Even though it intimidated her, even though it was clearly cloaked in danger and good reasons to feel more than a little fear, she wasn’t about to let it flutter away like a fickle butterfly. Perhaps the whole of her life had been a lead-in to this encounter with Jacob and all the rapid changes that were accompanying him. Perhaps, all along, her hunger for knowledge had been a subconscious search for Jacob and his people. Maybe there was such a thing as destiny, and maybe he was hers. Isabella knew there was only one way to find out and that it was a discovery she craved beyond reason.
“Fine. I understand,” she said with a little shrug, turning her head slightly so he couldn’t see her eyes. “If it’s really that important to you, I’ll go have sex with a human male first. Then I’ll know what I’m talking about before I broach the matter with you again.”
Jacob felt the statement the same way he had felt the blast of Elijah’s intervention the first night he had touched her. It slammed into him with breathtaking brutality, destroying his sense of direction and balance. Rage surged through him, turning his eyes into glistening black voids. The idea of another man touching that precious skin, kissing her sweet, delicious mouth, was more than he could stand. What she was suggesting this time was too much. Beyond too much.
“Over my dead body…over my obliterated soul will I ever allow such a thing.” The declaration was a cross between a growl and a soft roar. Bella could see him shaking from head to toe, could feel it vibrating through the door behind her. In all of an instant, the cool, sophisticated Jacob disappeared and a possessive beast reared its head in his place.
Now that’s more like it, Isabella mused, with a mental smile.
“But”—she blinked her wide eyes up at him in all innocence—“you just said—”
“I said forget it, Isabella!” the Enforcer exploded, the pressure of his hands on the door at her back making the wood pop and creak ominously. “No one is going to touch you, do you understand?”
Isabella thrust her fists onto her hips, her delicate jaw thrusting out stubbornly.
“Well I’m not going to stay a virgin for the rest of my life, Jacob!” she declared in frustration. “Eventually someone is going to have to touch me, because I have no intentions of being a nun! Especially not now that I know what it can feel like to be wanted by a man and to want him in return. And since you think I’m too fragile for you, it will have to be someone else!”
Isabella suddenly found her head enveloped in those enormous hands of his, her eyes forced to meet his, compelled to see the fire of jealousy she had stirred up in his black gaze. His emotions buffeted her like a wildly breaking wave; his sudden, desperate covetousness and gripping fear battered her psyche like a million piercing daggers. The idea of another man touching her ripped at his insides, physically and spiritually, the cruelty and poison of it stamping his soul like a tattoo. In all of a heartbeat she regretted her game. She had never meant to hurt him, only to motivate him past his conflicts.
Jacob knew he had no justification for feeling this way, especially in light of the hastily sketched rules of conduct he was trying to force on himself and her. Yet a savage need to sear her to his side, body and soul, was strangling him brutally. He would kill anyone who even thought about touching her. In that moment he swore it to himself, and with his desperation-charred eyes, he swore it to her.
“Never,” he rasped, the word falling from him on hot, rapid breaths. “Do you hear me, Bella? Never will any other man be allowed to touch you.”
“Then that leaves only two choices,” she reminded him, just as breathless as he was with his incensed feelings battering at her from all sides. “You, or nobody.” She took in a deep, steadying breath, forcing herself to push away his influence in her mind so she could purposely lower her voice and shift her body into her next whispered words. This, she decided, would be her apology for her selfishness, for her taunting ways. She would no longer do this just because she craved it so desperately, she would do this because he did. Despite all his battling for his self-preservation, he refused to take into account how much he truly needed her. And for the first time, Isabella was truly understanding how much that really was.
“Frankly, Jacob,” she said softly, her eyes leading his to glance down the inviting length of her body, “I think it would be such a shame to waste a body like mine, so soft, so eager to know what lovemaking feels like and so responsive to the way you touch it. It would be a crime to waste it on celibacy. Don’t you agree?”
