Iszak (The Dragon's Mate Book 2), page 13
And if she was honest, she wanted someone to come home to, and that person was Iszak. She was beginning to think that she was falling for him, and she didn’t want it to end. Surely he felt the same?
With a shake of her head, she shoved those thoughts aside and put on her most relaxed face. Once she knew what happened to Kevin, then she could broach staying with him again. Surely he wouldn't want her to walk away from him any more than she wanted to do the walking.
Iszak was in the living room with a pensive look on his face. He must have heard her because he lifted his head and his face softened. Surely it was a good sign that the grumpy man she’d first met had long since disappeared. There was no way she imagined the warm look in his eyes.
“What are you thinking about?” She walked to where he was sitting and smoothed the lock of hair away from his forehead. He put his large, square hands on her hips and smoothed them over the silken fabric of her robe.
“Nothing important.” There was a fleeting look in his eyes that told her that wasn’t entirely true, but she didn’t want to pry. If something was troubling him that he felt he could share with her, he would tell her. She cupped his face, leaned forward and kissed him. As soon as her lips met his, she knew that she would do whatever it took to fight to stay with him. They hadn’t had that much time together, but she felt like she’d known him for years instead of just days. Her body certainly knew his, and she longed to indulge in the passion they ignited in each other.
She pulled back, and his eyes darted down to where her robe gapped open. There was a carnal hunger in the way he looked at her, that was matched by the heavy desire pulsing through her veins. He surged to his feet, pulling her body close to his and he lowered his head to hers. There was a fierce need in the kiss he gave her, as if he would never be able to get close enough to her. She wound her arms around his neck, as his scent invaded her nostrils and the warmth of his body seeped into hers.
She was ready for him to take her to the bedroom, ready for him to make her body sing. She took a step back with her robe askew, offering him the sight of a slice of her bare flesh. She reached for the sash, intent on undoing it and baring all to him when her phone shrieked, cutting through the aroused silence between them.
With a glare at her purse, she tightened her fingers on her robe. It was more than likely her father. She cursed his timing and the fact that she had not turned the ringer off.
“Will you be able to ignore it?” He pulled her to him and ran his hands over her back. She was tempted to say screw it, and let the phone ring until it went to voicemail. But she knew that it would be fruitless, since her father was incapable of letting a phone go unanswered. He would call and call until she got so frustrated that she answered the phone.
“I have a feeling that it’s my father. If I don’t get it, he won’t stop. At least if I talk to him now, he should leave us alone for the remainer of the evening.” With a sigh she stepped away just as the phone went silent. She stood still for a moment, hoping that it had been someone else, someone who would be satisfied with phoning once and leaving a voicemail.
No such luck. The phone started ringing again, and she looked at Iszak with an apologetic smile. “I’d better talk to him.”
“I’ll be in the bedroom, so you can have some privacy.” He cupped her face and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. Why did have father have to pick now to call her, to remind her that she didn’t live in an idyllic world that consisted of only her and Iszak.
He turned and walked down the short hall to the bedroom. With a sigh of frustration, she pulled her phone out of her purse, and just as she thought, her father’s name and number were clearly displayed on the screen. She swiped her finger across the phone and put it up to her ear.
“What took you so long to answer the phone?” Her father’s growl made her roll her eyes. No greeting, no are you okay, just a demand to know why she hadn’t dropped everything to be at his beck and call. It was in this moment that she knew without a doubt that she was done being his errand boy. She loved him, and she was certain that somewhere deep inside him that he loved her too, but he had done little to demonstrate it.
“I was in the bathroom. I answered as soon as I could.” A lie but a necessary one. Her father would have to know that she was not going to back to Lowell Falls, that she was going to go ahead with her plan to go to school, but she wasn’t sure how she was going to broach the subject. So she couldn’t exactly tell him that she’d been on the verge of making love with the man she was falling in love with when he’d called.
“Did you get any information out of the bitch Kevin was hooked up with?”
“First, she is a very nice woman and doesn’t deserve to be called names by you. Second, she was indeed helpful since she provided more information to me than you did. I know you don’t think it’s relevant, but you should have told me that he was on bail. That she was no longer his girlfriend and in fact, had been sent to jail for violating a restraining order and for stalking and harassment.”
“Kevin being out on bail has nothing to do with his disappearance. He told me there were dragons in Waldron Valley, and they must have known that he was part of the Robillard family. It would be nothing for them to kill him and make it so there was no trace of him anywhere.”
Julia rolled her eyes. Both her brother and father shared the same delusion that they would be able to return the family to its former glory if only the world would recognize the existence of dragons. She’d spent most of her life pretending to go along with him, and now she could see that it had only fed the fires of his obsession. And she was done.
“Dad, it’s time you faced it that Kevin was a selfish, self-absorbed man who screwed you over for the money and whatever collateral you put up for his bail. I spoke with Kevin’s neighbor and he gave me a key to his apartment, and I’m going to go there tomorrow. You should prepare yourself for what I find. I’m sure that all the evidence is going to point to Kevin skipping bail and leaving you holding the bag.”
