Jaded (16 page)

“Whew!” She resurfaced, slicking back her hair. He couldn’t peel his eyes from the water droplets sliding down her neck. Her sexiness was burning a hole in his resolve to keep things under control. Control was the last thing on his mind as she maneuvered on top of him, her eyes more devilish than he’d ever seen before.

“You want me to pay you back now?” she purred, rubbing her hands over his chest.

“If you’d like,” he said, straining to keep his voice from shaking.

“I’d like.” Her hand trailed down his chest and stopped just below his belly button. He gazed deeply into her eyes, struggling to calm his racing heart.

She gripped his dick in her hands and started massaging, tortuously slow. He bit his lip, resting his head on the side of the tub. It was impossible to deny her when she got like this—not like he wanted her to stop. He couldn’t figure out for the life of him what it was that happened when they were in each other’s presence—something clicked and reason was lost. All Luke could feel was a persistent need to be near her, no matter the cost.

She quickened her pace, suctioning her mouth against his neck. He tensed, arching himself toward her. He felt himself reaching out for her hips, tempted to pull her on top of him before she could refuse, but the thought of their precarious relationship stopped him. If he did it and she was upset by it—not now, but later, when she thought back on it—he wouldn’t forgive himself. The money wasn’t worth the guilt he’d feel.

His breath caught in his throat.
The bet
. He’d forgotten all about it. He was momentarily distracted from her hands on his cock, massaging him and caressing him toward the brink of ecstasy. How was he supposed to bring it up? He wanted her, not because of the bet, but for reasons beyond that.
Way
beyond that. But how could he tell her after they’d spent so much time together?

Isabella dipped her head beneath the surface of the water and took him into her mouth. She sucked on him, hard, causing him to jolt and let out a deep groan. His heart rate skyrocketed and he found himself reaching out for her hips again. He’d have to think about the bet later. There was no way he could concentrate on anything other than this gorgeous woman currently taking him deeper and deeper into her mouth.

She resurfaced, taking a breath of air.

“Dear God,” he groaned, voice cracking.

“I’ll do it again,” she said, eyes sparkling. She dove underwater again, and immediately her lips were around his cock, sucking for all she was worth. He writhed beneath her, trying to contain himself so she didn’t get a lungful of water.

He let out a ragged moan, feeling her tongue darting back and forth across the tip of his penis. She was teasing him to the brink of ecstasy—and he was ready to give in.

She resurfaced, this time looking a little more breathless.

“Easy, tiger,” he said, stroking her hair. “Breathe deep.”

She smiled slyly, pressing herself against him. He could feel his erection straining at her hot entrance. He ached to press it inside her, to finally feel her wrapped around him. He arched his back, brushing the tip of his hard-on against her pussy.

She gasped. “Luke—”

“I can’t help what he wants,” he murmured, burying his lips in her neck.

“I can’t help what
she
wants either,” she said, taking one of his hands and pressing it between her legs. “And I think they want the same thing.”

“So do I.”

They shared a long, heavy gaze. He knew she was contemplating it, tossing it back and forth in her mind, trying to predict how she would feel about it in the morning. In a rare display of reason, he said, “We shouldn’t.”

She looked relieved. “Okay.”

Without another word, she sank below the surface of the water and took him in again. He gripped the side of the tub, reveling in the sensation of her lips around his thick shaft. A long, deep groan sprang from his lips and before he knew it, he was releasing shot after shot of his hot liquid into her mouth.

When he was finished, she resurfaced, smacking her lips.

“That all you had in ya?”

He threw his head back and laughed. “That’s not the typical response.”

“Consider us even now,” she whispered into his ear. Before he could respond, she pressed her lips hard against him, kissing him so long that they were panting after they parted. She stood and climbed out of the tub, reaching for a towel. His breath caught in his throat. He reached out to grab her hand as she strutted past but he missed. He hung over the side of the tub, watching her, confusion written on his face.

“So that’s it? We’re even? I can make us uneven again.”

