She wanted to lie, to deny it, but it would be pointless. She had been avoidinghim;he knew it as well as she did. “I’ve been helping my mom,” she hedged.
“Ah, I see.” His finger brushed against her cheek, causing her to jump as a bolt of electricity, and need, sizzled through her. Isabelle couldn’t stop herself from turning her head into his gentle touch. He took a step closerashis hand wrappedaround the back of her head. “You said you were going to stop fighting me Isabelle.”
She licked her lips nervously, instantly regretting the action as his eyes latched onto her mouth. The look of a starving man, who had just found food, came over his face. A small gasp of anticipation escaped as she realized his intent. His head bowed as he gently brushed a kiss against her quivering lips, lightly nibbling and teasing as her body began to tremble in response. His hand tightened upon her hair as the kiss deepened. His tongue thrust in to take possession of her mouth. She grasped hold of his shirt, clinging to him as her knees grew weak, and all of her senses were flooded with the taste, and feel of him.
Stefan reluctantly broke the kiss. He shouldn’t have come here, he knew that, but he had been so aggravated at her for avoiding him. He had needed to confront her on it. But the minute that he’d seen her, he’d had to touch her, to feel her. To remind her of the passion thatso easily bloomed between themso that she would stop ignoring him, and driving him crazy. He had made the mistake of thinking that he would be able to control his own desires.He had been wrong. She was driving him damn near insane.
“You are going to stop avoiding me!” he ordered in a much harsher tone than he’d intended.
The passion faded from her clouded eyes as anger sparked forth. Her jaw clenched and her hands fisted in his shirt as she tilted her chin to glare at him. “Why don’t you just leave me alone and go molest your girlfriend, you arrogant, unfaithful, horny bastard!” she spat.
Stefan almost laughed, would have laughed, if he hadn’t been so hard, and so aggravatedwith her. He almost told her that Jess wasn’t his girlfriend anymore, that he had ended it with her and was now sleeping on the couch, but he bit his tongue. He didn’t wantIsabelleto know that she hadanypower over him, especially not as much as he did.
Something inside of him had changed, and he knew that it had everything to do with the woman standing across from him. He couldn’t seem to get her out of his head. Even when he slept, she haunted his dreams. Dreams that left him fullyhardandcompletelyaroused. Dreams that haunted himall day long. The things that he did, thatshedid in those dreams were enough to drive him insane.
He had never been so sexually frustrated in his life, and yet he couldn’t seem to do anything to ease it. She wouldn’t get out of his dreams, wouldn’t get out of his head, and he had found himself completely unable to ease his fierce need with Jess. The idea of it had disgusted him so much that he’dhadto end it with her.
Jess hadn’t taken it well at all, and she insisted upon staying in the house in the hope that they could work things out. He hadn’t spoken a word to her since then, and the tension in the house was almost palpable.But there was no way the little hellion before him could know that, because she had gone out of her way to avoid him, and the house. If she insistedupon being a stubborn, infuriating witch, than he wasn’tgoingto tell herabout Jess. He didn’t owe her any explanations, he didn’t owe her anything. She was the one that should be offering explanations, not the other way around. The sooner she learned who was in charge, the happier they would both be. He had every intention of teaching herthatvery soon.
“And soon you will be calling me your lover.”
He thought that she was going to explode with fury. Her eyes turned violently red as her whole face suffused with color. He didn’t wait to hear what she was going to start yelling at him. He jerked her head forward and took fierce possession of her mouth. She shoved angrily at his chest, her mouth clamped shut as she squirmed to get free. He kept a firm hold on her as he licked and nibbled at her full, bottom lip. Shewouldyield to him, and when she did, she would realize that it was useless to keep fighting him and what their bodies desperately wanted.
Isabelle was so angry, so irate, that she almost wanted to kill the egotistical, overbearing idiot. Almost, but not quite. She was fighting desperately to keep hold of her anger, but his mouth and his tongue were slowly melting her resolve.Slowly melting away all of the fury that was shaking her. She couldn’t yield tohim;she wouldn’t give him that satisfaction. But even as she thought it, her traitorous body was responding to him. Starting to give him exactly what he wanted.
Her hands involuntarily dug into his shirt as she stopped shoving at his chest. Her breath escaped in a gasp that allowed him to invade her mouth. His tongue stroked over hers in a slow, passionate dance that left her weak and trembling, and in desperate need for more. What had started as a ferocious kiss on his part, turned into something slow, and sweet, and enticing as she leisurely matched him stroke for stroke.
Stefan wrapped his arm slowly around herwaist;all satisfaction at making her bend vanished as he lost himself to her sweetness, and uninhibited response. He had started out to make her concede defeat, but he was beginning to realize that she could just as easily make him lose control of himself. And at the moment,he didn’t care.
“Isabelle!Issy! Where are you!?”
Isabelle groaned as Vicky and Abby’s voices penetrated through her very pleasant haze. Stefan pulled slowly away, his eyes dark and confused as he lightly stroked her cheek. She tried to recall her anger at him, but she couldn’t find the resolve to do it. Instead, she simply stared at him in dazed amazement. It wasn’t just desire, or hunger for him, she realized with a start, but she was truly beginning to like the man.
The realization caused a flurry of emotions to rip through her, all of them jumbled and confused. For a moment,she actually wanted to sit down and cry out her frustration and anguish, but she couldn’t do it. She refused to cry. He was already proving to her that she was weaker than she had ever known herself to be, she would not be even weaker by crying.
“Issy!” Abby shouted angrily.
“You had better go,” she whispered, licking her swollen lips nervously. His eyes instantly latched on her mouth and the fierce hunger in his gaze was enough to make her tremble all over again. “Go,” she whispered.
He nodded slowly, but the look of reluctance was obvious on his face, and in his eyes. “Till later,” he whispered, dropping a quick kiss on her mouth.
Isabelle stared dazedly after him as he slipped out the door and made a left toward the downstairs entry. She slumped against the door, trembling.Vicky and Abby popped up, identical looks of consternation on their pretty faces.“Here you are! Why didn’t you answer us?” Vicky demanded.
Isabelle stared at them for a moment as she tried to gather her scattered thoughts, and warring emotions. “I was washing my face,” she answered dully.
“Did Stefan find you?”
“No, I haven’t seen him,” she lied easily.
“That’s just as well,” Abby said.
Isabelle’s eyes narrowed as she focused her full attention on her sisters. “Why is that?” she demanded sharply.
Their eyes widened at the hostility in her voice, but they chose to ignore it. “Issy, we need to talk to you,” Vicky said urgently.
Isabelle recognized her melodramatic look instantly, and couldn’t help but wonder what new “tragedy” had occurred. “Can’t it wait till later, I’m sure the game is about to start again.”
“It is, but they can wait two more minutes, wehaveto talk to you!” Abby gushed.
