Chapter 25

twenty-five

MADDOX

She takes my breath away. It doesn't matter that she's wearing jeans, sneakers, a hoodie, and a jacket in place of a tight-fitting dress. She's no less beautiful with her hair pulled into a high ponytail than she is with it spilling over her shoulders and down her back. In fact, I prefer her this way. This feels like the real Isla. No armor, no pretense, no shiny costume or mask. Her eyes sparkle an even richer blue with the light coat of mascara and nothing else.

"Hi," she says shyly when she opens the door. A twitch of her lips and a pretty flush creeping up her cheeks snap me out of my staring.

Right. I'm being weird. "Hey. You look beautiful."

Isla shifts her weight from one foot to the other. Her fingers fiddle with the strap of her purse. "Thanks."

She doesn't believe me. The realization is a punch in the gut. She doesn't believe she looks beautiful like this. Screw that. My hands go to her waist, and I tug her toward me. When I lower my face to hers, she sucks in a breath. "You're always beautiful. No matter what you wear. But for what it's worth, I think this look is my favorite so far. I can't wait to see you all bundled up and cheering for me at our games."

Her eyes widen, but a moment later the insecurity evaporates and a hesitant smile rounds her cheekbones. "You're so sure I'm going to go to your games, huh?"

I nod, lowering my face more so our noses touch. "I am. I'm very sure about you, Isla."

Pressing my lips to hers, I swallow her sharp inhalation. The kiss is quick and not nearly as deep as I want it to be, but we're on the clock right now. Tim, the balloon pilot, is waiting for us in the large field outside his company's base a short ride from the city. "As much as I want to keep kissing you, we have to get going. Do you have everything you need?"

She nods, and my chest swells with satisfaction when I notice her hands shaking slightly as she locks her apartment door. Isla Harding is just as affected by me as I am by her.

I ask her about her day as we walk hand in hand down to my car, and she asks about mine. It's mundane and simple and we fall into conversation easily. She listens intently as I tell her about training and seems shocked by how many hours the guys and I spend lifting and conditioning. When I ask her about when school starts, I'm surprised to hear that she's planning to set up her classroom on Monday, and the first day is the following Tuesday. I remember school starting in September, but it seems they go back at the end of August .

Isla starts off reserved as she answers my questions, but ten minutes into the ride, she's animated and excited, talking with her hands as she describes her plans for the year. Her passion is contagious, and soon we're both brainstorming how to make my little speaking engagement even more impactful.

It's not the first time I've thought about it, though, and I have some plans I don't share with Isla. They're not all ready to divulge. A couple are still in the works, but I also want to surprise her. I want to see her face light up like it is right now. She clearly does a lot to support and help other people. Her passion for uplifting her students is plain to see. But I wonder who lifts her up.

I will if she lets me.

That thought has me asking about her family. I realize I don't know much about Isla's actual life. Something I need to remedy.

"So I know you grew up in Minneapolis and that your dad's not a big sports guy, but that's all you've really told me about your family."

She smiles. "I'm an only child. My parents and I are close, but after I got my teaching job, and they felt pretty confident I had my life mostly together, they planned a year-long trip around the world. They've been saving up for it forever. My dad even got the college he teaches at to approve it by doing some guest lecturing at a few universities across Europe."

"Wow," I say. "That sounds cool."

"Yeah." She nods, a fond smile playing across her lips. "They were so excited about it. They almost canceled it when Alex broke our—" She stops herself, but I know what she's going to say. When Alex broke their engagement. But Isla doesn't know I'm aware of that, and if I clue her in, I'll have to admit to spending hours scrolling through her Instagram feed. And yeah. I'm not going to do that. She flashes me a tight smile.

"They almost canceled it when Alex broke up with me three weeks before they were supposed to leave." I reach across the gap between our seats and take her hand. "But I couldn't let them do that, you know? They'd sacrificed so much for me growing up. And I had Jess and Nevaeh. So I told them that if they didn't go, I was moving back home with them and I'd cock-block them at every turn."

The laugh that spills out of me is loud. "You did not."

