Love Beyond the Mask novel Chapter 1267

The man scolded her with a strangely proper tone, lazy but never crude.

It was only this morning she’d asked him for a favor—to help spread the news about Shane.

But this… this was something else.

Whitney looked like a cat whose tail had just been stepped on. She bit her lip and snapped, “Ludwik, who said anything about getting in your pants? I didn’t do anything with you. I just asked for a little help, and you keep holding it over my head like some big threat. Real classy.”

“Oh, alright then. Let’s drop it. But tell me—when are you actually going to… do anything with me?”

He put a wicked emphasis on “do,” his voice lazy and teasing, a low chuckle in his throat.

Whitney’s brain short-circuited. All the blood in her body rushed to her face, and her ears rang with the sound of his calm, amused voice.

She blinked hard, her cheeks flaming red. Her throat felt tight. “You, you—”

With Felix still in the car, she was terrified Ludwik would take it further and start saying things even more outrageous.

She slapped her hand over her phone, trying to play dumb, biting down her anger as she changed the subject. “Sorry, the signal was bad—I didn’t catch what you said. But if you’re done being bored, you can hang up now.”

Some young guy flirting? That could be kind of cute.

But a guy Ludwik’s age laying it on thick? That was just… greasy.

“Mr. Lippert, you’re such a creep.”

She meant it as an insult, but Ludwik’s irritation faded at the sound of her sweet, sassy voice, soft and almost flirtatious. It made him tense all over.

He furrowed his brows, cursing her in his heart. Damn little minx.

After a pause, his deep, smooth voice slid out. “You think I’m a creep?”

“If you’re not, who is?” Whitney shot back, taking a jab at his age. “No wonder people say middle-aged men are always sleazy.”

He considered that. “Is that so? Go on, keep roasting me. I kind of like it.”

But when his wife cared, he had no choice but to pay attention.

He made an effort. “What’s the problem?”

“Well, first of all, Sandy herself doesn’t want to. And Shane’s parents are dead set against it, too.”

Ludwik thought this was a waste of time.

In his mind, he scolded Shane—couldn’t the idiot handle his own love life without dragging his wife into it?

His lips twisted into a smirk, voice dripping with sarcasm. “Whitney, you’re so worried about Sandy, but let me ask—have you sorted out your own marriage yet?”

Whitney bristled again, cheeks burning with embarrassment and annoyance. “What does my marriage have to do with you? You’re the last person who should be asking. If I hadn’t been forced to marry you four years ago, I’d probably be a thousand times happier now—”

“Yeah, sure. Keep dreaming. If you hadn’t married me, the Valentine family would’ve eaten you alive by now.”