“I’ll hunt you down, Kel.” The whispered words against her ear were a bit harsher as he slipped his hand into her panties from behind, caressing her ass. “If it’s true you’re in love with me—”
“You know it is.” Her own words, spoken with such conviction, broke her out of the spell she wasn’t even aware she’d fallen into.
Kelli could almost feel him smile against the side of her face as he let out a very satisfied breath. “Then nothing will keep me from you anymore.” He pushed her foot aside with his foot, forcing her to spread her legs. “I’ll figure out how to make this work. You just have to promise to be honest with me about everything.”
An unquenchable moan escaped her as he sunk two fingers inside her. “Bend over,” he ordered, and she obliged, bringing her hands to the wall, palms down. “Promise me you’ll be honest about everything?”
“Yes!”
With one tug, he ripped off her panties, and she heard him unzip his pants. In the next second, he plunged into her, making her cry out. “Is this still your favorite position?” he asked with a groan as he plowed into her again.
“Yes!” She held on to the wall as if for dear life then added, “One of them anyway.”
That slowed him and she could have kicked herself for adding that last part. Of course he’d jump to conclusions. Asking her to be honest with him about everything in the middle of such an intimate moment could mean only one thing. He still had his reservations about whether he could trust her completely or not.
“You’ve since picked up more?” The tenor in his words was noticeably disturbed, despite his continued swaying even harder in and out of her.
“No,” she said, needing to make it clear. “But after that weekend with you, I have more than one now.”
Lowering his hand around her front, he massaged her clit just so that it made her moan again, and she was nearly there. She pounded her palm against the wall because she felt it building so fast she was already crying out.
“Damn, Kel,” he groaned. ‘You’re gonna make me come.”
Just as he said it, she felt herself come undone and cried out again as the familiar explosion blazed throughout her body. It sent violent waves of pleasure through her, and she continued to cry out. Then he pulled out and she felt it: the hot squirts of his orgasm all over her back. Kelli had heard her friends talk about this, and she’d always thought it’d be gross, so she couldn’t believe what a turn-on it was. Of course this being Isaiah who was doing this was probably why. She couldn’t think of a single sexual act she might have with the man that wouldn’t be.
“Sorry, babe,” he said breathlessly. “But I wasn’t exactly anticipating needing condoms this weekend, so I didn’t have any on me.” He paused for a moment as if to try to catch his breath, his hand now pushed against the wall next to Kelli’s. “Only I wasn’t about to let that stop this from happening. We’ll get you cleaned up.”
As soon as they were able to gather themselves, Isaiah pushed himself away from the wall. She turned to see him zip up his pants then pick up his shirt, surprising her when he put it back on too. Even more surprising, he picked up his keys from where he’d set them down on the bar counter. “I’ll be back before you’re even out of the shower.”
“Where are you going?”
He finished running his fingers through his hair then glanced away from the bar mirror, meeting her eyes with a wicked smirk. “To load up on condoms. Trust me. We’re gonna need boxes of them now.”
Kelli’s jaw dropped as he took a few steps toward her then kissed her long and deep as if he hadn’t in a while, before walking toward the door. He stopped just as he opened it and turned back to her. “Order room service. Not only are you gonna need your energy, it’s gonna be a long night for other reasons too. We have a lot to discuss.”
With that, he smiled sweetly at her before walking out. Kelli stood there, unsure how to feel about all this. Even after all his talk of hunting her down and making this work, her vulnerable heart still didn’t know what to expect. For a second, she’d thought maybe his getting dressed meant he’d changed his mind. That maybe him getting his fix had been enough. But then . . .
We have a lot to discuss.
She took a deep breath as she bent over to pick up her clothes from the floor, almost afraid to get too excited. If he were serious about that final comment, this could only mean one thing. Isaiah was taking matters into his own hands now. Whatever reservations he still had about her they were getting out in the open tonight. If he needed to discuss things further, then this wasn’t going to be a onetime deal at all. Kelli now had to decide just how honest she should be with Isaiah—about everything.
