Page 107 of Puck and Prejudice

“What are you doing here?” I blurt out when I find my voice.

“Well… you wouldn’t return my messages, so I had to track you down.” She barges into the room, forcing me to take a step back.

“Please,docome in.” I glower.

She whirls around with her hands on her hips. “You need to practice Las Sevillanas. I’m not going to look like an idiot on Saturday because you refuse to learn the dance.”

My heart is beating at breakneck speed now. I always thought Izzie looked the most captivating when she was angry at me. I really need to get my head checked.

“Who said I haven’t learned? I practiced it on my own.”

She crosses her arms. “All right. Prove it.”

Hell and damn. I can’t with her sassiness. I want to throw her on the mattress and silence her with my tongue. I need a distraction. “Fine. Put some flamenco music on.”

“You put a shirt on.”

I smirk. “I’m fine like this.”

She narrows her eyes, and it amuses me. I expect a retort, but all she does is take her phone out of her purse and scroll through whatever she sees on her screen. After a moment, she sets the phone on the small table by the window and faces me. “Ready?”

“Yes.”

Flamenco music fills the room. I get in position and wait for her to stand in front of me. My hotel room isn’t large. I didn’t think I’d spend a lot of time in it, so I didn’t splurge and get a suite. There’s some space between the bed and the TV console on the other side of the room, but it’s tight. We’ll have to dance closer than normal.

I didn’t lie to her. Ihavebeen practicing. And when I don’t make a mistake during the first three Sevillanas, I know she’s impressed, even though she tries to hide it. My ego gets super inflated, but too soon. I haven’t nailed the fourth Sevillana yet, and I make a mistake on a turn and end up colliding with her. Instinctively, I reach for her waist, pulling her flush to my body.

“What are you doing?” she whispers.

I don’t answer her. The music fades into the background and all I hear is the sound of my pulse, pounding in my ears. Everything about this woman beguiles me. Her sharp mind and sharper tongue, her beautiful brown eyes, and her full lips. I brush her cheek with my fingertips, making her gasp. Unable to resist, I rub my thumb over her lips, parting them.

She closes her eyes. “Jackson…”

It’s not my name on her tongue that snaps my self-control, it’s the way she says it as if it were a caress that has me twisting a lock of her hair around my hand and slanting my lips over hers. Fire ignites in the pit of my stomach, spreading fast and consuming me. Izzie wraps her arms around my waist and allows me to devour her mouth. My bones yearn for her, and my skin burns from her touch. I don’t care about my bruised ego. I just want to prove to Izzie that we belong together.

“I missed you so damn much.” I kiss the column of her neck, savoring her sweet taste.

She threads her fingers through my hair, and rasps, “I missed you too, Jackson.”

Fuck, then why the hell did you make me suffer, woman?

I don’t speak the question out loud, lest I kill the mood. Instead I pick her up and fall with her onto the mattress, covering her body with mine. She opens her legs, and I’m fucking glad she’s wearing a dress tonight. Immediately, I slide my hand under the skirt and tug at her underwear, using the delicate garment to tease her clit.

She arches her back, gasping for air. “Jackson… don’t torture me.”

“This isn’t torture, beautiful.”

With my free hand, I stretch the neckline of her dress down until one pink nipple makes an appearance.

“Say you want me.” I pinch her nub, which is already as hard as a pebble.

Her face flushes, and a moan escapes her lips. “I want you, Jackson.”

“Tell me how much.” I play with her underwear now, rubbing the fabric over her clit.

Izzie gyrates her hips, and my balls tighten, ready to explode. I need to be inside her, or I’ll die.

“More than anything in the world,” she breathes out.

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