"Except they're more likely to get themselves killed," Isabelle muttered. "I think they're crazier than we were."
"You forget about the time you climbed to the top of the same sycamore tree and threw yourself out of it hoping I would catch you," Ethan reminded her.
"Which you did," she said with a grin.
"You broke my ankle!"
"Stop complaining, mom babied you for a week, and I got stuck on diaper duty with Kyle and Cassidy. I got the raw end of that deal."
"Yeah," Ethan smiled fondly. "That was a good week."
Stefan watched the exchange with a small amount of awe. It was becoming increasingly clear Ethan and Isabelle were exceptionally close as they smiled at each other. A small bolt of jealousy ripped through him. He was acting like an idiot, he realized as he tried to force himself to relax. He didn't know the girl, yet she fully aroused him, and suddenly he was jealous of the relationship with her brother.
He shoved the thought forcefully aside as he forced his gaze away from her.
David stood and leaned his hands on the table as he spoke. "I think we'd better get going."
Aiden, Ian, and Jack swiftly stood. "You got that list?" David asked.
"Oh, yeah." Isabelle shifted the laundry basket, pulled a piece of paper from her pocket, and handed it to him.
David glanced at it and nodded. "No problem."
"Thanks." Isabelle left the room, and the others filed out behind her.
Stefan sat for a while contemplating his strange thoughts and behavior. The room was oddly quiet without the laughter filling it —without Isabelle. That realization did nothing to ease his darkening mood. He folded his hands behind his head and pretended to listen as Ethan, Mike, Doug, and Jess exchanged pleasant conversation and stories. He didn't hear a word they said, and he found his gaze drawn to the door every few seconds. It wasn't until the fiftieth time he looked, he realized he was hoping for Isabelle to reappear.
When she didn't, and Jess placed her hand on his thigh again, he decided it was time to go to bed.
Chapter Seven
Jess was wide awake, still yelling at him, when Stefan left the room and slammed the door in her face. He was edgy, restless, and aggravated. He wasn't going to waste his time, or energy, fighting with her. She wasn't worth the headache. The thing bothering him was what started the fight. For the first time, in his exceptionally long life, he was unable to keep an erection.
Only when he'd pictured a set of violet eyes could he respond in any way to Jess's seduction attempts. It didn’t last long. When Jess crawled on top of him, a feeling of revulsion had instantly flooded him. He had shoved her off, unable to stomach the feel of her any longer.
Now he felt like a caged animal, desperate to escape, as he made his way quickly downstairs. He didn't know what was the matter with him, but he didn't like the feeling at all.
The light in the dining room was still on. He was drawn there by laughter and voices. He walked into the room, pausing as his eyes landed on Isabelle. For a moment, he simply held her gaze as his cock instantly pulsed and throbbed to life. Trepidation filled her eyes before she glanced away. Stefan remained where he was, staggered by the sheer force of the physical reaction rocking him.
"Hey, I thought you'd gone to sleep," Ethan greeted.
Stefan shrugged as he walked carefully over to the chair he abandoned earlier. His physical condition made it difficult for him to walk. "Couldn't sleep."
"Hmm. Got a two?"
"What?" Isabelle asked distractedly.
"A two?" Ethan inquired again.
She glanced at the cards in her hand, barely seeing the numbers on them. Stefan's hungry gaze made her feel extremely edgy and uncomfortable. Her blood seemed to burn her veins, and the odd tingling sensation between her thighs was back with a vengeance. She shifted uncomfortably as a deep yearning she didn't understand coursed through her. She cursed herself for stupidly thinking Stefan wouldn't come back down tonight. She should have stayed in her room, buried under a pile of books as she’d planned.
"Go fish," she mumbled.
Of course, it didn't help he looked unbelievably sexy in his loose jeans, and body-hugging, deep blue shirt. His tousled hair gave him an irresistible, boyish appeal. She planned to resist it, and she planned to stay far away from him from now on.
"Isabelle," Ethan said sharply.
"What?" she demanded, aggravated by the strange feelings coursing through her.
"Are you going to go?" he retorted.
She blinked at her cards as she tried to force her attention back to their game. "Do you have a four?" He tossed a card across the table at her. She scooped it up and dropped her cards onto the table. "Ten?"
"Go fish."
Isabelle grabbed a card from the deck. "Jess sleeping?" Ethan inquired.
"No," Stefan replied.
Isabelle stiffened as she recognized the scent clinging to him. She had smelled it often enough on her brothers, parents, and The Stooges, and she knew what it was. Disgust coiled within her stomach at the smell of sex, along with another emotion, one she was becoming uncomfortably familiar with, jealousy. She wanted to bolt from the room, but she was unable to humiliate herself by doing so.
She lifted her head to find Ethan grinning as he stared at his cards. "Pig," she muttered.
He glanced up at her, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "What?" he inquired innocently.
Isabelle glared at him as she lowered her gaze to her cards again. "When will they be getting back?" Stefan asked.
Isabelle glanced at the clock in the corner; it was after twelve already. "Whenever they feel like it," Ethan answered.
"Hopefully soon," Isabelle added. She was a little hungry earlier, but her distress over seeing him again made it burn back to life.
"They bring people back for you?" Stefan asked.
"No!" Isabelle cried, her eyes
