The High-Libido CEO’s Cold Wife Chapter 06
At the laboratory, I transferred the rare flower to a sterile planter and added a growth serum I had
formulated.
The nutrient solution required exact proportions. A little too much or too little would affect the
flower’s survival.
Ryan isolated plant compounds from a fallen petal while I continued working with Sirenthorn.
My hands continued the familiar work, but part of my mind remained trapped in Julian’s office and my concentration slipped.
During that single careless moment, one of Sirenthorn’s needle-sharp thorns broke through my glove and pierced my fingertip.
I sucked in a breath. “Damn…”
Ryan hurried over. “What happened?”
A bead of pale blue blood formed on my fingertip. “Sirenthorn pricked me.”
“What?” He inspected the blood.
“How do you feel?”
I had been slightly dizzy at first.
Now I felt feverish and painfully thirsty, but nothing else seemed wrong.
“I’m hot.” I sat down and drank a glass of water, only to become thirstier.
Ryan began recording my reactions.
Within minutes, the initial dizziness developed into the exact pattern of symptoms we had recorded in other exposure cases.
Heat rose into my face, leaving me embarrassed.
Our attention shifted toward the single drop of plant compound Ryan had isolated from the rescued flower earlier that evening.
We had intended to create an antidote. Perhaps this was our chance to test the first lead.
Any experimental treatment carried risks, however.
The event was sudden, and the new compound had not undergone even a preliminary composition analysis.
It might contain something harmful to humans.
However tempting immediate relief seemed, injecting an untested compound before completing
basic screening would have turned scientific urgency into recklessness.
Ryan began an overnight basic toxicology screen.
I returned to the observation cottage beside the laboratory.
The cottage contained essential monitoring equipment, allowing Ryan to track my vital signs
remotely from the control room.
We agreed that he would call after testing the compound and preparing an injection.
By the time I showered, I could barely stand.
My face looked flushed in the mirror.
Heat seemed to gather beneath my skin until even the light pressure of my clothes became difficult
to bear.
Double images swam before my eyes, and the mirror seemed to reflect the night Julian and I had
spent in the bathroom.
[The supporting character is finally getting what she deserves.]
[Who kept rejecting Julian over and over?]
[Now she wants him?]
[Too bad Lydia went to see him tonight.]
[Julian owns several homes. They’re probably together in an oceanfront villa Chloe has never
visited.]
[Chloe can suffer alone.]
[Isn’t she supposed to be frigid?]
[Let’s see her suppress the Sirenthorn toxin through willpower.]
I attempted to control my breathing and force my body to obey the same discipline that governed
my work.
But once I lay down, my mind filled with memories of Julian touching me.
I used to resent his endless stamina.
Now I regretted that he was not here. If he had been beside me, I would not have turned him away
again.
The comments claimed he and Lydia were at an oceanfront villa I had never seen.
Everything I knew about Julian argued against the comments, yet uncertainty made their claims increasingly difficult to dismiss.
Julian and I were still legally married. Surely even he could wait one more night..
Remaining in that cottage with nothing but speculation had become more painful than hearing the
truth directly.
I called him.
More than ten seconds passed before he answered.
Julian said nothing, but I heard his breathing.
Each uneven breath carried through the phone with an intimacy that made it seem as though his
mouth were beside my ear.
Water ran in the background.
“Where are you?” I asked.
His voice held a faint rasp. “At the oceanfront villa on Ocean Drive.
You’ve never been here.”
“I see.” Pain tightened inside my chest.
His breathing grew heavier, as if he were fighting for control. “Did you need something?”
“No.” I ended the call immediately.
His location, the running shower, and the strain in his voice appeared to confirm the betrayal the
comments had described.
I knew exactly what that breathing usually meant.
[Of course. He has been denied for so long that he’s losing his mind.]
[Lydia’s Sirenthorn condition happened to flare up, so they gave each other exactly what they
needed.]
[They’ll probably go all night.]
(Julian can use every skill he practiced with Chloe on Lydia now.]
[I can’t imagine how satisfied they both are.]
I stared at the ceiling with a bitter smile.
I could acknowledge my share of responsibility. Every postponed promise and repeated rejection
had slowly pushed my husband away.
Now he had finally stepped out of my world.
None of those failures excused infidelity, however. Until a court ended our marriage, he remained
my husband and owed me honesty.
I waited desperately for Ryan to finish testing the compound, but he never called.
The discomfort grew so severe that I nearly bit through my lip.
Ninety minutes after the call, headlights swept across the cottage windows and Julian hurried
through the gate.
He knocked on the bedroom door. “Chloe, open the door.”
My body was so weak that I could barely move.
I went to him barefoot.
Cold air clung to his coat. The moment he noticed my condition, he pulled me against him.
“What happened? Where do you hurt?”
The drive from Ocean Drive to the preserve normally took two hours.
Julian had made it in ninety minutes.
He must have driven at a reckless speed along the mountain roads, and the thought frightened me
despite everything I believed he had done.
More importantly, if he arrived this quickly, perhaps he had not betrayed me after all.
I stared at his lips. The toxin had stripped away my ability to think clearly.
“A thorn pricked me during an experiment. It hurts.”
Julian carried me to the bed and checked my forehead. “What plant was it?
Can it harm you?”
Then I saw the faded lipstick mark on his neck.
He had apparently tried to wipe it off but had not removed it completely.
Though the lipstick had been partly smeared away, I could see nothing else once I noticed its color
against his neck.
I knew Julian enjoyed having a lover leave marks on him.
During our intimate moments, he sometimes guided my face toward his neck and whispered, “Kiss
me harder.”
“You can bite.”
“I don’t mind the pain.”
“I want the mark to stay.”
[Julian came to see Chloe with Lydia’s lipstick still on his neck.]
[That is an open challenge.]
[He looks as if he wants her back, but the mark is telling her to let go.]
Moments earlier, the toxin had nearly made me admit how badly I wanted him. The lipstick restored every boundary I had almost abandoned.
Another woman had left that lipstick on him.
No matter how desperate the toxin made me, I would not let him touch me again.
“Ryan is developing an antidote.” I pushed Julian away.
“Please get me some water.”
Julian returned immediately, supported my head against his arm, and patiently held the glass while
I drank.
He seemed to understand the source of my distress and lowered his head to kiss me.
My phone rang before his lips reached mine.
I seized it like a lifeline and turned on the speaker.
Ryan sounded elated. “Chloe, I finished the composition screen.
The plant compound contains nothing toxic to humans.”
“I’m preparing a preliminary suppressant. Do you want the injection?”
“Yes. I’m coming now.”
I asked Julian to carry me to the laboratory.
All the way there, he kept questioning me.
“Is the injection absolutely necessary?”
“Could there be risks or long-term effects?”
“Chloe, please let me help you instead.”
