Julian
The meeting goes well. Everyone is stoked with my design and the couple of small tweaks I made.
After lunch with my Board, and a visit to the gym for the first time in forever, I head back to Isidoro’s house.
His car’s there when I arrive, which tells me he must have wrapped up whatever work he had before me.
Good, maybe he’s magically made some progress while waiting.
I swing by my room to get rid of my suit, then head to Isidoro’s office in a pair of black pants and a black shirt.
He’s not there. Okay… I check the lounge, but only find Ria, who’s in the middle of a phone call.
Despite her agitated tone, she shakes her head, extinguishing the flicker of hope inside me.
“Isidoro?” she mouths, arching an eyebrow as the corner of her lips trembles.
A wave of self-consciousness floods me. I mean, yes, I am looking for him, but it’s strictly for work.
Before I have the time to elaborate, she points outside. “Conservatory.”
Nodding in thanks as I try to contain the warmth to my cheeks, I power-walk out of the lounge and down the glassed-off hall that leads to the conservatory.
Things have been rather hectic since the quarry, and Isidoro has been busier than usual because of that casino project, save for yesterday’s venture to the clothes factory.
He also hasn’t attempted so kiss me since that time in the car…
Not that I want him to. It’s not what this is.
Yeah, obviously, duh. It was adrenaline.
Blood loss and two hazy minds, that’s all.
I’m glad we’re back to normal. Yeah. But why the hell isn’t he trying to kiss me? Isn’t that, like, his thing?
I find Isidoro stretched on a sun chair by the open window, browsing something on his phone with great interest.
“Hey, any news?” I say without preamble, undoing the top two buttons of my shirt as humidity clings to my skin. I also roll my sleeves up, part because of the heat and part because I want to show off my biceps. After my intense workout session, they feel bigger than yesterday.
Isidoro lifts his gaze from the screen slowly, his eyes darkening a notch when he sees me. A shiver rushes down my spine, raising my hackles, and my stomach clenches like something bad is about to happen. Okay… Suddenly, I don’t like this.
Isidoro stands, the ruffles of his burgundy shirt swaying as he carefully places the phone with the screen down on the table.
Wait, is he hiding something? His hair, that same intense color, has a few neat braids in it, which takes my brain back to the ceremony and how stunning he looked all decked out for his coronation.
My eyes trace his face, every curve and line as if crafted by a master, down to the elegant tilt of his nostrils.
“We are waiting for the advanced bloodwork results to come in. They had to send the samples off to a specialized lab.”
Right. I guess slower results are to be expected. We don’t really understand what the creature that attacked us was. It didn’t fit in with anything known.
My eyes stray to the snug beige satin pants that hug Isidoro’s hips.
They are simple but effective, offsetting the top portion of his outfit.
They also accentuate a certain asset of his, so I quickly shift my attention back to his face.
After my pleasant day at work, and with my relatively good mood after my workout, Isidoro’s assets are the last thing I need to be thinking about.
“I emailed the shipping documents to Tommy this morning,” I say, again taken by Isidoro’s graceful beauty. I’ve never seen anyone who can pull it off so naturally—every feature of his is a masterpiece of art. “He said he’d call us when he cracks it. I told him about William’s signature, too.”
“I take it he already knew about that,” Isidoro ventures, flicking hair off his shoulder as he approaches me.
My throat goes dry, my feet taking an instinctive step back. I don’t even know why, I’m not afraid of him. But there is something off, something different in the weight of his presence, in that subtle but intentional smile. It makes me bristle.
“Yes… Ria already told him, it seems. She’s helping him...”
“In other words,” Isidoro says, his incisors out and glinting as the sun catches on them. “There’s little for us two to do but wait.”
I swallow around the lump in my throat, inhaling sharply as I meet those wine-red eyes head on. They’re even bolder today, gazing deep into my soul as if seeking something specific. Cheeks positively on fire, I lick my lips and try to ignore the way my cock jolts. “Is there… something else?”
