Page 66 of Isolated
Landen hesitated for just a few seconds before he took over, his arm slipping around my waist and holding me tight. His kiss was claiming, possessive, and hungry. Like the kiss from last night hadn’t been anywhere near enough for him.
When he finally tore his mouth from mine, his eyesroamed over my face, lingering a bit longer on my lips. His mouth curved into a slow, satisfied smile. “Now we can go pick some apples.”
Turning, Landen urged my body ahead of his, reaching around me to open the door. After I locked it, he took me by the hand and led me to his car. On the way there, I wasn’t surprised to see Walter outside. What did surprise me was how Walter responded. I expected him to get up and walk in our direction for a chat, even slowing my steps in anticipation of it, but he didn’t move. Walter remained seated on his porch, so I merely lifted my hand, smiled, and waved to him. He was holding his coffee mug in his hands, which meant he only offered an upward jerk of his chin in response.
Landen had just backed out of the driveway when he said, “I wasn’t anticipating you waiting outside for me when I arrived.”
“I was up earlier than expected this morning,” I confessed.
“Did you have trouble sleeping, too?”
My eyes shot to him. “You had a hard time?”
He came to a stop at the end of my road and looked over at me. “I told you I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”
The news filled me with warmth. Granted, the kiss and his words this morning had gotten things started and had certainly revealed his fondness for me. But Landen continued to give me things that were making my heart soar. “It was the same for me with you. I kept replaying our date over and over in my head.”
Landen focused his attention on the road again and continued driving. “I replayed that kiss over and over. AndI guess I spent some time kicking myself for not acting sooner, too.”
I reached out to where his hand was resting on the center console and linked my fingers with his. “You need to stop doing that. Don’t punish yourself for something you can’t change. We’re here now.”
His fingers gave me a squeeze in response, and the two of us spent most of the remainder of the drive in a comfortable silence. It seemed just being back in each other’s presence was enough for the both of us.
Once we were walking through the orchard, Landen carrying the basket in one hand, I asked, “Did you always know you wanted to be a private investigator?”
The fingers on Landen’s opposite hand were linked with mine, and he never released them. Not even when I stopped to pluck an apple off a tree. “Not always. For a long time, I had no idea what I wanted to do with myself. Then I started working out in high school, and I considered getting into bodybuilding.”
I’d been holding an apple up to my nose, inhaling the sweet aroma. At that tidbit of information, I lowered the apple from in front of my face and smiled at him. “I could totally see you doing that.”
He laughed. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“What made you decide against it?”
I dropped the apple in the basket, and we continued our stroll through the orchard. “I’m not like you.”
My feet ground to a halt. I turned my body completely to face him. “What does that mean?”
His eyes were bright, shining in a way I’d never seen before. “You are the most fearless woman I’ve ever met.You’re so unbelievably confident; I’m convinced there isn’t anything you’d be afraid to try.”
My stomach fluttered. I loved that he saw me that way. “That’s really nice of you to say, but I’m not sure I understand what it has to do with you becoming a private investigator instead of a bodybuilder.”
Landen urged me to fall into step beside him. We strolled along for a few paces before he shared, “I like the way I feel when I take the time to lift weights. I enjoy moving my body and the physical benefits I get from exercising and eating a mostly healthy diet. But I’m not a performer. The more I researched, the more I learned about the career. I’m not someone who would ever feel comfortable getting up on a stage in what is barely the equivalent of underwear just to pose and show off my physique.”
A smile tugged at the corner of my lips as I peeked over my shoulder at him. “I would love to see that.”
He shook his head. “I hate to disappoint you, but it’s not going to happen.”
I stopped and pulled another apple off the closest tree. Holding it up to my nose again, I arched a brow. “Not even just for me?”
Landen smiled at me and seemed to stand a little taller, his chest puffing up with pride. “Is that your way of asking to see me naked?”
Smiling as I tucked my chin toward my chest, I dropped the apple into the basket and shrugged before moving off the path and between the trees, releasing Landen’s hand in the process. As confident as I was, maybe I didn’t need to tell him everything. I thought it might be fun to leave a bit of mystery between us.
I took a few steps deeper into the orchard, out of view of others, but I could feel Landen’s presence just a couple of steps behind me. It wasn’t until I felt a pair of hands on my hips that I realized what my teasing had done and that he’d set our basket of apples down.
Suddenly, he spun me around and hauled me up against his body. Driving one hand into my hair, the other one slid around my back and held me firmly. He tugged on my hair, urging me to expose my throat to him. A heartbeat later, with my own pulse pounding, I felt him glide the side of his nose along my throat as he inhaled. His teeth nipped at the skin there, my nails digging into his shoulders.
My lips were parted, my lungs barely functioning.
