Page 68 of Hired Husband

He leaned back on the couch, drawing his hands away from his knees like he didn’t trust any part of himself to be anywhere near me right now. “I wasn’t under the impression that you were going to let us explore whatever this is.”

My heart stammered, but I decided to throw caution to the wind. There was no way I was letting him leave here thinking that he meant nothing to me or that I didn’t want to explore whatever this was.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Slowly pushing to my feet, I held his gaze and climbed into his lap, taking his face in my hands and bringing my lips to his. Just as soon as I kissed him, however, he caught my shoulders in his hands and gently pushed me back a few inches.

I could see the conflict eating him up inside and I went to kiss him again, but he shook his head. “Not like this, Jasmine.”

“Not like what?” I asked, staring into those blue eyes and wishing he would just pull me closer instead of pushing me away. “I know you want me.”

“Of course, I fucking want you,” he snapped. Groaning, he dropped his head back on the couch. That dark blond hair was messy after what I was sure had been an afternoon of shoving his hands through it repeatedly and the strong column of his throat moved up and down, working like he was physically holding something back. “That’s never been the issue and you know it.”

I let my eyes slide shut and drew in a deep breath, trying to force my thoughts into some kind of logical order. They’d scattered as soon as my mom had given me the news, and seeing his bags all packed and ready to go hadn’t helped me think straight either.

“I do know that,” I said finally, my voice barely above a whisper. I ran my thumbs across his cheekbones. “I know, Isaac. That’s why I’m a little confused right now.”

He lifted his head back up and looked into my eyes again, sliding his hands from my shoulders to my hips and taking them in a firm grip. “It’s already going to be hard enough to say goodbye, don’t you think? This is only going to make it even harder.”

“I don’t care.”

“I do.” Something that looked like pure agony flashed in his eyes and his fingers flexed on my hips. “I already don’t want to say goodbye.”

“Neither do I.” I held his gaze intently, bringing my forehead down to his and tightening my grip on his face. “So let’s not do it. Let’s not say goodbye right now.”

A low groan rumbled through his chest, but then he wrapped one arm around my waist, pulled me to him, and finally let me kiss him the way I’d been wanting to since he’d gotten out of my bed weeks ago.

My arms wound around his neck as I melted into him, feeling like I’d finally come home. A storm of emotion ripped through my chest, everything from relief, to heartache, to joy, to pain, but in the end, none of it was important.

Isaac had lost something he’d really wanted, but this wasn’t the end of the road for him. I knew it would all work out for him in the end. It just had to.

His hand ran from my hip to my ribs. I tilted my head and deepened the kiss, then reached for the hem of my T-shirt and pulled it off over my head before sealing my mouth back over his. Isaac moaned and slid off my bra. He grabbed my waist in one hand and my thigh in the other, lifting me off him to lay me down on the couch.

He moved with me, kissing me hard before letting his lips trail down to my throat. As he peppered kisses to my jawline and dragged them across my neck, he cupped my breasts in his hands and I arched into him, my nipples hardening to peaks of need.

Slowly dragging the pad of his thumb over each one, he finally brought his mouth down too, sucking first one nipple into his mouth and then the other. I moaned, one of my legs hooking around his hips while my fingers grappled for his shirt.

He brought one hand up to the back of his collar and took it in a firm grip, barely letting my nipple out of his mouth for two seconds before his shirt was on the floor and his hot tongue was licking another line on my skin. I ran my hands up the strong planes of his back and closed my eyes, committing the feel of him to memory and already knowing he’d been right about this.

It really would make it harder to say goodbye, but I wasn’t ready to let go just yet, and I wouldn’t do it at all without a fight. Isaac Thayer might know me pretty well by this point, but if he thought I was simply going to accept all this and let it be, then he clearly didn’t know me well enough.

CHAPTER 27

ISAAC

Ihad found heaven and it was between Jasmine Saad’s legs. While it wasn’t the most romantic thought, I had never really done romance very well. I dealt mostly in facts and things that made sense, and right now, it made complete sense to me that this was an otherworldly place of pure happiness.

The taste of her consumed me. The way her legs trembled around my ears made me feel like Superman. I licked another line through her folds and sucked her clit into my mouth. She let out a husky, breathless moan and my cock tried to punch through my zipper.

I loved the sounds this woman made. Adjusting my position on the couch in a useless attempt at getting comfortable, I finally realized that this wasn’t going to work. I need a bed. Pronto.

While I could get the job done here, I didn’t want to. This might well be my last chance to be with her and I wasn’t about to rush through it on the couch.

Jasmine’s fingers tugged at my hair. Her hips rolled against my mouth. When I glanced up, her lips were parted, her brow was furrowed, and her eyes were closed. Okay, so she’s going to hate me for this, but only for a minute.

I slowed my movements, sat up, and pushed to my feet. Her eyes fluttered open. Confusion splashed across her features when she saw me standing up. The anger I’d expected followed just a fraction of a second later.

“Where the hell are you going?”