13. Hannah Jane
13
HANNAH JANE
I strutted down the hallway of the administrative wing like I was Gisele Bündchen. I was riding the high I only got from the adrenaline of a perfectly executed wedding.
Champagne, here I come.
It had been one of the best weeks I’d had in a while. I only had one event this weekend, and it went off without a hitch. There was nothing in my planner to do besides relax in a bubble bath, drink wine, and catch up on my Netflix queue.
I was only slightly irritated about my meet-cute at Queen’s getting blown up by Daddy Warbucks. I hadn’t talked to Isaac since our phone call turned video chat, but I could feel the shift in the universe.
It was the same energy that pulsed through the air before a big storm rolled over the coast.
Maybe I would text him after I got good and tipsy on the twelve-dollar bottle of bubbly in my desk drawer.
Sexting could be fun .
I had never been brave enough to strip down and send something seductive. Then again, I’d never been with someone who made me feel— nope.
Isaac made me feel nothing. Not a damn thing.
He was arrogant and infuriating. His special talent was tap dancing all over my last nerve. Even when he was generous in bed, it was done with the understanding that my pleasure wasn’t for me. It was for him.
He got off on making me feel good.
Even if I had feelings for Isaac Lawson, he wasn’t the kind of guy I wanted to settle down with.
He was right. I wanted the security of a small town nine-to-fiver. I wanted someone who loved Beaufort just as much as I did. Someone who wanted to build a happily ever after here. Raise children here. Grow old together here.
I wasn’t born and raised in Beaufort, but I had made it my home. The people in the poker club weren’t my blood, but they were my family.
The click of my heels echoed down the empty hallway. I unlocked my office door and sunk down into my desk chair.
I only needed to make it through a few more weddings this year, then I would get a much-needed break before engaged couples flooded my email inbox in January.
I wiggled the computer mouse until my screen turned on, and clicked through a few emails. Satisfied that no fires needed extinguishing, I shut my computer off and yanked open my desk drawer.
I frowned. There was champagne, but it wasn’t the bottle of LaMarca I stashed away earlier.
It was a bottle of Dom Pérignon.
And a room key.
I trailed my finger along the edge of the cardboard room key sleeve that had 503 written on it. I didn’t have to look at the hallway signs to know which room that was .
It was the largest suite in the inn. No expenses were spared. No question in my mind who would book it on a whim.
It was also the room we had christened the night of Maddie and Luca’s wedding.
I gathered my things, hiding the bottle of Dom underneath the winter coat I draped over my arm. Cautiously, I made my way through the inn. Thankfully, there weren’t many people milling around past midnight, and the overnight staff was bare bones.
I got off the elevator on the fifth floor and walked down to the end of the hallway. Was I supposed to text him and tell him I was there? Did I knock? Finally, I decided to just let myself in.
The electronic box on the door handle let out a quick chirp as I pushed it open.
Isaac’s back was to me as he stood facing the balcony.
His navy blue suit was impeccably tailored. His lacquered brown wingtips reflected the glow of the floor lamp.
He had gotten a trim since I saw him a week ago. His blond hair was short on the back of his neck and messily styled on top. His shoulders rose and fell with tension radiating off them as he sipped on a glass of something outrageously expensive like he was trying to drink away whatever was weighing on him.
As soon as the door shut behind me, Isaac turned around.
“Hi,” I said quietly, though I didn’t know why. There was no one else in this wing of the inn that would wake up if they overheard me.
Isaac gave me an up and down assessment, and I took it—standing rooted to my spot in the entryway as he studied me with an exacting eye.
I considered making a run for it. His deal was a stupid idea anyway. I mean, who comes up with something like that?
He had a thin layer of sandy stubble that glistened against his skin. Blue eyes bore into me, his brow furrowing into deep grooves. The intensity drummed up the butterflies inside of me. It had me wanting to turn and make a run for it.
I held the key card in my hand, lifting it pathetically. “I think they need to change the locks to the admin wing. Do I even want to know how you got in there tonight?”
“Does it matter?” he growled.
I stepped back. Whatever had him on edge was more than I could handle.
Isaac set his half-empty glass on a side table and prowled toward me. “Are you sober, Hannah?”
I nodded.
He raised an eyebrow. “Did you drink the champagne?”