On a distant level, Jacob knew she was trying to manipulate him, but the awareness of it did not make her ploy any less effective. Arousal boiled through him in volcanic punishment, burning him from blood to bones until he was locked and rigid with it.
“You tempt me on purpose without knowing what you are toying with,” he accused tightly, his eyes once again drawn down over the lush curves of the body she had spoken of, the body she was now rubbing ever so lightly against the hard contours of his. “Why would you do such a foolish thing?”
“Perhaps because it’s my destiny to be your undoing, Jacob,” she murmured softly, her fingers reaching up to trace his sensuous mouth with a slow, searching touch. “Or perhaps it’s yours to be mine. I don’t know. All I know is that I want to be with you more than I ever thought I would ever want anything in my life.”
Jacob’s breath came faster, his mouth warming under her exploring touch, his pupils dilating before her eyes. He let go of her, his hands pressing to the door behind her once more. Isabella was aware of his fingers digging into the wood, aware that his internal struggles were not yet over. It touched her that he was so worried for her. It made her want to be with him even more. She knew he’d never treat her lightly, wouldn’t consider being with her a casual act. It radiated from every pore in his body.
“I could never find anything about you light or casual,” Jacob said fiercely, not even realizing in the intensity of the moment that he had actually heard the words in his head, in her voice. “But you are right, I am worried. And believe me when I say it is with good cause. Do you remember the first time I kissed you? Within the span of a quick breath I was out of control. I was acting solely on instinct, the animal in my blood at the surface; the civilized man vanished without even putting up a fight. If Elijah had not interrupted us, I would have been brutal to your body, inconsiderate and unthinking of your innocence. I would have hurt you, only the urge to mate paramount in my thoughts. Isabella, you do not want that. I do not want that for you. You deserve so much more.”
“More? As in the more you were giving me the second time we kissed, in the library?” she asked soothingly. “There was no animal then, Jacob. At least, not in control. The way you touched me, the way you made me feel”—her hands drifted in a slow, purposeful caress down the length of his neck, her eyes trained on the travel of her own fingertips—“and the way you stopped. Those were the acts of a caring and concerned lover.” Her fingers dipped into the hollow at the base of his throat, then slid into the warm, open neck of his shirt. “You were attentive, you made me feel so wanted. Jacob, I want to feel that again.”
“You forget,” he said hoarsely, his eyes falling on her bare shoulder under the gaping collar of her blouse. “You are now revising history.”
“No, Jacob, I’m not. I know what that was…I’m not a fool. I’ve felt that part of you more than at just those times.” She reached to brush tender lips across his jaw and ear as she whispered softly to him. “I feel it in the hunger of your eyes when you look at me. I feel it when your breath draws deep as you take my scent deeply into you. Yes,” she assured him when he stiffened in her hold, “I was aware. I’ve always been aware. I’ve heard every growl of that beast you leash so tightly. I have felt his rough urgency in your elegant hands, his bite in the scrape of your teeth. Jacob, I’ve learned the depths at which that beast lives, and it no longer frightens me. In the library, I never feared you for the beast in you. My only hesitation came from fear of the woman in me, of how t
o deal with my own inexperience. But then you, fiend that you feel you are, found the way to guide me past that. It was natural, Jacob, and it was right. We were right.”
Jacob swallowed hard past the surge of hope and desire clutching his chest and throat. She was touching his mind on purpose, forcing him to see and feel all the truth in her beliefs. She had such unshakable faith in him and in the way she felt about what was happening between them.
“You do not know the power you have,” he uttered in a voice like rough sandpaper. “You are so beautiful.” He reached to cup her face in his hand. “So soft and so warm.” His fingers fanned out against her skin, sliding silkily over her cheek, chin, and throat. He inhaled through his nose, a long, purposeful breath. “And that. Your scent. It drives me mad.”
“Tell me why,” she urged him, her voice sounding distant and dreamy.
