Between a rock and a hard place
Chapter 15. Uncertainties

As the morning light filtered through the curtains, Jubal began to wake up. Isobel's warm body was still snuggled against his. Last night, after so many tense days, they had fallen asleep at once, cuddled together. It was wonderful for him to think that, even while asleep, they had still needed each other's closeness enough to stay together for the rest of the night.

And he had rested so well. No nightmares, no interruptions. With Isobel in his arms, he needed no more.

Very carefully, he turned his head to look. He gazed at her, asleep with her face resting on his chest, serene and beautiful. The wound on her forehead was almost healed, but a slight scar would remain. His heart began to beat so hard for her that he feared he would wake her. In that state he would certainly not have passed the polygraph... It was getting harder and harder for him to ignore what was possibly there. And that scared him, because it shouldn't be, and because he wasn't at all sure what to expect from Isobel.

He breathed slowly and deeply to calm his pulse. Just as he was succeeding, she began to wake up.

With a gentle touch, Jubal stroked her arm. Isobel opened those mesmerizing eyes of hers.

"Hey," said Jubal in a quiet voice, because he did not dare to say the sweetness that had come to his lips.

"Hey," replied Isobel sleepily.

The feeling that mainly came over Isobel at that moment was something too close to happiness. She had slept soundly, better even than the night before, and now she awoke warmly wrapped in Jubal's arms. She allowed herself to bask in it for a few more seconds. He was watching her closely with his hazel green eyes, smiling softly. Within her there arose a sudden surge of vibrant affection that made her chest tremble inside. She struggled to suppress it, annoyed with herself: it seemed stupid to have those kinds of feelings just because Jubal was looking at her. Her rational thinking was not capable of realizing that his expression was sincerely rapt.

Jubal gently slid his hand up and down her arm, over the back of her hand, across her fingers, invoking slight but extremely pleasant shudders in Isobel. At first, she couldn't help but react by tenderly placing her hand on his cheek, filling Jubal's stomach with butterflies. Irredeemably captivated, he moved closer and caressed her lips with small kisses. Isobel grew even more uneasy at the way it all intensified the way she felt about him.

Since she was convinced that this was a one-way thing, she could not allow herself to fall deeper into it. She immediately deepened the kiss, reflexively resorting to turning it into something fiery so as not to expose her heart any further.

Caught a little aback, Jubal sighed into her mouth. That turned her on completely. He tried to slow her down but to no avail. Isobel continued to kiss him eagerly. Finally Jubal had to respond. He turned around intertwining his legs with hers.

And suddenly Isobel had the feeling that she was taking advantage of Jubal again. She broke the kiss by turning her face away, leaving him bewildered.

"Is everything all right?" he asked, confused and out of breath.

Isobel felt terrible. And she would have felt worse if she had gotten to see in Jubal's eyes the insecurity her rejection had caused him. She struggled to give him an answer. "I wanted to tell you that... you were amazing last night," she murmured, dodging the question.

Not that it was a lie either, but it worked: she managed to distract him. Jubal smiled with pleasure. And then his smile became mischievous and irresistible. "You didn't fall short either..." he assured as he pulled her sensually against him and caressed her thigh.

An intense blush burned in Isobel's cheeks, a mixture of shyness, but also of flattery and desire. It helped her shake off her fears. Jubal's reactions had often shown her that he had not spent the night with her only out of self-sacrifice. Now she was sure that he desired her and that Jubal had derived genuine pleasure from her.

Nor should she always be the one to provoke him, but the truth was that Isobel owed Jubal even more than she had given him. Maybe that was what she should focus on...

What they were involved in could not last much longer, for many reasons. Although Isobel could no longer take back what she had declared the night before, and although the very thought of parting from Jubal painfully wrung her heart, she couldn't ignore the fact that they worked together, nor how recently Rina's passing was, nor that prolonging it would be for her emotionally foolish.

