37. Hannah Jane
37
HANNAH JANE
M y back slammed into the front door. I spun and dug frantically through my purse for the house key.
“I lied,” I choked out as Isaac kissed up and down my neck. I fumbled the key into the lock.
“Spit it out and get in the damn door, Princess,” Isaac barked as he unzipped my skirt.
“I don’t want you to make love to me,” I said as I stumbled inside, dropped my handbag, kicked off my shoes, and climbed Isaac like a tree.
He kicked the door shut as he tore my blouse and yanked my bra cups down.
“Bang me like a screen door in a hurricane.”
Isaac grinned. “Hell yes, ma’am.”
We ran up the stairs and collided against the wall. Minimalist art and potted plants crashed to the floor, but I didn’t give a flying fuck. “I need you right fucking now,” I said, as I grabbed his tie and pulled him into my— our— bedroom.
I beelined for the bed, but Isaac grabbed me by the wrist and hauled me in front of my full-length mirror .
“Strip,” he ordered.
I shirked off my torn blouse and shimmied out of my skirt. He made quick work of my bra, and I stepped out of my panties. Isaac stood behind me, fully dressed, and held my back against his chest.
“Arms up,” he said, gingerly lifting my arms to wrap backward around his neck. “I want to see all of you, Hannah Jane.”
His gaze was intimate and intimidating as he assessed my body. Cool air from the vent above made my nipples pebble. He reached around and grazed one with his thumbnail. I quivered at the touch.
“So responsive,” he growled approvingly. Without warning, he wedged his foot between my legs and kicked my ankles apart. I whimpered when he slid one finger into my pussy, dipping it in and out, coating it in my wetness.
My eyes fluttered closed as I clenched around his finger. My body was desperate for more. My head jerked back as he grabbed my hair and forced me to stare at the erotic scene unfolding in the mirror. Isaac let go of my hair and slid his hand down my collarbone. Instead of going for my breast, he laid his hand over my racing heart.
“I’ll keep you wild,” he promised before sinking another finger deep inside and massaging my clit back and forth at a grueling pace. I moaned and my knees buckled, but he held me up. “And I’ll keep you safe.”
Heat and pressure boiled low in my belly, rushing in faster than a jet plane. “Isaac?—”
“Come.”
One syllable and I shattered in his arms as he commanded each wave of my pleasure. “Oh my God?—”
“Hands on the mirror. Hold on tight,” he clipped. I took a step forward, but Isaac grabbed my hips and kept me rooted in place. His mouth grazed the shell of my ear. “Lean forward, Princess. Ass out. Arch your back.”
I did as he said and prayed the wood stand that held the mirror was sturdy. I heard the zipper on his trousers lower. The tear of foil. The slick roll of a condom over his cock. Isaac positioned himself at my entrance before surging forward in one swift thrust. I keened as my body struggled to adjust. He snapped his hips against my ass and pushed all the way in.
I let out a shaky breath and gave him a nod. His hands shackled my waist, guiding our bodies in synchronization.
He felt right. Thrilling, wild, and a little scary. But I knew I was safe. I always had been.
Isaac pulled his cock out and plunged his fingers in, stroking my walls. I jerked against him as he stroked my G-spot. With a quick movement, he sank his cock into my pussy and held himself deep inside.
“Do you trust me?” he asked in a thick rasp. In the mirror, I could see the deep lines between his eyebrows. The way his chest heaved. I wanted his stupid suit off, but I wanted to come again even more.
I nodded.
“Tell me when you’re close,” he said as he slid his thumb into the crevice between my cheeks. “Hold on tight.”
I whimpered as he thrust again. My fingers turned white against the mirror frame. It felt like I had touched a live wire. Hot currents of electricity zipped through my fingertips, through my arms, and down my legs. The walls of my pussy fluttered around his cock. “Isaac—I’m?—”
“I feel you, Princess. Don’t let go.”
“Isaac—”
His hand left my waist and wrapped around my throat. His thumb surged forward, breaching the pucker of muscle between my cheeks. A snap of pain melted into pleasure, and I arched into him—groaning, gasping. My body lit up like a Christmas tree. I mewled and squeezed my eyes shut as I felt the orgasm rushing in.
“Watch,” he demanded with a shout, ramming his hips into my ass as he drove his dick into my cunt. He tightened his grip on my throat, but it didn’t scare me. It only added to the thrill. He pushed his thumb in further, and my body seized around it. With one finger, he tipped my chin up high. I opened my eyes.
My hair was wrecked. Makeup smeared. Mouth open, panting for breath. I screamed as my release wracked my body. Isaac’s cock throbbed inside as he spilled into the condom.
