Chapter 27
Isabelle
A sunset stained the cotton candy sky in deep pinks and oranges as the sun made its final dip under the horizon. The twilight
it left behind blanketed the reception that was in full swing now.
Henry and Selena’s wedding ceremonies took place in the castle’s chapel and the north-facing lawn that overlooked miles of
vineyards. The reception took place a little further down that same vast green, closer to the peak of another rolling hill
that opened to a view of the stunning river valleys, each lined with rows of vines.
“Usually, reporters covering weddings get some insights into the couple from the wedding party.” Malcolm stood next to me
at the bar. “Or maybe the couple deign to give them a few words.”
All day, I had tried to put the text from Ami out of my head and be present for one of the most important days in my best
friend’s life. Up until now, I had succeeded. But now with everything all settled, my mind kept returning to it.
I had thought a drink might help and I ended up at the bar with Malcolm.
I didn’t get a first-round interview, but I would still get one eventually . . . I had to. I tried to swallow the sour taste
in the back of my throat.
“Selena and Henry are very private people,” I told him, even though he had to know that by now. The only reason he was here
was because one magazine was the lesser of the press evils they might have been subjected to. “And what else do you need to
know besides china patterns and floral arrangements?”
“I could write about the guests,” he challenged, almost like it was meant to sound like a threat, but immediately after the
surge of protectiveness wore down, it actually sounded like a good idea.
“Well, you have plenty of fodder,” I agreed. “Assuming any of them let you.”
Considering this party was filled with people who valued their privacy and tried to stay out of the public eye, he’d be up
against a mountain of shit with his magazine and editor and probably their legal team if he published any names he wasn’t
allowed to.
“Like your date?”
I smiled. Pride shot through me. “Between being an American Premier League champion, the former US World Cup team captain, and a philanthropist, I’m sure you could do much worse.”
His eyebrows rounded up, and he wrote something on his notepad with an upside-down grin and a shrug. “Are you his girlfriend
or his publicist?”
He said it plainly, but his eyes were intense.
The implication being that he saw through us.
I probably should have practiced a bit more before fumbling our performance that first night.
But I’d thought we’d done a pretty good job selling the act since then, and it was far too late to backtrack now.
I crossed my arms. “Is there a reason you’re baiting me?”
He chuckled to himself and shook his head. “Not at all. I’m actually going to try to arrange a sit-down with your date later
this summer.”
“Oh yeah?” I took a sip of wine. A win for Austin felt like a win for me.
“Yeah.” Austin’s voice, deep and strong, was like a shot of espresso. My muscles jumped when his hands spanned along my hips,
then his arms wrapped around my waist and yanked me back to him.
Austin
Isa bragging about me delivered the same adrenaline rush as the sound of wind whipping around a net when a ball moving at
ninety miles an hour swung against it.
A wave of pride followed by relief, followed by pride again.
She leaned into me, her skin warm and soft. I glanced up to Malcolm, who raised an eyebrow, opened his mouth, but then closed
it immediately. “Will you excuse us, Malcolm?”
Without waiting for an answer, I took her hand and began leading her across the green along a stone path into the castle. The wedding now over, our time together was fading as quickly as the sunset had, and I wanted to wring every last second dry.
“I heard that.” I squeezed her hand.
“What?” She stopped and looked around with some curiosity as we stood between one of the stone entrances into the castle and
the slowly dwindling reception. She turned and innocently smoothed her hands over my lapels. “You happen to have accomplished
a lot and ambition is sexy.”
I didn’t know what it was about her, but her determination was contagious. She loved her life and her work, and that type
of excitement was evident in everything she did. It made me want to find that feeling again.
A feeling I’d lost years ago.
Reawakened by that look in her eye. The one that made me think I was capable of more than I let myself believe. I didn’t care
what people thought of me as long as it benefited the foundation, but suddenly I cared what Isa thought.
“You didn’t tell me you are getting an interview with the Malcolm Parks.”
“Yeah, well, he has spent most of the trip as my shadow.”
“What can I say? You’re a good honey trap.” Her eyebrows knitted together when I pulled her inside. “Where are we going?”
“I wanted to get you alone.” I stopped in front of a curved mahogany door.
We didn’t have much time left in this arrangement—twelve hours, but who was counting?
I was going to go from seeing her nonstop to maybe a few times at the training facility. And I wasn’t going to be able to touch her the way I had the last few days. I knew what this was and what it wasn’t, but for now I wanted to enjoy this while I had it.
The castle was enormous, and it would take twenty minutes of hallways, corridors, and steps to get her in our bed, too much
time wasted when we had so little left. So, I improvised and happened to see this wine cellar earlier when all the guests
were filing through to get to the reception outside. It was a little hidden behind a stairwell.
I glanced back and Isa rolled her lower lip under her teeth. “Well, if you insist.”
The door opened to a room filled from wall to wall with massive oak barrels, each with a wooden placard with the year written
on it. They were all lined up next to one another, the only space a small set of paths between a few rows that met in the
center of the room at an old wooden table.
With a firm hold on her hips, I maneuvered her to the table.
She sat down. This place was secluded and private and we could walk back out to the reception quickly before anyone noticed
we were gone.
“Go ahead . . .” She grabbed either side of my suit jacket and pulled me in until my lips were a hair’s distance from hers.
The woody scent of barrels and the musk from the cellar wisped around us. “Take the lead.”
