“They match my eyes.”

This time, it was his turn to smile, though his was so dark and knowing she was almost afraid of what he was thinking. “Yes. They do.”

He covered her body with his and took her mouth in a deep kiss. Isabelle groaned as goose bumps rose up along her limbs. The man knew how to kiss, and she was pretty sure that every time he did that swirling thing with his tongue, she lost another pile of brain cells to overheating.

His big hand cupped her breast. Her nipple hardened against his palm. She felt him smile against her mouth in response.

Grant shoved a hard thigh between her legs, pressing it against her mound. Shocks of sensation rioted through her belly. She made a desperate noise and dug her fingernails into his back.

“Like that?” he asked her.

Speech was impossible, so she didn’t try. Instead, she moved her hips, grinding herself against him because it felt too good not to.

He toyed with one nipple while moving down to take the other into his mouth. Heat and sensation jolted through her, meeting up with all of the hot pleasure pulsing low in her abdomen.

Her panties were slick and wet as she rubbed up against Grant’s thigh, but it wasn’t enough. She wanted to feel him inside her, filling her up.

With clumsy hands, Isabelle pushed him away enough that she could grasp his erection. As hot as she was, his skin was even hotter, smooth and slick from her mouth and his own excitement. She spread her legs wide and pulled the gusset of her panties aside while using her other hand to guide his penis where she needed it.

The tip of him slid along her slick folds, and she pressed her hips forward to join them together.

“This feels too good. So hot.” Grant went still, then pulled away from her, out of reach. He was panting, staring down at her exposed flesh while he licked his lips. “Need a rubber.”

Right. She’d forgotten in the midst of the haze of pleasure engulfing her, but thankfully, Grant had more sense.

He took care of the problem while Isabelle shed her panties. When he came back to the bed, she expected him to take up where they left off, but instead, he gave her a dark, hungry look and knelt between her knees. He spread her thighs wide and lowered his head between them. His tongue grazed over her in a hot, wet caress.

Her whole body tightened with something too intense to be called pleasure, and her hips rose up off the bed toward his mouth. Grant pushed her back to the bed and held her hips in place while he licked and kissed her as he pleased. His tongue did that exquisite swirling thing and she was lost. The world spun away, and her body exploded in the most awesome, devastating climax she’d ever had.

Grant was with her the whole way, using his tongue to keep her spiraling out of control.

She hadn’t even regained the ability to see when she felt the weight of his body settle over her and his erection slide inside her slick body. His movements were gentle, but she could sense his desperation in the way his body shook with tension.

He plucked at her nipple, which sent shockwaves of sensation to her womb and made her abdomen tighten. He must have felt it, too, because he sucked in a breath and his hips bucked forward as if he couldn’t control them. His movement hit a sweet spot inside her, and all of the relief her climax had given her was swept away. That achy need was back, gnawing at her insides for relief, and Grant was being too gentle. Too careful with her.

“Roll over,” she ordered him in a near snarl. She’d never sounded so forceful during sex before, but Grant didn’t seem to mind.

He easily shifted them, rolling her body along with his until she was on top. The movement pressed him deeper and made Isabelle gasp. No way was she going to last long like this. She felt so full she could barely breathe.

Isabelle pressed her hands to his chest for leverage and lifted her body off of his. The ride back down was long and slow and had Grant gripping her thighs hard enough to leave white marks around his fingers. He made a sharp, guttural sound of pleasure that thrilled her down to her toes. She wanted to make him feel good, and now she knew just how to do it.

She set a teasingly slow pace that pressed him as deep inside her as she could stand on every stroke. His body had been made just to fit hers, hitting the right spots without her even having to try.

It didn’t take long for Isabelle to be hovering at the edge of orgasm again, but she didn’t want to go alone this time. She wanted to feel Grant coming inside her when she let go—to know she was giving him as much pleasure as he was giving her.

His hands moved to her waist, making her speed up the pace. Beneath her, his body was coiled tight. She leaned down so she could kiss this neck, and the movement ground her clitoris against him. An electric current streaked through her core, and she couldn’t hold back any longer. Her climax crashed over her, making her gasp and tighten around Grant’s erection.

A hoarse cry rippled out of her as her body flew apart.

Grant’s hands clenched on her waist, and his hips lifted up off the bed, shoving hard inside Isabelle. From the depths of her own release, she heard him let out a rough roar. Then she felt him throb inside her as he came in time with the dwindling pulses of her own orgasm.

Isabelle collapsed on top of him, breathing hard. Her body felt heavy and boneless, and a faint buzzing sensation made her skin tingle.

“You okay?” asked Grant in a rough, sexy voice.

“I thought you were an expert on women.”

“You’re not just any woman.”

And if that wasn’t the perfect thing to say, she didn’t know what was. She turned her head enough to kiss his jaw.

