Chapter 9

Tonight would decide her future with Jack. Dinner was almost ready and Isabella couldn’t sit still. Her mind whirled with all the things that could possibly go wrong as she flitted around the house and folded her laundry twice. She would tell Jack tonight. And then she would know for sure if he would stay or walk away. If he walked away tonight, her heart would recover. Not easily, but it would. And if he stayed her heart would truly be his to keep, hold and protect.

She would embrace the second wholeheartedly. But she wouldn’t let the first destroy her. Isabella had changed after she left David. Lucy had made sure of that. And she wouldn’t let a setback turn her back into that scared girl. So tonight, she would tell Jack everything. And if he didn’t run away, she wouldn’t hold back with him any longer.

Her resolution firm in her mind, Isabella set the table, making it comfortable but not overly romantic or fancy. She wasn’t ready for a full-blown romance until Jack knew what he was getting into.

The doorbell rang as she put the finishing touches on the table and she smoothed her hands down her skirt, her nerves kicking in to full throttle. Isabella opened the door to her childhood one-story craftsman style home and let Jack inside.

“Flowers?” she asked as he handed them to her.

“My Mama made sure I knew to always bring flowers to a dinner party,” he said as he looked down at her.

“I’m sure your male friends appreciated that,” she said with a twinkle in her eyes.

“Marc’s face was priceless the first time I did it,” he said with his own smile as he followed her into the kitchen, the pale yellow walls making the room feel bright even in the evening light.

She giggled at the thought of Marc’s reaction to Jack handing him flowers.

“I only did it that one time as a joke, but now he expects them,” he said as he watched her put the bright Gerber daisies in a vase and set them on the table.

“How was the rest of your day?” he asked.

“Did David make another appearance, is that what you mean?” she asked, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye.

He nodded and she said, “No. He never came back. Something I am incredibly grateful for.”

“And are you okay?” he asked, concerned for her as he stepped closer.

Isabella took a deep breath, the scent of the flowers mixing with Jack’s own natural earthy scent. “I’m okay. A little rattled, but I’m fine. He won’t try anything just yet.”

“But he will try something?”

“Probably,” she said after a moment’s silence. She remembered how David had reacted when he found out she was dating Jasper three years ago. She only hoped it didn’t end that way with Jack. “But enough about that for now. Dinner’s just about ready.”

For now, she had said. And she meant it. She would tell Jack the rest of the story. She would tell him how she met David and started dating him, why she broke up with him and the fallout, and what happened to Jasper. And then, if he wanted to leave, she wouldn’t try to stop him or convince him otherwise.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by a gentle yet firm hand on her chin. Jack pulled her face up to his and planted a lingering kiss on her lips.

“I heard them cheer in the coffee shop as I left this morning,” he said after he pulled back and looked down at her, his thumb brushing against her lower lip as the blush covered her cheeks.

“They’re an easily excited bunch,” she murmured.

“You don’t get kissed by the front door often, hmm?” he asked, the question so simple but the implication behind it curious.

“Never. They’ve never seen me be kissed in the shop.”

“No man has ever had the courage to do it?”

“No. There’s never been a man since I opened the shop,” she whispered.

“Never?” he whispered against her lips.

“No.”

“I guess I’ll have to do it more often, then,” he said with a roguish smile.

“You shouldn’t encourage them too much.”

He smiled against her lips before he kissed her again, sweeter and longer this time. She wrapped her arms around his waist and stood there as his lips moved against hers. She was lost in the moment, in his touch and she let his passion begin to pull her under again. A sudden sharp trill interrupted them and Jack pulled back with a scowl.

“Dinner,” she said as she pulled away to turn the timer off.

He glared at the offending device, but inhaled appreciatively when Isabella opened the oven and out wafted the enticing aroma of Mexican lasagna. Lucy had made it the first time he met her after she and Marc became engaged and it had been delicious. From the smell of it, Isabella’s would be just as good, if not better.