“You’re wrong. You’ve always resented your brother and you are looking for anything to show him in a bad light. I shouldn’t have sent you to do this. Diana would have been a better choice.”
“I don’t think Diana would find that dragon’s are responsible for Kevin’s disappearance any more than I will. Both she and I are able to see Kevin clearly, and I hope someday that you will too.” There seemed to be little point in continuing. Her father would not believe anything she told him unless it fit with his notion of the way the world worked. She was still going to go to Kevin’s apartment tomorrow, just so that she could tell him exactly what Kevin had done. Whether or not he believed her was no longer going to be her problem. What love her father felt for her had been buried a long time ago under his obsession and she was done trying to please him. “I’ll call you tomorrow once I’ve gone to Kevin’s apartment. I think you should prepare yourself for what I find.”
“And I think you should prepare yourself for what you find. Kevin may be a lot of things, but he would not leave me on the hook for the bail money. You go to his apartment and when you find out what really happened to your brother, you can come home and we’ll deal with it together.”
Was now a good time? Should she tell him that no matter what she found at Kevin’s apartment she was not coming home?
“I’m not coming back to Lowell Falls. I’ve met someone and I’m going to stay here. Barry is not going to hold my job for me, and I have nothing to go back there for. I’m going to get work here and eventually go back to school.”
There was a prolonged silence on the other end of the phone. For a moment she thought the call had been disconnected, but when her father spoke again a shiver traced itself up her spine at his dark tone. “You are not abandoning this family. Dragons are awakening, the fact that they’ve eliminated your brother proves that. You are a hunter before anything, and you will not shirk your duty to this family.”
“I don’t think moving to a different city is abandoning my family, and I’m only sad that you think so. I’d like you to be happy for me, for once, Dad. But if you can’t bring yourself to do it, then there is little I can do to change your mind. I am moving on with my life. I’ll call you tomorrow with what I find out about Kevin.”
She ended the call before her father could say anymore and switched her phone to silent so that if he called her back she would not know.
She’d done nothing but her duty to this family and now she was thirty and spent most of her time alone. She wanted to make her own way, without dragging her family’s baggage behind her. She’d met a man who made her soul sing, and she was not going to give him up until she knew one way or another if he was the man she was meant to be with. She’d never allowed herself to love before, knowing of course that her father would never allow anything to distract her from what he thought was her place in the family.
As she turned away and looked down the hall at where Iszak waited for her in the bedroom, she felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She’d freed herself from the burden of her family name and walking down the hall to where her man was waiting felt like the first tentative steps towards her future.
Iszak schooled his features when he heard Julia making her way down the hall. Mixed emotions were churning inside him after listening to her phone call with her father. He was elated that she wanted to stay in town after her mission for her father was done, but it was mixed with a healthy amount of caution. Julia may still believe that her brother was missing because he’d left town to avoid jail, but from the sounds of her end of the conversation, her father was still convinced that dragons were responsible. He should let her go back to her life instead of drawing her closer. He could see now that his notion of seducing her, while keeping his heart untouched, had been a fallacy. The more time he spent with her, the harder it was getting to think about his life without her in it.
With any luck, Rickman would find nothing to incriminate his brother in Kevin’s apartment, and that would at least be one hurdle cleared. She would have to learn the truth about him eventually, but he would prefer if it would come out after she was in love with him.
She walked into the bedroom, and a smile spread across her face when she saw him standing there. That look took his breath away and he knew, as surely as he was standing before her now, that she was the woman that fate intended for him to be with. There was still the secret of his nature looming between them, but he had to cling to the hope that if he showed her that he was not a danger to her or anyone else, surely she would be able to see past what she’d been taught her entire life.
She hesitated for a second, he realized he was staring at her without saying a word. He reached his hand toward her and she stepped up to him, with only a breath’s distance between them. He forced himself to relax as he raised her hand to his lips and kissed the tips of her fingers one by one. He couldn’t worry about what was going to happen tomorrow or the next day, or she’d know there was something wrong. He had to focus on only his next moment, on his next breath. There was something growing between hem, but it was fragile. He had to tread carefully, so that it could be nurtured into something that would have the strength to weather the storm the truth about himself would bring.
“What is it? What has you thinking so hard?”
He kissed the palm of her hand as he braced himself to be vulnerable to her. He knew that she wanted to stay, had broached the subject with him, but he’d been ambiguous in his answer. If he wanted to keep her, to hold her to him and call her his, he needed to step up. He needed to make it clear to her that her being with him was what he wanted too.
“We talked a little about this earlier, but I wanted to tell you that I want you to stay with me. I know that we only met a short time ago, but it feels much longer to me. I went into this thinking that it was going to be something fleeting, a temporary fling, but I find that’s not what I want. It’s too soon to rush into anything serious, but I want to know you and give you the chance to know me. I want to sleep beside you, to wake beside you, until we know if this is something that is meant to last. I’m telling you that I want to give us a chance.”
