by Kat Cantrell
“That’s funny,” she whispered as she got likewise tangled up in his eyes. “I was just thinking that’s exactly what you do to me. Spear me. Right here.”
She lifted his hand along with hers and placed them both on her chest. There was a moment when she thought he wasn’t going to bite, that he intended to jerk away, but he didn’t. His fingers rested on her flesh, warming it, and oh yes, there were butterflies. A whole flock took flight in her stomach, wings beating in time with her pulse as Isaiah’s different-colored irises did beautiful things.
“Aria—” His voice cut off as if he’d choked on the word. “We can’t.”
“Can’t what? Finish what I stupidly ended too soon the other night? We can.” Where she’d gotten the courage to talk like this to him, she’d never know. But she had no intention of stopping until all the barriers between them fell away, once and for all. “I’m not scared anymore. I want to know what you were about to do. When we were dancing. Right before I left.”
“You were scared?” His fingertips nipped into her skin and then without warning, he released her fingers and his hand skated up to her jaw, cupping it exactly as he had then. “I thought…well, it doesn’t exactly matter now. But you don’t have to be scared.”
“I know.” She nodded once, pushing her chin deeper into his palm deliberately until it became a caress that thrilled through her. “I know you’re leaving. I know I acted like an idiot putting Tristan between us. But he’s not in the picture. Neither is Cassidy. It’s just us and I want to know what it feels like when you kiss me. Before it’s too late.”
And then time unraveled as he complied, lifting her jaw just so and then laying his lips on hers. Fire tore down her throat and exploded in her midsection as Isaiah kissed her. It was everything she’d imagined and nothing she’d expected. He tasted of heat and passion and it made her ache for things she couldn’t articulate.
All at once, the kiss ended and Isaiah had backed off, his expression equal parts chagrined and gobsmacked as his hands fell away. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
“Don’t, Isaiah.” Disappointment seeped into the lovely floaty feeling, staining the experience with darkness that shouldn’t be there. “I wanted you to kiss me. Why shouldn’t you?”
“Because. I’m—” He bit off whatever he’d been about to say and shook his head.
“What? Not interested?” Her temper didn’t get riled too easily but when it did, she said stuff she couldn’t take back. A deep breath didn’t help. “Didn’t enjoy it? Not a fan of my lack of experience?”
“No! None of that. I’ve wanted to do that for a long time.” The admission didn’t ease the misery pulling at his expression or settle hers much either. “It’s the timing. It’s all wrong.”
She crossed her arms to keep herself from reaching for him again. Which was harder than she’d have expected, but she’d had such a small taste of him. She wanted more. Much more. Why did this have to be so complicated?
“Maybe the timing is exactly right,” she countered. “Maybe I need this. Maybe we both do. I don’t know what the next steps are after tonight, but why do we care? Can’t we just spend time together like we’ve done in the past without stressing about what tomorrow might bring?”
His eyelids slammed shut as he absorbed that. “I don’t think you know what you’re asking of me.”
“Then explain it,” she countered. “I’m not going anywhere. I took a sick day from work. So you have no excuses. I think we have something special that’s worth taking a little deeper. Or a lot deeper. If you don’t feel the same, then just tell me.”
“You are special.” His whisper floated along her skin, raising goosebumps. “I just don’t want you to be disappointed. You know, when I leave.”
A fierceness rose up inside that she didn’t recognize, a burning to lay it all out and beg him to take her when he went. But it was too soon to talk like that, too overwhelming to contemplate giving up the home she’d known since the age of seven in pursuit of a man. This was all too new. Right now, she just wanted to skip all the emotional tripwires and enjoy Isaiah’s unique brand of amazing.
Once she felt a little less precarious, like everything that had suddenly come to matter to her might slip away, then she could think about whether she could follow him to parts unknown.
“Let me worry about that. The only thing you have to understand is that I’m not the slightest bit interested in keeping you tied here. I get that Superstition Springs isn’t in your long-term plan. I wasn’t either. So think of tonight like a gift, freely given, with no expectations.”
Without warning, he closed the gap and caught her up in a brutal kiss that swept away everything between them. Except the heat. Except the dizzying sense of rightness. Completion.
His mouth claimed pieces of her that shouldn’t have been available, or at the very least, shouldn’t have been so easily transferred. How would she get them back? And then her brain ceased to function as the kiss deepened, dragging her into a maelstrom of sensation.
Instinctively, she pressed closer, yearning for…something. She met solid warmth in the form of Isaiah’s lean body, and she shivered as his hands skimmed down her back, slicking across her hair. He groaned and murmured her name in a wholly encompassing way that clamped down on her with teeth and wouldn’t let go.
“Your hair,” he murmured as he nuzzled at her mouth with his. “It’s so beautiful. It might be my favorite thing about you.”
“Your eyes are my favorite thing about you,” she admitted, tilting her head to let him access her throat with his magic mouth. “I could look at them for hours but I’m always worried you’ll take it the wrong way.”
He laughed softly against her skin. “I’m used to people staring at me. It’s a bonus if it’s you.”
