All recognizable characters are property of Stephanie Meyer and the author makes no financial gains from using them. I just like to make them spoiled little rich kids.
This story will bounce back and forth between the present time (senior year) and the summer before. Please do not hesitate to PM me with any questions you may have.
Big thanks to Kaila for betaing this for me.
Thank you to those of you who have added my story to your favorites or alerts, I really hope you enjoy it. My sincerest apologies in the delay of posting. I've had a lot going on personally lately and needed to focus on it. I hope to be back and in full swing now though. Check out the banner for this story made by the very talented MsRason: .
"Shit, I left my notebook in your car." Bella suddenly stopped right outside the academy doors.
"Don't say shit," Alice chastised with a scrunched nose.
Bella rolled her eyes in response. "I'm still waiting for that list of preapproved French curse words from you." Bella smiled innocently at Alice while Edward tried to stifle his grin.
"Here're the keys." He pulled them out of his pocket and tossed them to her; noticing that she caught them perfectly. "Make sure you lock it!" he hollered after her she waved her hand back at him, indicating she'd heard him.
She opened the car door and fished around for her notebook that had slid under the passenger side seat. Closing the door and pressing lock on the remote, she took off for the entrance doors again.
Just as she gripped the handle, someone gripped her wrist. Bella looked up, startled, into the slate gray eyes that she'd tried so hard to forget. She pulled her arm hard, but James refused to let go.
"We need to talk," he stated, simply.
"I have no desire to talk to you, or did you not get that message yesterday?" she asked, trying to pull her arm away again. "Let go!" she demanded when he made no attempt to remove his hand from her arm.
"If I let you go are you going to bolt away from me?"
"Probably," she confirmed.
"Then, no," he said, tugging a little so that they were practically chest to chest.
"Say whatever you need to say." Bella sighed in defeat, knowing he wasn't going to let go until he'd said whatever he needed to.
"Look." He sighed, looking utterly defeated. "I had no clue that you were going to end up here."
"Obviously." Bella rolled her eyes and James grimaced briefly as he tried to figure out what to say.
"Why are you hanging out with my friends?" he asked.
Bella raised one eyebrow at him in annoyance. "If you haven't noticed, they're my friends too."
"I've known them longer," he shot back.
"Oh, the kindergarten response," she replied before laughing. "An excellent defense. Plus, I think, if you asked them, they prefer me to you; especially Emmett."
James' eyes narrowed at the mention of his friend, instantly remembering his curiosity from the weight room. "If you wanna play monkey games with the gorilla, that's your business," he stated.
"And if it wasn't obvious why they preferred me before..." Bella trailed off.
James sighed before taking in a deep breath. "This isn't coming out right," he said, dropping her wrist finally and looking off in the distance.
"Oh, am I distracting you?" Bella asked with a sneer as she rubbed her wrist. James flinched at her words, just like she knew he would, but she was surprised at how much it had hurt her to say them.
"Can't we just," he paused, bringing his gaze back to her, "agree to disagree or something?"
Bella studied him for a moment before responding. "I suppose it would be easier on everyone if you and I could be civil to one another," she agreed.
James looked at her with a small bit of hope in his eyes. He was about to speak when J appeared next to them.
"Damn and I thought I was late," he said. He took in the strained expressions on their faces before backing up a couple paces. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
"No, we're done here I think," Bella said, eyeing James carefully. He gave her a small nod and she took it as a sign of their new agreement. "Walk me to class?" she asked, turning her full attention to J.
"Anything you want, Strawberry." J grinned widely at her before following her inside. James watched the two of them walk away unsure about whether he should be happy that they'd reached an understanding or furious that all of his friends seemed to be trying to get with the one girl he actually cared about. He'd never begrudged his buddies trying to get laid before, but Isabella was different and it was really starting to get to him.
June 30th
James woke up the next morning; his head feeling like it weighed a ton. He began coughing soon after and then felt the congestion in his sinuses.
