Isaac murmurs in agreement. “You’re not the only one. My pilot is still in shock. He didn’t think he’d make it back to Texas before Raquel gave birth. It was a close call.”
“It was. Twenty minutes after touchdown, he was born.” My eyes drift to Axel, still as smitten as a pig in mud. He is the most adorable little boy I’ve ever seen. “Thank you for doing what you did, Isaac. Raquel would have never made it home if you didn’t lend us your private jet.”
The slightest sigh sounds down the line, advising me Isaac heard me, but he remains tight-lipped. He’s never been good at accepting praise.
“You could have flown with us, you know. Held Raquel’s hand and let her call you lots of horrible names instead of me.”
Isaac’s laughter loosens the heavy sentiment in the air. I’ve never seen him scared until that day in New York two months ago. He was petrified when Raquel went into labor six weeks early, but thankfully, even with his mind fritzing, he arranged for his jet to fly us back to Texas where my mom and dad were on standby. It meant he had to travel back to Ravenshoe on a commercial aircraft, but from the story he’s sharing, it doesn’t sound like it went too badly.
Isaac met someone during his flight. Shockingly, she turned down his invitation for a hook up later that week. I say “shocking” as, excluding me, I’ve not yet met a woman capable of turning Isaac down when he brings out the charm. He has to beat married women off with a stick. We used to keep a tally before. . .
I stop myself before I have my tenth memory of Alex before the clock strikes two.
“So you took her home from the club, then what happened?”
Isaac pauses long enough to gain my utmost devotion before stammering out, “Nothing.”
I balk. “Nothing?! What? Please tell me I’m the only one with a broken vagina.”
“Regan. . .”
I love the way he drawls my name when angry.
“One, I don’t have a vagina. Two, how many times the past six months have I asked younotto mention your vagina when we’re talking?”
“About half a dozen—not that I’m keeping a tally.”I am, and the total now sits at thirty-two.“Come on, Isaac. You have to understand my shock. Your fuck pad isn’t called that for no reason. If you were there to talk, Dr. Avery would have moved in weeks ago.”
Isaac laughs, easing the tension bristling between us. It’s closely followed by two words I never thought I’d hear him say, “She’s different.”
“Different as in?”
I hope he says something stupid like she has a third nipple or a gimpy leg. I don’t want him to be miserable, but as they say, misery loves company.
I hang off every word Isaac says when he murmurs, “When she looks at me, I feel like she’s sees me, Isaac, not the myth or the legend—”
“Or the guy with an immensely big head?”
He laughs again. “Yeah, and that. She doesn’t notice any of that.”
“So why no sexy time?” This time, my interest is genuine.
I know how wonderful it feels to be looked at as a person instead of a celestial being, and although it hurts remembering Alex was the only person who has looked at me in such a manner, it isn’t as burning today. Isaac is a great guy. He deserves to be happy.
I wait with bated breath for Isaac to answer me. When he does, it isn’t the response I’m anticipating. “Isabelle has a weird knack for murmuring under her breath. A lot of the stuff she mumbles makes sense, but there was one thing I wasn’t too fond of this morning.” Three long breaths pass before he adds on, “She said I was lawless.”
“Lawless or flawless?” I’m certain I heard him wrong.
“If my ego was talking on my behalf, I’d say flawless, but I’m reasonably sure she said lawless. She mumbled it a good three to four times so I couldn’t miss it.” For the first time in nearly eight years, his tone isn’t brimming with cockiness.
“Oh.” I want to say more, but what could I possibly say?
Something pops into my mind at the same time suspicion runs rife through my veins. “Where did you say you met again?”
Over the next twenty minutes, Isaac gives me a rundown on the events that have occurred between him and Isabelle the past two months. Although I get the manly, lacking detail update, I can fill in the gaps.
It could be past burns making me cautious, but some stuff he says doesn’t make sense. First and foremost, why would Isabelle dodge his attempts to bed her? Call me crazy, but she’s either not single like she’s claiming, or she’s gay.
I’m one of Isaac’s closest friends, and I’m on the verge of begging him to dive between the sheets with me to bring back my mojo. That’s how confident I am of his bedroom skills. His aura screams sex, yet Isabelle continually turns him down.
