Page 312 of Enigma: The Complete Collection
“Yes!” I yell as anger maims my heart. “Because that’s probably what he’s doing with her right now. He's probably kissing her right now.”Or god knows what else.
“That’s what you want? A kiss? All this heartache for a pathetic kiss on New Year’s Eve?”
I grit my teeth and angrily glare at Hugo. He can’t comprehend the hurt I'm feeling or know how hollow I feel since there’s a massive hole where my heart once belonged.
I angrily shake my head before pivoting on my heels and heading back to Ayden. Just as the clock commences its ten-second countdown, Hugo once again yanks me back his way. Before I can fathom a response, let alone articulate it, my mouth is engulfed by a pair of deliciously plump lips. The final five second countdown of the year chants through my ears as Hugo’s warm tongue licks the seam of my lips before it delves inside my mouth, sampling and tasting every inch.
When the clock strikes midnight, his fingers weave through my hair, and he tilts my head back, taking complete control of my mouth. I'm astonished when my body reacts to his kiss by kissing him with just as much vigor.
He kisses the hell out of me, not holding anything back, then it takes several long seconds for my inebriated mind to comprehend what’s going on.
Oh god!
I yank back before dragging my hand over my mouth, trying to rub away the kiss, pretending what just happeneddidn’thappen. Hugo remains quiet, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down as the reality of the situation dawns on him too.
“Isaac will kill you.”
Air puffs out of his nose as he curtly nods. “Yeah, well, at least I know what I'm getting myself into. That dumb fuck had no clue you were in the process of signing his death certificate.” He motions his head to Ayden, who is watching our exchange with his mouth gaped open.
When Hugo throws me over his broad shoulder, my hand slaps over my mouth as all the liquid I consumed tonight threatens to resurface. I’m so drunk, I’m not the slightest bit fazed by the amused faces of the patrons when Hugo strides past them with me flopped over his shoulder like a ragdoll.
“Cate,” I mumble through my hand covering my mouth. “I brought Cate with me.”
“Already taken care of,” he replies as he continues with his fluid strides.
The coolness of the night sky helps quell my swirling stomach when we emerge outside, but Hugo’s smack to my backsides commences an entirely new worry.
“You better not vomit in mybaby, Izzy. If you do, that smack won’t be the only punishment you’ll get,” he warns as he places me in the passenger seat of his car and fastens the seatbelt around my torso.
CHAPTER31
ISABELLE
Arough grunt escapes my parched mouth as I return to the land of the living. My head is pounding like a mariachi band performing on the streets of Mexico. My throat burns like I swallowed car battery acid, and my eyelids are so heavy, they refuse to open. I feel like I’m in the process of dying.
When my hand stretches out to snag the spare pillow at my side, wanting to cover my eyes from the blinding sunlight making my pounding headache ten times worse, I do die.
A woodsy smell is invading my senses.
Oh, shit. What did I do?
My heart races as memories of last night trickle back into my head—the warning Isaac issued, the excessive drinking of any cocktail I could get my hands on, Ayden…oh god,and Hugo! The unnatural beat of my heart kicks up a gear when I taste Hugo on my mouth. As guilt weighs heavily on my chest, a guttural groan scuttles up my throat. Even though Isaac left me, Hugo still works for him. Isaac is his sole source of income—his bread and butter. A man with control issues like Isaac wouldneverlet a mere peck-on-the-lips kiss go without reprimand, let alone a kiss that was anything but simple.
Hugo and I have grown close the past several weeks, but even in my hungover state, I know our kiss was a spur-of-the-moment decision made without just cause. I can only hope Isaac remembers his quote on how haste decisions cause mistakes because when Hugo kissed me, he wasn’t thinking of the repercussions of his rushed judgment—just like I didn’t before returning his kiss.
With reluctance, I pull the pillow away from my face and apprehensively flutter open my eyes. Once my eye sockets are lubricated with fluid, they sweep the room. The thumping of my head intensifies when they take in a space I don’t recognize.
I thought my days of waking up in strangers’ beds were behind me.
Thick cream curtains are draped across a large window. A woven rug covers a majority of the dark, highly polished floorboards, and the bed is a four-poster design, but unlike Isaac’s, the posts are dark and thin, without the wood-turning effects. A wooden desk is by the window, and a cream wing-backed chair is seated in front of it. The wall behind the bed is done in a wooden design of dark, light, and white woods skewed in a rustic pattern. The room is very manly but warm and inviting, just like its owner, Hugo.
Could this morning get any worse?
After groaning about my stupidity, my eyes shift to the other side of the room. A swear word seeps from my lips when my eyes lock in on Isaac’s furious gaze. He's seated in a cream leather chair that blocks the entrance door of the room. He’s dressed in a black three-piece suit, and he has a pulse-quickening scowl marring his handsome face. His stubble-covered jaw is ticking relentlessly, and his dark, livid gaze is rapt on me.
My head screams in protest when I lurch from the bed. As my eyes snap shut, my hands circle my temples, praying the contents of my stomach stay put.
I don’t need to open my eyes to know Isaac has moved off the chair. The hairs bristling on my neck are all the indication I need to know he's standing at the end of the bed. Opening one eye only, I glance up at him. My libido awakens from its resting state when his narrowed gaze lowers down my body. The tick of his jaw ramps the longer he peruses me. I find out why when I follow his gaze.