Grant gave her a tight hug, then shifted her body so they were no longer joined. “After that, I bet you’re hungry,” he said.

“I probably will be in a minute. Right now I’m just thirsty. All that hard breathing made my throat dry.”

He rolled her over so she was on the bed and kissed her nose. “Stay right here and I’ll make you some tea.”

“You need to eat your food, assuming it’s still edible. I can make my own tea.”

Grant shook his head and gave her a sultry smile that melted her will into a puddle. “I want you to stay right here. Completely naked. I’m nowhere near done with you.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Grant had done a lot of things for a lot of women over the years, but he couldn’t remember ever making tea for one of them while wearing nothing but his underwear. Maybe that was because he never stuck around afterward long enough for it to be an issue. Or maybe it was because he’d never cared about any of the women he’d slept with as much as he cared for Isabelle. The thought of leaving her to fend for herself, even for something as simple as a drink, bothered him.

He was so fucked. He’d really dug himself a hole this time, getting involved with her like this. She wasn’t just some woman that he could smile at and wave good-bye to when it was all said and done. She was part of his life, and no matter how complicated things got, he wasn’t giving her up.

At least he’d gotten out of enough situations that appeared to be hopeless to give him faith that he might also find a way out of this one. He wasn’t sure how, but he’d find a way. Isabelle was too important to him not to find one.

Grant opened the bag of fast food and eyed the contents. The hamburgers might be salvageable, but no way was he eating those cold, greasy fries.

Isabelle’s refrigerator was nearly bare, thanks to Dale’s bottomless stomach, but there were still a few oranges and some celery sticks. Between that and the bag of chips he’d spied in the cabinet, there’d be plenty for a light lunch for both of them.

The microwave beeped and Grant pulled Isabelle’s tea out. A pretty flower of tea leaves with a pink center floated in the top of the cup. He’d never seen anything like it before, but knowing Isabelle, she’d get a kick out of it. Even if one of her students hadn’t been thoughtful enough to give her the gift, she probably would have enjoyed the frivolous bit of fluff.

Maybe he’d get her some more of the tea flower things when these were gone, just to see her smile.

Then again, maybe he’d be gone before they were.

What a fucking bleak thought that was.

Dale felt Angela’s fingers slip between his as they walked out to his car after school. She didn’t need a ride. She had her own car. But he’d been a dork and asked her if she wanted a ride anyway, just because he wanted to be with her every moment he could. The fact that she’d said yes still made him grin like an idiot.

Holding her hand made him grin even wider.

She was so pretty today with her blond hair pulled up in a loose ponytail. On other girls, it would have looked sloppy, but on Angela, it was just messy enough to be sexy. It looked like she’d been messed up a little by rolling around in his bed.

And it was his bed. No way was Dale going to ruin his fantasies by having it be some other guy who’d made her hair look like that.

She leaned close to him as they walked, and he was sure he could feel the soft curve of her breast against his arm.

Instant boner.

Dale shifted his books to hide it and slowed their pace so he didn’t pinch himself. She looked up at him with those pale blue eyes, and he knew that no matter how much he wanted to do her, he’d hold back and be cool. He wouldn’t so much as try to feel her up, because he didn’t think he could stand it if she dumped him.

Not that they were really dating. Neither one of them had said anything like that. But she had kissed him. Saturday night when he dropped her off at her doorstep. She’d gone up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. He’d been so thrilled he hadn’t even cared she’d left a shiny patch of lip gloss on him. Hell, he hadn’t even cared if he ever breathed again.

Thankfully, she’d slipped inside her house before he could screw things up with her. He’d had a full day to think about how to hold on to Angela, and he’d decided to let her take the lead. He wouldn’t push her to do anything, no matter how hard it got.

And it was pretty freaking hard right now.

“Do you want to go back to my house for a little while?” she asked him.

His mind filled with all the things he could do to her there, and blood loss to the brain struck him speechless for a moment. “Um.”

“I mean, my mom will be there, but she won’t mind if we watch TV or something.”

A chaperone was a good thing. He kept telling himself that over and over in the hopes he’d believe it. “Yeah, sure. That sounds good.”

Angela smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder.

Dale felt like a raging stud. He had the prettiest girl in town on his arm, asking him to her house. No guy had ever been luckier.

He was so wrapped up in the feel of her against his arm that he didn’t notice his dad parked next to his car until it was too late. Wyatt got out of his car and stepped in their path.

“Introduce me to your girlfriend, son,” said Wyatt.

“Is this your dad?” asked Angela, smiling.

She held out her hand for him to shake, but Dale shifted his body, pushing her behind him.

Angela gasped in shock or pain. Dale couldn’t be sure, but either way, it made him feel like garbage to know it was his fault.