your dress and…"

His explicit words made my mind go completely blank as I quickly recalled the incident that had happened just a week ago.

Sometime ago, Chelsea brought Ivan over to my villa as a guest, and we were both reading in the mini-library in my study with a huge redwood bookshelf between us.

I saw through the gaps between the books that Chelsea's shoulders were shaking unnaturally, while her body was trembling all over. I was just about to go over to check on her when she shakily told me to stop and explained that she was just reading a very touching romance novel and bawling her eyes out.

I didn't approach her after all, thinking that she needed time to regulate her emotions.

But now, as I recalled the unnatural red flush on her cheeks after walking from the bookshelves, numerous tear tracks on her face, and the incessant panting and gasping, even the bit of slick on Ivan's lips I noticed.

I suddenly realized that they had been doing such indecent things in my private study under my nose.

By right, I should have been outraged after hearing that they did it in my study that day, but funnily enough, I didn't feel worked up or nauseated as Ivan continued whispering about the naughty things they did while I was now trapped in this haunted house.

Instead, I felt an indescribable hollowness.

My body was reacting shamelessly and begging to be filled with something.

Suddenly, Ivan's hot lips pressed against the side of my neck, his voice hoarse.

"It's dark in here anyway, and nobody can see us… Shall we continue where we left off the other day?"

I got a huge shock, and my rationale flew back to me all at once. I tried to struggle again, but it was too late.

While I was still out of it, Ivan had already reached down with his hands and tugged hard.

And then, the flimsy fabric separating my most intimate body part was easily tugged down, just like that.

Ivan's hands wouldn't stop caressing and brushing against my moist, wet skin, shattering all the remaining reason I had.

I couldn't say a word.

Just as I felt something hard rubbing against my slit, about to enter, Chelsea's voice suddenly sounded from up ahead.

"Ariel? Ivie? Where are you? I can't find you both anywhere!"