Page 127 of Howlin’ For You

ISABELLA

The moment was too much.

Too much tension. Too much sexual energy. Too much everything. If I didn’t do something to break the mood, I was going to fall to my knees and beg for him.

And I don’t beg for anything.

Not anymore.

But the playful promise in his eyes is swirling up a new kind of tension. I back away slowly as he wipes the frosting from his face with a napkin.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he murmurs. The permanent growl in his voice draws me in like a siren’s song.

Images of him chasing me through a forest dance around my head. How his muscles would strain as he hunted me. What he would do once he caught me.

A fantasy to be saved for another time.

I bump against another table. “Nowhere.”

“It would be a shame to ruin your dress.” He cocks his head, considering. “At least, it would be a shame to ruin it with frosting.”

A shiver of desire raises goosebumps along my arms. The dominant tone, the intense gaze, the promise in his words—they all equal a need I never knew I had.

His hand slides into my hair and cradles the back of my head, thumb caressing my cheek. “How should I ruin you, Izzy?”

Nick told me point-blank that this isn’t no-strings-attached. That he wants me. Time to trust him and jump in.

I hook my fingers in his belt loops, pulling him so he’s flush against me—pressing me that much further into the rough curve of the table’s edge. “In only the best ways.”

His chuckle is deep and warm like a bonfire. Like the softest blanket.

Like home.

He leans in, rubbing his nose against mine. We’re only a hairsbreadth apart.

“I’m going to kiss you now, Isabella Gregory.”

I close that final inch between our mouths, placing a whisper of a kiss on his lips just to beat him to it. The hand in my hair tightens as he brings me back, kissing me like I’m the sweetest treat he’s ever had the pleasure of tasting.

His mouth is soft and warm, coaxing me into a gentle submission that makes my toes curl in my ridiculous heels. I don’t know what kind of kisses I’ve been having, but they were nothing like this.

Kissing Nick is life-changing.

Axis turning.

World-altering.

Kissing Nick is everything.

Another pathetic whimper builds in my throat as my hands slip up his sculpted abdomen to rest on his chest. I barely register the twinge in my neck or the way he’s practically bending me in half to reach my lips.

My entire body just wants more.

It’s him who pulls back this time, eyes trained on me, panting heavily. I whine, clawing at his neck, trying to pull him back down. I wasn’t done.

I don’t think I’ll ever be done.

He dives for my neck instead, kissing and softly nipping the sensitive skin in ways I didn’t even realize I liked. Needed.