"Am I any good?"
He strained to hear her. When her words finally penetrated, he almost laughed but managed to catch himself in time. He didn't want to think about what she would do if he burst into laughter. He remembered now that she started to grow distant when he told her he would teach her how to make love. Sometimes, he was an insensitive idiot, he realized with an inward groan.
"I have never felt anything like what I feel when I'm with you. Trust me, darling; you are much better than good, you're spectacular."
She looked back at him. The tender vulnerability in her eyes tore at his heart.
"Really?" she whispered hopefully.
He shifted and nudged her thighs apart so he could press the hard evidence of his arousal against her inner thigh. Passion bloomed in her eyes.
"This is what you do to me," he grated hoarsely. "No one has ever affected me like this, Isabelle, no one. I’ve never put up with as much aggravation with anyone else as I do from you."
Her eyes twinkled with amusement. "You're no barrel of laughs, you know."
He cocked an eyebrow as he smiled back at her. "And why is that?"
"Well, you're arrogant, inconsiderate, bossy, demanding, and more than a little temperamental."
Stefan pressed the tip of his head against her wet, inviting folds. Isabelle bit her bottom lip and lifted her hips to him. "You flatter me, but you do realize you just described yourself."
"I am not inconsiderate!" she cried indignantly.
He slid his head into her. She drew her legs up, bracing them against his slick sides as she opened herself further to his invasion. "But you admit to being the other things?"
Her eyes twinkled as she wrapped her arms around his neck to play with the hair curling along his nape. He shuddered as he fought the urge to plunge into her, but he was enjoying teasing her and watching the variety of emotions crossing her face.
"Sometimes," she conceded. "But at least I don't rip doors out of the wall."
He laughed as he bent to nibble on her lip. "No, you just cause me to do it."
She grinned at him. "Your temper caused you to do it."
"Trust me; no one can provoke my temper like you."
"I know the feeling," she gasped as he drove all the way into her.
Chapter Eighteen
"Isabelle!" Isabelle groaned as she buried herself deeper into her pillows. "Isabelle!"
"Go away, Willow!" she shouted.
"Isabelle, get up!" She lifted her head as she realized Stefan was no longer in bed with her. Her brow furrowed as she wondered where he was and when he left. "Isabelle!"
"What?" she asked.
"I can't find Cassidy and Kyle!" Willow cried.
"Get Ethan!"
"Everybody went to get more supplies for the new house, and they've been missing for almost an hour!"
She groaned again as she thrust the tangled sheet off her. An hour was a long time for the two of them to be gone. "Hold on!"
She dressed quickly, wondering if Stefan went with everyone for supplies, or if he was around here somewhere. Brushing out her hair, she pulled it into a loose ponytail and opened the door. Willow's pretty face was stressed with anxiety as her dark violet eyes nervously scanned Isabelle.
"I don't know where they went," Willow said anxiously.
"We'll find them," Isabelle assured her. Willow's dark blonde hair bobbed up and down as she nodded vigorously. "Come on."
Willow followed her up the stairs, through the living room, and outside. Isabelle paused on the porch as her gaze traveled to the new house. They had made a lot of progress on it in the past few days, but she hadn't noticed until now. The outside walls and porch were in place; the large oak door was up, and most of the windows were in place. A tingle of excitement raced through her as she realized the house would be completed soon.
"He went with the others," Vicky informed her.
Isabelle tore her gaze away from the house as Vicky and Abby stepped onto the porch. Isabelle took a deep breath and hopped quickly down the steps. "Where was the last place you saw them?"
"I left them at the tree house," Willow answered.
Isabelle nodded as she moved toward the path to the tree house.
"You must be happy Stefan came back," Abby said.
Isabelle cast a glance over her shoulder to find the twins grinning knowingly at her. She couldn't stop herself from smiling back at them.
"Jess is going to freak when she finds out he came back," Abby said.
"She doesn't know yet?" Isabelle’s good mood vanished at the thought of Jess's reaction.
"No, she was still asleep when he went into town, and I don't think mom is going to tell her."
"I'd like to," Vicky said. "Just to see her face."
"Be nice," Isabelle scolded.
"Why?" Vicky demanded. "She's not nice to you."
"Do you blame her?"
"Yes!" they both cried.
Isabelle shook her head at them. "If it were one of you guys, you wouldn't be saying that."
They both scowled at her. "Obviously the two of you are supposed to be together," Vicky said.
"She doesn't know that," Isabelle reminded them.
"Well, she will now!" Abby snapped.
Isabelle stopped when they arrived at the tree house. She glanced around the small clearing, but there was no sign of Cassidy or Kyle. A feeling of impending doom grew in the pit of her stomach. An hour was much too long for them to be missing.
"You guys head to the lake,” she instructed. “Willow and I will go toward the canyon."
Vicky and Abby nodded, the amusement on their faces gone as they broke
