Now, though, she had to break the news to Zoe that the wedding wasn’t going to be a meringue-fest. Sam dropped her off at the old hospital where Zoe was overseeing the renovation. It seemed an age since Isa had been there and now she gasped at the changes. All the filth, the junk had been cleared, the walls re-plastered and painted a gleaming white. Enough of the old building’s original features had been kept to retain the sense of history, but Isa could tell already – the gallery would be beautiful.
Zoe studied her as she looked around. ‘Of course, this is only the beginning. The rest of the hospital will be off bounds until we clear it but we might, and I mean might be able to open this part soon. Ish.’
Isa smiled. ‘Wow. Good project managing, Ma, I’d go congratulate the contractors, but clearly, they’ll be too terrified to down tools for even a second. You go the full Tiger Mom on them?’
‘Enough sass from you,’ but Zoe chuckled. ‘Glad you like it, though, yours will be the first work exhibited here.’
Isa rolled her eyes. ‘Don’t you want a proper artist to show here first?’
‘Well, that’s what I said but Sam…’ Zoe ducked out of the way of her playful swipe.
Isa took a deep breath in then. ‘Speaking of Sam. How’d you feel about hanging out with me and him… and Seb and Cal at City Hall a week from Monday?’
Zoe frowned. ‘Huh?’
Isa rolled her eyes again and waited. Finally, Zoe caught on, her mouth opening in a perfect ‘O’. ‘Really?’
Isa grinned. ‘Really.’
Zoe shrieked and hugged her de facto daughter. ‘Oh honey, I’m so happy for you.’
Isa hugged her back, relieved she’d got that out of the way. ‘Thank you. For everything, Zoe. Everything.’
Zoe mopped her streaming eyes. ‘If it were anyone else I’d say it was too fast but you and Sam… anyone can see you were meant for each other. Oh,’ she sat down, her hand on her chest. ‘Some good news at last.’
Isa perches on a pile of wooden pallets next to her and nodded. ‘What a few months, hey?’
They were both silent for a while. Zoe took Isa’s hand in hers. ‘This is a sign, y’know? Everything’s going to get better now.’
Isa smiled at her friend, saw the hope in her eyes and silently prayed she was right.
He had given them time now, time enough to pretend he didn’t exist, time to pretend the threat was gone. Of course, they had no idea how near he had been all the time, how close he had been. The time was coming, it was near. She would die soon and finally, finally, he would feel her blood on his hands, his knife. It made him hard just to think of it. Levy wouldn’t know what hit him. He had seen the measures Sam had taken to protect her – laughable. The idiot thought throwing money around would keep her safe. As if anything could.
He sat in the small apartment he had rented across the street from their hotel room. Their arrogance in thinking that any part of their lives was private was secure from his scrutiny. He knew where she was at any time. He knew what she was doing. He could see when they were eating when they were fucking. God, she looked so beautiful when she came; he’d jerked off to the memory of it often. If it didn't leave too much evidence, he would like to fuck her before he could killed her but it was too risky.
He glanced over to their window now. It was early in the evening and the lamps went on as he watched and he could see her moving around. She came to the window and looked out, seemed to look right at him. Her relaxed manner told him that wasn’t possible, though, and he watched Sam slide his arms around her waist, press his lips down onto her shoulder. Sam slid the thin spaghetti strap of her dress from her shoulder; Isa bent her head so he could trail his lips along the slender shoulder to her neck.
The watcher drew in a sharp breath as her dress fell from her shoulders and he caught a glimpse of her full breasts, the smooth curve of her belly before she turned to kiss Sam on the mouth and he pulled her out of view.
Christ. His dick was pressing painfully against his pants. He yanked his fly down and reached in, his hand fisting around the shaft, his breath coming in short grunts as he jerked off. He imagined his mouth on her tits, sucking hard at those dark red nipples, hearing her scream, not with pleasure but in agony as he drove his knife into her again and again. He came hard and fast, with the cum shooting from him in thick white gobs, spattering his pants. His vision was fuzzy as he came down from the high and he closed his eyes, pretending the sticky, viscous fluid was her blood, that he was covered in the rust-and-salt scent of it and that she lay in his arms, her lovely dark eyes open but unseeing, and her beautiful body limp.
