Midnight Bride The CEO’s Temptation

Crystal wriggled her eyebrows playfully as she turned and returned Nancy's smile. "What's going on between you and Noah?" she wondered.

Nancy's smile turned to a frown, and she said, "I don't know what you mean."

"Don't play coy with me," Crystal chided her. "Clark likes him, and he relies on him. I always see him following Noah around. The boy may as well be his shadow. So, please tell me what you think about him! You must have some feelings for him. After all, you married him!"

Noah's back was stiff. He was pretending that he could not hear their conversation, but it was getting harder by the minute.

"Well..." Nancy sighed. "I didn't expect him and Clark to become so close. Normally, my son is standoffish around men."

"Friends?" Crystal scoffed. "Is that what you think they are? I feel like they act more like a father and son than a couple of buddies." Noah's back became stiffer.

Nancy was taken aback by her friend's words. "Are you suggesting that I let Noah be Clark's Godfather?" she asked.

"Godfather...?" Crystal was speechless. Is Nancy really this dull? - she wondered. Before she could say anything more, though, Nathan stirred, and his eyes opened. He looked around the room, and when he saw Crystal, he smiled and said, "You're still here."

Crystal shrugged. "I was waiting to see if you would die."

Nathan sighed and said, "You care about me. You cried for me. You said that you love me. Are you going to deny it?" He seemed to not see the other people in the room. He only had eyes for Crystal, and the expression on his face made her feel slightly embarrassed.

Crystal rolled her eyes. "Nathan Davis, you are such a jerk!"

"I may be a jerk." Nathan chuckled. "But you love this jerk!"

"This is neither the time nor the place for this conversation!" Crystal scolded him.

"Are you afraid to let your friends know that you love me?" Nathan asked. His chummy words left her tongue-tied, and she could only stare at him in silent protest.

Crystal was starting to regret saving his life. I should have given him to the sea like I'd threatened to do - she thought.

Nancy was beginning to feel awkward, so she cleared her throat and said, "You two seem like you need some privacy." She nodded to Noah. "Let's leave these two love birds alone."

"Of course." Noah closed his medicine bag, turned to Nathan, and said, "If you need anything, have one of the girls call me. In the meantime, we will start thinking about dinner."

Before Crystal knew what was happening, she was alone with Nathan. She coughed nervously, and then she got up to change the water. As she picked up the basin, she asked Nathan how he was feeling, and he said that he thought he had a fever.

Crystal's brow furrowed, and she set the basin down. "Let me see," she said as she reached out to touch Nathan's forehead. Then, as their skin touched, he grabbed her hand.

"F**k that noise!" Crystal growled as she tried to pull away. "How dare you try to trick me again?!?!"

"I just wanted to see if you cared," he replied. He refused to let her hand go. He brought it to his heart and pressed her palm flat against his chest. "Can you feel my heart?" he asked. "It's beating super-fast. You caused that..."

"You are too much." Crystal sighed. "Are you ready to eat yet?"

"I am," Nathan replied. "I want you to feed me, though. Will you do that?"

"You wish!" Crystal replied. "You have enough strength to feed yourself, and your hands are fine."

"Then say you love me." Nathan bargained with her.

Crystal smirked. "Why should I do that?"

"You know why," Nathan replied. "You promised me that you would say it as many times as I like!"

"You believed that?" Crystal scoffed. "I said that because you were in danger. Nathan Davis, when did you become so silly?"

Nathan's pupils dilated, and his face turned red. "Crystal Smith! How dare you go back on your word?"

Crystal smirked. "You can't prove that I said anything!"

"Can't I?" A shark-like Cheshire grin appeared on his face, and he said, "I recorded everything that you said." To prove it, he stretched his arm, pressed a button on his watch, and Crystal's words came back to haunt her.

Oh, f**k! - thought Crystal. The recording started, and she was embarrassed by the sound of her begging and sobbing. "How dare you record this?!?!" She was infuriated.

"I couldn't miss such an important opportunity," he replied. "You were finally being honest. I've never heard such a touching declaration of love."

"Turn it off!" Crystal shouted. The recording made her feel uncomfortable. He paid no mind to her complaints, though. Instead, when the recording ended, he started it over from the beginning.

"Enough!" Crystal shouted. "I'm ordering you to turn it off!"

The recording continued without interruption -

(Tell me who it is that you love," Nathan; Say my name."

Crystal sighed and said, "Nathan Davis, I love you.")

"That is the most beautiful sound that I have ever heard," Nathan said, and he rewound it so that he could hear that part again -

(Crystal sighed and said, "Nathan Davis, I love you.")

"Whatever," Crystal hissed. She picked up the basin and went to the bathroom to change the water. She took her time, hoping that he would fall asleep while she was gone, but when she returned, she found him as attentive as he had been when she left him.

Crystal had to clench her fists to suppress the impulse to beat him up. She could not see how devious his plan had been. She thought - What a scheming bastard! He had known that she still cared about him, and he had used her feelings - her weakness - against her. "That will be enough of that," she said. "I am going to leave now."

"Don't go." Nathan pleaded with her. "Say it again, and I'll turn it off right away. What do you say?"

"Those three words become cheap if they are said too often," Crystal replied. "When those words are spoken casually, they are meaningless. I am not like you."

"I do not say them casually either," Nathan argued, "and I do not believe that you did either. Obviously, the love that you have for me will last a lifetime!"

"You don't know what you're talking about." Crystal looked him over and grimaced. "I don't intend to spend my life with such an overbearing, unreasonable man. You bring nothing but bad luck, and getting together with you was the biggest mistake of my life!"

There was a knock at the door, and Nancy walked in. She smiled and said, "Dinner is ready. Shall we all eat in here with Nathan?"

"Sure, come on in. I didn't expect it to be done so soon."

Nancy pushed the door fully open to make room for Noah and the small dining car that he was pulling. Clark and Wolf followed behind them.

"With Nathan's stomach problem, I thought I should get dinner on as quickly as possible. I noticed that he didn't touch the steak, so I made a simple soup with pasta."

Crystal nodded and said, "I'm sure that he will appreciate your thoughtfulness."

Meanwhile, Nathan continued to play the recording on repeat.