“You are”—he leaned forward and nuzzled the side of her neck, breathing deeply of her—“clean…and sweet, like nutmeg, and tart like apples. And then the change…” He pressed his mouth to her ear, rubbing his lips against her, dipping his tongue into the little hollow it made. “Yes, right there,” he murmured, “when your blood stirs, when your arousal sharpens. The scent of musk and everything female.”
“I see,” she said breathlessly, feeling the change flush through her body more than scenting it as he did. Her hands rubbed over the play of muscles hidden beneath his silken shirt. He was so powerful, and she could feel it in every inch of him she’d ever touched. She had not even begun to touch him, she realized suddenly. She’d always been far too overwhelmed by his need for her, by his dominance. She wanted to touch him, more than anything, and to feel all the contours of the body he kept hidden beneath the sophistication of silk and tailored seams.
Jacob moved to the side of her neck, opening his mouth, touching his tongue to her pulse, sucking softly and making her shiver as her flesh exploded in goose bumps. He smiled against her skin, well aware of the tiny pearls of flesh blossoming under the caress of his tongue. He lifted his head, rubbing his nose and lips up her neck, over her cheek, until he could see her darkening eyes.
“Where is it, Jacob?” she asked softly, her breath coming quick against his nearby mouth. “That animal you are so afraid will hurt me, where is it now?”
“Closer than you realize,” he assured her.
CHAPTER SIX
I would be fearful if I thought for even a moment I had to be, Jacob.
This time Jacob did take notice of her voice lilting through his mind. The link between them was growing stronger, seemingly with every touch.
I am in your mind, Enforcer. I would know if I had anything to fear.
Jacob looked deeply into her intense violet eyes, seeing the confidence in them radiating at him like a warming light. It was the first time someone had called him Enforcer and had actually made it sound like a welcomed, affectionate term. He felt his heart constrict within his chest, his throat closing with emotional tension. Until that moment, he hadn’t realized how much he’d longed for someone to like him with affection and warmth outside of the connection of his siblings and beyond the respectful acquaintance Noah provided.
The feeling was profound. He couldn’t hope to hide it from her and he saw her eyes fill with moist compassion for his solitude, for all the abuse he’d withstood from the very race that needed him. Bella’s kindness was a remarkable gift, one he would not squander. She was giving and trusting, always without thinking about what it would cost her. She was a sunshine that he could bask in without ill effect. He would be careful with her, or he would die trying.
It was that moment when he realized how easily he could lose his heart to her.
That perhaps he already had.
He guarded the thought from her, feeling that she was under enough pressure as it was. If she would be his, and Destiny knew he wanted her to be, he wouldn’t have her doing so out of charity for his people or the pressure of his growing feelings for her. She had to make her choices free of those encumbrances. He could be satisfied no other way.
Isabella saw him working on heavy thoughts, but he was keeping them locked safely away from her. True, she shouldn’t be nosing around in his head after the lecture she’d given him on privacy, but she’d grown used to sharing her feelings and impressions with him. It connected them, and she felt secure with that connection in place. She glanced at her hand, which was absently toying with the first closed button of his shirt, her knuckles snuggled warmly against the exposed skin above it. She had read that the natural body temperature of a Demon was five degrees cooler than a human’s, but somehow he always seemed so warm to her.
She flicked one finger across the button deftly, opening his shirt another few inches. She slid her entire hand beneath the fabric, concentrating completely on the smooth texture of his skin and the way it warmed to her touch. He sighed, his lashes fluttering down to obscure his eyes. When he looked up again, that black flame that was becoming so familiar was flickering in his gaze.
Jacob took a hand from the door and let it fall with purpose to the gaping lapels of her silk blouse. He began running the tip of a single finger over her skin in a leisurely fashion, from one side of her collarbone to the other. One little touch, Bella, and you turn me inside out. Can you feel it?
She could. She closed her eyes and let her consciousness meld with his, feeling from his perspective the way his body stirred and his blood warmed. His muscles flexed and tightened in anticipation, and she felt the heavy weight, pulse, and ache of the erection that strained with discomfort within his clothing.
