Page 21 of Twin Deception

But another pair wove too close to me, cutting off my sight of the woman I’d been stalking. My target.

By the time I crammed them out of my way and stood straight again, she was gone.

Isabel Flores wasn’t right there anymore. She’d slipped away.

Once again, she’d escaped. She evaded me. Merging into the crowd, she’d distanced herself from me, from the hot moment we’d carved out back there.

I gritted my teeth and ran, searching for her among the mob.

Isabel Flores… I can’t wait to find you—again.

Because I would, even if I wasn’t sure what I’d do with her now.

8

ISABEL

I’d never run as fast as I did from that club.

The chaos that ensued with the shout of a fight—of a gun—in a crowded place like that was terrifying. Stampedes of panicking guests triggered me to react in kind.

Fearing that I could be injured in the melee was the only thing that could’ve snapped me out of that sexy kiss with…

With…

I jogged ahead, parting from the mass of the people rushing out onto the street.

I hadn’t even gotten his name.

There was no doubt in my mind that he knew mine. He also knew how I tasted. How wet I was for him. How… stupidly lenient I was to let him hold me against that column.

And that I wanted him.

Correction—that Iwanthim.

The sudden break from the hottest moment of my life hadn’t turned me off completely. Now that I was out on the sidewalk, hustling away as quickly as my heels would allow, I calmed down and willed my heart to stop beating so fast.

The instinct of fight or flight faded. Walking slower, I let the embers of desire return to the forefront of my mind.

Only the instant fear of death could’ve pulled me away from him. Just that thought was all it took to snap me out of the lusty haze I’d fallen into when kissing him and feeling his body pressed against mine.

If no one had shouted that a fight was breaking out, I wouldn’t have been able to pull away. I wouldn’t have wanted to. It was only that survivalist instinct that cut through the lure of his hard, hot lips over mine and his fingers boldly rubbing me closer to an orgasm.

Had we not parted, I probably would have come right then and there. In the middle of a club. All due to the wicked interest of a sexy stranger. No, not a stranger. Mystalker.

“What iswrongwith me?” I mumbled as I pulled my hair back and chanced a glance over my shoulder. He didn’t follow me down this way, but I knew better than to just give up. Or rather, I was wise enough to knowhewouldn’t give up.

That man, so handsome, so confident in calling me out on my desire, wasn’t a quitter. He couldn’t be if he stalked me all day long—all night long, too, if he’d kept on the hunt to corner me at that club.

Whoever the hell he was, he’d be back, and that was why as soon as I reached my hotel, I checked out and sought another in town.

Never minding my attraction to a man who was stalking me, I couldn’t just up and go. I’d come on this vacation based on the idea that a change of scenery would trick my mind out of this loneliness that doomed me. And already, I’d been considering cutting it short and flying home to just dive right back into work and start that commissioned mural for the eccentric art gallery in Tampa.

Knowing a man was stalking me gave me even more incentive to get the hell out of Acapulco. To dodge Mexico altogether. That would be the smart thing to do, to run as far and fast as possible and evade that cocky ass who thought he could just do whatever he wanted with me.

Something had to be severely messed up with me if I could be turned on after listening to him tell me exactly how he wanted to take me, how he’d try to fuck me. What happened to my sense of pride, my self-worth and feminine independence?

It seemed they’d all flown right out the damn window because as I packed my things to switch hotels again, I kept getting aroused all over again just from thinking about how controlling and forward he was.

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