“I’ll do it a lot more then.”
The implications of that weighed down the space around them. She could only do it a lot if something changed. Otherwise, they weren’t going to be in the same place long enough for her even begin looking her fill.
They stared at each other as the moment dragged out and she wanted to ask at least one of the million questions running through her head, but she couldn’t bring herself to break the little bubble they’d fallen into. It felt like her entire life had been headed toward this exact moment, when she had to stop being afraid that she’d be abandoned. It might still happen. She might get her heart torn out. Or she might figure out how to prevent both.
If she knew anything, it was that people left when things got difficult. So she’d strive to ensure she never gave Isaiah an excuse to start looking for the exit.
Fifteen
Mysticism and otherworldly predictions had been nowhere on Isaiah’s radar when he’d hopped into the SUV with Hardy and team on a jaunt to Texas. He didn’t really believe in anything he couldn’t touch. But clearly there was something to the concept. How else could Aria have ended up in Isaiah’s arms except through some inexplicable magic?
In case the magic had something to do with the springs, he was fine hanging out here with Aria for the next few hours. Or forever. Right now, he couldn’t fathom breaking the spell they’d somehow fallen under, where the rest of the world didn’t exist. He didn’t have to pretend anymore and here, he wasn’t broken because Aria didn’t expect anything out of him but his presence.
He could do with a good dose of living in the here and now.
Just like he could kiss Aria whenever he felt like and oh, look—she was conveniently located millimeters away because he didn’t have to let her go. So he hadn’t.
Her warm lips tasted sweet, opening under his as he explored the depths of her passion, which seemed to be limitless so far. She met him more than halfway, bold and eager, just as she did everything else.
“Aria,” he murmured again, her name leaving his mouth like a song. And why shouldn’t it? She was as beautiful as a melody and as sultry as a saxophone.
“Are you going to do that a lot?” she asked,
shifting deeper into his arms, which worked for him.
“Um… I don’t know. Which part?” If whatever it was resulted in her snuggling that much closer, he’d definitely be repeating it.
“Saying my name like that.” She sighed and the rise and fall of her chest hit him in places she shouldn’t have been able to touch from the outside. “It makes me shivery.”
“In a good way, I hope.” He didn’t have the expertise of someone like Marchande, but he’d never had any complaints either. Plus, she’d chosen him. That realization alone had him riding pretty high. “If so, then I’ll do it a lot.”
She gave him one of her wistful smiles that made him want to gather up the whole world and gift it to her so she never had to want for anything again. “That would be nice. Except if you’re busy saying my name a lot and I’m busy staring at you a lot, we’re never going to get to the thing I’d really hoped to do tonight. And I had some big plans.”
“Oh?” She had his complete and utter attention as he honed in on the undercurrents that had sped up instantly. “What might that be?”
“Well, you know.” She blinked up at him through her lashes and it was every bit as alluring as when she smiled. “We’re alone. We’re really far from town. No one is looking for us.”
Her voice had dropped a few degrees but the temperature hadn’t and the images that sprang to mind as his imagination started filling in the blanks of her provocative statements didn’t help. “All of that is true. What do those circumstances put you in the mood for?”
This would not be a good time to misinterpret her meaning.
Somehow she’d moved even closer, her kiss-reddened lips begging for him to taste again, and things below the belt noticed all of the above in a big way.
“Something daring,” she said. “Something guaranteed to make tonight memorable, especially since I’ve never done it with a man before.”
“Never?” Well, duh. It only made sense that Aria didn’t have a lot of experience with men. She lived in a small town that was decidedly short on eligible males. But to toss it out there so he knew exactly where he stood—raw energy and no small amount of humility coursed through him as he considered the implications. “I’m honestly flattered that you’d choose me for your first time. Are you sure this is what you want?”
“Oh, completely sure. There’s just one small problem.” She bit her lip and it was so enticing that he nearly groaned.
“You’re killing me,” he ground out hoarsely. “No problems. Whatever it is, I’ll fix it. Just tell me.”
Lack of sheets, pillows, candles, music? He’d crawl on his hands and knees all the way to La Grange to get double of every last thing.
“I didn’t bring my bathing suit.”
“You didn’t…what?” His brain collapsed as he tried to make sense of the statement in the context of what he’d thought—assumed—they’d been talking about, which apparently wasn’t the same thing she’d been talking about. “What do you need a swimsuit for?”
“Well, I mean, I guess I don’t. I’ve never skinny dipped before either.” Aria’s cheeks pinked up, matching her hair in way he might find cute as soon as all the blood returned to his brain where it clearly needed to be. “But what is tonight about if it’s not being bold?”
“I’m sure I have no idea,” he muttered and shook his head in hopes of clearing out the impure thoughts he’d been having, which wasn’t greatly helped by the replacement images of skinny dipping with Aria. “Are you saying your big plans for tonight involve swimming, possibly without clothing, neither of which you’ve ever done with a man?”
He honestly didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at this point. If she hadn’t done either of those things, odds were good she had the same lack of experience with other types of things women did with men, just as he’d earlier surmised. Which meant he needed to back way off, since she probably had no idea how seductive this innocent conversation had turned.
