My Clingy CEO Husband

###Chapter 41: How Could I Have Such a Shameless Dream?!

Ethan Hawthorne could almost hear the sound of his own sanity snapping. He moved faster than he ever had in his life, his image be damned, shoving the sofa aside, snatching the phone, and silencing it.

The world... was finally... fucking... quiet.

But the deathly-still, awkward atmosphere had already settled like fallout from a nuclear bomb, blanketing every corner of the apartment.

Ethan Hawthorne stood up, leaning on his knees and panting slightly. His usually immaculate hair was a mess, his collar was askew, and his face was flushed with a mixture of murderous rage and utter mortification. He didn’t even dare to look Maxine Rhodes in the eye.

Maxine Rhodes finally unfroze from her petrified state. She forced herself to sit up straight, feeling her cheeks, ears, and neck burning as if on fire.

’This... This isn’t just some regular short video! This is clearly...’

’Is this the kind of thing you’re supposed to play out loud?! Does Ethan Hawthorne watch this stuff normally?! I mean, I understand that men have needs... but isn’t this taste a little too... blunt?!’

She opened her mouth, wanting to say something to break the horrific tension, but found her throat too tight and dry to utter a single word. The sounds from just now, and that final line, echoed uncontrollably in her mind...

Ethan Hawthorne saw her blushing from her ears all the way down to her neck, and figured he didn’t look much better. He took a deep breath, trying to salvage the last, crumbling shred of his dignity. His voice was hoarse from the frantic movement and extreme embarrassment. "It was, it was Noah Sutton..."

He struggled to get the words out. "He sent a virus link! The kind with a trojan horse! I really just clicked it by accident! I never watch this stuff!"

’Noah Sutton, you are so dead!!!!’ Ethan Hawthorne thought.

Maxine Rhodes nodded mechanically, her gaze drifting like an out-of-control drone, completely unable to focus on him.

She felt she had to, absolutely had to, leave this mortifying scene immediately!

"I-I-I just remembered I have an international conference call! It’s very urgent! The other party might already be online! I’m going to the study!"

She turned, practically tripping over her own feet, and dove into the nearest study, slamming the door with a BANG as if a ghost were chasing her.

Ethan Hawthorne stood alone in the middle of the living room, staring at the phone on the floor—a veritable pillar of shame. Slowly, despairingly, he closed his eyes.

Never in his life had he so desperately wished he could just evaporate on the spot.

Meanwhile, the WeChat group chat was still active.

Noah Sutton: "Hawthorne, how’s it going?"

Noah Sutton: "Hey, don’t leave us hanging!!"

Ethan Hawthorne: "Noah Sutton, regarding that project in Africa, I’m going to suggest to your father that you follow up on it next month."

Noah Sutton: "?????!! Why?! Hawthorne, you can’t just burn the bridge after you’ve crossed it, Mr. Hawthorne! Dad!! I was wrong!!!"

Elias Grant: "You deserve it."

Ethan Hawthorne muted the group chat.

That night, certain thoughts that had been stirred in Ethan Hawthorne grew wild like weeds, leading him to have an incredibly absurd and sensual dream.

In his dream, Maxine Rhodes was standing right where she’d been in the entryway that evening. She tilted her face up slightly, her eyes shimmering and filled with a bewitching, almost soul-stealing haze.

Following his instincts, he lowered his head and captured the lips he had longed for, which were even softer and sweeter than he had imagined.

She accepted it, inexperienced yet pliant. When the tip of his tongue slipped past her lips, she let out a faint whimper. The sound was the perfect catalyst, instantly incinerating all his self-control.

The sensations in the dream were frighteningly real. His palm slid down her slender waistline, and through the thin fabric of her clothes, he could clearly feel the warmth of her skin and her slight trembling.

Her soft body pressed tightly against his, a perfect fit.

He buried his face in the crook of her neck, inhaling her unique scent—crisp, yet with a hint of warmth. The fragrance drove him mad.

He heard himself calling her "my wife" over and over in a voice rough with desire, and her response was a tighter embrace and a series of broken little moans...

Beneath the same moonlight, in another bedroom, Maxine Rhodes was tossing and turning, having an equally bold and feverish dream.

In her dream, Ethan Hawthorne had her trapped on the living room sofa. His tall frame almost completely enveloped her, and his eyes, usually so cool and deep, now burned with a dark fire hot enough to incinerate her.

No longer satisfied with a simple kiss, his scorching lips traced a path down her jaw, lingering on her sensitive collarbone, leaving behind a faint sting and an even more indescribable, tingling numbness.

His long fingers, burning hot, deftly slipped under the hem of her shirt. They moved slowly, possessively, caressing the delicate skin of her waist, igniting what felt like a chain of tiny flames wherever they touched.

The sensations in the dream were terrifyingly real. She could clearly feel the taut lines of his muscles, feel his strong heartbeat through the thin fabric, mixing with her own heart, which was pounding like a drum.

When he asked in a low, husky, almost bewitching tone by her ear, "Want more?" she found herself, in the dream, uncontrollably following her body’s most primal instincts. She tilted her head back slightly, pushing herself closer into his embrace, giving him her answer with a single, silent movement...

「6:00 a.m.」

With an inexplicable synchronicity, the two of them snapped their eyes open at the exact same time.

Maxine Rhodes stared at the familiar ceiling, but her body still clearly retained the unfamiliar, blush-inducing palpitations and dampness from her dream.

She lifted the covers, and after seeing the... on the bedsheet, she was instantly flooded with a colossal sense of shame. She yanked the blanket over her head, her toes curling in embarrassment.

’Maxine Rhodes, you’re insane!!! How could you have such a... such a shameless dream!!!’

Meanwhile, Ethan Hawthorne was also staring into space in a daze of disbelief, confronted with the sticky sensation beneath him and the indelible images in his mind. He rubbed the bridge of his nose.

’Ethan Hawthorne, you’re an absolute beast!! How could you dream something so specific, so absurd!!’

「6:07 a.m.」

Like a thief in the night, Maxine Rhodes gathered up the soiled bedsheet and tiptoed out of her room, hoping to destroy the evidence before Ethan Hawthorne woke up.

She carefully turned the handle of her bedroom door and peeked her head out—

Only to see the door at the other end of the hallway also being opened just as silently.

Ethan Hawthorne appeared in the doorway, also clutching a crumpled bundle of dark-colored sheets.

Their eyes met.

The air instantly froze.

Time seemed to stand still. *****