"I've got to go. Check on that thing for me. It's important," Rachel said.

"Got it," Vander replied.

After hanging up, Rachel ran to the bathroom and yanked the door open. A cloud of steam rolled out, the heat washing over her like a wave.

She couldn’t see anything at first. Eventually, Tyler’s silhouette came into view. He hadn’t bothered to get dressed yet and stood there, completely unfazed, right in front of her.

“What’s this? Rushing in to sneak a peek?”

Rachel was close to hurling a slipper at his smug face. This guy was ridiculously full of himself.

Then again, he kind of had the right to be. If she looked half as good as he did, she would probably be more shameless than him.

Without thinking, Rachel’s gaze drifted to his inner thigh. But after only a couple of seconds, her heartbeat spiked.

This was way too awkward.

Tyler instantly picked up on her strange behavior. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his arms. She crashed into his chest before she could react. His body was still radiating heat from the shower, and even through her clothes, she could feel the warmth seeping into her skin.

Rachel’s face flushed red. She swore to herself that if Vander had tricked her, she was going to kill him the moment he got to Yurelia City!

Besides, how was it that the scar ended up there, of all places? A back or chest scar she could understand, but the inner thigh? That just sounded made up.

Tyler lowered his head slightly, his warm breath brushing against the top of her head. His voice came out low and smooth. It heated things up a little.

“Rachel, you’re definitely up to something. What are you doing in the bathroom, hmm?”

She couldn’t just tell him the truth. There was no way she was admitting she barged in just to check out his inner thigh for a scar.

So she decided to throw her pride out the window and double down on flattery.

“No particular reason. I was just appreciating your physique. I read online that you can predict a man’s life expectancy by looking at his thighs.”

Tyler raised a brow, not looking the least bit suspicious.

“Oh, really? That’s a thing now?”

“Totally.”

She felt his gaze grow hotter and heavier. Rachel swallowed hard, praying she wouldn’t dig herself into a hole she couldn’t climb out of.

To her surprise, Tyler didn’t refuse. In fact, he casually offered, “Well, go ahead then.”

He stood there tall and unbothered, and Rachel suddenly felt her courage crumbling.

But she had to do this. She had to find out the truth.

Biting her lip, she crouched down in front of him, carefully avoiding eye contact. Her breathing grew uneven as the nerves kicked in, and her warm breath brushed against his skin.

What Rachel didn’t realize was that Tyler’s gaze was intensifying by the second. Something primal flickered to life in his eyes. She was too focused on searching for the scar to realize she was slowly turning into a lamb led to slaughter.

After what felt like a mental war with herself, she finally spotted it – a patch of skin that looked different. It was a scar. Her pupils widened in shock.

Just as she reached out to get a better look, her hand slipped and brushed somewhere she definitely shouldn’t have touched.

Her fingers felt heat – intense heat – and she yanked her hand back like she’d touched fire.

The very next second, Tyler scooped her up like she weighed nothing. Rachel found herself staring into his dark, unreadable eyes, and her heart skipped a beat.

She was so screwed.