Great, third day at the beach and I get sick, he thought. He dialed Isabella's cell lowering the volume on his phone as it rang through his head.
"Hello," she greeted her voice cheerful.
"Duchess," he replied through a cough.
"You okay?" she asked as he sniffled.
"Not feelin' so hot actually," he admitted. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to postpone taking you out on the boat til tomorrow."
"Are you sure you're all right?" she asked and he could hear the frown in her voice.
"Yeah, just a little rest and a little Xbox and I'll be as good as new," he assured her, coughing again. He hung up and dropped the phone onto his navy comforter.
As he was flipping through the channels a little while later, he heard a knock at his door. Frowning at the lack of entertainment on the TV, he clicked the power button and hollered, "Come in." Isabella peeked her head around the door glancing at him warily.
"You're not dying are you?" she asked with a smile.
"No." He laughed a congested laugh. "What're you doing here?" he asked, confused but happy to see her nonetheless.
She closed the door softly behind her and walked over to the bed sitting on the edge so as to not disturb him. She was wearing a pair of white cargo shorts that showed off her beginning tan nicely with a simple green t-shirt and her hair in a messy bun that girls sometimes wore. He smiled at the differences between this girl and the ones he usually hung out with. The others would probably be in itty bitty bikinis with short ass jean shorts on. Not that he had anything against itty bitty bikinis, at all, in fact, he was quite fond of them, but something about her relaxed look made him feel at ease.
"I figured, since you're probably sick because of me, that I'd bring you some soup," she said, looking down slightly.
He looked at her in confusion. "Why would I be sick because of you?"
"Because you gave me your sweatshirt last night and probably caught a cold because of it," she explained.
He smirked slightly and reached for her hand. "If this is all I get, it was worth it," he said and laughed before coughing again. "So, where's the soup?"
"Oh, I left it down stairs with Marcus," she informed him. "I didn't think you'd be hungry yet." They sat in silence for a minute, neither sure what to say. Bella glanced around the room taking everything in before spotting the Xbox remote on the nightstand. "What game were you going to play?" she asked, picking up the remote.
"I don't know, Madden or Major League probably," he said, shrugging.
"You up for some competition?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"From you?" he scoffed and then began coughing again.
"Unless you're not feeling up to it," she said with a guilty look.
"I'm game," he said, waving her off. "Would you mind asking Marcus to bring me up some orange juice before we start though?"
"I can go get it," she said, getting up. He smiled as he watched her leave the room; being taken care of could be kind of nice.
Two and a half hours later, James had lost two games of Major League and was in the process of losing a third.
"Catch that!" Bella challenged as her batter swung. James tossed the remote on the bed.
"Fuck it, I know when I've been beat." He laughed. "Brothers?" he asked as she got up to turn off the system, wondering how she'd kicked his ass.
"Cousins," she said, smiling. "We normally spend the summer in the mountains with my dad's brothers and they all have sons. Since the reception in the mountains sucks, they conned their mothers into letting them bring the gaming systems and that was practically all they did, so didn't leave me with many options."
James found himself smiling at this girl; she was casual, she called him on his bullshit and she could game. What's not to like? he thought, and she was cute as hell.
"You hungry?" she asked as he began to flip through channels. His stomach growled in response and he laughed lightly.
"Guess that answers your question," he said.
Marcus brought up soup for the both of them and they watched The Count of Monte Cristo with their lunch. James felt at ease just lying there with Isabella and watching a movie. It was odd how comforting something so simple could be. Watching movies was something James normally did alone; chillin' in front of the TV wasn't something he did with his friends unless they were gaming, but even that had become less and less after they'd turned fifteen. Things were different with Isabella; he wasn't always trying to figure out what his next move should be or trying hard to impress her, but acting like he wasn't trying. His life could be so exhausting sometimes and it was nice to just be able to be when it came to Isabella. A mixture of the warm soup, the cold medicine, and the serene feeling he had when Isabella was around enabled him to fall into a deep sleep about half way through the movie.
