A Kingpin Love Affair: The Complete series(34)

I glanced down at her sleeping form, her hair a wild disoriented mess of darkness, similar to my soul. I pushed some strands away from her face, tracing the contours of it with my finger, my nose gliding against the side of her cheek. Taking a deep whiff, I could smell my scent covering her body. I had claimed her. I had made her mine.

Pulling away, I continued to stare, but without touching her. She was an enigma, a woman who had been taken against her will and forced into a life she neither wanted nor understood. She was fearless, diving into the bastard I claimed myself to be. Ready to take on the world, if only to see a smile shine from my face.

She deserved more, better.

The thought entered my mind before I could push it away. I knew the honesty of the thought even if I refused to admit it out loud. My heart wanted her, to keep her as my own. My mind told me I was far too flawed, broken, and undeserving of someone as her. There were jagged pieces from my past that had the potential of cutting anyone who got too close.

She stirred awake, her eyes blinking open. The sun had just started to rise, and I wanted to give her a chance to rest, as there would be no controlling myself around her now. One taste of her would never be enough to extinguish the cravings she caused within me.

“Good morning,” she moaned, stretching in such a way that had my eyes gliding over every single piece of uncovered flesh.

“Morning.” I smiled, placing a kiss against her lips.

The air between us was a draft as if something was in the way. Her nose scrunched up, and lines of frustration started to form on her face.

“What’s a matter?” Concerned she may have actually realized just exactly what kind of douchebag I was.

Isabella hesitated for a moment, her mouth opening, and then slamming closed. She chewed on her lip nervously before speaking. “It’s just that last night you said this doesn’t change anything.” She seemed to be watching me, waiting for me to say something to her.

“I lied to you when I said it wouldn’t because it does. It changes everything. You might be able to walk away, you might be able to wash away my memory, but in my mind, you will always be the most perfect person I have ever had.”

The frown that marred her lips made me feel like the world’s biggest jackass for saying such a thing last night. I knew the moment my cock pressed into her everything had changed. I was just trying to convince myself it hadn’t. As I said, my mind knew the truth, but my heart still wanted her, and so I took without disregard.

“Isabella…” I let her name roll off my tongue. This time when I said it, I saw her and not the memory of my mother.

“The moment you walked through the front door was the moment everything in my life changed. It wasn’t just about unraveling you and becoming one with you. I was on my knees, and melting in your hands the moment my eyes landed on you.” My words lingered in the air between us, and before I could allow her to say anything, I needed to finish.

“I was half a man then, incapable of loving, or so I thought. You changed me, you molded the broken pieces together, you healed the scars that covered my heart, and you held me together when I felt as if I was falling helplessly into the deep end.” My words were spoken straight from the heart. The feelings that accompanied them had never been more real. Call me a sap ass, but I was falling in love, and I didn’t even care that there was a chance I could be hurt again. There came a time when you had to let the past stop defining your future.

“I…” She seemed flabbergasted as if she wasn’t even sure what she wanted to say. “I know that sex can change things between people...” She trailed off, but I lost track of her words. My eyes focused in on her, my heart beating out of my chest as I reached out to her. She was worried for legit reasons, but she wasn’t aware of the power she held.

“You rescued me from myself. In a way, you became my anchor. So though I might have fought against your desires to be anything more than what we were in the past, I always knew it was you my heart wanted.” I gripped her face, bringing it closer to my own. The closeness of her body was causing my cock to grow stiff again. Would I ever get enough of her? She was intoxicating, overwhelming me with every turn.

“Jared…” She said my name in a throaty moan. I was just about to flip her over and have my way with her when my phone blared from the nightstand, the ringtone one I used strictly for work.

“Fuck. Hold on a sec.” I placed a kiss on her cheek and untangled myself from her body, missing the heat of her skin immediately. Picking up the phone, I hit the answer key and waited for my boss to speak.

“Jared.”

“Xavier.” I greeted him in the same tone he did me.

“We have a job for you. I need you to pick up a man in Shillington and bring him here to French Island.” I wanted to sigh into the phone. Of course, work would rain on my f*cking parade. And just when I found the one woman who I would gladly stay in bed with all day.

“Time and price,” I asked as I got up out of bed, shucking on a pair of pants as I went. I could hear Izzy’s protests, so I shot her a wink over my shoulder. I hated I had to work, but I knew this was important. If Xavier was contacting me by phone, it meant someone had asked specifically for me as a driver.

“Thirty minutes from now. Two grand. Didn’t say what he needed just asked for you.” Xavier’s voice was firm, as it always was.