“No, Isabelle!” His voice is so loud, he startles Regan.
“I love you, Isaac.” My admission immediately dampens the fury burning in his eyes, but it makes what I say next ten times harder. “But I need to do this. I need to trust my intuition didn’t steer me wrong. Not just with Enrique but with you as well.”
He takes a step back like he was slapped by my words. My throat tightens, upset that I’ve caused him distress. I love him in a way that’s completely unexplainable, and to some, I’m sure it appears to be nothing but lust, but its more than that. I love him for the way he protects me and keeps me safe. I love that he guards me as if I'm his most prized possession and that no harm will ever come to me when I'm with him, but I need to do this to prove my intuition was right. To prove what my gut was telling me was true. Not just with Enrique, but with Clara as well.
“Please let me do this,” I beg, stepping in front of him. “You can stand right outside his door. If anything happens, you’ll be there in an instant, but I need to do this, Isaac. I need to trust my gut. It’s never steered me wrong before, so I want to prove it wasn’t wrong this time either.”
Forty-five minutes later, we’re in the hospital corridor outside of Enrique’s room.
“Don’t get within touching distance of him, Isabelle.” Isaac’s tone is rough and stern like how he reprimands his staff members. “You can kill a man in seconds just by using your hands—” He suddenly stops talking as his grip on my hand tightens. “I changed my mind, you’re not doing this.”
When he drags me back down the hallway we just walked, I dig my feet into the sparkling marble tiles, trying to stop his furious steps. My efforts are fruitless. Someone of my height and weight is no contest for a man with impressive strength like Isaac.
“Stop, Isaac,” I demand when his yanks on my arm become painful. “You’re hurting my arm.”
The instant the word ‘hurting’ seeps from my lips, his abrupt strides halt, and he relinquishes my wrist from his firm grip. As his pupils widen, his eyes drop to my arm, seeking any damage. “Jesus… did I hurt you?”
“No, I’m fine.” I want to rub the pain in my arm, but I lace my fingers instead, hating the devastation flooding his eyes.
“Isabelle—?”
“I’m fine.” I step closer to him. “But I want to do this. I won’t get within touching distance. I’ll stay in your line of sight at all times, and I’ll be in and out within five minutes, tops.”
His eyes dart between mine for several heart-thrashing seconds before he peers past my shoulder. Ryan is standing outside of Enrique’s hospital room door. His pistol is holstered on his hip in plain sight, and the clasp on his holster is unlatched, prepped, and ready if he needs to draw his gun quickly.
“Five minutes, then we can go home.”
Isaac’s gaze rockets back to me. The anxiousness veiling his usually stout eyes lessens, replaced with the spark of interest. As the veins in his neck thrum, his nostrils flare when he inhales deeply. My knees curve inward as desire melds through my body, clustering in my core from the wickedly sinful smile etched on his mouth.
“Five minutes. You’re not to move from the end of the bed, and you must leave the door open. As soon as this is done,wego home,together. My house, my bed, my ru—”
“This isn’t a negotiation, Isaac.”
His curling lips have my pulse racing. “No, it isn’t a negotiation. These are a set of terms you must adhere to if you want to talk to your brother.”
I cross my arms in front of my chest. “And if I fail toadhereto your rules?”
My breathing stills when he takes a step toward me. “I'll take you over my knee and spank you until you do submit.”
Holy cupcakes, I think my womb just combusted.
I know he’d never intentionally hurt me, but behind closed doors is an entirely different story. My inner vixen is a little more deviant. She provokes him until his dominance is unleashed. She loves having his unbridled fury released on her in the bedroom. The bites, the hard slams of his cock, the demanding control, she basks in it all. I'm a strong and independent woman, but I happily surrender all my power to Isaac in the bedroom because the rewards for my submissiveness are earth-shattering.
“Okay,” I whisper, shamelessly allowing my hankering to overrule my rational-thinking brain. “Five minutes, thenwewill go home.”
My panties dampen from his provocative smirk. He moves closer, catching my wrist before lifting it to his mouth. My heart drums against my ribs when his well-carved lips kiss my palm before he places it on his chest. His heart’s thumps almost match the intense throbbing between my legs.
Ryan smiles uneasily as we stride toward him. “Don’t get too—”
“Too close. I know,” I interrupt with a roll of my eyes.
Ryan grins. “If you feel you’re in any danger, cross your fingers behind your back, then I’ll move in.”
My lips set into a hard line as I nod. I need to remember that Ryan and Isaac are looking at Enrique as a kidnapper and possible murderer, whereas I'm looking at him as the five-year-old boy who played with cars on the dirty kitchen floor while I prepared us a bowl of stale cereal for dinner.
I smile to erase the anxious lines carved in Isaac’s forehead before walking through Enrique’s hospital room door. Sensing my presence, Enrique lifts his head. I don’t know how I missed our similarities at the beginning, but there's no doubt he's my brother. The bone structure of his face is similar to mine but more cut and manly, his hair is the same shade, and he even has a lone dimple in his cheek, instead of the two most people have. My uncle always joked that it was where I was shot in a previous life.
The only difference between us is Enrique’s eyes. Although they appear identical to mine, his are colder and unreadable.