James awoke sometime later and found himself searching for Isabella as soon as he opened his eyes. She was sitting in a large chair by the window with her feet dangling out of it. The afternoon sun illuminated her entire form making her look like an angel. He let out a contented sigh as she turned the page in her book and looked up.
He smiled when she caught his eye and whispered, "Duchess," into the air. Bella smiled and closed her book, setting it on the chair before making her was over to him.
"I hope you're not expecting me to start calling you 'Duke'," she said with a warm laugh. He continued to lay there and stare up at her as he lightly ran his fingers over her bare arm. "How are you feeling?" She ran her hand through his thick, soft hair. James groaned internally at the sensation of her hand in his hair and realized he was feeling much better.
"I can breathe now," he said with a smile and pulled her face to his giving her a small kiss.
"If you get me sick…" she warned as he pulled her to him again.
"Then we can do this all over again tomorrow," he said as she stretched out next to him.
He cuffed his hand behind her neck and began weaving his fingers into the loose hairs at the bottom of her head. Using his other arm, he pulled her on top of him, their forms pressed into each other as she trailed kissed down his jaw line. James tasted the skin just below her ears and continued his way down her neck as she tangled her hands into his hair. She let out a small moan as he nipped at her shoulder blade and he was glad for the comforter between them at the moment.
"As much as I'm enjoying all this," he said, kissing his way back up to her lips. "I figured I should let you know that my mother's probably down stairs with her card group." Bella pulled back immediately at his words looking like she'd already been caught. "Don't worry," he said, running his thumb along her jaw, "they don't know you're here. I just thought I should let you know before things went any farther."
Bella sat up quickly and righted her clothes that had become twisted. "I think this would be a good stopping point." She smiled at him guilty. "What do you feel like doing?" she asked, still sitting next to him with her knees bunched under her.
"I'd kind of like to get out of here for awhile," he admitted. Now that his head had cleared up and he could breathe again, his room was feeling extremely stale.
"You wanna take a walk along the beach?" she suggested.
"Yeah, that sounds good," he said, getting up. "I'm gonna take a quick shower first though."
Present Day
Kate was doing her best to ignore the insistent tapping on the bottom of her chair from Emmett's foot, but it was becoming the only thing that she could focus on. She tried to lose herself in looking over the shoes of her classmates.
Knockoffs. Hand me downs. So last season. She rolled her eyes, a self-satisfied smirk plastered across her face. She drew her attention to the board and began to copy down the extra credit problem Mr. Anderson posted daily. Just as she finished adding it to her notebook, the tapping caught her attention again.
"Do you mind?" she asked sharply as she turned to face him full on.
"Am I bothering you?" he asked, the look of innocence covering his features.
Kate had a hard time dealing with Emmett when she was in a good mood. The way nothing ever seemed to bother him and how he always was able to skate by in life annoyed her to no end. "Why are you even in this class anyways?" she asked, changing direction immediately. "Your math skills are horrid and you've already gotten into Duke, so it's not like you're looking to impress."
"I'm wanted here." He shrugged as if it were no big deal, his smile fully displaying the dimples that made most of the girls in school swoon.
"Trust me, you're not," Kate returned, throwing her hair over her shoulder and turning back towards the front of the room again.
"Sure I am." Emmett leaned forward so that he was close enough to whisper into Kate's ear. "Take a look around you honey; every chick in this classroom wants me here, except you."
Sure enough, as Kate lifted her head to take in the females surrounding them, every set of eyes that wasn't on the board, were focused dreamily on Emmett. Kate knew what the girls saw in him; he had muscles, an incredible smile, bright baby blues, and he'd been a football hero since he'd learned to catch the ball. Unlike the girls surrounding them though, these things did not impress Kate in the slightest.
But they might impress someone else though, Kate thought, a wicked look taking over her features.
"Was there actually something you wanted, Em, or were you just trying to annoy the shit out of me?" she asked once she had regained her features.