His smirk manifests fully, and it reaches his eyes, unleashing that predatory glow in them. “I don’t know, Julian. Is there something you’d like to tell me?”
Me? Tell him? Not really… Clearly, he’s alluding to something, but what could it be? My attention veers to his phone. What was he looking at earlier?
He stops, just a couple of feet from me, close, but not quite invading my personal space, far, but not far enough. It suddenly feels like I’ve walked into a trap, traversed the lair of a beast I shouldn’t wake.
As he takes another step toward me, my fight-or-flight reflex kicks in. My insides twist and my calves flex, ready for an escape as nerve-wracking anticipation threatens to overwhelm me. Just what the hell did I get myself into?
“I’m…” My voice cracks, fueling Isidoro’s smirk. I point over my shoulder. “I just remembered I have to tweak my design. I’ll be in my room.”
I turn and rush for the door, but before I can reach it, Isidoro is already there, phone in hand. “That’s rather peculiar,” he says, angling his head to the right. Hair sways and slides off his left side from the motion, revealing the beautiful earring with Mary Eli’s feather.
My stomach sinks, the bad feeling spiking to catastrophic levels. Why is he wearing it? I’ve never seen him with it other than at the ceremony. It’s so obviously not an everyday accessory.
“Yeah? Peculiar how?” I wince, attempting my best to hide my inner turmoil.
“Seeing as Andrea sounded over the moon in her email. She said the Board loved your idea.” He turns the phone so I can see the screen. My design is right there, beautiful and enticing on its Isidoro-like model.
Fuck me. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I try to play it off. Cool as a cucumber. Definitely not freaking out. “Uh, material.” I flail my arms, almost knocking off the ceramic pot of blooming Bougainvillea that sits on a plinth by the door. “One of the materials isn’t right. I need to go fix it. Like, right now.”
Why? Why? Why? How did this happen? He wasn’t supposed to see this! I told Andrea to keep this a secret from everybody, including my husband! Especially him.
Isidoro strokes the iridescent feather hanging off the golden earring frame, then traces the jewelry that follows the curves of his body on the screen with that same charged intensity.
For a moment, I’m hypnotized. The way his eyes darken, the hitch in his breath, the way every fiber of his body braces… It’s mesmerizing.
He’s seen it now. Every line is a confession, every shift of color a want that was supposed to stay hidden.
His eyes snap back to me and pin me down, stripping me down to my bare soul. “Julian—”
I don’t let him finish. I can’t. I’ll die of embarrassment. I turn on my heel and bolt out the open window. He knows. There’s no way he didn’t put two and two together. He knows I can’t stop thinking about him. About the kisses. About wanting to be kissed again.
The grass is wet and slippery under my shoes, but I press on. I can’t let him catch me, not this time, because if he looks at me like this one more time, I don’t think I’ll be able to lie.
I run and keep running, not daring to look back. My escape takes me into the woods, down an overgrown path and all the way to the tall perimeter wall. The trench is visible on the other side, a reminder of my near-death experience just a couple of weeks ago.
Flashbacks come rushing in, first the death spikes, then Isidoro’s firm grip, then the rods at the quarry, and his desperation to save me.
I shudder, hugging myself. It was different then, not like here, fueled by something else but hate, something deeper and more secret, something that’s been festering inside me since the day we met.
“Julian,” Isidoro drawls, his voice smooth like honey dripping onto my skin.
I wrench away from the metal rails, just in time as he pops next to where I was, out of thin air. Our stalemate lasts only a heartbeat before I’m running again, unable to face this man I can’t stop thinking about.
He growls behind me in warning, somewhere close by as the trees and the bushes blur by.
I almost trip over a protruding root, but I maintain my balance, picking up speed.
In record time, I’ve reached the other side of his property, this one a little more wild, less civilized.
There is an old chapel-like structure between two tall pines, a stream gurgling by.
Where am I? What is this place?