She nods. "Oh, I did. They've been married a long time, but when I moved into the dorms during college, they kind of fell in love again. It's so cute. And gross. Because they're all over each other like teenagers. If I didn't know my mom had already gone through menopause, I'd be bracing myself for a surprise baby brother or sister. Which would be weird as hell, right?"

Yeah, it would. I can't imagine my mom telling me I was going to be a big brother again well into my twenties. The thought makes my heart pinch because my mom doesn't have someone to fall back in love with. She doesn't have someone to travel around Europe with for a year. But she has Mira and me. And while it's not the same, we take good care of her. Not that she'd ever ask us to do that, but she always made us the priority when my sperm donor disappeared.

She never made us feel like we were a burden. She gave us everything. So one of the first things I did when I signed my first multi-million dollar contract was buy my mom a brand new house so she'd never have to worry about maintaining the older home we'd grown up in. Maybe I should offer to pay for a family trip around Europe next year during the off-season.

"Do you miss them?" I ask her gently.

"Yeah. I do. It's been hard not having them around, but I'm glad they've gotten the chance to do this. And a little jealous, if I'm honest. Someday I would love to trek around Europe. Maybe see Australia and New Zealand. And I've always wanted to go to Japan." She watches the city blur by out her window, the busy streets slowly giving way to suburbs. Soon the manicured neighborhoods will give way to more open land. "When I was in college, I dreamed of taking a month or two after graduation to backpack across the UK, but I didn't want to go by myself, and then Al—" She stops herself again, lips pursing in a thin line. Does she think I'm going to be upset or turned off by her if she speaks his name? She was with him for a significant part of her early adult years. Of course, so many of her stories include him.

"Then Alex what?" I ask in a soft tone.

Isla clears her throat. "He changed his mind about going. Didn't fit with his ambitions."

What. A. Dick.

My sister dated a guy like that back in high school. As soon as I realized what he was doing, I kicked his ass. He left her alone after that. God, Mira had been so pissed at me. But eventually, she realized I'd only done it to protect her.

It doesn't seem like anyone in Isla's life saw the warning signs.

I hate guys like Isla's ex. A strong man isn't threatened by a strong woman. He thanks his lucky stars she finds him worthy of her affection.

There's still strength in Isla. So much. When she forgets to make herself smaller, it comes spilling out. In unguarded moments, when her temper flares, those banked embers in her burn hot. I'll just have to make sure she knows she's safe with me, so she stops trying to hide it.

"For what it's worth," I say as I make a right turn off of the street and down a long paved drive, "Alex was an idiot. Only a fool would pass up a chance to whisk you off to a foreign land for adventures and travel sex."

That shade of pink. The color flushing her cheeks is quickly becoming my new favorite. She opens her mouth to respond to my slightly inappropriate proclamation, but no words come out. It's clear by the narrowing of her ocean eyes she doesn't quite believe I'm being genuine. No doubt she believes it's some kind of line to get in her pants.

I don't need a line to get in Isla's pants. She wants me just as much as I want her. I can see that now. And I'm going to revel in the feel of her naked body against mine. I'm going to fuck her until her body shakes with pleasure so overwhelming she begs me to stop, to have mercy on her. But I don't need a line because this isn't just about sex. This is about connection.

"We're here," I tell her. Does she notice how rough my voice is? She shifts in her seat. Hooded eyes hold mine. Yeah. She noticed.

Isla doesn't move as I unbuckle and open the car door. She simply watches me. Her eyes track the flex of my biceps, the tight line of my shoulders. Smirking, I shut my door and walk around to hers. She's just turning toward me when I open it up and reach across her to unbuckle her seat belt. My arm brushes against her chest and she sucks in a breath, her eyes fluttering. I can't help myself. I need to touch her.

My fingers skim her jaw, and using the pad of my thumb, I drag her bottom lip open before leaning in and pressing a tortuously slow kiss to her mouth. A needy sound fills the cab of the car as I nip and suck at her lower lip.

"Come on, Short-Stack. If you keep making those little sounds, we'll never make it off the ground. And I have plans to kiss the hell out of you at two thousand feet."