“No, that’s quite all right.” She rubbed the towel through her hair, watching him slyly. “We’re even. It’s over.”

His heart sank. She couldn’t possibly think that if they satisfied each other once, it was over. Luke would be craving it a hundred more times.

“You’re serious?” He was smiling, waiting for her to finish the joke.

“Yeah.” She shrugged. “I don’t owe you, you don’t owe me. Fair trade.”

He rolled his eyes at her, then turned and sank deep into the water, trying to hide his disappointment. This wasn’t over yet. He knew that now she would try to resist him again, try to pretend like they weren’t insanely attracted to each other. He’d make her see that there was more than just sexual energy between them—a
lot
more.

Chapter Eight

A few days later, Isabella was priding herself on having avoided Luke so efficiently that they’d only exchanged a total of five or six words.

“Lift your leg, honey,” a seamstress said from beneath her. Isabella stared into her reflection, lifted her leg, and let her mind wander again.

She’d avoided Luke so well that he hadn’t had a chance to proposition her for another night together. She’d been so involved and concentrating on her work and the upcoming wedding, that she didn’t even want to ask him over again.

All right, that was a lie.

She couldn’t ignore the deep-seated nagging in her heart every time she saw him walk by or heard the low undertones of his voice from another room. She craved his warm body next to hers, the taste of his lips, and the look of surprise that came over his face when she called him out or got frisky with him. She wanted all of it. Most of all, she wanted those deep brown eyes to suck her in, to touch that part deep inside that she scarcely had words for and could barely understand. She wanted to look at him and know without speaking that he was feeling the same as she.

And on top of it all, she wanted him to put his hands on every inch of her body and make love to her. She almost tipped over as her thoughts began careening down this avenue, taunting her with images of their potential lovemaking. The seamstress looked up at her.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine. Sorry.”
Stop thinking about Luke and you’ll be fine
, she told herself.

The seamstress continued with her alterations to the long, flowing, silvery dress she’d been assigned as bridesmaid.

Kitty came out of a dressing room nearby, frantic. “Does my wedding dress need to be altered any more?”

She turned around in her gown, the absolute epitome of beauty. Isabella was breathless but also felt a pang of jealousy deep in her gut. Kitty’s bright white lacy wedding dress clung nicely to her thin body, and the scoop neck showed off her perfect breasts so that every male within a five-mile radius would notice.

“It looks great, Kitty,” Isabella said sincerely.

Her mother was standing in the corner of the room, hand covering her gaping mouth, making a display of clutching at her chest until she finally said, “Kitty, it’s
gorgeous!
This will be the most fantastic wedding
ever
! My
God
, you’re beautiful!”

Kitty was beaming as the seamstress and her mother continued to coo over her. Several workers from nearby came to check out the commotion and joined the compliment party. Kitty was lapping it up, Isabella knew. Her sister was beautiful, but she knew it, and sometimes her head could swell to dangerous size.

“Now that I have the wedding dress set,” Kitty said, surveying her profile in the mirror, “I can’t gain
any
weight. I think I’ll start going to the gym earlier, and I’ll go four times a week instead of three.”

“Whatever needs to be done,” said their mother.

Kitty suddenly caught sight of Isabella in the mirror. “Oh, Issy, you have the dress on! That looks really good.” She turned to look at her in person, walking around to look at it from all angles. “Such a good color and cut. Have you put on a little weight?”

Isabella cocked a brow as she met her sister’s gaze. “I haven’t, actually.” She felt the familiar flames of competition leap to life in the air between them, and she struggled to keep the feelings at bay.

“I know you work out all the time,” Kitty offered.

“Isabella has her father’s bone structure,” her mother said. “You know this.”

Isabella was silent, listening as they struggled their way through the verbal clean-up.

“I know,” Kitty replied, “I’m just saying that the way the dress falls is different than the first time. Maybe it’s the lighting. It was super bright that day, anyway.”

“Isabella, you look lovely,” her mother finally said, turning to her and cupping her face in her hands. “The Moreno bone structure is just as good as the Brighton bone structure.”

