In the end, Annie Anne could only feel the faint pounding in her chest by holding her breath.
Everything had changed, nothing was the same anymore.
"Annie."
Oliver Hudson murmured with satisfaction, the somewhat childish nickname finally slipping off his lips as he let go of Annie Anne, their eyes locking.
"I don't like it, nor do I want you to appear in places like this, at occasions such as that one."
The pads of Oliver Hudson's fingers glided across Annie Anne's cheek, brushing back strands of hair that clung there.
Though his tone was the most affectionate, the command within it left no room for resistance.
"If Annie doesn't behave, I don't know what I'd do... something you wouldn't like."
The words, almost whispered in Annie Anne's ear, were met with a hint of a smile in her eyes.
Her slender fingertips touched the underside of Oliver Hudson's jaw, then trailed down his throat, stopping finally at the button near his collarbone.
