CHAPTER NINETEEN
The door opened just as Roxie wondered how he was doing, and he barged in with a life force that was both menacing and intimidating. She stifled the urge to take a step back at the fire in those light blue eyes, burning brighter than ever as he pinned her with an angry gaze.
“What did you think you were doing?” were his introductory words, which had her blinking. But before she could talk, he continued speaking, and it was such a contradiction to his usual cool, calm self that all she could do was stare. “Using your magic like that on someone more powerful than you? He could have easily snapped your neck in pieces with his frost, and you would have been dead in an instant.”
“I was trying to get him to leave, but he wouldn’t. So, I urged him into that place and did the best I could.”
“By getting yourself trapped in his damn ice circle?”
“That was his doing, and I counterflowed it. You should know better than to accuse me of causing a ruckus when all I wanted was to protect your home.” While she said the words, her eyes drank him in, checking for wounds and finding none. She sighed an inward breath of relief that she’d managed to extend her magic enough to him to keep him safe, even while he kept talking in that angry, vibrating tone.
“I never accused you of causing a ruckus,” he bit out. “But who was going to protect you when you were so busy protecting everyone but yourself?”
Roxie absorbed the words and lifted her head high. “You came. You protected me.”
“You damn about nearly died in there. And you called me an idiot.”
“Maybe because you are an idiot,” Roxie snapped. “And it worked, didn’t it? I thought my magic couldn’t take it, but it did. I’ve never cursed before because I didn’t think I could. But I did. I handled him. We handled him. Now, this world is safe, and he can never come here again. Now are you going to call me an idiot back?”
“No. You’re brave and beautiful and so goddamn annoying that I can’t think straight whenever I’m in the same room as you.”
Her breath stopped at his words, stunning her completely. Then it hitched, and he heard, and those eyes flared again—but it was no longer anger she was seeing there, and the sheer intensity of the hunger that slid in his gaze had her heart pounding louder than it had ever been.
Isaac pounced before she could do anything, backing her against the desk beside the bed and crashing his mouth against hers. It was hard, and it was full of the same hunger she sensed inside him, and Roxie did the only thing she could do at the moment.
She opened her mouth instantly. Then she kissed him back, letting him feel the desire running inside her from trying to stay away from him for so long. She opened herself up to him heart and soul, running her tongue down his lips before it collided with his, where she tasted his primitive scent. He groaned in response, a shocked sound, and she swallowed it and urged him to take more.
He did. He took what she offered and more, his hands running all over her skin like he missed her terribly. She felt her back hit the mattress and eased to the center, pulling him in until his body was pressed on top of hers and she could feel his hardness all over.
The kiss went on and on, with an intensity that threatened to consume them both. They let it, no longer holding anything back as their hands flew—and so did their clothes, and their sanity, and everything else. His mouth cruised, and his tongue licked every inch of her skin until she found herself slowly losing her mind at the pleasure that heightened in her veins. Her core throbbed as he finally went down on it, where he used fingers and tongue to take her up another step and make her moan out in pleasure—then, his name, as she came apart so quickly.
But Isaac didn’t stop, bringing her up to that edge again. Wanting him to feel the same intensity she was feeling, she pushed him back before he could bring her to a second orgasm and straddled him. His long, hard body glistened with sweat, and she cruised her mouth down and explored every inch, getting intoxicated with his taste. Incoherent sounds came out of his throat, low and sexy and turning her on. Finally, she took his pulsing cock in her hands, rubbing playfully. Then she took him into her mouth and tasted him there, feeling a certain kind of power more addictive than her magic as she felt his control leave him bit by bit.
“Baby…Roxie…Roxie…”
She licked him and sucked him hard, wanting him to find that peak of pleasure. She yelped in protest when she felt herself being lifted and yanked back up on top of him, their gazes meeting.
“I wasn’t done—” she began—but the words trailed off into a shocked moan when she felt him plunge his cock inside her core in one swift movement.
“I want this,” he rasped, pulling her down to kiss her mouth again. “I want you.”
Her heart melted, and so did her body. He murmured words to her about how tight and wet she was, but she barely listened as she moved on top of him, setting a rhythm that had him hitting her pleasure point in soft whispers. Then it was impossible to stay slow as need took them both and drove them to act quicker. He pounded inside her at the same time she bounced down on him. His hands squeezed her breasts and flicked her nipples, making her ache beyond belief. Then he sat up and took her with him, capturing one nipple in his mouth. At the same time, his thumb rubbed at her clit while his cock kept thrusting in, and she lost it.
Her second orgasm sent Roxie flying, then falling, clinging to him as it racked her body and left her vibrating. He swallowed her moans and kept kissing her like he could do it forever and not get tired of it. Then he was quickening his thrusts again, and a few minutes later, she felt it—his body going rigid and bucking against her. Pain hit her shoulder as he bit her before he eased it with his soothing tongue.
Then he was spilling his seed inside her and following her to that flight of pleasure.
*****
They went at each other two more times that day…then plenty more times as the days went on. Roxie couldn’t get enough of him and knew the feeling was reciprocated, and it felt like she discovered something new about him each time that she didn’t see before. When they didn’t have sex, they just spent time together, talking and exploring the world and each other. Roxie stayed by his side as he dealt with some clan issues, and he stayed by hers as she tried to restore the magic that was lost in her battle with Asha.
Soon, it was no longer just sex for her.
Roxie didn’t stop, even while warning bells rang in her head, telling her she was bound to get hurt eventually. But what was her choice? She couldn’t stop what was happening between them no matter how she tried, and she certainly couldn’t stop her heart from who it chose to love.
And it chose to love him—all of Isaac, the good and the bad, the panther and the man.
She understood the feeling wasn’t reciprocated, and it was a risk. But she’d rather take this risk than wonder all her life, and cherish this moment with him before her time was up.
Soon, she was going to lose him.
But now, she was still there, and she was going to make the most of it.
*****
The summons arrived in her second month in Brazil, and it was short and informative. Her mother expressed her casual removal of Roxie’s curse, with no mention of the Winter King at all—which meant the Winter King had decided not to tell anyone of his visit or declare some sort of war. Roxie suspected not even his men knew of his whereabouts, which lent to him going solo when he came here. She wasn’t sure she could have handled his reinforcements on top of him and was glad things turned out the way it did.
But the summons didn’t make her glad, and she waited for Isaac to come to the cliffs and join her as she sat on the grass and watched the sea again. He looked like he was about to say something amusing with that smirk on his face that she’d grown fond of, but she cut him off before he could speak.
“My mother removed the curse.”
The smirk slid off his face, and a serious expression crossed it. He looked to the sea as well.
“When are you leaving?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she murmured. She attempted a smile and a teasing tone. “Depends on how long I’m welcome here.”
“You’re welcome here anytime. But I know you’re missing home, so I’m not going to stop you. Go home. I believe you need it.”
The serious expression disappeared from his face, replaced by the same smirk. “We had a hell of a time, didn’t we?”
“Yes, we did.”
“I’ll be busy for the rest of the days, so I won’t be able to accompany you. Do you still need a witch?”
No, I need you to ask me to stay.
But he didn’t, and she shook her head. “My mother will open the portal in the ripe spot. She wants me there by tomorrow.”
Isaac nodded. Then he told her he had somewhere to go, the conversation closed. She told him good luck and kept the smile on her face as he stood up and walked away, watching as he disappeared from sight. It was only then that Roxie’s smile slid off her face as she turned back and continued watching the sea, feeling her heart ache with an intensity that sent her body shaking. She wrapped her arms around herself, feeling cold.
She knew the risk, and she’d taken the shot.
And she’d lost at love.