I shook my head and lifted the bottle, the seal intact.
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, but as quickly as it showed up, it left. “I need you to tell me that you agree to this,” he stated. “I won’t accept consent that was given a week ago, over a phone call, six hundred miles away. I need to hear it from you right now. No hard feelings if you walk out that door, but know that if you stay, I’m going to fuck you until you can’t walk without feeling the ache in your cunt for days.”
My mouth gaped open.
Isaac stood a mere twelve inches away from me. I could smell his cologne. I could see the cords in his neck flexing as he restrained himself, disciplined like a soldier. If I reached out, I could touch him.
I wanted someone safe . I wanted commitment and monogamy. I wanted someone who would come home at five o’clock and kiss me on the cheek before we danced around each other while making dinner.
Isaac Lawson wasn’t any of those things. I knew he wouldn’t give me my happily ever after, and I didn’t expect it from him. Nor did I want it from him. I just wanted him.
All the cards were on the table. No secrets. Nothing held back .
“You remember the rules?” I asked, setting the bottle of champagne on the entryway table.
Isaac nodded. “Yes.”
My coat fell to the floor, and I leaped into his arms. “Deal,” I breathed before fusing my lips to his.
Isaac caught me with ease. He spun me around, slamming me against the balcony doors. The back of my head bounced against the glass, and I grinned. His hips pinned mine down as he rocked his hardened cock into my pelvis and blazed a path of kisses down my neck. “Missed your body, Princess,” he groaned, squeezing my ass.
I tipped my chin up, resting my head against the French doors. “Prove it,” I badgered, grinning when he chuckled. His expression lightened like a switch flipping.
Isaac carried me across the room in one long stride, and tossed me on the bed with an order to strip. I didn’t waste a second scrambling out of my skirt and blouse.
“Leave the shoes on,” he clipped, pointing to the heels he had sent me before undressing himself.
Of course I wore the shoes. A girl couldn’t let a pair of brand-new Louboutins go to waste—even if they did come from Satan himself.
“You got a high heel fetish or something?” I teased as I yanked my bra off.
Isaac raised an eyebrow. “No panties again?”
“I told you,” I said, easing up onto my elbows as I laid back on the bed, absolutely naked except for the shoes. “I don’t like panty lines.”
Isaac grabbed my ankles and dragged me down to the edge of the mattress. Large hands gripped my hips as he flipped me onto my belly in one swift motion. The manhandling stole the air from my lungs. He yanked on my hips again, and my feet hit the floor. The four and a half inches that the heels added lifted my ass to the perfect height.
No foreplay, no warning; Isaac sheathed the condom over his erection and drove into my pussy.
“For the record,” he grunted, digging his fingers into my ass cheeks as he delivered on every salacious promise to fuck me hard. “I have a fetish for you in just about anything.”
I squeaked and held onto the sheets for dear life as he yanked my hips up higher. The plume of bedding muffled my cries as he rutted deep inside me. My orgasm rushed in like a tidal wave, and Isaac wasn’t far behind, spilling into the condom as I collapsed into the bed.
He pulled the rubber off and disposed of it before grabbing another and rolling it on. Two quick pumps, and he was hard again. “You’re on top this time,” he snapped.
“I can’t move,” I whined. Limply, I turned my head to check the time. There was no way I could drive home.
Or walk downstairs to get a cab.
“Told you,” he said, chest heaving as he caught his breath. I lost track of what round it was after orgasm number three. He reached across the bed and slapped my ass. “Nap and then go again?”
I groaned and reluctantly rolled over to face him. “You’re out of your mind if you think I can go again. What were you drinking when I came in here? Red Bull? I worked a sixteen-hour day before I found your summons in my office.”
Isaac chuckled and reached across me for the phone. “Fine. Room service it is.”
I grabbed his wrist. “Nuh-uh. Rule number one, remember?”
He raised an eyebrow. “I can barely remember my last name. Enlighten me, Princess. ”
“No dates. No frills. No extras. Just sex,” I reminded him. “ Lawson .”
Isaac smirked and lazily kissed across my breasts, pulling a nipple between his teeth and then releasing it with a pop. “What if I get room service and then eat it off of you?”
I shook my head. “I need to get going. Chase will know something’s up if I don’t go home tonight.”
