Over-insolent fools wanting more than they deserve, I disconnect our call before tossing my cell phone onto my desk. It bounces off the thick antique material as Isabelle asks, “Was that the Henry I met when we went away for the long weekend?”
“Yes,” I answer before raising my hands to the taut muscles in her shoulders, needing my hands on her any way I can. When she moans like my head is between her legs after only the slightest kneading, I ask, “Are you sore?”
When she breathes out, “Uh-huh,” I stand to my feet, taking her with me, before heading for the downstairs bathroom. Nurturing has never been my strong point. Usually, once my bed partner gave me what I wanted, I was out the door quicker than I walked them through it, but that logic doesn’t make sense when Isabelle is in my presence. The urge to care for her is almost as great as my wish to keep her clear from harm. Both are dangerous, but I’m slowly learning they’re also achievable.
Furthermore, I’m feeling a little dirty after my business dealings this morning, so what better way to clear the murkiness than a long soak in a tub with the woman I’m staining my empire for.
After plopping Isabelle’s delectable ass onto the marble vanity in the downstairs bathroom, I fill the clawfoot tub with warm water before adding an array of products Catherine assures me are perfect for weary muscles.
I bet she didn’t think I’d used them for relief of sexually exhaustive muscles when she purchased them, so I won’t mention the murkiness of trying to buy a child on the black market, or my mood will nosedive even more.
Still smirking at the thought of Catherine’s embarrassed cheeks, I spin around to face Isabelle before stripping out of my denim jeans and casual white tee. Isabelle’s eyes run over my body when I kick my jeans and boxer shorts to the side before prowling her way. Her watch is hungry, but there’s more than lust firing through her beautiful chocolate eyes.
“See something you like?” I mutter while undoing the top button of my dress shirt she borrowed.
When she nods without shame, I hit her with a frisky wink before sliding the cotton material of my dress shirt off her shoulders. Air hisses between my teeth when the rosy pink buds of her nipples curl upward in the waft of my fast movements. They’re begging for attention, and it takes everything I have to remember exhausting her to the point of collapse again so early today will undo some of the plans I made for us this weekend. Hardly any of them involve clothing, but I’d rather she be semi-conscious for them.
My eyes lift from Isabelle’s perky tits to her face when she quotes, “See something you like?” Her voice is dripping with sassiness I can’t wait to explore, so instead of answering her, I gather her in my arms then walk us to the almost overflowing bathtub. After placing her back on her feet, I slide into the oily water before extending out my hand in offering.
When she sinks into the water in front of me, water splashes over the rim. “You’re dealing with Catherine tomorrow,” I mutter with a laugh when it dawns on me I’ve never used this bathroom before. I’ve lived here for three years, but I have not once entered foot into this room.
A hint of jealousy highlights Isabelle’s sultry voice when she asks, “Who’s this Catherine I keep hearing about?”
“She is my…”
I continue massaging the knots keeping Isabelle’s shoulders high while striving to work out how to explain Catherine’s influence in my life. She arrived on the scene not long after my grandmother passed, and although no one will ever replace my nonna, Catherine made her loss not so painful. She understood what it felt like to lose someone you love to cancer, and she reminded me every day that even those who fight the hardest battle and lost didn’t necessarily lose.
We all have a place in the world. Some just get less than the rest.
When I can’t settle on a title and needing to keep my mind on the present instead of my past, I go with honesty instead. “Trying to give Catherine a title is like trying to give Hugo one. They’re both all-rounders. I’d say Catherine is a housekeeper, personal assistant, shopper, and grandma.”
Chuckles barrel up my chest when Isabelle asks, “So, she isn’t someone I should be worried about?”
“Ah, no. She and her husband celebrated their fortieth wedding anniversary last month.” After angling her body so she can see my face, I add, “You don’t haveanyoneto be worried about, Isabelle.”
I would have liked an immediate reply heralding the same or at least confirmation our competitive game of cat and mouse is now over, but all I get is a brisk nod and a pungent stare. I’m unsure if she is teasing me with the hopes of unleashing my dominant side again or if she’s refusing to let go of the antics that almost killed me last night. Whatever the case, it makes my stare dubious and full of menace.
“What?” Isabelle questions a short time later, incapable of withstanding the wrath of my stare for a second longer.
With sexual fatigue most likely the cause of her foolhardiness, I give her some rarely issued leeway. “Do I have anyone to be worried about? Because I’m already acutely aware of the stellar impression you made on Ryan, so I was wondering if there might be anyone else I should be informed of?”
Now my ticking jaw and clenched fists make sense. Ryan’s attention can be excused on his wrongful assumption we were still playing the game we forged years ago, but the same can’t be said for Brandon. He is an unknown horse in a race I plan to win—an outside acquaintance playing on a field he doesn’t belong.
He’s a ghost, which frustrates me more than the commencement of Isabelle’s reply, “As handsome as Ryan is…”
Her pulse quickens when the stiffening of my body causes water to splash over the tub. With all the mammoth tasks I’m juggling, I let her kiss with Brandon off too lightly. It is an error I plan to rectify as soon as possible, and the smugness on Isabelle’s face ensures it will occur before we leave this bathroom.
“Let me finish my sentence before you get all tense.” She breathes out slowly, exposing she’s turned on by my dominance before saying, “As handsome as Ryan is, no one makes my body ignite the way you do. No one ever has, and no one ever will. You’ve ruined me for any other man.” The oils I placed into the bath to relax her muscles aid her slide when she glides up my body so we meet face to face. “And no man could ever compete with a man as incredibly gorgeous as you. Not even Kellan Kyle.”
Conceitedness is already swelling my chest, so you can imagine how pumped up my ego becomes when she seals her lips over mine. She moans into my mouth before dueling her tongue with mine, then she drags it along the roof, sampling me as I did her pussy multiple times last night.
The throaty groan she releases when I weave my fingers through her hair to fist it causes my undoing. I take control of the kiss as I do all aspects of my life—without prejudice. I bite her lips, sample her mouth with my tongue, and grind my rapidly thickening shaft against her thigh as if it is her pussy.
Fiery heat makes the bathwater feel cold when Isabelle slides her hand down my stomach before she curls it around my rock-hard cock. After skimming the crown with her thumb to gather up any lubricant there, she guides her hand to the base of my dick before slowly working it back to the tip.
Her grip is as firm as the one she placed on me when she peered up at me at the airport but in a good I-can’t-wait-to-blow-my-load-down-her-throat way. They have the perfect amount of pressure, and within seconds, I’m holding back the urge to return the thrilling experience by burying my head between her legs. I wouldn’t hold back if every frantic pump didn’t have Isabelle’s pussy inching closer to my cock’s head. We’re so close, her next handful of strokes dip the head of my cock between her glistening folds.
With my astuteness vanished and my urge to claim Isabelle in a way I never have another woman, I relish the sensation of her heat wrapped around the crown of my cock for a handful of pumps. Only when my desire becomes unquenchable do I snatch up her hand, pop open my eyes, then groggily mutter, “As much as I want to plunge into your pretty pink pussy right now, we need a condom.”