“Thanks, Mother,” Isabella said. Looking at Kitty, she said, “Will I be an embarrassment on your wedding day or should we go ahead with the final alterations?”

Kitty looked at her sharply. “I never said that; don’t be snarky to me, Issy.”

“I’m not being snarky, Kitty. I’m asking a real question.”

“Girls.”

Their mother’s sharp voice still acted as a knife through their quarrels, and both girls clamped their mouths shut. They watched each other for a moment before Kitty finally said, “It’s fine, let’s just place the order and be done with it.”

Kitty returned to her dressing room and Isabella went into her own, feeling the familiar stewing in the back of her head. Their fights had always been over looks, physical size, and general standards of beauty. Kitty would insinuate that Isabella was fat, ugly, or undesirable, and Isabella would retort with her intellect, using bigger words and subversive insults. Their arguments in their adult lives rarely came to this point, but every once in a while the old patterns reemerged. As she’d grown up, however, Isabella realized that this was insecurity on Kitty’s part, but even so, there had been phases where she felt Kitty’s subtle attacks more deeply than others. Isabella had learned that the power of her sister’s insults was usually a fair indicator of how healthy she was feeling on the inside. Today, she noted that the tiff had ruffled some feathers, but not much else. A good sign. Further proof that she was feeling all the more confident and independent since her decision to stay single and unencumbered.

This important change in her outlook on life had come slowly, throughout the course of years, but also with the help of Lizzie. They had found themselves on the same path of discovery, after multiple heartbreaks and cheating relationships left them questioning their self-worth and the potency of their sex appeal. And the power of her journey always came back to her when placed under Kitty’s scrutiny, something she knew she could handle but still shied away from.

Isabella, you rock this body,
she told herself, and vowed to remember the affirmation for her yoga class later that week.
You rock it like no one else can!

She smiled to herself as she redressed, fully content with the bridesmaid dress and the face staring at her in the mirror. Her mind wandered to past times once more, back to David, the last love she’d had, and the last time she’d caught herself running to a man for approval. It was during her relationship with David that she’d realized the destructive pattern, and how all the compliments he paid her, all the sweet nothings and love-making, still hadn’t been a guarantee that he wouldn’t cheat.

There is no guarantee,
she told herself.
There never will be. And Luke will be no different.
Don’t think that just because he’s gorgeous and attracted to you doesn’t mean he won’t break your heart! He probably flirts with every woman who comes around; you just haven’t been there to see it. He won’t give you what you want, and if he does, even for a little bit, something will go awry. It always does.

Isabella’s contentment dropped several notches as she brought herself back to this harsh reality. She refused to get hurt again, and besides, she had a rich and extensive relationship history to draw on, despite her best efforts to the contrary. Whatever inclination she had to get involved in a relationship had to be quelled, because it wasn’t worth the effort and pain. Isabella knew what was in her best interests, all thoughts of temporary sexual satisfaction aside, and that did not involve an incredibly gorgeous and sculpted construction worker named Luke with a smile that could bring her to her knees and a laugh that was boyish and contagious. That future didn’t contain sparkling brown eyes, or gentle questions about her family life, or a healthy respect for her indecision...

She grimaced. The logical decision was easy enough, but convincing the rest of her of this decision was a bit harder than she’d anticipated. She couldn’t stop thinking about that night in the Jacuzzi. It had seemed so simple then—an eye for an eye, or something like that—but apparently Luke’s boyish charm was rubbing off on her in ways she hadn’t been counting on. That thought rattled her to her core. Luke, something more than eye candy? If someone had told her that when she’d first met him, she’d have laughed in her face. But now the thought seemed delectable, tantalizing, yet scandalous.

No matter what she decided about Luke, she needed to be around him—that was the only thing she could clearly decipher from the tumult of emotions inside her. She neatly hung her dress on the hanger and exited the dressing room. After kissing her mother and sister on their cheeks, she bolted out of the bridal shop, more than ready to get home.