Gently, he brushed my hair away from my face and tucked it behind my ear. “Sleep a little here. Then go. I’ll wake you up early enough for you to get back.”
I leaned into his hand, enjoying how intimate it felt. “I shouldn’t…”
Isaac drew me in for a slow kiss. It didn’t feel like the kiss we shared before the clothes flew off. This one wasn’t hurried. He was simply kissing me just because it felt good. I savored that single connection. He held my chin, pinched between his thumb and index finger. His nose bumped and brushed against mine with each taste.
I pulled back and rested my forehead on his. “Why’d you come back here so soon?”
“Where does small talk fall in the spectrum of frills and extras?” he murmured, dropping his head so he could scrape his scruff between the valley of my breasts.
“I’ll allow it for now,” I hummed in satisfaction. “Just don’t get sappy on me.
Isaac pulled back and shoved a pillow up under his head. For all the times we had gotten frisky with each other, this was the first time we were really snuggled up in bed together.
Our first night together, he tucked in beside me, then disappeared as soon as I dozed off. Why was I scared that he’d leave like that again?
Did I want him to stay?
He stroked my cheek. “There’s something about you, Hannah Jane Hayes.” His gaze as he studied my eyes was disarming. “I can’t figure it out.”
I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling. “You really know how to make a girl feel self-conscious.”
His loud bark of laughter filled the room. “You don’t have a goddamn thing to be self-conscious about, Princess.”
“Why’d you come back?”
Isaac’s smile faded, and he rolled onto his back, lacing his hands behind his head. His biceps strained as he flexed. I allowed myself the luxury of appreciating his well-sculpted body.
Isaac caught my gaze and grinned. “You don’t believe that I came back to see you?”
“Nuh-uh,” I said, shaking my head. “Not in the slightest.”
He tilted his head to look at me, his nose bumping against mine as he murmured, “You like busting my balls, don’t you?”
“It’s becoming a favorite hobby of mine.”
“I can’t get you out of my head,” Isaac began without a hint of amusement. He looked frustrated. Pissed off. “My first night in Luxembourg, I went out to a club and paid for a private dance with one of the girls working that night.”
I rolled to the edge of the bed and sat up. “I don’t want to hear about you hooking up with strippers right after we had sex.” He grabbed my wrist and yanked me back into him. “Hey!” I shrieked in annoyance.
Isaac manhandled me down onto the mattress and straddled my hips. Fury radiated from his bare chest. Dangerous blue eyes seared into my soul.
“I couldn’t get it up,” he growled. I didn’t know if he was pissed off at himself or me. “This woman had her bare ass and tits all over me, and I had to sit through a fucking lap dance with a limp dick. You called me that afternoon, screaming about me paying for your goddamn coffee, and the second I heard your voice, I was hard as a rock. I went out to let off some steam, but nothing made me feel as alive as you do.”
My lips parted. Not at his admission, but because I felt the tip of his bare cock dragging through my wet pussy. God, it felt so good. “Isaac.”
He slid his hand behind my head, fisting my hair.
I relished the punishing bite of pain on my skull. I did this to him.
I, Hannah Jane Hayes, ruined Isaac Lawson.
I was damn powerful.
I raised my chin and met his gaze straight on. “So that’s it? That’s why you concocted this whole deal ? You couldn’t get it up, so you need me to help you get off?” My mouth curved into a wicked smirk. “Isaac, honey, do you need me to introduce you to the world of self-service pleasure? Because your hand, some lube, and a little blue pill are a lot cheaper than chartering a private jet to North Carolina.” In my most condescending customer service voice, I added, “Just call a doctor if your erection lasts for more than four hours.”
He spanked my pussy and I keened, writhing beneath him. I whimpered as the snap of pain melted into warm pleasure.
“You don’t think I tried?” he hissed, driving two fingers deep inside of me and stroking my walls. “Princess, I nearly ripped my dick off trying to finish myself. I couldn’t get off unless I thought about you.”
Wait. What?
Isaac dropped to his forearms, caging me in. “You’re in my head, and I don’t like it. I told you—” he snapped in a raspy timbre. “—I need to fuck you out of my system.”
I licked my lips and sucked in a calming breath. I accepted the fact that I wasn’t getting any sleep tonight and then grabbed a condom from the stack he had on the nightstand. “Then let’s go again.”