“Come on, Isaac, everyone needs a hand every now and again,” Colby remarks with sarcasm.
Overcome with embarrassment, my gaze drifts to anything but Colby's cheeky face. Colby chuckles at my response, his laughter echoing in the uncomfortable silence now plaguing our group.
“I’m just joshing with you, Isaac. Don’t be so riled up all the time” Colby quips.
Instead of replying, Isaac tightens his jaw.
“I just came out to tell you Henry Gottle is here to see you,” Colby informs him.
Isaac curses under his breath. “I forgot about an important meeting with him.”
Assuming he is talking to himself, I don’t bother replying.
“Thanks, Colby, tell him I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
With a final flirty wink, Colby’s Wave Runner whizzes back to the jetty. Once he is out of eyesight, Isaac pivots around to face me. My cheeks flush with heat when he places a kiss on my palm.
“We will finish this later.”
Since it is more a statement than a question, I don’t grace him with a reply.
The ride back to the jetty is made in complete silence. My orgasm that was racing toward the brink has been secured and locked away. My excitement vanished the instant Colby mentioned Henry Gottle was here to see Isaac. I was tempted to ask Colby if he meant Henry Gottle the third, or his father, the suspected mob boss of New York City. Luckily, my levelheadedness resurfaced before that question seeped from my lips.
Even knowing he has a guest waiting for his arrival, Isaac assists me out of my wetsuit. Once it is dumped on the wooden jetty, he clasps my hand in his before striding toward the main house. When we round the corner of the vast verandah’s, we're greeted by a gentleman in his early thirties with inky black hair. I’m somewhat surprised at how attractive he is. Anytime I think of the mob, my thoughts stray to wrinkled, overweight men with moles on their faces.
“Henry, sorry I forgot about our meeting,” Isaac apologizes. His tone exudes authority, and reveals he is the alpha male in the room.
“That’s fine, Isaac.” Henry eyes turn to face me. “I can understand your forgetfulness.”
Isaac’s gaze narrows when he notices Henry’s eager judgment of my body. When Henry spots Isaac’s stern glare, he diverts his amused gaze back to Isaac.
“Isabelle, this is Henry Gottle, a. . . business associate of mine,” Isaac introduces.
“I would have said long-time friend, but I guess business associate will have to do,” Henry replies coolly.
Accepting the handshake Henry offers, my eyes bounce between Isaac and Henry. It is hard to tell if they're friends or business associates. Isaac is more reserved around Henry than he is with Cormack, but he seems more laid back than he appeared in surveillance photos with his real business associates.
“I may have said friend if I wasn’t left handling the repercussions of your wretched wife,” Isaac interjects. Although his tone is serious, it still has an edge of wittiness to it.
“Try living with her,” Henry grumbles. “Three years I had to put up with that.”
Isaac and Henry shudder at the same time before they chuckle full heartedly.I take it neither of them are fans of Henry’s ex-wife Delilah Winterbottom?
“Well, I got her out of your hair, and now I’m calling in those chips,” Isaac advises.
Henry’s eyes shoot to mine. His uneasy gaze reveals his concern about me being present during their private conversation.
“I’ll go and grab some lunch,” I half-inform, half-question.
I smile when Isaac says, “If you want to stay, Isabelle, you can stay.”
“It’s fine, I’m famished anyway.”
I also don’t want to run the risk of unearthing anything I may be forced to disclose to the FBI. I'd never intentionally spy on Isaac in private, but I did swear an oath to uphold the law, and if I stumbled upon something significantly illegal, it would be my moral obligation to inform the authorities.Wouldn’t it?
My worry settles when I overhear a portion of Isaac’s statement as I’m exiting the room.
“I need you to find a loophole in the UFC so my fighter Jacob can fight a current UFC contender.”