The entire wedding party was filing out of here tomorrow. The weekend would be over soon, and for now I wanted to sink into
how good she felt.
My heart raced and I pulled her into a kiss. She eagerly deepened it, running her nails through my hair along the scalp. Electricity
shot down my back.
My hands moved up her thighs. I nudged her back slowly, and she rolled her hips against mine as I did, stoking my erection as I laid her down.
Laying slow kisses down her body, stopping at her breasts, I nudged her dress aside to leave a few languid strokes around
her nipples. Her breathing shallowed.
“Austin,” she whispered, her face already a little flushed. The space between us got hazy and thick.
I moved down her body, kiss by kiss, making my way between her thighs. My index finger looped around her panties and dragged
them down her legs.
Tossing them to the side and parting her legs, I took a second to look at her. On her back with her legs spread for me, waiting
for me.
Fuck. It was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen. I wanted to savor it.
I wanted to savor her. Every part of her. The soft moans she let out into our kisses, the tiny hitches her breath took when I slowly grazed my teeth
against her neck, the electricity her nails sent down my spine when she grasped on to my back as she neared her climax.
I wanted to feel it all, slowly, and make it last forever.
She whimpered as I leaned back between her spread legs, and I tried to maintain some restraint. Her thighs glistened with
her arousal; she was already so wet that it took every patient fiber of my being not to bury myself between her legs.
“Isa.” I released a tortured groan. I leaned in and gently ran my teeth across her clit. “Fuck, you’re wet.”
Her hand curled into my hair. A few hitched breaths rewarded my patience.
Lapping my tongue over her clit again, more firmly with each stroke, her hips began to move in time with my mouth, begging for more friction. I sucked on it with more voracity alternating between that and hard presses with my tongue before her thighs began to tremble.
I flicked a glance up, and her chin tilted forward on a desperate whimper.
“Austin,” she begged just as her legs jerked around me. I pulled away and pushed a finger inside of her, then another.
So tight and wet I could feel every pulse inside keenly. I stroked faster, using the heel of my palm to push and stroke her
clit.
She bucked against me. A few unintelligible pants and pleas slipped through her mouth as the climax broke over her.
“Kiss me,” she begged between breaths. The final waves of her orgasm undulated through her body.
I took a step back from her, just long enough to get my pants undone and the condom on.
I leaned in and kissed her again, slowly pushing myself into her at the same time. Inch by inch, she moaned into the kiss
until I was completely inside of her. I didn’t move, taking the moment to enjoy just how perfectly we fit together, like the
ocean to the coast.
Her tight pussy teased me, goaded me to move faster, but I held back, keeping the sensuous pace.
My muscles, my jaw, my teeth all held taut with every ounce of control I could assemble. I lingered, leaning closer, gliding
in and out, and took my time relishing the slick pulses around my cock.
Her mouth hung open slightly; her breaths taking a few more tiny hitches.
“Baby.” Her back arched up from the table, a tiny cry broke through. I sank in even deeper. Fuck. “Harder.”
My patience finally slipped. I couldn’t hold back anymore; I needed it all.
Pushing into her faster and with more force, her breathy moans became louder and more frequent.
My fingerprints became bruises on her hips, gripping them tight while mine snapped back and forth, plunging deeper, chasing
the high only she could give me.
Her eyes closed, her body became rigid, and I leaned back down to kiss her through her climax.
Her walls clamped against my dick, setting my own free. In a blinding flash, I came deep inside of her.
The fog began to clear, and Isa’s eyes opened to meet mine. Her hands spanned either side of my face and as I began to pull
away, she kept me there. Something flickered under the soft glow of the lantern lights. She held me there for another extended
beat, looking at me differently. Without the bravado and sass, slightly wide eyes with an unsure smile.
We stayed tangled up in each other for another few seconds before finally pulling apart to put ourselves back together, and
we made our way out of the cellar.
Taking a few steps forward along the stone hallway, she leaned into me, and I threw my arm around her shoulders, still basking
in the warm afterglow.
“Blake.” Isa stopped and took half a step back, when my palm stopped her.
“I was heading back to my room.” Blake’s jaw went tight as he stopped a few steps short of us. He pushed his fingers through his hair, and his eyes darted around before finally landing on Isa.
“We were just . . .” Isa’s startled eyes looked up at me, begging for help.
My heart soared only to fall back down, because all the steps forward we’d made would be washed away in hours.
“Touring the wine cellar,” I finished for her, running my thumb below my lower lip, where some of her lipstick had smudged,
to get the point across. Although the wrinkles in Isa’s dress were doing a pretty good job for me.
Isa looked straight ahead, past Blake, but I looked him dead in the eye. Because I didn’t want him to guess about what we
were doing in there.
I wanted him to know.
I had kissed her. I’d touched her. I’d made her moan.
“We should get back.” Isa looked at me and we quickly brushed past him.
“You don’t want to rub it in?” I asked, pulling her a little closer as we walked back out of the stone corridor.
“No,” she said curtly, like the thrill had been pulled out of it. “I’m more concerned with enjoying the last bit of this vacation
before I get thrown back into a crazy work schedule.” She pulled me back toward the lawn with a devilish grin. “Let’s not
waste time thinking about him.”
I smiled. She was right. Our deal came to a neat end soon, and I was going to spend the next few hours putting my hands all
over her.