Chapter 18: The Burning Question
Isaiah
He knew it. God damn it.
From the moment he’d laid eyes on Kelli when he first arrived at her place, he’d known it. Unless he got the hell out of there ASAP, it’d be just a matter of time before he was a goner. It was why he’d been so adamant and hadn’t even cared about being rude when trying to get out of this assignment. He wasn’t even as worried anymore about how he’d handle this with Nathan and his other siblings, who weren’t exactly fans of Kelli, as he was about something else now. The first thing any of them would question, and rightfully so, was her integrity.
Isaiah understood why she’d gone about things the way she had now. It was why he’d ultimately given in tonight and why he was done trying to fight his feelings for her. If the tables had been turned, he likely would’ve done the same thing Kelli had when she’d tried to explain herself last year. He, too, would’ve put her safety first then chased after her for a chance to explain himself, despite how his actions might appear to the rest of her family. Had she had a sister he’d had to use to get the chance, while wrong, given no other choice, he would’ve likely done whatever it took.
But there were still other things he needed to get straight. Already she’d lied to him about Matt. She’d done so convincingly enough. Though he did have to wonder how much the utter jealousy had blinded him to the reality. Had Isaiah not been so hung up on feeling irritated by her affection for the guy, he might’ve picked up on the insincerity. Still, whether he’d been drunk or not, Gilbert’s words tonight would not be so easily dismissed.
Just keep her away from any guys you’re tight with.
He wanted to believe Kelli hadn’t done what Gilbert was accusing her of. But even then she’d only denied cheating on Gilbert, not any involvement with his best friend. Even if it did happen after they’d broken up, it was still a shitty thing to do. Clearly, this and everything leading up to this was why he’d been reluctant to get involved with her. Did he really want to get involved with a woman whose morals were so unlike his? What else would she be capable of?
The second he turned the corner toward their suite he saw Gilbert at the suite door. Kelli was standing at the open door in her bathrobe, talking to him. To her credit, she hadn’t let him in, but it still pissed Isaiah off.
One glance in his direction and Gilbert said something to Kelli then started walking away in the other direction. “Elevator’s this way, Gilbert,” Isaiah said loudly.
Gilbert slowed but didn’t stop. “I’ll take the stairs.”
In the moments it took Isaiah to reach the suite door where Kelli still stood, Gilbert made it to the stairs door and was out of sight. Isaiah turned to Kelli. “What’s his hurry? Why was he here?”
Kelli opened the door wider to let Isaiah in, but he waited where he was for an answer.
“He’s still drunk. I guess my not responding to any of his texts or answering my phone—”
“What the fuck does he want now?”
“To apologize.”
Isaiah peered at her because she didn’t seem nearly as upset as she’d been when she and Gilbert had last spoken. “Yeah? So everything’s all hunky-dory now between you two again? You back to being best friends with your ex, Kel?”
“No, actually.” Kelli
reached for his hand and tugged until he budged and walked in with her. “I didn’t get into it with him now because it’s pointless. Everyone knows there’s no talking to a drunk. But as soon as I get the chance to speak with him when he’s sober, I’m breaking things off.”
Isaiah stopped in his tracks as he dropped the bag he was holding onto the bar counter. “Breaking what off?”
Someone knocked at the door before she could answer. They both turned to the door then exchanged glances, and Isaiah stalked to it, swinging it open. Seeing the room-service attendant was a relief, but Isaiah didn’t have time to wait for him to set it all up. “Just push the cart in. I’ll handle the rest.” He took his wallet out and tipped the guy, dismissing him quickly, then turned back to Kelli. “Breaking what off?” His tone was now even more demanding than the first time.
“Our friendship—my entire relationship with him.” She pulled the cart into the front room. “Do you wanna eat here or in the bedroom?” She stopped and turned to him. The sweet smile on her face seemed out of place, considering the circumstances. “Let’s eat on the bed the way we did that first weekend.”