He opened his eyes and stared unseeing out of the window. Let them make love. Let them be happy. It would make for a deeper horror when he finally struck when he took Isa from Sam in the worst way.
Soon, my darling. Soon.
Less than forty feet away from the man who planned to kill her, Isa Flynn was more happily occupied. Astride her man, her Sam, she straddled him, moving her hips slowly, gliding down the length of his diamond-hard cock. She smiled lazily at him, and he grinned, capturing her hands in his, linking their fingers. She felt him swell and grow bigger inside of her and she grinned, squeezing her muscles and making him moan.
‘Jesus, Isa…’
She leaned down to brush her lips against his. ‘What do you want me to do to you, Mr. Levy?’
He cradled her face in his big hands. ‘Anything you want, Isabel, I’m yours.’
‘Damn right.’
They laughed together, and he kissed her, sliding his hands down her body, molding them around her full breasts, hefting their weight in his cupped palms, brushing his thumbs over the taut nipples. The feeling sent shudders down her body, and she clenched her vaginal muscles as she thrust herself harder onto him.
‘I want all of you in me.’
He grinned and deftly flipped her onto her back. ‘Then we’ll use gravity to help us.’ He pushed her legs further apart as he thrust his hips. She moaned as he sank balls deep into her.
‘God…yes….’ She tightened her legs around his hips, arching her back to take him in. He reached down to mold her breasts in his hands, pinched the hard nubs of her nipples. She loved his expression at these moments, the confidence, the surety that she was his, the joy he took in seeing her wild and abandoned under his touch. He caught her hands in his, pinning them above her head as he thrust harder, faster, tilting her hips, so he ground against her clit. Delirious with desire now, Isa almost sobbed as she came, so overwhelming was the rush of emotions flooding through her. Sam gathered her to him as he reached his own peak, his body convulsing as he exploded inside of her. Isa clenched her muscles around his pulsating cock, wanting to keep him locked inside of her. Sam found her lips with his, the kiss so full of feral, animal desire that she came again, her hair tumbling in damp waves over her shoulders. Sam ran his tongue along her jawline, pressed his hot lips to her throat. Isa closed her eyes, willing breath back into her exhausted lungs. God, would she ever get tired of this? The way their bodies fit together so perfectly – she knew they had been made for each other. And soon he would be hers officially. Her husband.
She smiled up at him. He was studying her face with that intense, toe-curling, hot-as-lava look, no amusement in his eyes, just a fierce, all-consuming love. Damn…she felt her sex pulse and swell again under his gaze. He laid her back on the bed, settle himself next to her, trailing his fingers up and down her belly, making it quiver and contract. He brushed his lips against hers, lightly, back and forth. The gaze at each other for a long moment.
‘We need to go get rings,’ he said softly. ‘I want you to have the perfect engagement ring, one of your choosing.’
She smiled, touching his face, tracing a line across his cheek with her finger. ‘I’m really not one of those women who have to have a huge rock. A simple wedding band will be enough for me.’
He smiled, and she was glad he wasn’t insulted. ‘I thought you might say that. I’m fin
e with it, honestly. I do have something I’d like you to have, however.’
He got up from the bed and reached for his jacket. From it, he pulled a long, thin black velvet box. ‘I got this out of our family deposit box today. It was my mother’s.’
He handed it to her. His words, the soft expression in his eyes, made her chest ache, her hands tremble as she opened the box. Inside, a long, incredibly delicate chain, platinum she guessed. Intersected at inch long intervals were tiny jewels of every color. Sam picked it from the box and showed her.
‘Diamond, ruby, topaz, emeralds, amethyst – she was like you, loving bright colors but hating ostentatiousness. Dad had this made for her for their wedding.’ He draped it around her neck. ‘The longest piece hangs down your back.’ He fastened it and pulled her up so she could look in the full-length mirror. The chain glinted in the dull light, throwing shards of light onto her dusky skin. Isa felt the lump in her chest rising and tears spilled out onto her cheeks, but she smiled through them at him, turning so she could kiss them.
