Isabella (The Mitchell/Healy Family #2)(25)
Author: Jennifer Foor

“It’s nothing.”

“Do you want to stop? We can, if that’s what you need to do.”

I shook my head immediately, before she even stopped talking. “No. This is where I want to be, here with you. Didn’t I just prove that to you? Do you have any idea how many nights I’ve thought about being like this with you?”

She slid over to the side of the bed. “It’s not that. Rusty, right now I want to be with you too, but we can’t do this today. You and I both know we need to stop while we’re ahead.”

She was right.

This encounter was only happening because we were both so emotional. Had I lost my shit we never would have ended up remotely near each other. It was a sad truth. I backed away from her, distancing myself from being able to touch her beautiful body in any way. “You’re absolutely right. I can’t let this happen in a shitty hotel room.” I reached my hand out and touched one of hers. “What just happened between us is only the beginning. I have to believe that. What you felt is just a piece of what I have to offer you, when the time is right.” I stood up and looked down at her still body. “If you don’t mind, I’m just going to go take a cold shower, because if I have to look at that amazing body for one more second all bets are going to be off.”

I didn’t wait for her to argue with me, and I knew she would because she was famous for getting the last word in edgewise. This decision had to stick, because if I wanted her to be with me, the reason couldn’t be that she felt sorry for me. This day was about saving her, and I’d done that. Sure, we’d almost made love, and one day I hoped we still would. At least I got to find out what it felt like to kiss her, and to know what it felt like to give her pleasure. At the end of this awful day, it was at least something to smile about.

Chapter 15

Isabella

Confusion wasn’t my best attribute.

I was trying so hard to rationalize with what had taken place in the past hour and I couldn’t even begin to understand how I’d gone from hating someone, to craving his touch.

I was able to accept that my judgment had been blurred in light of learning about Rusty’s heartbreaking past. I knew it was too late for any meaningful condolences, but longed to give him some kind of hope that he could live again. From the moment his lips touched mine for the first time, I knew that being with him physically would prove dangerous for both of us. In that instant I was willing to overlook my set boundaries and do what my body was telling me to do.

Unfortunately, there are consequences to every premature decision, mine being the fact that I hadn’t considered what would happen between the two of us from that point on. The thought of alluding my family filled my mind, as I desperately clung on to the way this man had made me feel. I knew I wouldn’t be able to deny our connection, whether it be for the sake of both of us getting some kind of emotional release, or something more than that. All I knew was that us stopping wasn’t what I had wanted.

While Rusty showered, I leaned over and lifted his wallet out of his pants. I wanted to see a picture of his family again, and observe the uncanny resemblance I had to his two girls. Sure, our hair was around the same color, and they both seemed to have green eyes, but that was it. What bothered me so much was knowing that all along Rusty had found interest in me because of this resemblance. It only made me think that our connection was superficial at best. Obviously it wasn’t me he was after, but some remnant of his late wife.

I closed the wallet and put it back in his pants before the water stopped running in the shower. By the time the door opened, I tucked myself under the covers of my own bed. He entered the room in only a towel, holding it close to his hip as he set down on the edge of my bed. “Are you okay, Isabella?”

“Yeah. I’m fine,” I lied, knowing that I was more confused than ever before. Then I knew what I wanted. Seeing him so close to me, knowing that his arms brought me so much comfort, I knew exactly what I needed. “Lay with me tonight. Please. I just want to hold you.”

He never removed the towel until he was under the covers beside me. A part of me felt the need to put my clothes back on, but we’d already been there and experienced that. I had nothing to hide from this man, and longed to be close to him.

We lay side by side for a while, staring into each other’s eyes. In so many ways it was like we were having a silent conversation, sharing all of our emotions while doing nothing at all. I’d never connected on this type of level, and didn’t know if it would ever be like this again. Rusty reached over and stroked my hair. He smiled and leaned over to kiss my forehead. “You make me want to live again.”

I’d never had so much sentiment on my shoulders before. This broken man found contentment in being around me. I couldn’t deny him that, nor refute my own growing desire to be with him.

My hand stretched to connect with his scruffy cheek. The palms coursed over his skin while I watched the lids of his eyes slowly closing. He leaned into my touch, accepting the comfort. “Kiss me.”

Our lips united, sending waves of delight through every inch of my body. Quickly I responded to the way his tongue matched mine. I climbed up and straddled his body, feeling his growing erection beneath me. In an immediate comeback, I began to rock forward, meeting his welcoming mouth for more of what was fueling me to need more. Our tongues blended, while his hands came up and possessed my hips. As they continued traveling up I realized that we were instantly right back in the same place as before. He traced the Mitchell tattoo that was written vertically on the left side of my ribs. It tickled there, feeling him so close to the underneath of my br**sts. A time out had only heightened my hunger for this sensitive man, and thankfully he wasn’t persuading me to stop again.

My lips trailed over his, while words began coming out; words I knew would take us to the next level. “Make love to me.”

He reached up, running his full hands over both of my br**sts. I kept moving around, letting him know I was ready and willing. Everything I was experiencing, all of my emotions were fading with the new revelation of becoming one with this man. He sat up, switching our positions so that he was lingering over top of me. Our eyes convened, and I could sense the deprivation that he’d been living with for so long. He needed this more than I did, not that it was a competition. We both had issues that had brought us together, that was no secret.

Gentle kisses trailed over my body, and his hand traveling over my most sensitive of areas, while I patiently accepted him getting familiar with every inch of me. I may not have asked to find someone new, but he was lying on top of me, offering to make me forget, even if only for a little while. His hand swept over my sex, and I watched a smile forming in the corner of his mouth. “You’re so warm, and I can’t get the way you taste out of my mind.”