She looked up at him and cupped his face. To his surprise, he saw hope in her eyes but it was mingled with hesitation. He thought with her telling her father that she’d met someone that this was what she wanted too. Had her father said something to change her mind?
“I want that too, you know I do. But you should be aware that I bring a lot of baggage with me. My father isn’t going to like that I’m not going home. He may come here and cause trouble.”
She bit her lip and he knew that her call with her father had shown her just how much trouble her father could cause. It was at the back of his mind too and he questioned the wisdom of doing this. But looking at her, he could not tell her that he’d changed his mind. What she needed from him was his assurance that he would not turn away from her because of factors beyond her control. If he wanted her to accept him for who he was, then he’d better be prepared to do the same.
“I want to know everything about you, and I’m willing to wade through whatever baggage comes along in order to do that. Don’t worry about your father and what he wants. Let’s not worry about him unless there is something to worry about. I want you to stay here with me. I want to find out if what I feel inside when I look at you, when I hold you, is something that will last. If that’s what you want, then the rest can take care of itself.” He leaned forward and kissed her lips. He moved his mouth on hers with a thoroughness that stole their breath, and he pulled away to look down at her. “Will you stay?”
The corner of her mouth lifted and she reached up to put her hands around his neck. She pressed her body fully to his as she purred. “I might need some convincing.”
With a laugh he dipped his head again and kissed her fully on the mouth. The hunger that had been interrupted with her father’s phone call roared to life and his arms tightened around her as a growl rumbled in his chest. There was no way he was going to let her go. She’d woven a spell over him with the silk of her skin, with the scent of her body, with the pleasure he found when he was entwined with her. With every beat of his heart he became more certain that she was his true mate. And he was going to let nothing stand in his way of claiming her.
He pulled back and tugged the sash on her robe. Its silken fabric slithered down her body, revealing her bare flesh to his fevered eyes. In the fading daylight, her skin glowed like alabaster with her jet black hair her only covering. She was beautiful to his eyes, and he wanted to savor this night with her along with all the nights to come. She gave a soft sigh as he moved the curtain of her hair over her shoulder so that he could have an unobstructed view of her voluptuous flesh. Her nipples tightened under his gaze, as if begging for his kiss.
He bent to take her flesh in his mouth, and she tasted sweeter than the ripest fruit. He could not get enough of her, and he vowed that he was going to make her feverish with longing for him by the time he was done. He took the time and attention necessary to discover every inch of her torso with his lips. By the time he sank to his knees in front of her she was breathless with desire and a long, drawn out moan was ripped from her when he gave her the most intimate kiss of all.
She stood there, shuddering with one leg resting on his shoulder and her hands gripping his hair. He didn’t mind the sharp tugs she gave him as he pleasured her with his lips and tongue. He could hear her pleasure building with each moan she gave and he showed her no mercy. When the moment of her orgasm came, when she exploded under his ministering tongue, his name was a fevered shout on her lips and her fists clenched in his hair.
She stood there, trembling as he moved to his feet. His strength was the only thing that kept her on her feet, and when they came down upon his bed, he’d never been so aroused in his life. With efficient movements he stripped the clothes from his body as she looked up at him with heavy lidded eyes. She raised her feet to rest them on the mattress as she parted her thighs, and he could see how ready she was to have him inside her by the glistening of her flesh. He could not hold himself back, and he eased between her thighs with his body braced on his arms so she would not have to take his heavy weight.
“Put me inside you.” His voice came out in a strained command and she gave him a smile that was as old as time. She reached down, taking him in her hand and putting him at the entrance of her body. One hard thrust was all it took, and she surrounded him, holding him in an exquisite embrace.
“Iszak, make love to me.” Her whispered voice skated across his skin as she clung to him, and he could not hold himself back any longer. He knew the pleasure that he would find in her body, and he could no longer deny himself.
Every thrust of his body hammered home the message that she was his and he was hers. She was made for him and as the pleasure he found with her caught him in its grip, all he could think was that she was his mate. It was his woman he was making love to, his woman he wanted to share his life with. The secret between them would need to be dealt with, but not tonight. Tonight was about the pleasure they found with each other, about the love they were building between them.
She called his name as her orgasm held her in its grip again, and as she tightened around him, he found his own release. He held her to him as he poured himself inside her, and he felt complete in a way that he’d never experienced. Something shifted inside him, as if the dragon slumbering inside him realized that she was his mate. He closed his eyes so that she would not see the beast slumbering within him. He collapsed on top of her for a moment, as the ecstasy he found with her left him without bones.
Somehow he found the strength to roll off her. He pulled her to him and she rested her head on his chest as they fought to get their breath back. Soon enough, their breathing slowed, their heart beats calm and reality returned.