So Isobel had to apply herself and return the favors received as soon as possible. Not that it was going to be a sacrifice, exactly. Besides, she was temporarily suspended from her position, so she didn't have to go to work. She had all morning if she wanted.

She brought her face close to Jubal's neck and began to kiss him under his ear, while caressing his chest. And she began to descend. By the time her mouth reached the top of Jubal's chest, he was breathing heavily and his hands were roaming Isobel's body with restrained eagerness. She continued to kiss his skin ardently, and playfully slid her fingertips over one of Jubal's small nipples. Last night that had seemed to her to be something that could be exploited… The grunt that Jubal tried unsuccessfully to stifle was confirmation enough. Somewhat excitedly, Isobel pinched gently as she directed her mouth to the other nipple.

He stroked her head with one hand as he ran the other down her back. When she began to use her tongue, Jubal couldn't help but gasp and shudder. He found it especially arousing that Isobel was seeking to provoke him in this way. It was even making him forget how disheartening it had been that she hadn't fully accepted his affectionate gestures. His body began to seek further contact.

Isobel could feel him getting firmer against her, and that made her decide without a doubt what her next destination would be. But it was so delicious to get such good results that she prolonged it for a while longer. Until she managed to make him moan.

Eagerly, she ran her hand down his chest, his belly, to between his legs and combined what she was doing with her mouth on his nipples with touching him there, slowly but incitingly and intensely.

And that was her 'mistake'. For then Jubal suddenly sat up, picked her up by weight, and turning them both around, laid her on her back on the bed. Isobel let out a startled exclamation.

Seized by unbridled hunger, Jubal's mouth began to move rapidly down Isobel's torso leaving a trail of sizzling kisses, leaving no doubt as to where he was going. Jubal felt somewhat surprised with himself. For something he had never dared to fantasize about, he wanted it too uncontrollably. Or perhaps it was precisely because of that...

Isobel wanted to regain the initiative, she had every intention, but was unable to act when he, kissing the inner side of her thighs, began to tease her with reaching for his target without actually doing so. The anticipation almost made her beg. She didn't need to in the end. With a voracity that no one had ever applied to Isobel before, in the most scorching way, Jubal devoured her between her legs.

Still, he took his time, savoring her with lips and tongue, enjoying her every reaction, and meticulously building up such a tension in her that Isobel, biting her lip and clutching his head, thought he would make her explode. There came a moment when, amidst her absolutely uncontrolled moans that filled the room, Isobel couldn't help but call out his name. , a wave of flames engulfed Jubal, and a loud growl of pure desire escaped him. That low vibration caused a sensation so strong in Isobel, that it made her tremble violently. He got the idea right away and started applying it rhythmically along with everything else he was doing.

It was what finally launched her to the heights of ecstasy.

·~·~·

She was up there much longer than usual because Jubal kept him going as long as he could. Isobel descended much more slowly than she had ascended.

Oh, my goodness. He had been spectacular. Her body was still shaking. Was it always going to be like this with him? This could cause addiction... However, as she was catching her breath, Isobel realized that Jubal had foiled her plans and made her indebted again. Dammit. At that rate she was never going to end up paying it back.

Would that be so bad? To have him next to her every night...

Isobel firmly pushed that thought aside because it would simply be foolish to yearn for what she thought was beyond her reach.

When Jubal returned to her side and kissed her, he wore a mischievous smile that showed how very pleased with himself he felt. It was both irritating and irresistible. It gave Isobel a terrible urge to punish him in the most delicious way possible.

She had him trapped in a predatory stare that Jubal was finding impossibly appealing when Isobel's cell phone rang from the bedside table.

For a moment, she was tempted to ignore it even though the ringing tone told her it was work. I'm suspended, right? Well, get lost, then. But she glanced sideways and, seeing that it was Maggie, had to change her mind.

She sat up and took the call.

Jubal felt frankly disgruntled at the interruption. There were still plenty of things he wanted to do with Isobel. He pouted in protest and tried to take the cell phone from her, but she dodged him

"Maggie. Tell me. Are you guys all right?