They sat down and ate, enjoying the meal and conversation that didn’t revolve around David. True to his word, he didn’t ask her any questions about her ex, even though he wanted to. Isabella would tell him when she was ready and so his curious nature would have to wait.

After they were finished eating, Jack helped her clean up. He washed the dishes and put them in the dish drainer while she cleared the table and counters. They were an efficient team, finishing in record time. Isabella felt everything move too quickly and knew she would have to tell Jack about David now. She didn’t want to, and that old fear of not being good enough crept in. But Jack deserved to know what he was getting into. She wiped her hands down her sides, smoothing out her skirt as she procrastinated. Judgment time had come and she wasn’t ready for it.

“Would you like some coffee?” she asked him, as a way to stall and give herself something relaxing to do.

“Is that a rhetorical question? I always want your coffee,” he said with a smile.

She returned the smile and went about making their coffee. Making it soothed her nerves and the drink itself would calm her during their conversation.

Once they were settled in the living room she took a deep breath, but couldn’t bring herself to tell him. She needed to muster up the courage and then she would do it. Isabella tried to focus on the conversation they needed to have rather than his hand that rested on her thigh.

Jack could tell she was nervous. His time as a lawyer had given him an acute sense of picking up people’s nervous habits and lies. It was imperative in the courtroom or negotiating room that he have those skills, but in the romantic sense he was grateful he had them with Isabella. There was no doubt in his mind that he wanted her, in every way, but there was something holding her back.

“I have something for you,” he said as he went to get something out of his coat pocket.

Isabella waited while he disappeared into the foyer and rummaged around his coat before he came back and put a small box in her hands.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Open it and find out,” he said with a smile.

Jack took a sip of his coffee as she opened the gift. She carefully peeled back the paper and pulled the box out. He waited with bated breath while she opened the box.

“Glasses?” she asked, confused.

“They’re specially made to reduce eye strain from staring at computers. And headaches,” he said with a pointed look.

“But why?” she asked.

“Because you need them. I didn’t really think you would appreciate jewelry or anything like that since you work at the shop so much. That and I don’t want you to feel pressured around me or anything,” he said.

“Thank you, Jack,” she whispered. It was such a simple explanation but it was perfect. And it meant the world to her that he would think of her well being over shiny jewelry or other things she wouldn’t really use. “I’ll use them all the time.”

“Good. I never thanked you for helping me paint my office,” he said as he set his coffee cup on the coffee table in front of him. He needed a way of easing her into conversation and that was the best he could do.

She smiled and blushed before she said, “I think you thanked me plenty.”

He grinned, a devilish smirk that spoke of a cat hunting his prey. She remembered that kiss and how close they had been to doing more. The blush spread across her face as she remembered being laid out on his desk beneath him.

“I seem to have a habit of pushing you up against things and kissing you,” he said, low and deep, as he looked deeply into her eyes. Her eyes widened and her pupils dilated the tiniest bit.

Isabella looked away and swallowed hard. She was trying her hardest to gather courage and tell him about David, but it seemed she might need courage of a different kind to deal with his smoldering gaze and sensual words.

“Yes, well, yes,” she whispered as his hand inched just the tiniest bit higher, bringing her skirt with it. She didn’t stop him. It had been years since a man had touched her like this, and this was the first time she hadn’t been scared during any kind of sexual encounter. It was a new sensation with a man she trusted and she never wanted it to end.

“I’d hate to break that tradition now,” he murmured as he shifted closer to her and brought his other hand up to cup her cheek.

“Traditions are important,” she whispered as a way of giving her consent, which he gratefully accepted.

Jack placed a gentle, lingering kiss on her lips as he took her coffee cup and placed it on the table next to his. The last thing he wanted was for her to accidentally spill that over his lap and ruin the whole evening.

Capturing her lips in a searing kiss, his tongue pushed into her mouth immediately and danced with hers. It was a tango. Sensual. Sexual. And very, very slick. He felt his arousal growing and knew he needed to slow down when her earlier words echoed through his mind. She hadn’t had a man in the last few years. He had to be gentle with her, go slow, or he might hurt her. And that was the last thing he wanted.