Isaac released his grip on my throat and helped me stand up. My lower back ached from a long day of being on my feet. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?” he asked as he withdrew and tied off the condom before dropping it in the bedside trash can.
I shook my head. “No,” I said with ragged breath. “That was perfect.”
He scooped me up and tossed me on the bed. I landed with a bounce and scrambled up to get under the covers. Isaac stepped into the bathroom to get cleaned up. As soon as he closed the door, the doorbell rang.
Begrudgingly, I peeled myself out of bed and threw on a robe.
“Isaac?” I called up the stairs as I stared at a mountain of boxes on my front porch. His footsteps thundered down the hardwood. “What’s all this?” I asked.
He smirked and snatched the delivery notice out of my hand. “Me being presumptuous.”
I raised my eyebrows. “I can see that.” A laugh escaped my mouth. “Please tell me that’s not all clothes.”
He wrapped his arms around me from behind and chuckled. “It’s all clothes.” He leaned down and whispered in my ear, “But you’re not the only one who’s high maintenance.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I’m gonna have to get garment racks for the guest room, aren’t I?”
“Might be a good idea.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “What would you have done if I told you I never wanted to see you again? ”
Isaac pressed a kiss into the top of my hair. “I would’ve set up camp on your front porch and scared away any potential suitors who came to ask for your hand.”
I leaned back in his arms and laughed, staring at the sea of brown moving boxes piled up in front of my door. I’d have to go out the back door to make it to my car in the morning. “You’re incorrigible.” He turned my hips, and I looked up at him. “But I love you, Isaac Lawson. As is.”
My weekend full of weddings went off without a hitch. Every night Isaac had a bottle of champagne waiting for me in my office. Good champagne at that.
Monday rolled around, and I had never been so thankful for a day off. Coming off my Fruity Pebbles bender and Isaac’s impromptu moving in, I needed a minute to catch my breath.
We spent the day organizing our things. I finally conceded and gave him a little closet space and a lot of my home office. It was the least I could do. I’d be taking up most of his closet space at his apartment when I unpacked the things I shipped to New York.
Maddie and Luca were already planning for the four of us to spend the holidays together in the city. Maddie had a mile-long list of all the places she would take me to in New York.
Of course, Nonna called Isaac to make sure we were back together. He told her the good news and accepted her invitation for dinner at the DeRossis whenever we were in New York.
“Let’s get this show on the road,” Luca said from behind the bar in his man cave. “Last call for drinks before Pelham deals.”
Everyone helped clear the mountain of empty boxes of five-dollar pizza, plastic cups, and paper plates. We were a classy bunch.
“You want a drink?” I asked Isaac as he tied up a garbage bag .
He shook his head. “I’m good.”
I helped clean up and watched as he took the trash outside. Isaac told me what happened when he got home from London.
He had always been one to enjoy a drink without hesitation, but after Luca, Steve, and Chase pulled his sloppy drunk self out of a strip club, he decided to cut back. Way back.
He immediately fell in love with Cheerwine and was sold on most all things ‘North Carolina’ after that.
We crowded around the poker table as Steve dealt the cards. Aly fussed the minute Erica got off the couch. I held my hands out. “Take a break. I’ll hold her.”
“You wanna watch us play poker?” I asked Aly in a gentle voice as I propped her up on my lap. “Might as well learn early.”
Aly perked up when everyone’s attention was on her. She eyed Isaac suspiciously. Apparently, eight-month-old babies had strong opinions on who they sat beside.
The wariness didn’t last long because she reached her chunky baby arms out. She humphed when Isaac didn’t immediately pick her up and tell her she was the prettiest girl in the whole wide world.
He raised his eyebrows. “They didn’t teach us how to speak ‘baby’ when I was in boarding school.”
I giggled. “She wants you to hold her.”
His eyes widened.
“You don’t have to,” I said quickly. He wasn’t a baby person. Some people weren’t, and that was just fine.
To my surprise, he set his cards face down and picked her up. Aly let out a raucous belly giggle, and then a room-clearing fart.
“Gee, thanks, kid.” Isaac grimaced, trying not to breathe in the noxious fumes. “What are you feeding this thing, Pelham?”
Steve looked up from his hand with a death glare. “Her name’s Aly, and you either treat her like a friggin’ lady, or you and me are gonna step outside. ”
Lord, help Aly when she was of dating age.
Isaac held Aly out in front of him. “Alright, Miss Aly. No giving away my cards. Understood?”
