Page 52 of Splintered Desire

Isaac gets the hint, or at least I hope he does. I hear him stand as I fight to keep control of myself.

Isaac will be my stepbrother for real in just over a week.

He’s dangerous.

He’s just going to do the zipper on the dress, nothing more.

So why can’t I breathe?

Why is the room suddenly so hot?

Why do I wish this weren’t the case?

I feel him behind me, and try as I might, I can’t stop my breathing from coming in sharp, near pants under his gaze as I smooth down the dress, my palms sweaty from nerves I haven’t felt since I was a kid.

His hands move with precision, gliding the zipper up with so little effort that it’s nearly comical given how much I struggled.

It takes less than five seconds, and it’s done, yet he remains where he is, and after what feels like an eternity, I can’t resist his pull any longer.

Glancing up, I find his gaze in the reflection as if he’s drawn to me, as if he were simply waiting for me all this time.

His hand comes up to rest on my arm, the pad of his finger slowly moving up toward my shoulder, leaving goosebumps in its wake as he moves the strap I hadn’t noticed fall back into place.

I watch, unable to look away as he rolls his lips in, his tongue poking out to lick them before he leans in impossibly closer.

“This one will do.”

The shrill ring of his phone makes me jump and sends my heart hammering hard enough that I fear it will burst out of my chest.

I move away one step and then another before I turn around to face him.

What the fuck is wrong with me?

His eyes are still fixed on me even as he listens, and I don’t need to ask to know it’s Kolson on the other end. His voice is like a bucket of ice water as I move back toward the curtain, needing a moment or five to collect myself.

“Of course she did,” Isaac assures him, though I’m not sure what the question was since I wasn’t actually trying to eavesdrop.

Maybe I should be, though.

“If you wanted to see, you should have taken her.” I hear the bitter intensity of Isaac’s response, but I don’t dare look back, even if I can’t help the little thrill his words give me.

I retreat behind the curtain and manage to get the dress off without help. Thankfully, it’s much easier to undo the zipper than it was to do it, and honestly, I just pulled the dress down, and it unzipped itself, so there's that.

Isaac is on the phone still after I’ve dressed, though you wouldn’t know if you didn’t really listen. He doesn’t say much, a grunt or hum of agreement. A scoff here and there are about the most Kolson seems to get before he eventually hangs up. I’m not even sure if they were done talking or if Isaac simply had enough of him.

I hope it was the latter. The idea of Isaac hanging up on him… His face would be priceless.

Isaac cocks a brow at me as I exit the curtained area, and I shake my head, dropping my smile, and to my surprise, he not only lets it go but reaches out and takes the dress from me. I want to fight him, but honestly, the dress is so nice that I really don’t want to mess it up. Leave it to me to trip over it or ruin it somehow before we even get home.

No, despite not wanting him to buy my dress, I really needed something nice for the wedding, and this is much better than I could ever have afforded.

We move back through the shop and right out the front door, leaving a pouting sales clerk behind us and me very confused.

“Um, I know you guys are used to getting everything you want, but you do have to pay, you know,” I tell him as we walk back to his car, and my panic climbs.

She’s going to call the fucking cops…

Isaac laughs, like an honest-to-God laugh, and I stop dead in my tracks as he tucks my dress into the back seat and swings the door closed again.