He pulled back. A flush covered her cheeks and her pupils were blown wide with passion. Her lips were becoming swollen from the intensity of their kisses and she gave little gasps as he brushed his thumb over her lower lip.

She had invited him over for dinner as a way to say thank you for distracting her today and helping her relax. This wasn’t going according to plan, although she should have considering the incident in his office the other day. Not that she was complaining.

Jack pulled away from her and stood up. She sat there, confused for a minute before he pulled her up with him.

“Just so you know, I don’t intend to leave,” he said, his voice husky.

She nodded, her eyes bright with passion and love. He almost melted when he saw that glimmer in her eyes. She wasn’t very subtle, or maybe he was just too good at reading people. Jack leaned down and kissed her again, more forceful and insistent this time as he wrapped one arm around her waist as the other held her head still for better access into her mouth. She wasn’t shy with him, as he had thought she might be.

But it wasn’t enough. He needed more contact. He needed more control. And he needed more of her.

“Bedroom?” he asked after he pulled away.

She pulled away from him and he watched her internal struggle of whether to let this continue or not. Isabella lowered her head, concealing her face as she looked down. But then she grabbed his hand, looked up at him, and began to back out of the room, pulling him along with her.

It was too much. He couldn’t handle the sultry look in her eyes, her kiss-swollen lips, her little gasps of air. She was too far away from him.

Jack reached for her as they entered the hallway and kissed her again. Her lips had been gone from his for far too long and he needed another dose of her sweet taste. But it still wasn’t enough. He picked her up, her skirt riding up as he pushed her into the wall, never breaking the kiss. Isabella wrapped her legs around his waist for support and felt him press into her center. A moan escaped her throat at the feeling of his arousal pressing into her and she gave a gasp at the delicious friction between her legs as he rocked into her.

“Tell me if any of this gets to be too much for you and I’ll stop,,” he growled against her mouth after he pulled away for a second.

“Stay,” she gasped out against his lips as she held him tight against her, her ankles locked behind him and her arms wrapped around his neck. His hips jerked against her and she gasped again, letting her head fall back on the wall behind her as his arousal rubbed against her sensitive clit. Even through the thin layers of clothes between them, it was almost overwhelming. It had never been like this with another man and she was drowning in the sensations.

Jack took advantage of her exposed neck and trailed wet kisses down the smooth column, feeling her pulse race beneath the skin. His primal instincts took over and he wanted nothing more than to mark her, claim her as his for all the world to see. The smooth skin where her neck met her shoulder became his feast, and he nibbled and sucked until he was sure a bruise would form there.

Isabella whimpered as he continued to rock against her, but it wasn’t enough. She needed more. More friction. More kisses. More touches. She needed him inside her. Now.

“Bedroom,” she reminded him in a quiet and breathless voice.

He finally looked up from her neck, satisfied with the mark he had created, and stared into her eyes. He imagined his own eyes were just as passion-hazed as hers, wild even. And he rocked against her a few more times, loathe to lose the delicious friction, before he let her slide down his body until her feet touched the ground.

“Bedroom?” he asked.

Isabella walked on unsteady feet until they reached her bedroom at the back of the house. He closed the door behind them and watched her as she stood in the middle of the room, her bed behind her. Jack pulled his shirt over his head and let it fall to the ground. It was only in the way, as were her clothes.

Stalking towards her, he reached for her blouse, watching as the blush spread high on her cheekbones. He slid his hands under the material at her sides and slowly pushed it up, revealing a white lace bra. His mouth watered and he hoped she wore matching panties. Isabella raised her arms and let him pull her blouse all the way off.

“So, that’s how far down your blush goes,” he said in a husky voice on his face as his eyes traced the blush down to the top of her breasts, which only made her blush even more. A shark-like grin covered his face as he lowered his hands to her hips and unzipped her skirt, allowing the material to fall to the ground and pool at her feet.

