After settling her tears by biting down on her lower lip, Isabelle glances straight into the camera mounted over the door ofherclub and mouths, “I love you,”in the same manner she did when the footage of her arrest filtered through the courts months ago. She knows I’m watching her—I’m forever watching her.
Her declaration of love calms my hesitation, liberating me of the fear clouding me. I’ve often said Isabelle’s presence swipes my astuteness. Today, I’m realizing that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. She weakened me before making me stronger. I’m the most fearless I’ve ever been, meaning not a morsel of concern unsettles my qualm when I realize what I must do to show her sheismy equal.
When I crank my neck to Alex, I’m unsurprised to notice Brandon has left the room. There are a lot of cowards in my story, but I’m not one of them. Brandon can’t make the same guarantee. “Keep her safe.”
As much as it kills me to do, when Alex dips his chin, I walk away, not only placing Isabelle’s safety into the hands of another man but also granting Isabelle a trust I’ve never given anyone.
What Isabelle said weeks ago was true. Trust is about more than love. To be trusted is the greatest compliment you can give. I love Isabelle more than anything. That alone verifies she’ll forever be safe, and my heart will never again be broken.
Epilogue
Isabelle
A good husband makes a good wife.
March 5…
Aragged breath escapes my lips when the plane suddenly drops. I want to blame turbulence for the animalistic noise tearing from my throat, but that would be a lie. It’s him. Isaac Holt. My husband for the second time in a little over seven months. We’ve been in the air for almost three hours. Excluding the twenty minutes of takeoff, we’ve been going at it the entire time.
Things have always been fanatical for us, but it grew tenfold when I played an intricate part in the sting that brought Kirill Bobrov down. Three weeks after my meeting with Kirill, Katie Byrne was extracted safely and without injury. The joint FBI-Ravenshoe PD operation also unearthed a way for Enrique to be removed from the Popov entity in a safe, yet unheard of manner.
As far as the public is aware, Enrique was killed during the coup by a rival Russian associate. Riots were foiled when his ‘murderer’ was found hanging in his prison cell the day after his arraignment. To those in the know, the Russian associate was an undercover operative. His ‘suicide’ was as complexly planned as Rico’s murder. Both men escaped without injury.
I don’t see that being the case for Kirill. Although he came out of the raid uninjured, he’s facing a maximum sentence for imprisonment, deprivation of liberty, and rape. Katie wasn’t his only victim.
Although Kirill’s choice in residence added an exhilarating thrill for the locals unaware of how hard Isaac works to keep Ravenshoe safe, his new zip code wasn’t the cause of my heart losing the ability to fit into my chest. It was the man with his head between my legs, eating me hard and fast.
It would have taken Isaac an immense amount of strength to walk away the day I was interviewed by Kirill. He is a commanding, domineering man who struggles to trust the motives of anyone, but he trusted me enough to believe the words I spoke to him in anger weeks earlier. I love him too much to ever hurt him the way Ophelia did. I would never leave him or place myself in a position that would endanger what we have, and he believed me.
That day set the bar higher than I ever thought possible. We’re grown since then. We’ve matured, loved, and lost, but we’ve not once lost our faith in one another. Isaac’s vows proved this without a doubt. “You give me a reason to smile, a reason to laugh, and a reason to trust. You are the reason I exist. I was made for you.”
Our wedding was just as beautiful the second time around as it was the first. We were surrounded by our family and friends, dined at one of Isaac’s many restaurants, and our wedding pictures will be splashed in magazines across the globe.
It was a truly beautiful day that’s only growing more mesmerizing as Isaac upholds the pledges he whispered in my ear during our reception. He loves the people he classes as his family, but his love for me is even greater than that. It took an immense amount of restraint for him not to whisk me off in the first hour of festivities. I’m sure if Callie hadn’t confused the father and daughter dance, he would have. Mercifully, he’ll never disappoint Callie as he’s never disappointed me.
My hands shoot down to the thick mane on Isaac’s head when he sucks down hungrily on my clit. It’s still swollen and sensitive from our earlier antics, but the pleasure it rushes through me makes the uncomfortableness worth it. He eats me expertly, every stroke of his tongue and nip of his teeth done with precise accuracy. I purr like a pussycat, loving the sensation prickling the fine hairs on my body.
The lashes of Isaac’s tongue grow more frantic when my hips instinctively gyrate. I’m shaking all over, my orgasm on the brink.
“Eyes, Isabelle.” When he gets them, he sinks two fingers inside of me, his eyes never leaving mine. “I’m going to have you wearing this look for days.Onlythis look.”
I have no clue about the destination we’re flying to, only that clothes aren’t a necessity. It must be private. Isaac hates another man hearing my cries of ecstasy, so he’d never risk the chance of them seeing my face during it.
I’m more nervous about keeping up with him and his insatiable needs than I was when standing at the end of the aisle, waiting for the ballad Isaac had written and recorded specially for our nuptials to begin. I had no reason to be fretful. The instant I caught a glimpse of him in his impeccably-tailored black tuxedo with a dark gray vest and tie that matched the ribbon weaved up my corset, my inhibitions instantly evaporated, and time came to a shrieking halt. It was once again just him and me—the man who makes time nonexistent.
When Isaac’s tongue flicks the sensitive bud of nerves inside me, I grind down on his mouth, desperately sprinting toward the line I’ll never stop chasing.
“That’s it, baby. Just like that.”
The hum of the jet’s engines add to the wave his fingers and tongue have formed low in my belly. I ride Isaac’s plunging fingers, taking everything he’s giving. I’m exhausted from our day, but not even his threat to fuck me until we land had me stepping back. I live for this. Our connection. The love displayed in our embraces.Him.
I cry out when an orgasm hits me hard and fast. Isaac’s name leaves my lips in a grunted moan as the rock of my hips subsides to painful, body-wreaking shudders. My muscles are burning, but I hold his mouth hostage to my clit, never getting enough, forever needing more.
Once my quivers lessen, I fall back on the mattress to suck in some much-needed breaths.
“Always so greedy, Isabelle.”
Isaac wipes the back of his hand across his wet lips before crawling up my body. My breathlessness turns dire when I’m awarded the sheer brilliance of his handsome face without any hindrance. My god, he is a beautiful man—a powerful jawline, plump lips, thick, luscious hair, and an ideally placed dimple in the middle of his chin. He’s beyond entrancing.