‘I have no words. I’m honored…thank you.’ Her voice broke, and he pulled her tightly to his chest.
‘You are the reason I breathe in and out every day,’ he murmured softly, his lips against the crown of her head. Isa pressed her lips against his skin and said nothing. She couldn’t form the words, could express how much she loved him, how completely he had changed her life. She looked up, gazing into his eyes, and he smiled, brushing her hair back from her face.
‘I know,’ he said softly. He sat back down on the bed, pulling her onto his lap. His eyes were serious now, and Isa suddenly felt a shiver of anxiety.
‘Isa…there’s something I need to tell you. No-one else knows not even Cal, but I wanted there to be no secrets between us. None.’
She nodded, not wanting to interrupt. Sam drew in a deep breath.
‘You know what happened to my mom. The man who killed her… he was obsessed, out of his mind. It was a case of the old cliché ‘if I can’t have her…’ My dad was devastated, broken but it wasn’t enough for him that the guy would spend the rest of his life in prison. He used his money and called in favors. To cut the story short, it ended up with my dad and the guy alone in an abandoned warehouse.’
Isa swallowed, already guessing where this was going. Sam’s arms tightened around her.
‘He beat the guy to death with his bare hands.’
Hearing Sam say the words, the bleakness in his voice, ripped a hole in Isa’s heart. No wonder he was as scared as he was. She couldn’t even imagine. Sam sighed, resting his forehead against hers.
‘It was all covered up, of course, but Dad was never the same. He became closed off, distant. He married Cal’s mom out of duty – she was pregnant with Cal, but it was a loveless marriage. He barely looked at Cal. I tried to be the peacemaker, the middleman, give Cal, and his mom as much love as I could. Enough for me and my dad.’
He sighed and rubbed his eyes. Isa tangled her fingers in his curls, pressed her lips against his cheek. He smiled wearily at her. ‘To see my dad, go from this happy, passionate man to this shell of a person killed me. It absolutely killed me. Because I didn’t understand how much she meant to him. My mom was my dad’s reason for being. Then the moment I met you, I finally understood.’
She kissed him fiercely then, and he pulled her down onto the bed, on top of him. There were tears in her eyes. ‘As you are mine,’ she whispered, and he moaned as she pressed her body against his, her hand sliding down to stroke his cock. It stiffened, engorged with his blood as she slid her hand gently up and down it. She moved so she could take him in her mouth, her tongue sweeping across the wide crest of him. He felt the tickle of the chain around her neck on his thighs, felt her hand massaging his balls, her hand fisting at the root of him. It was a sublime pleasure, an utter release, chasing away all the tension in his body. The feel of her tongue lashing around him, her soft moans as she sucked, the hollows of her cheeks as she pulled him deeper…. Christ….
‘Never leave me…’ he gasped out as he came, his penis throbbing as he pumped into her mouth. She took it all, her hands still moving, wanting to prolong his pleasure.
Finally, spent, he lifted her up so he could kiss her. ‘Promise me,’ he whispered against her lips.
‘I promise, Sam. I’ll never leave you.’
And he believed her.
Zoe, denied her fairy-tale Disney princess wedding, had insisted she wear a white dress and Isa had gracefully given in. The simple cotton clung to her curves, falling just below her knees, a delicate pattern of beading on the bodice, angel sleeves in the sheerest chiffon. Sam’s mother’s necklace and a red hibiscus – a nod to their island haven – tucked behind her ear completed Isa’s wedding look.
Sam drew in a breath as she arrived at the courtroom, on a proud Seb’s arm and trailed by an already weeping Zoe. A discreet security man followed them, but Sam couldn’t take his eyes from Isa. She was glowing, her dark brown eyes shining and excited, her wavy brown hair falling almost to her waist, pulled over one shoulder.
He bent his head to kiss her. ‘You’re so fucking beautiful,’ he murmured, knowing his cursing would make her giggle. It did.
She looked him up and down. He was wearing a three-piece dark gray morning suit, cut to fit him perfectly. A red hibiscus was pinned to his lapel, and she touched it, sharing a knowing grin with him. To the others, it was a symbol of the island they would flying to later for their honeymoon; to Sam and Isa, the red bloom had a much sexier, dirtier, symbolism. They grinned at each other now, already desperate to rip the other’s clothes off.