Stepping back, he looked at her. Matching panties. The sight made him groan out loud, and that sound gave her more courage than she ever thought possible with a man. Reaching up behind her, she unclasped her bra before she pulled the straps down and let it slide off to fall on the floor.

His eyes were glued to her chest as he walked forward again and slid his hands up to cup her breasts. That first touch of his hands against her smooth skin elicited a gasp out of her so unused to being touched by a man. Her eyes opened wide when he brushed his thumbs over her nipples and she pushed into his hands even more.

“Beautiful,” he whispered as he kept playing with her nipples and bent down to kiss her again.

She cupped her hands over his as he played with her breasts and let her tongue dance with his. But it still wasn’t enough. She wanted more. And so she pushed away from him and walked backward until she felt the bed at the back of her knees and sat down before she scooted backward and positioned herself in the middle of the queen sized bed.

Jack watched her position herself before he walked toward the bed and stood at the foot of it, staring at her, taking in the sight of her stretched out before him, beckoning him to join her. Crawling up the bed, he pushed her legs apart as he did so before he settled himself over her, hip to hip, and let his chest brush against hers as he captured her mouth in another searing kiss.

After a few minutes, he pulled away and trailed little kisses down her neck on his way to her breasts. He planted gentle kisses on the soft mounds before he reached his tongue out and traced a circle around first one nipple and then the other. They hardened even more and her back arched up into him before he closed his mouth over her left nipple and sucked, hard.

Her little mewl of pleasure encouraged him to continue and he worked the nipple in his mouth with his teeth and tongue, pulling back to lap at it and then wrap his lips around it again. Switching to her right nipple, he paid it the same attention. He took his time, building her arousal and feeding his own.

“Too slow,” she complained in a breathless voice as he pulled back.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he whispered against her lips.

She glared at him through her lust but knew he only wanted her to be prepared enough. “Jack, trust me. I’m ready. You won’t hurt me,” she said as she guided his hand down to her panties and let him feel how wet she was through the material.

He groaned and dropped his head against her neck as he slipped his hand beneath the thin material and touched her for the first time. He looked up at her little gasp of pleasure as he touched her clit before he dipped back down and swirled around her clit for her optimal pleasure. The jerk of her hips was enough to make him continue.

“Please, Jack,” she whimpered as her hips continued their frantic motion for more.

“Please, what?” he asked.

“More,” she begged in breathless voice.

Unable to do anything but comply with her wishes, he watched as her eyes rolled back in her head as she grew closer and closer to an orgasm. He continued making those small movements with his fingers against her clit until she opened her eyes wide, unseeing, as her climax hit her.

Swooping down to kiss her again, he dragged out the kiss with little nips of her lips. And when he pulled away and saw her satisfied smile, with tears gathered in the corners of her eyes, he paused.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, truly worried.

“No one’s ever made me feel that way or been so gentle before,” she whispered before she pulled him back down for another kiss.

When he pulled away this time, she saw his feral grin and felt her heart stutter in response. That grin spelled trouble.

She found out why when he reached down and pulled her panties off. He threw them over his shoulder before he moved his right hand down and slid his middle finger inside her tight channel. His finger brushed against that rough spot at the front of her vaginal canal and watched as her face scrunched up in confusion before the pleasure hit her harder than before. As he continued that little movement of his finger and drew her pleasure out, her back arched off the bed, her second climax of the night.

He was enraptured by her face, watching her mouth open in a silent scream, her eyes screw tightly shut as she reveled in the sensations and then grow wide as he brushed against her in a certain way. Focusing on that small movement, he was determined to give her as much pleasure as he could tonight. Jack ignored his own hard need, pressing up against his jeans, as he watched her. Tonight was about her. And he would make sure she enjoyed this.

All too soon those small movements became too much for her, still sensitive after her first orgasm, and she climaxed for a second time under his expert fingers. Her legs shook slightly as she came down from that high and she heard the faint sound of Jack removing the rest of his clothes before he tore open a condom and slid it over his length. He groaned at the sensation of something sliding down his length and he squeezed the head of his penis gently to stem his arousal the slightest bit. He wouldn’t come until he was inside of her.