But she just nodded as if the question had been a perfectly reasonable clarification. “The water stays cold year round, even in August. It’s part of the magic of this area that we can’t explain. Jump in with me. You can’t come this far without going all the way.”
Which seemed to be a fitting metaphor for the evening—why not roll with it? “What, we just jump from here into the water?”
“Sure. Nothing like going all in. We’re talking major commitment here because you can’t back out once you’re in the air.”
Also a metaphor? The undercurrents weren’t merely of the sensual variety, though plenty of those were still in the mix. She might have framed this evening as something to be savored with no expectations over what might happen tomorrow, but he was extremely aware that women of Aria’s caliber didn’t mess around with a man and kiss them goodbye in the morning, totally okay with nothing but fond memories for their time together.
Nor did he want her to be okay with that. He wasn’t okay with that. No matter what happened, Aria wasn’t going to be easy to walk away from in the first place, and adding intimacy to their relationship would make it nearly impossible.
That reality should scare him more than it actually did.
But still. His will was only so strong and swimming with a naked woman who had no clue how alluring he found her would break him, no doubt. “I’ll jump. But let’s keep our clothes on.”
“Oh, that would be a shame.” Disappointment crowded into her expression and she shifted, creating a space between them that he didn’t like. “Are you sure we can’t do the skinny dipping part? Ember has lots of times and she always made it sound so great.”
Isaiah bit his tongue before blurting out what had been on the tip of it, which was something along the lines of, the same Ember who has a seven-year-old son? But surely Aria was aware that Ember had likely gotten pregnant as an indirect result of her swimming preferences—or a direct result. That was not a fate Isaiah was prepared to contemplate right now, not when they had so much else seething below the surface of what should have been a simple kiss and so was not.
“Sweetheart, I would love to get naked with you, but not today,” he told her firmly and the blinding smile that earned him nearly knocked him from his already precarious perch on the rock.
“I changed my mind. I like it when you call me sweetheart more than Aria. Especially when you say things like that.” She hummed happily, pushing her chest against his with far too much heat, and he’d had about enough of tempting fate.
“What things?” he growled instead of pushing her away. Apparently he hadn’t quite had enough of making her happy simply by speaking what was on his mind, though. “That I want to see you naked? Pure truth. You’re beautiful and kissing you lights me up inside. I’d love to spend a very long time finding out how much better that could get if we took it to the next level. But we’re not there yet. As much as I’d like to hurry that along, we’re going to take it slow.”
Slow. Everything had come down to that. He didn’t bother to pretend Serenity had gotten it wrong when obviously she’d gotten every single word of his prediction right. Just in telling Aria that they were taking it slow meant he was on a downward slide toward fulfilling that prediction to the letter.
Slow down to find love.
He might already be there. That put a lick of panic in his stomach. But even that wasn’t enough to get him to step back from her.
And there was no way to avoid wondering if this was also the romantic retreat his prediction had called out. Since he hadn’t run screaming from the springs yet, perhaps he could open his heart to that part too. Just here. Just for now. There was no harm in believing in magic for one night, was there?
Tomorrow he could get back to the reality of his life where redemption wasn’t a thing.
“Okay,” she agreed, her eyes a little bit too shiny for a woman who had just been told she wasn’t going to have her world rocked. “Slow is good. But I have to ask how slow. You know, given that you’re leaving tomorrow.”
Yeah, that didn’t sound so great at this point. Soon, he’d have to pick up stakes. But it didn’t have to be tomorrow. “I’m suddenly not in such a hurry.”
She blinked. “Because of me?”
He had to laugh. “What do you think is happening here? That I was going to take advantage of all your sexy talk about being daring and then still jet off in the morning?”
The way she winced told him she had thought that. Wow. A little of the Aria miasma he’d fallen into wore off as he contemplated the quicksand he’d just stepped in. That jumpstarted his brain enough for him to realize that she might have been more aware of how flirtatious her earlier comments had been than he’d given her credit for.
“Isaiah.” She frowned and the vibe between them went colder than he’d have thought possible given all of the heat that had been burning him up a moment ago. “I would never hold you here. No matter what. Even if we…you know. I want to be with you for whatever length of time I can get. I’m totally prepared for you to leave tomorrow. I don’t want you to feel forced to stay.”
This marked the absolute first—and hopefully last—time in his life that a woman had told him she was fine with scraps of his attention and then given him permission to treat her like garbage after sharing something intimate and amazing. “That’s not anywhere on my radar. I’ve been dreaming of being with you like this for far too long to rush it.”
Which pretty much sealed his fate. If he planned on taking her up on the offer that was very clearly being communicated via her melting blue eyes, he had to stick around and do this right. Or leave before it went that far. Indecision—the bane of his existence. How did he get enough information to make the right decision in this case? It was impossible.
“That might be the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard,” she murmured, which just about broke his heart. And solidified that he’d be making even more concessions, at least until he figured out to navigate this unexpected detour. Aria was worth it.