Chapter 34
Austin
I said bye to Jo and Zoya as they left through the front door quietly the next morning. I shut the door behind them, walked
over to the kitchen to grab two mugs of coffee, and headed back to my bedroom.
At the end of the hallway, I peeked in the door to my room and saw Isa still asleep. The curtains were still drawn and tiny
streaks of light flooded in at the sides, dimly lighting the room. I put the coffee on the nightstand.
A surge of possessiveness filled me, seeing the sun streak across Isa’s back. She was wearing one of my jerseys; she slept
in it when she stayed over. I loved her like this, sleepy and without the armor she put on for the day—when she was completely
unguarded.
With a deep inhale, she turned in bed, her eyes met mine as they slowly opened, and she yawned. “Hi.”
My chest warmed.
In the stillness, I took a second to just look at her. The morning light reflected the flecks of honey that sparkled in her deep brown eyes. Her hair was bouncy and a little askew from the silk pillowcase I had here for her. “Morning.”
Isa sat up in the middle of the bed and reached forward to take a mug from the nightstand, taking a deep breath while she
stared down at it. “I’m sorry I freaked out last night.”
I threw off my shirt and got back into bed with her. Leaning against the headboard, I watched as she fidgeted with the cup.
“Honestly, I was sort of waiting for it.”
It was why I hadn’t woken her up when Zoya came to pick up Joseen. Isa seemed to spook pretty easily last night. I didn’t
want to send her running in the opposite direction because Zoya could not be cool if her life depended on it. I didn’t want
to throw more at Isa than she was ready to take on.
And I could see her eyes filling with panic, as though any step we took forward was a step back in her professional life.
She took a long sip of coffee. “You’re not . . .” She turned the mug in her hand. “I’m not part of the reason you’re staying,
right?”
My brow crinkled. “What do you mean?”
“If you’re choosing to decline coaching offers because you want to be here for me . . .” She shifted in the sheets, leaning
forward over my legs to put her coffee down on the nightstand. “I can’t let you do that.”
“Look, Isa.” I stopped her before she moved back to her spot, instead pulling her onto me. Her legs straddled over my waist.
The jersey she had on ended along her thighs. “I need you to understand something.”
“Okay.” Her fingers played with the sheets at her sides.
“I know what it’s like to leave everything behind and chase a dream. I also know what it’s like to walk away from it for a while. And then figure out something new. This direction is what’s best for me.”
“Oh.” Her eyes flicked around the bed. “Good, I’m glad.”
“But I won’t lie to you. When I think about the future, I like the idea of having you in it.” I lifted her chin. “I should
have said this last night, but I’m not going to ask for anything that you’re not ready for. I’m not going to wreck your plans.
I promise.”
A cautious smile moved up her cheeks.
“Is that okay?” I asked, splaying my hands to sweep up and down the silky smooth skin of her thighs.
The lines along her throat shifted. Her eyes wide but soft at the corners, she looked at me in a different way than she ever
had before.
Hopeful. And I was coming to realize the most vulnerable she’d ever be was when she hoped for something she couldn’t control.
“Yeah,” Isa whispered, drawing close. Her fingers ran through my hair, the short nails scraping against my scalp. Static strolled
down my back.
I pulled her into a kiss. Her fingers curled around the back of my neck. Slow and sensuously, she melted against me.
My hands slid up her back. She had a jersey at her place, too, and I sort of loved knowing it was there. The mental image
of her wearing it when she was alone burrowed down my spine to my hips.
I dropped a couple kisses on her neck; she tipped her head back with a quiet moan.
I pushed her panties down a fraction of an inch as she sat there.
She got up momentarily to fling them off before straddling me and rocking against my groin the way that always drove me crazy.
The slickness between her thighs made my mind go completely blank. Focused only on her.
My phone went off on the nightstand and I ignored it.
“Do you need to—”
“No,” I groaned. I had her in my bed all night and for the first time since we crossed the line in Paris, all we did was sleep.
Laced with concern about this conversation, I didn’t get much. But now everything was falling into place and all I wanted to do was touch her everywhere.
She rolled her hips in my lap and my restraint wore down.
My fingers dugs into her perfectly round ass. Fuck.
I flipped her onto her back and kissed her intently. Her pillowy-soft lips were like a drug and I was finding myself needing
a fix more and more.
I took off my boxers and got back into bed. Running my hands up her sides, I started to pin her before she pulled away.
“Wait,” she said breathless, bucking her hips and rolling me onto my back with a wild look in her eye.
She kept her gaze locked on mine as she slowly peeled the jersey up and off her body, gently grinding her hips in a slow swivel
against my rigid dick. I watched in what felt like slow motion. Her naked body on full display, aching to be touched, licked,
fucked.
“Baby,” I practically begged. My grip on her hips tightened when she stopped moving, pushing her back and forth against my
erection. “Don’t tease me.”
I ran one hand to the swell of her breasts, taking a puckered nipple and rubbing it with my thumb. Her head tipped back slowly. Shaky sighs told me my window to roll her onto her back was open.
But just as I started, she leaned forward and her hands pinned my wrists to the mattress above my head. And I let her. Her
tits were just close enough to my face that I ran my tongue along the nipple I’d just played with.
All of it was unbelievably hot. Her, naked, grinding against me. Pinning my hands down and giving me a view of her tits while
she did it.
“No hands, Austin.” She ran her teeth over her lower lip, muffling her tiny moans from a flick of my tongue against her nipple.
Her pussy was so wet I could feel it dripping onto me. “If you move them, I’ll stop.”
I nodded, waiting for her. She got a condom from the nightstand, and I watched as she took her time rolling it down my shaft,
torturing me with how slowly she moved. She stroked me a couple times, making it known who was in charge.
“Isa . . .” I grunted out alongside a labored exhale.
She finally sank onto me. Static ran up my legs, inch by inch, as her tight pussy slowly lowered onto me.
Wet and tight—fuck—my muscles ached to flip her back over. “Let me touch you.”
“No.” She leaned forward, and her arms braced on my shoulders. She swiveled at first, then bobbed up and down.
With Isa, every sense felt heightened. I could see the way her muscles tensed when she got so close to an orgasm, hear the nearly inaudible rise in her pitch, taste the sweat that misted off her body.
Feel her so keenly that the only explanation was we fit together perfectly.
The shoreline at the beach. Every single piece fit exactly like it was made to.
“Austin,” she called out with a dip in her voice—it begged to me to touch her.
Pleasure rippled down my dick. I couldn’t wait anymore.
My hands snapped to her waist, and seconds later I had her on her back. My thumb ran along her sensitive clit and I pushed
into her in one quick motion.
She yipped a tiny gasp, a pleading look in her eyes before she closed them and her head arched back against the mattress.
“My turn.” My hips snapped into her, ruthless. Every drop of restraint evaporated when she called my name.
Too far gone and mesmerized by the sound of her breathless moans and deep, pleasure-filled whimpers, I plunged into her deeply.
Faster and harder until her pussy tightened around me. Her legs snapped around my waist.
Her walls clamped against my dick; nails dug into my back as she rode through her climax. The sound, feel, and sight of it
set my own free in a roaring flash.
We stilled.
Still deep inside her, I leaned my head against hers.
Isa’s eyes stayed closed as her fingers weaved through my hair with a sated smile. “I think I like it when you take over.”
“Good.” I kissed her soundly on her lips. “Because next time, you’re not using your hands.”
Her airy laugh filled the room.