Crawling back onto the bed, he settled himself over her, but kept his hips away from hers as he kissed her, trying to gain some control before he pushed inside of her. But she wasn’t letting him get away with that and she pulled him back down to her, completely. He looked up into her eyes and knew she was ready. So he reached down and positioned himself at her entrance before he slowly pushed in, inch by inch, letting her adjust to his girth once he was fully seated inside her.

Pushing himself up on his elbows, he captured her lips in another kiss as he waited for her to adjust to him. Isabella reached her legs up and wrapped them around his hips, causing him to sink deeper into her. He groaned at the heat that enveloped him and his hips jerked slightly, causing more of that delicious friction against her clit that she enjoyed so much.

“Move,” she said.

And he did. In and out, in and out, he pushed himself inside of her and pulled out almost to the tip before he pushed back inside, building a rhythm they both enjoyed. She used her legs to pull him into her with each one of his thrusts and he responded in kind by pushing in harder. They fell into a rhythm and rocked against each other, both lost in the sensations of each other’s bodies.

“Mine,” he growled against her neck as he thrust into her. She gave no response other than a gasp. He lifted his head as he pulled out and looked into her eyes as he pushed back in. “Mine,” he said again.

Isabella nodded her head in agreement. She was his. The sensations of him dragging against her inner walls and rubbing against her clit were too much for her to respond, let alone think beyond the feel of him over her, around her, inside her.

“Say it,” he growled. “Say that you’re mine.”

“Yours. I’m yours,” she gasped out as he picked up the pace.

Neither of them could form words anymore. Their base instincts had taken over and they both raced to climax together. Jack thrust harder and faster, losing his rhythm as his movements became more erratic. Isabella didn’t mind. The friction, the pull and slide of him inside her pushed her closer and closer to the edge.

And then, she fell. Her orgasm hit her, the third one of the night, and she let the waves of it wash over her as she felt him thrust more erratically than before to find his own climax.

Jack arched his back as his hips stuttered against her and he rode his climax to the end. He fell against her, but caught himself on his elbows so he didn’t crush her and he worked to control his breathing before he gently pulled out of her and rolled off to the side so he could stand and go to the bathroom to dispose of the condom. He went and got back in bed beside her, laying on his side and running his hand up and down her arm as she recovered slowly.

“Are you okay? I wasn’t too rough?” he asked, deep and husky after lovemaking.

She nodded and then shook her head. “It was wonderful.”

He leaned over and kissed her again, slow and sweet. And then he pulled her closer to him and wrapped his arms around her. He was staying and she would just have to accept that.

Reaching down, he pulled up a thick blanket to keep them warm, since he didn’t think Isabella was going to move anytime soon. He kissed her forehead and said, “Sleep, Izzy. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

She smiled against his chest and snuggled closer to his warmth. He was safe. And that smile stayed on her face as his heartbeat lulled her into sleep. For the first time since they had met, he wasn’t in her dreams because he was in her bed. They were together and all was right with the world. She would relish the time they had together.

Jack stayed awake for a while after he felt her body relax into sleep. He lay on his back and stroked his hand down her arm. Tonight had been the best he had ever had, but he felt like Isabella had wanted to tell him something and he hadn’t given her the chance. He rubbed his forehead. He had come on strong, but she hadn’t resisted. In fact, she had welcomed him. Her tears after her first orgasm had startled him and the reason she had given had been heartbreaking. He vowed to always give her pleasure and forsake his own for as long as he could to let her enjoy it.

And then he frowned. David had made her feel like she wasn’t good enough. David had probably been the cause for her tears. The anger raced through him at the thought of anyone mistreating sweet Isabella but he calmed himself when she stirred against him. He didn’t want to disturb her slumber, so he pushed David out of his thoughts for the time being and let sleep take him under.

In the morning they could deal with the aftermath. But he had made his position very clear. He was not going anywhere. He was staying.