His cold, impassive response landed like another blow. But instead of collapsing, something shifted inside her. The pain was still there, burning, but it began to change shape. It became a mix of defiance, provocation, and an almost desperate need to get some kind of reaction out of him. Any reaction.

"Don't humiliate myself?" she repeated in a charged whisper. "Then tell me… when I get close and you smell me… you don't feel anything?" She slid her fingers along his neck, her eyes locked on hi