Isaiah hadn’t even come down from the adrenaline spike of seeing her at the door with Gilbert then hearing her say she was breaking things off with the guy. He’d been ready to pull Gilbert in by his fucking tie and demand a full explanation of their friendship and Kelli’s involvement with Dylan, if that had been him again at the door. But he grudgingly followed Kelli into her room, where she was already headed with the food, in spite of his still-agitated disposition.
“Kel, we need to talk.” He watched as she happily placed the trays of food on the bed. “I don’t think I could eat until I get a few things straight.”
Kelli crawled onto the bed, sitting down cross-legged as she’d done so often that first weekend, but her smile wasn’t quite as big anymore. “Are you serious about wanting to make this work, even if it upsets your brother—your family?”
He didn’t respond immediately the way he knew he would’ve if things had gone down differently tonight—if he’d never met Dylan, and Gilbert had never brought up her past with him. But who was he kidding? The only way he’d be walking away from her now was if his gut feeling that she couldn’t be trusted entirely turned out to be true. “Yes, but I need answers first.”
She smiled, exhaling a little too noticeably, then patted the bed next to her. “Then have a seat. I’ll tell you whatever you wanna know while we have our late dinner.”
Kicking his shoes off, he got on the bed next to her, and she leaned over and kissed him. “I never cheated on Gilbert, nor did I sleep with his best friend.” Isaiah stared at her, wishing he could believe her without a doubt. Then she added, “But Dylan and I did have a relationship that pissed Gilbert off.”
Remembering the smug smirk on that asshole’s face back at the restaurant had Isaiah seeing red again. “So that piece of shit back at the restaurant is also your ex? Wow. I thought Gilbert was bad.”
Not even seeing Kelli lift her chin stubbornly in that way he’d thought so cute before, eased the tension he was now feeling. This was alarming as shit.
“Not an ex, Dylan and I were never a couple.” Isaiah stared at her incredulously. Did she really think that made this better? “It was nothing more than an online flirtation, and even that was after I’d broken things off with Gilbert. Only Gilbert’s never believed that. He also insists he and I were still together, so in his head, I cheated on him with his good friend.” She shook her head with a disgusted expression. “Dylan wasn’t even Gilbert’s best friend who was like a brother to him the way he tells the story now.”
“I was gonna say, ‘How much of a brother to him could he have been?’ I’d never do that to one of my brothers.”
She pressed her lips together, staring at him for a moment, then shook her head again. “There’s not even much to tell. Gilbert’s just always made it more than it was.”
“You said you’d tell me whatever I wanna know.” Unable to sit so close to her anymore or even sit still, he scooted away and then just stood up. “So you broke up with Gilbert and then had a flirtation with his good friend?”
Taking a deep breath, she let her head fall back then began. “I didn’t even meet Dylan until years after I’d been hanging out with Gilbert. He’d never even mentioned Dylan. That’s how close they were.” She shook her head with a roll of her eyes. “Look. Maybe it’s better if I start way back.” She patted the bed next to her again, lifting the cover to the food trays. “But please sit.”
Isaiah sat down again but not as close as he’d been sitting to her previously. Even if it were just a flirtation she’d had with Dylan, the guy was still her ex’s good friend. Isaiah wasn’t sure how he felt about her being so unconcerned about it.
“When I was just shy of turning thirteen, my mom let me in on something. Dulce, Matt’s mom, had contacted her to tell her she also had a child by my dad. Instead of being upset or anything, my mom felt sorry for her. Like I said before, unlike with me, my father refused to acknowledge her or Matt. Another big difference between Dulce and my mom was that Dulce was still very much in love with my dad. It’s why she left New Mexico to be near him in hopes of him having a change of heart, but he never did. My dad admitted to my mom that he did have a kid when she questioned him, but he said he’d insisted she abort and warned her he wouldn’t want anything to do with her or the child and she still had it.”
