Page 30 of Monster Among the Roses (Fairy Tale Quartet 1)

She grumbled something I couldn’t hear, then she hurried to catch up with me. Grinning, I turned to watch where I was going, though it was still too dark to see all that much. The sky was beginning to change colors. Orange, yellow and pinks peeked over the horizon and reflected off the surface of the calm water. A bird called in the distance. I breathed deeply, taking in the scent of damp earth and pine from the evergreen trees.

“God, this is breathtaking. No wonder you run every morning.”

“It feels strange going this way,” she muttered.

I laughed. “Like running it for the first time?”

She shot me an odd glance before gazing around her as if, yeah, she were seeing the scenery for the first time. Lips parting, she turned her attention back to me. “Kind of. Yeah.”

With a wink, I offered, “Tomorrow we can run it clockwise and then toggle back and forth each day. Sound okay to you?”

“But…” I had a feeling she was worried about me hiking out here on foot every morning from three thirty to five, until she realized I didn’t care. So she murmured, “Yeah. Okay.”

It was the most satisfying feeling in the world whenever she stopped fighting and bickering with me to acquiesce or soften her tone. More rewarding than anything I could ever remember experiencing.

We didn’t talk much after that. The peace of the awakening morning, plus the whole out-of-breath thing from running, kept conversation limited. I asked her how long she typically ran, she answered eight laps, which made it approximately two miles, and that was about all we said.

Since I wasn’t used to running, she naturally kept pace with me. It made me wonder how fast she usually went and how much she had to slow herself to match my strides. I pushed myself as hard as I could, and yet I was still panting for breath and wanting to pass out right there on the path once we finished. But Isobel encouraged me to keep going, walk it off, until my heart rate settled.

Still, I had to clutch my chest and bend with my other hand on one knee for a good minute before I could straighten.

“Oh, damn,” I gasped. “That was…that was amazing.” Even as worn-out as I was, I don’t think I’d ever felt so alive and energized.

When I stood upright, she held out an opened bottle of water. No idea where she’d been storing it, but I didn’t care. I snagged it from her and gulped greedily.

“Thank you. You’re a saint.” I handed the bottle back, only for my mouth to go bone dry when she drank from the same spot I’d just put my lips against.

Tipping her head back, she closed her eyes and swallowed, her throat working through each gulp while a bead of sweat caressed her unmarred cheek before slipping down the side of her throat.

I went hard as stone, imaging myself licking the droplet away. Then she went and swiped her tongue over her bottom lip, catching some escaped water before lapping it back into her mouth. My skin prickled with such acute awareness I could already picture how it’d feel to push inside her and have the walls of her sex envelop me and contract from pleasure.

When a groan rumbled from my throat, Isobel turned my way.

Abruptly realizing I probably had the freaking Eiffel Tower poking out the front of my sweats, I bent and jerked my backpack from the ground where it had been waiting for my return and held it smartly over my lap area.

But the move only drew Isobel’s attention down, which made me feel more exposed. I jostled the pack, explaining, “Change of clothes.”

I’d only been trying to get her attention away from my crotch so she wouldn’t notice how aroused I was, but when her expression fell, I wondered if she thought I was trying to make an excuse to leave because I didn’t want to be around her any longer.

I opened my mouth to say…hell, I had no idea. I just knew I didn’t want her thinking I didn’t like her.

She beat me to the words, though. Turning her face slightly, so I couldn’t see her scars, she motioned a hand toward the house. “There’s a shower in the pool house if you want to use that to wash off before changing into your clothes.”

“Okay,” I started to agree, my mind still unable to stop picturing her flat on her back and opening herself to me. “Wait.” I shook my head. “You have a pool house? You have a pool?”

Then I nearly smacked myself in the forehead. Of course they had a pool and a pool house. Every house as grand and huge and expensive as this one must have a freaking pool and pool house. I was mostly shocked because I’d never seen either before.

My shock was a good thing, though. It seemed to amuse Isobel. She softened her edges until she forgot to hide her burn wounds from me. “One of these days, you’re going to need a full tour of the place.”

I grinned. “If you agree to be my guide, I accept.”

No idea why I said that. I realized how flirty it sounded as soon as the words left my mouth, but I couldn’t regret it. Isobel drew in a breath as her face flushed and her mouth tightened in an effort to keep her emotions at bay. Then she glanced at me, and those blue-blue eyes of hers reflected all the hope and yearning I’d been feeling in my own chest since the moment I’d met her.

“We’ll see,” she murmured evasively. And I was forced to keep my backpack positioned directly over my lap area for the rest of the walk to the pool house.

chapter

TEN

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