I recognize her instantly as the one he was on a date with when we first met. She was very comfortable with him then, putting her hands all over him, and it’s no different now. She touches his chest then his arm, and to make matters worse, he’s just letting her.
I have no claim on him. He’s not my boyfriend officially and we’ve never had the conversation about seeing each other exclusively, so in reality, I have reason or right to feel things.
But that doesn’t change the fact my stomach is in my feet and my throat is tightening up in an unexpected bout of emotion.
I tend to cry when I’m frustrated. I don’t know how to process anything without crying.
It’s embarrassing really. The last thing I want to do is cry in the middle of a wedding reception, so I turn on my heel and head back across the main entryway toward our room.
***
I’m sitting on the edge of the bed, scrolling through my phone, trying to sort my thoughts when I hear the keycard slide through the lock. When the door swings open, Isaac walks through the door looking as fucking beautiful as ever. It literally makes it hard for me to breathe.
“There you are.” He closes the door and steps up to me. “Are you all right? I was looking for you.”
“I just needed to catch my breath a little,” I tell him, and it’s not quite a lie. I don’t want to be that girl right now. The girl who freaks out simply because he was speaking to another female.
“Catch your breath? Is something wrong?”
He walks over to lean against the wall directly in front of me.
I toss my phone aside and look up at him.
“I saw you with that woman. I don’t remember her name, but I met her with you at the Harvest Festival.”
“Isabelle,” he sighs and slides his hand through his hair. “That was—”
I hold up my hand to stop him. “Let me get this out before I lose my nerve.”
He just nods. “Okay.”
“I saw you with her and I felt this blackness in my gut. I was so jealous it was making me feel sick. I’ve never been that way in my entire life, ever, not over anything. Not when I was a kid, and my neighbor had a Barbie Jeep that I wanted. Not when I was in high school and this girl I couldn’t stand started dating my crush. Jealousy has never been an issue for me... until I saw her touch you. I didn’t like it and I don’t like feeling this way.”
Nervous energy is pumping through my veins so I stand to walk across the room before I continue, “And I know that sounds crazy because you and I are so fresh and so new. I have no right to feel any type of way about you having a conversation with someone or even kissing someone. It’s not my business, but seeing you with her made me realize I really like you, Isaac.” I turn to face him so I can look at him in his eyes when I say this. “I really, really like you, and I hated seeing her touch you. I just want... you.”
I expect him to say something to me, but instead, he just stands there for what seems like an eternity with a fucking grin on his face.
“Isaac, I need you to say something. I just bared my soul to you... please.”
“I would rip the world apart if I saw someone else touching you, Sawyer, and if I have my way, I’ll ruin you for anyone else.”
Like a tiger unleashed from his cage, Isaac storms across the room and grabs the back of my neck and yanks my lips to his.
When I was a teenager, and still living in Tennessee with my family, I would go to these cliffs with my friends at a lake the next town over. We had to park our cars at the swimming hole then hike our asses through the woods, uphill, just to get to them. It was the perfect clearing to the ledge, overlooking the sparkling lake and I’d always take a running start down to the path and jump with my arms over my head, enjoying that split-second rush of adrenaline before I hit the water below.
That same rush is in my stomach now as Isaac backs me up against the wall and kisses his way down my neck, except it isn’t going away. My stomach is in knots, flipping and moving about as adrenaline pumps into my body.
That’s what Isaac does for me.
He gives me the ultimate rush.
I feel his strong hands slide from my shoulders, down my forearms then his fingers lace into mine.
“Look at me,” he demands, and I do. His eyes are dark, predatory, but they are still his—filled with softness and respect.
He leans down and presses a soft kiss to the tip of my nose then slowly raises our linked hands skyward and pins mine to the wall behind me, over my head.
“Your heart is racing,” he whispers, as he lays kisses across my chest and I drop my head back with a thud against the wall.
“Mmm,” I whimper. “I’m nervous.”
“Don’t be nervous, baby,” he speaks directly into my ear, and it tickles all the way to my toes. “I want this. I want you. It’s just me and you. No reason to be nervous.”
“I was worried you’d be angry,” I say, flexing my fingers around his. “But I had to tell you. I had to let you know how I feel.” He presses his knee between my legs and I cry out at the delicious pressure. “Oh my God, more.”
“I had always thought about what our first time would be like.” He trails kisses along my jaw as he talks. “In my mind, I always thought it would be rough, like we couldn’t get enough of each other.”