Isaiah’s expression must have been as disgusted as he felt because Kelli paused to nod as if in agreement then took a bite of her sandwich. When she was done chewing, she continued.
“I know. As young as I was, even I was disgusted. But the excitement at the prospect of having a sibling I could actually associate with, outweighed my disgust. My mom said Dulce wanted her son to meet me. At that point, I’d been so sheltered. I was a pretty shy kid, so Matt and I clicked right away. Dulce and my mom became unlikely good friends. But my dad knew nothing about it. My mom warned Dulce she was better off keeping Matt off the radar so she wouldn’t have to deal with all the threats and dangers from having my dad’s enemies know he had another child.”
She paused again to take another bite of her sandwich, and Isaiah took one of his. This was all interesting, but it still felt far from what he really wanted to know. After taking a swig of his soda, he wiped his mouth with his napkin. “Fast forward to Dylan.”
“I promise you it’s nothing like what you’re thinking, but I have to fast forward to Gilbert first,” she said then took a sip of her tea. “Around the time I was fourteen and Matt was eleven, Dulce’s only sister back in New Mexico was diagnosed with kidney cancer. She beat it, but Dulce decided she should stay there. I was determined to keep a relationship with the only sibling I’d ever had one with. That’s why we started visiting during the summers. During one of those visits, he brought Gilbert with him—Dulce’s sister’s only son who he’d gotten close to. Since Gilbert was my age we got along great and became good friends, even outside the time we spent around Matt.”
Isaiah listened quietly about her and Gilbert. How around the time she turned sixteen, things changed when they started to flirt, and then ultimately, it became romantic.
“In hindsight,” she said with a frown, “I know now without a doubt that I was more excited about the idea of holding a boy’s hand for the first time. Having your first kiss and first boyfriend are the things sixteen-year-old girls are supposed to get excited about. Inevitably thoughts of losing my virginity started up.”
Thankfully, she spared him the details. The only significant part she left in was that losing her “V card” was also more about the curiosity and anxiousness of getting her first time over with. “Everyone was whispering about who had and who hadn’t in school, so it seemed like a no-brainer. Despite what you may think of him, Gilbert is a nice guy, and I knew his feelings for me were genuine, so I decided why not?”
She skipped over the actual event then explained something more
significant, something that had Isaiah smiling in spite of the subject matter.
“Remember what I said to you about chemistry the day we said good-bye after our weekend together?”
Isaiah nodded and she smiled. He hadn’t forgotten it even for a day. Not every time he remembered it, was a good thing though. Sometimes he was pissed, but those words she’d said that final day would never be forgotten.
“Several months after Gilbert and I had become sexually active”—she winced as she took another sip of her tea—“I started feeling guilty that he seemed so much more into me than I was into him. It was then that I talked to my mom about it. I told her how it was almost disappointing that I never felt that magical thing I’d heard so much about. He’d been saying he loved me for months, and I finally said it back only because I felt so guilty. He was my boyfriend, my first everything. So why the heck didn’t I fall in love? And that was my mom’s response. ‘You can’t force chemistry to exist where it doesn’t, in the same way you can’t deny it when it does.’”
She reached out and touched his hand with a smile. “I never forgot it because it was a time in my life I felt so confused—so guilty—for not loving Gilbert the way I thought I should. I kept wondering what more does it take? He was my first everything. I should’ve been whipped. But I’ll forever remember the words now because of you. It wasn’t until you that I understood it completely. It’s really not something you can force. That weekend it was so impossible to deny, so I ended up staying until Monday. Blowing off clients for an entire weekend is so unlike me. And yet I couldn’t bring myself to leave every time you suggested we could stay another night. I’d finally experienced that magic I’d been waiting for so long to feel.”
Leaning in, Isaiah kissed her softly. If it weren’t because there was still the burning question about Dylan, he’d be undoing her robe and having his way with her already. So he forced himself to stop kissing her but gazed in her eyes.