Page 161 of Enigma: The Complete Collection
Leaning over, I give his trouser-covered thigh a gentle squeeze. When his muscles bunch from my meager touch, I smile, pleased to have sparked a reaction out of him.
The reactions keep coming when I tiptoe my fingers three inches higher. Isaac peers at me beneath lowered lashes, the material of his trousers bunching around his stiff cock. “As much as I’d love nothing more than to feel your lips sliding down my shaft, I need hours, Isabelle. We don’t have hours. We only have minutes.”
“I could make it quick?”
He smirks, loving my confidence. “Things will never be quick between us.” He flashes me his eyes. They’re full of honest truths. “Furthermore, what kind of man would I be if I let you please me without returning the favor?”
“Pleasing you pleases me, Isaac.”
He growls. It’s a sexy as hell, but it ends our conversation.
When we arrive at the street my building is located on, my hair is blown out, and my cheeks are flushed from the fresh wind, but nothing can dampen the grin stretched across my face. Sitting in a classic car with a handsome specimen behind the wheel made me feel like Hollywood royalty. Like Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner undertaking a leisurely Monday afternoon drive.
After lowering his speed, Isaac narrows a baseball cap onto his head before hiding his highly recognizable eyes with a pair of aviator sunglasses. “Hugo will be waiting for you in your apartment. I’ll be back tonight.”
He pulls into the manager’s parking space at the front of the elevator banks. Even though I can’t see his eyes through his mirrored glasses, I can feel their heat studying my face.
“Okay. I’ll see you tonight.” I press a kiss to his lips, lingering a little longer when his aftershave stirs up excitement. “I love you.”
After kissing my palm, he places it on his chest, swelling my heart to a point of no return.
With reluctance, I climb out of his car and pace to the elevator banks. The flash of a sexy-as-sin smirk is the last thing I see when the elevator doors snap shut with me inside. When I catch my gaze in the mirrored wall, I do a little gig. My pupils are wide, making my brown eyes appear darker than normal, my cheeks are flushed, giving me an illuminating glow, and my lips are swollen from all the kisses we’ve shared the past two days. Signs of a person in love is all over my face, and for the first time ever, I agree with my body’s judgment of the situation. I am in love. Wholly. Deeply. Will never be the same again.
I peer out the elevator when the doors pop open. It hasn’t arrived at my floor. It’s just conducting a brief stop at the lobby. My heart beats out a funky tune when I spot Brandon a mere second before the doors close. He’s talking to a security officer near the reception desk. Things look heated.
“Brandon!”
I dash out of the elevator, scooting past an elderly lady hoping to catch it before it ascends. When Brandon tilts his head to see who is accosting him, my steps slow to a snail pace. Anger is bouncing off him in invisible waves. Not wanting to intrude on his private conversation, I linger to the side.
A short time later, Brandon joins me. He’s frowning, his mood still low. “Are you aware no one can gain access to your floor without it first being approved by Isaac?”
“No, I wasn’t aware of that.”But it does sound like something Isaac would do.
“Not even an agent, for fuck’s sake.”
His surly mood is off-putting. He's usually the cheerful, friendly one who doesn’t let anything get him down.
“What’s going on, Brandon? You seem a bit…stressed? Is it because I bailed on you at Parkerville? I’m sorry about that, I just wasn’t—”
“Don’t apologize, Izzy. You have nothing to be sorry for.” His tone is lower and sincerer than previously.
After clasping my hand in his, he guides me to a bank of chairs on the far side of the lobby. The security officer he was grappling with watches our every move, but he doesn’t encroach enough for me to feel threatened by him.
Brandon plops into a chair before scrubbing a hand over his tired eyes. His unnerving composure has my knees shaking so much, I have no choice but to sit next to him. “What’s going on?”
He licks his dry lips before forcing out, “Carlyle Shroud’s death came back as a homicide.”
I swallow bitterly, my eyes widening. “But he was…hanging.”
“I know, but the coroner determined he died before then.” He leans across to secure my hand in his. His wish to be close to me makes sense when he says, “They found poison in the food scraps in the kitchen. It looks like whoever killed him did it slowly in the hope it wouldn’t be noticed by the authorities.”
My stomach lurches as my chest grows heavy.
“It gets worse…” My eyes snap to his, certain things can’t get any worse. I’m proven wrong when he adds on, “Megan Shroud is in Ravenshoe. She has been for the past week.”
“How? We had protocols in place to ensure we knew her whereabouts.”
“We did. Every database in the country was fixated on her. She must not have used public transportation or hired a car.”