Isabella was instantly fascinated. She couldn’t help herself. The moment she slipped back into her own mind and flushing body, she slid her hands down the length of his torso, traveling the landscape of clothing quickly and succinctly until her fingers were gliding past his belt and along the stitching of his fly. Jacob sucked in a fast, brutal breath as she eagerly sought for his hardness through the fabric of his slacks until she was boldly and intimately cupping him in her happily situated hand.
“You are going to drive me mad,” Jacob uttered in a strangled, dark pitch, his voice rumbling across her senses like the purring of a massive lion.
“Perhaps it’s my inexperience, then, because I wasn’t trying to make you mad,” she remarked, curling her fingers slightly so that her nails made the next brush over the fabric confining him.
He groaned, the sound stirring up from deep inside of him, his body leaning into hers as if the simple pleasure she was giving him had weakened his ability to stand up straight. Isabella found herself enjoying that idea. Pleased with his reactions but dissatisfied with their cumbersome clothing, she raised both hands to the task of unbuttoning his shirt the rest of the way. She leaned toward him to stroke his solid flesh boldly as she bared it, dipping deep beneath the gaping shirt, her touch spanning his entire chest, his sides, and his back. Jacob was so lost in sensation that he didn’t seem to realize his hand had instinctively moved to cradle her breast, kneading it gently through her bra.
He shuddered as her nails scraped lightly down the entire length of his back, her fingertips fanning and fluttering over his skin with gossamer curiosity. So simple a touch, yet so profound, and he felt the painful bliss low in his body, throbbing hard with demand.
“Be sure,” he gasped suddenly, his hand squeezing her supple flesh, his thumb rolling over her distended nipple. “Be absolutely sure, Bella.”
I’ve never been so sure in my entire life. Come into my mind and you’ll know that, just as I do.
He did as she beckoned and couldn’t mistake the calm that was at the core of her stirring passion. She was, as she said, completely without doubt. Indeed, her curiosity was growing exponentially, and the desires and thoughts flitting through her mind about what she wanted to do, to try, to learn and know, pushed him well past any point of refusing her.
He removed his touch from her only long enough to wrap her slight body in his iron embrace, pulling her fe
et from the floor until her breasts rested high against his chest and her hair tumbled down over his shoulders, her mouth smiling just slightly before he captured it with a slight stretch of his neck.
As he kissed her breathless, he moved back across the room with her. Then, reluctantly tapering off his kiss, he kneeled on the bed and settled her gently in the center. She stretched out, the sexy, sensual movement and her teasing smile reflecting her pure satisfaction of her sway over him. But she had barely tasted what she would be capable of, and Jacob’s blood ran like fire through his veins as he eagerly welcomed the realization. When she truly learned what her influence over him could be, he had a feeling he was going to be extremely lucky to be her lover.
With one hand, he skimmed through the remaining buttons of her shirt. Jacob put his mouth on her freshly exposed skin. She took a deep breath and released it in a low, trilling sound of pleasure, her back curving up toward his skillful lips. He nuzzled her through the lace of her bra, his lips brushing the aroused peak of her nipple. Then his mouth was open on her, his teeth drawing her in with a gentle tug, the moisture of his now-suckling lips penetrating right through the lace. She convulsed in response to the pleasure tripping through her entire body, all from that one small point he attended to. She reached to touch his cheek, a silent summons, and he lifted his head a fraction of an inch as she slid the material of her bra aside for him, exposing the beautiful, dusky peak. His mouth returned to her with quick enthusiasm, his free hand skimming over her delicate ribs, the crescent of her waist, and the tender curve of her hip.
Her blouse and bra seemed to fall away from her in those next few minutes. She was suddenly bared from the waist up, her hands buried in his hair as he teased her aching breasts with his mouth. The exploring hands that roamed her body drove her equally mad with his artful combinations of caresses. She felt him find the inner leg seam of her jeans.
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