Her slobbery gurgle was agreement enough. Isaac settled Aly on his lap, and my ovaries squealed as we started the game.
Bets were made and expletives were shouted. Luca won the first round, and Kristin cleaned house on the last two.
Steve and Erica bowed out to get some sleep, and we broke for a break to stretch and rearrange the chairs around the table.
“Alright,” Luca said as he reshuffled the cards. “Anyone else who wants to have a plus-one voted on needs to do it with plenty of notice so I can get a new poker table. This one’s getting crowded.”
All eyes turned to Chase and Bridget.
Bridget shook her head. “Kyle’s always busy on Mondays.”
Yeah, busy being a dick-faced weasel.
Chase leaned back in his chair and draped his arm across the back of Kristin’s seat. “I’m good.”
Mel prodded the inside of her cheek with her tongue. “Yeah, I hear you’ve been getting busy.” She wiggled her eyebrows.
“Oooh, what are the nurses saying these days?”
Chase had been awfully cagey about Layla recently.
Mel tipped back her beer and finished it. “She’s quite smitten with the detective who’s been loitering around the ER.”
All eyes turned to Chase. He just shook his head. “Don’t go buying a new poker table just yet.”
I swore I saw Bridget sigh in relief.
“I, for one, would just like to say I’m a fucking awesome matchmaker, and my services are free of charge,” Maddie said as she looked at Melissa and Kristin.
“Nope, nope, nope,” Kristin shook her head. “You keep your magical powers away from me. I want nothing to do with any scheming, planning, plotting, or matchmaking. I have the kids and work. I don’t need another damn thing to worry about. ”
“What about you, Mel?” Luca grinned.
She snorted. “I’m all for it. Set me the hell up. Tinder sucks.”
“For the love of God,” Chase groaned. “Please delete your account before you get kidnapped by a sixty-year-old creep from Milwaukee posing as a thirty-something from around here. I really don’t want to work your homicide case.”
Isaac’s phone rang while Chase and Melissa argued back and forth about the woes of online dating. He looked at the screen and said, “I’ve gotta take this. Don’t deal me in for the next round.” His voice was all business.
I raised my eyebrows, but nodded. “Okay.”
Isaac hurried to the French doors that led to the waterfront with his phone pressed to his ear. He paced back and forth. Something wasn’t right.
I kept a watchful eye on him as he stood on the sand with his hand clenched in a fist. He stalled at the water’s edge and rubbed the back of his neck. I excused myself and slipped outside when he got off the call.
“Hey,” I said quietly. “Everything alright?”
He scrubbed his palm over the sandy stubble on his jaw. He was struggling to form complete sentences.
He looked flustered and Isaac never looked flustered. More than that, he looked sick to his stomach.
“It, uh… It’s just business.”
I placed my hands on his chest and felt the thump of his racing heart. “Whatever it is, you can tell me.”
He ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head. “A, uh… A deal I’ve been working on for a while finally went through. The buyer called to say thanks.”
“Sweetheart, that’s great!” I said, laughing. “You had me worried there for a second. Must have been a big deal to involve you.”
He swallowed. “You could say that.”
My lips parted. There was something he wasn’t telling me. Isaac never lied, and now that was weighing heavily on his broad shoulders.
I stepped closer and slid my hands up the sides of his neck. “Isaac?—”
His head hung in shame. “The Taylor Creek Inn is being sold.”
The air bled out of my lungs. “What?” I said with ragged breath. Emotion clogged my ability to speak.
Isaac pressed his lips to my forehead and wrapped his arms around me. “I’m so sorry, Han. I didn’t know until just now. I facilitated an introduction between the buyer and the property owner and then handed it off to a lower-level broker. I didn’t even know what property it was until he called a minute ago.”
Tears filled my eyes. “W-what am I going to do? What about all the couples getting married there next year? I-I already have events booked two years out.”
The poker club had gathered in the open doorway. Chase’s arm was around Kristin’s shoulders.
“What’s going on?” she asked. The tremble in her voice was clear as day.
I looked up at Isaac with watery eyes. Kristin couldn’t afford to be out of work. She had four younger siblings depending on her. She barely scraped by as it was.
“You should tell her,” I said quietly, lacing our fingers together.
Isaac cleared his throat. “The Taylor Creek Inn is being sold. The deal went through tonight. I don’t know when it’ll officially change hands.”
Kristin’s jaw dropped. Murmurs and expletives rumbled through the group. Chase tightened his arm around Kristin, and Maddie held her hand.
A tear streaked down her cheek. “Am—am I gonna lose my job?”
Isaac sighed. “I don’t know.”