My momentary distraction is all it takes. This one mistake seals my fate as a hand clasps my neck, lifting me in the air. I choke a little, blood rushing to my dick, and next thing I know, my back is being pressed into the grass as Isidoro hovers above me.
Fuck, he’s so beautiful. Wild-eyed and panting, a slight flush to his cheeks from trying so hard to catch me.
There’s no danger this time, nothing threatening to kill us, yet it feels that way, like I’m standing on the precipice before a deep fall, like something will snap and change and I’m powerless to stop it.
Isidoro’s finger finds my mouth, tracing the seam. “Did you design that thinking of me? Is that how you see me?” he asks, his voice raspier than usual.
I try to look away, but he’s got authority over me, his hand tight around my neck and not letting me hide. “So what if it is?” I spit back, my heart banging loud.
“You keep surprising me, Julian, in unexpected ways.”
His hand slides up, caressing my jugular, chin, then he presses his index finger inside my mouth. My eyes roll back. What is he doing? This was not part of the plan! And why does just his finger—
My cock jerks as a hint of Isidoro’s dark taste slides down my throat, as it reaches my agitated heart.
Fuck, this shouldn’t feel so good. Caged by him, engulfed by his scent, teased by the promise of his taste…
This is bad. He saw my design and something cracked in him, I can feel it in his deliberate touch, in the way his body is tense as if expecting something, in his breaths, the flutter of his eyelashes.
I shouldn’t like it. But how can I resist such pure want aimed at me? I’ve never felt it before, so intense, so mind-spinning.
“Isidoro…” I mutter, trying futilely to escape his merciless hold while his finger prods my mouth. “What are you doing?”
He hums, amused and thoughtful. “What, I wonder. It seems I lose any semblance of common sense when I’m around you.”
Is that a compliment or is he making fun of me? A tremor lights me up when he presses his crotch into my knee, the hardness in it unmistakable. Fuck, does it even matter?
Closing my eyes, I seek that anchor within me, the one that will allow me to escape this blissful hypnosis, to set myself free from whatever beast is slowly but surely taking possession of me.
“Listen…” I grind teeth around his finger, a part of me protesting my next words. “What happened in El Paso and in the car… I can’t stop—”
A soft rustle, and Samuel appears out of nowhere, dipping his head as my heart shoots up into the sky in panic. “Sire, my apologies for interrupting. However, there is an urgent matter that requires your attention.”
Isidoro, with his finger still clamped inside my mouth, looks to his assistant then back to me, the red in his eyes flickering. “What matter?”
“The councilman demands another thirty percent, or he’ll veto the rest of the construction permits.”
Isidoro hisses in dissatisfaction, his attention drifting away from me. Now’s my chance.
“Send Isabelle. Tell her to proceed with—”
I kick him off me and break into a mad dash for my dignity. It catches him off-guard, but I only manage a glimpse of the shock on his face before I dive into the trees behind the old chapel. He won’t catch me, even if I have to run around all night. I won’t let him—
I crash into something. It knocks the air out of my lungs. With a heavy thud, I’m on the ground again, Isidoro’s beautiful face stretched with a manic smile above me.
“Julian,” he drawls, his voice gravelly and reaching even deeper within me. “Stop trying to run away from me.”
He leans in and sniffs me, his nose ghosting over the side of my neck.
My body shudders involuntarily, hot and vibrating.
The intensity of his red gaze as he repositions himself so I’m trapped beneath him makes me suck in a sharp breath.
I don’t even try to fight the restrictive position, I can’t.
His hand strokes my cheek gently, feeding the ball of need in my stomach.
Please kiss me. Please kiss me. Please kiss me. Please, just fucking do it already!
I squeeze my eyes shut and count sheep. Then cats. Some ducks too, for good measure. It doesn’t do shit, doesn’t change the fact that I’m pinned down by this starving predator who looks very intent on devouring me whole.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. Maybe I shouldn’t want this, but I do.
I’m so royally fucked.