Number Neighbors - Emma Hart Page 0,20

handle it.

I was a little short on balls.

The cat had plenty—both attached to him and under the sofa, but I didn’t have those.

Either. None attached and none under the sofa.

That I knew of.

“You’re doing a good job of ignoring me,” Isaac said after several minutes of silence. “Is there a reason for it?”

I huffed and looked at him. “What do you think? I’ve not exactly been secretive about the fact I don’t want to discuss the whole texting thing.”

He groaned. “Not this again. Hannah, I told you; all you have to do is tell me you’re not attracted to me and it all goes away.”

“But I can’t do that,” I admitted. “I am attracted to you. I’d have to be fucking insane not to be. I wish I wasn’t, believe me.”

His lips twitched. “So what’s the problem?”

“We’ve been over this. I’m not going to repeat myself a thousand times.”

Isaac held up his hands. “Okay. I respect that.”

“You do?”

“What? Do you think I’m going to come over there and kiss the shit out of you just to make you want to sleep with me?”

I shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Do you want me to?”

“I didn’t say that.”

Isaac picked up his wine glass from the table and finished it, then put it back down. “When you’re ready to talk about this—both the texts and our mutual attraction, let me know.”

I bit the inside of my cheek as he got up and left the living room, pausing in the doorway to bend down to give Lucifer some attention.

His ass stretched against his black pants.

It was really annoying.

He straightened up and walked to the front door. I knew I should have stood up and called for him, maybe followed him out to finish the conversation, but I didn’t know what to say.

I didn’t think there was anything I could say.

Nothing I wanted to say right now, at least.

I picked up my glass and cradled it to my chest. My front door opened then closed, leaving me sitting in silence.

I closed my lips around the rim of my glass and sat there, staring at the door he’d just walked through.

Had I made a terrible decision?

What would one time hurt?

Would it hurt?

Was it worth the risk?

I didn’t know. Would I ever know?

It wasn’t this complicated in the movies.

I put my wine glass down and got up, tossing the closest cushion out of my way. I almost tripped over Lucifer on my way to the front door, but it wasn’t the kitten that stopped me.

It was the fact that Isaac was standing in front of my door, inside my house.

“What the—” I froze. “I thought you left!”

“I thought you might follow me.”

“What if I hadn’t? How would you have left?”

“Hidden until you went to bed and climbed out the window?” He smirked, his eyes sparkling with amusement.

I gave him a flat look. “Very funny. Why are you still here?”

“Like I said, I thought you might follow me.” He stepped away from the door, toward me, and approached me slowly. “I took a bit of a risk.”

“I’ll say.”

“Think about it, Hannah.”

“Think about it?”

“One night.” He reached over and ran his thumb along the curve of my jaw. “It wouldn’t be the end of the world, and I can tell you this—it wouldn’t be bad. For me or for you.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know that for sure.”

Isaac swept his hand down to cup my chin and closed the remaining distance between us. Just when I thought he was going to speak, he lowered his face and touched his lips to mine.

Fireworks exploded across my skin at the touch. It was so unexpected, so unreal, that all I could do was stand in front of him and be kissed. I was completely at this mercy in this moment, even more so when he grabbed my hip and pulled my body flush against his.

I settled my hands on his toned arms and leaned into the kiss. It wasn’t like I could do anything else—my brain wasn’t firing on any cylinders, never mind all of them. I was consumed by the sensation of his full lips moving across mine, and it took me longer than I cared to admit to realize I was kissing him right back.

His lips swept over mine with an ease of a man who knew what he was doing, but the firmness of someone who wanted to take it further. His tongue flicked against my lower lip teasingly, as if it were begging me to