‘If I could just interrupt the foreplay,’ Cal stuck his head between them, his grin knowing and cheeky. ‘They’re ready for us.’
Isabel Flynn became Mrs. Samuel Levy in less than a quarter hour. The austerity of the courtroom, the efficient, practical vows they made, the paperwork – none of it made the event less special in their eyes, less romantic. Afterward, they all went to a local, lively restaurant and gorged themselves on steak and burgers. It was just the way they wanted it. Casual, filled with family, filled with love. Zoe hadn’t stopped weeping and later in the evening before she and Sam left, Isa took her aside.
‘I wanted to say thank you, for everything, Zoe. For you rescuing this stray dog all those years ago, for giving me something I never had. A family. We might not be blood, but you are my mother. I love you.’
That set Zoe off into noisy sobs, and she threw her arms around Isa and hugged her tightly.
Cal punched Sam lightly on the shoulder. ‘Proud of my big bro tonight.’ Sam grinned at his best man.
‘Thanks for being the coolest best man ever. I mean it, thanks for everything.’
Cal grinned and mock-sighed. ‘If only Isa was a twin…’
Sam smiled. ‘Sucks for you, man.’ He glanced at his watch. The one extravagance Isa was allowing was the private plane which would take them to the island – the plane that had the private bedroom on it, of course. He walked over to his new wife now and trailed a hand down her bare back.
‘Hey, you.’
She turned and again he was struck by her beauty. She was his. He could hardly believe it.
‘Hey, hubby.’
He grinned, ran his hands down her arms, and linked his fingers in his. ‘Our honeymoon awaits.’
In the cab on the way to the airport, they couldn’t stop kissing. Stepping onto the plane, Sam chatted briefly with the pilot, while Isa settled in one of the chairs, pulling off her shoes.
As soon as the plane had taken off, Isa unbuckled her belt, stood before him. She slipped the dress from her shoulders. It slithered down her body and pooled at her feet. Sam’s breath caught in his lungs. She pulled him to his feet, pressed her lips to his.
‘Take me to bed and fuck me, husband.’
With almost a growl, he swept her into the bedroom, Isa’s fingers tearing at his shirt. He kissed her throat, her breasts down her soft belly to the mound above her sex
. His fingers hooked in the side of her panties, pulling them down roughly and his face was buried in her sex, the soft scent of her, and the damp arousal like honey to him. His tongue glided along the soft crevice to the hard little nub. He spread her open with his fingers, admiring the glistening pink become a deeper ruby red as she became more excited. He looked up, over the curve of her belly, undulating with her ragged breathing to her exquisite face, flushed and luminous.
‘I love you, Mrs. Levy.’
She cried out as his tongue delved deeply inside of her, lashing against the sensitive walls of her sex. Her fingers knotted in his hair almost painfully, but he continued his assault on her until she was begging him, almost weeping with anticipation, to fuck her now, please…
His cock, ramrod-ready, already moist with pre-ejaculate was heavy with desire. He moved his body over hers, feeling her damp, hot skin beneath him.
‘Guide me in, my darling one.’ He murmured, his lips against her neck. He felt her hands on him, felt his cock respond to her touch, become unbearably hard. She guided the tip towards her ready sex, and he thrust into her hard, making her cry out. It spurred him on, thrusting as hard as he could, his hands pinning hers to the bed, his eyes locked on hers. She reached up to kiss him, her teeth nipping gently at his lip, her tongue exploring his mouth, caressing his tongue. A delirium set in with the both of them, an undoing, as if their marriage had unleashed something in them both, given them permission to be fully uninhibited. Their lovemaking was carnal, brutal, a sensory exploration of every part of the other’s body.
Finally, exhausted, they collapsed on the bed, side by side, their bodies drenched in sweat, chests heaving with breathlessness. Sam turned his head to look at her, and she grinned at him. There was a silence then they both burst out laughing. Sam loved the sound of her laugh, so effortless, so carefree. We deserve this, he thought. We deserve our happy ending, so help me God we do.
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