Page 46 of Love JD

If he says “no,” you’re going to have to leave the country, a voice warned in the back of my head.

I didn’t let myself think about it. I straightened my leg, and hooking my heel on the edge of the island, I slid myself down and out of reach of his mouth. Then I flipped on my stomach and arched my back so I could catch Zev’s confused gaze. I held his warm blue eyes that sparked like an electric current. “Teach me how to fuck.”

Chapter fifteen

Zev

My brain ground to a halt. Logical functions died mid-process, and my lungs stopped working. Isla Valehart had just asked me to fuck her.

Or rather, I amended, staring at her in mute surprise, she just asked me to teach her how. Like she plans on taking her Jedi sex training elsewhere when I’m done with her.

She blinked, her fawn-light eyes as innocent as the rest of her. “If you… don’t mind,” she added.

My mouth went dry, and my brain fumbled all over itself with all the grace of a greased-up penguin on an ice rink. “Isla,” I responded cautiously. The cajónes it had taken for her to even ask. She was probably writhing with worry if I knew her at all. Which, I realized, I had managed to do in an alarmingly short amount of time.

She let out a disgusted sigh and let her forehead fall to the counter. “You don’t want to.”

“I want to,” I rushed to assure her.

She picked her head back up, long eyelashes flaring with hope. “You do?”

“I do, but… I can’t.” I wanted to cup her face, to hold her, something. But if I was going to draw a boundary, then I had to do it all the way. And it had been my fault that she’d been emboldened to ask in the first place.

Her face fell. “Oh.”

“I’m sorry,” I said with true regret. “I was flirting with you too carelessly. That’s on me. But you’re Tristan’s younger sister. It wouldn’t be right to take advantage of you when I promised to protect you.”

She nodded and swung her legs around on the counter to dangle them off the edge. “Makes sense.”

My insides wriggled in silent agony. “Kissing is one thing, but…” I trailed off.

She nodded again, her eyes on her thighs. “No, of course. I get it.” She looked up and gave me a smile that didn’t even lift her apple cheeks. “That’s the logical thing. I should have realized that myself.”

There is nothing logical about the way I want to savagely ruin you, Isla Valehart. I slipped my hands in my pockets and echoed her nod. “Thanks for understanding.”

“Thanks for untangling me.” Isla hopped off the counter, her silky hair disheveled from the stupid bird feeder. “I’m going to go study.”

“Whoa, just a minute.” I hooked a hand around her upper arm and pulled her back to the counter. “You told me there was an intruder in my house. We got you patched up, but I need details. Did you recognize them? Where were they?”

Isla’s eyes unfocused for a moment, like she’d remembered something she had forgotten, and then she shook away the fog. “Uh, yeah. I mean, no, I didn’t recognize her. She had short hair,” she leveled her hand at her neck, “to here. And thick glasses.”

I frowned as a memory of my own surfaced. “Talia?”

“Who?”

“A reporter stopped me back in Salt Lake,” I said absently, my thoughts racing. “Maybe she’s mad I cut her off.” I gave Isla a once-over. “She didn’t touch you, did she?”

Isla hesitated, then, quickly, she assured me, “No. No, I found her crouching under the window and kind of attacked her with a rake.”

“Before or after you passed out?” I asked suspiciously.

“Be-after,” Isla fumbled.

I narrowed my eyes. She held my gaze, but her fingers tangled together nervously. “So, you fainted, woke up, saw a paparazzi, chased her off, and that’s it?”

“Yeah,” she breathed out.

I called bullshit, but I didn’t know what she would possibly want to hide from me. I released her. “I’ll look into this reporter and make sure her superiors know she’s been breaking laws. In the meantime, it's best if you don't leave the house without me.”

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