Concern replaced suddenly Jubal's annoyance when he heard her answer like that. He too sat up with a start.

"Oh, OK," Isobel responded to what Maggie said.

That, and how her shoulders relaxed noticeably, took the fright out of Jubal's mind quite a bit. He hugged her from behind and placed sweet kisses on Isobel's neck and shoulder while enjoying how good she smelled...

However, in addition to being severely distracting to her, it made Jubal miss how Isobel's expression gradually became irritated by what Maggie was telling her.

When she hung up, and turned to look at him, Jubal drew her to him almost immediately, and continued to kiss her neck more fiercely now. At first, Isobel couldn't help but give in and hugged him too, clinging to him and biting her lip. She longed to taste his skin, to make him moan like last night. In addition, she felt bad to leave him this anxious after how well he had treated her just a few minutes ago. But... Damn it, she could not sit idly by at what Maggie had just told her.

Only a moment later, to Jubal's disappointment -to both of theirs in fact-, Isobel broke away. "I have to go to 26 Fed," she said with a sigh.

She was tempted to promise him that she would more than make it up to him later, but it was not clear to her that she should keep prolonging that affair between them. The longer it went on, the harder it would be for Isobel to let him go when Jubal got tired of doing 'sex therapy' with her. Therefore, she said nothing.

"What's wrong? Is everything all right?" he asked, worried again.

Isobel considered whether to tell him what was going on at work, but Jubal was still on sick leave and, at his level, there was nothing he could do anyway. "It's nothing serious, but I have to go talk to Reynolds."

It was obvious to Jubal that the sentence contradicted itself. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Please stay as long as you like," Isobel offered, avoiding his eyes and getting out of bed. "I'm going to take a shower."

Jubal had to sigh deeply to shake off his disappointment. "OK. I'll make you some breakfast in the meantime," he proposed cheerfully and went to get up as well.

Isobel stopped him. "No, please. Don't bother," she said uneasily, feeling unduly touched on the one hand, and even more indebted to him on the other.

"I don't mind," Jubal tried to insist.

"I said no," Isobel cut him off sharply, unable to handle the tugging inside her.

Jubal backed off. It was harshly obvious that Isobel preferred to keep her distance and that stung him more than it should have. He tried to hide how irritated he felt, but his face turned serious anyway.

"Sorry," Isobel softened her tone. "Really, don't bother."

·~·~·

By the time Isobel came out showered and dressed, Jubal had also cleaned up, in the guest bathroom, and made coffee. He offered her a cup. She opened her mouth to protest.

"Not even coffee?" Jubal said before she said nothing, annoyed.

Isobel shut her mouth and accepted the cup. "Thank you," she murmured with a half-smile that improved his mood a bit.

Once ready to leave, as Isobel headed for the door, Jubal reached out and took her by the waist. He tried to kiss her tenderly, but at the last instant, she turned her head and his lips ended up on her cheek. Feeling a sharp pang in his heart, Jubal withdrew his mouth but did not pull away completely.

Panic had seized Isobel. If she had let him kiss her at that moment, she would not have been able to hide her feelings from him.

"See you... see you tonight?" Jubal whispered in her ear, somewhat shyly.

His warm breath on her ear, the closeness of his body, made her shiver. Isobel almost answered him by pleading yes, but then stopped short.

Perhaps it would be better to leave it at that. If they didn't meet again that night, maybe she could end it before it was too late.

Yet, she still had -delicious- scores to settle with Jubal...

Unfortunately, she did not have time to decide now. "I'll tell you during the day," she replied, impatient with herself, but which Jubal sensed was directed at him.

The pain inside Jubal's chest became lacerating. "Of course, as you prefer..." he managed to answer in a serene voice and let her go.

In spite of everything, she found it hard to tear herself away from him. Pressed for time as she was, Isobel did not get to see before she left how much Jubal's eyes had darkened.

~.~.~.~