"Actually, I was hoping to get some information on the new girl," he said, slightly surprised by the change in her demeanor.
"Bella?" Kate asked with a raised eyebrow, though she knew that was exactly who he was asking about.
"Yeah, any tips on her or are you guys all 'chicks before dicks' and shit already?" he asked, his pen drawing circles subconsciously all over his paper.
Kate thought a minute about how she wanted to play this. On the one hand, if she was too willing to help, Emmett might think she was setting him up. On the other though, if she was too hesitant to help him, he might give up and that wouldn't work for her at all. Emmett wasn't the brightest of creatures though, so she decided to help him out, but dial it down slightly.
"Why do you care?" she started, wanting to feel him out a bit before she got in any further.
"She's cute, looks like she could be fun. I mean, her response to Edward showing her underpants to the whole school was pretty classic." He chuckled lightly remembering not only Bella's reaction, but her retaliation as well.
"Well, Bella's not your normal type of girl," Kate began baiting him. "She's not going to fall for a set of muscles and some incredible dimples."
"They are pretty incredible, aren't they?" Emmett asked, smiling broadly and causing all the girls who had been watching him to let out a deep sigh. Kate rolled her eyes in response but said nothing. "So, what is she into then?"
"Classic things," Kate said vaguely, wondering how interested Emmett really was. If he was into Bella for just a piece of ass, then this wasn't worth her time, but if it was something more, as Kate expected Emmett might finally be interested in, then she would participate a little longer.
"Like classic cars and stuff?" Emmett asked raising an eyebrow, slightly confused.
"Um yeah, kind of," Kate replied, trying to hide her smirk. "More like classic movies and books."
"So I should take her to some old movie and give her a dusty book? I don't know if that's quite my style."
"Em, you're normal style is not going to work with Bella. You might just need to come up with something outside the box this time," she told him as Mr. Anderson entered the room.
"Outside the box, huh?" he whispered to her and she nodded in confirmation before turning back towards the front of the room, a satisfied smile on her face.
Bella and Kate made their way to one of the ball machines, passing several other girls in the process. The tennis courts were filled with girls in yellow, red, blue, and green. Kate eyed the girls around them as she motioned for Bella to go first. Kate stood slightly behind her and watched as she returned the first couple balls out of the machine.
"I talked to J in fourth," Kate informed her as if it was important news.
"And?" Bella asked, looking back at her with raised eyebrows.
"He said he was late this morning and ran into you and James." Bella said nothing in response, waiting to see where Kate was going with this. "He said you looked tense."
"Talking to James would make anyone tense," Bella muttered, returning another ball.
"I thought you didn't care about James anymore." Kate watched Bella carefully as she toyed with the top of her racket.
"I don't," she confirmed. "I just said that talking to him would make anyone tense."
"I don't think it made her tense." Kate nodded over to a girl in a red tank top, the same girl that James had left the cafeteria with on Monday. The next thing Kate knew, a tennis ball made a loud thwack sound as it bounced off the girl's butt. The girl turned quickly, glaring at whoever had just hit her as she rubbed her backside.
"Oops." Bella smiled patronizingly at the girl.
"You should probably go get some ice for that," Kate hollered to the girl. "Before the swelling makes it any larger than it already is." Bella chuckled quietly at the look on the girl's face before returning her focus to the ball machine. Kate returned her attention to Bella, eyeing her with speculation. "So, James makes anyone tense, huh?"
"What are you getting at?" Bella asked, giving Kate her full attention, tired of playing whatever game Kate was into at the moment. Even though she'd only known Kate since this summer, she knew that she never just said things without purpose.
"I'm just thinking maybe you should start focusing on someone else so you don't wander down the James path again," Kate suggested.
"I don't think I'm in danger of wandering down that path," she argued. "Plus, there aren't a whole lot of options around here if you haven't noticed."
"Oh, I've noticed. They're pretty, but not a whole lot going on upstairs."
"Yeah, but you've got Garrett," Bella said before turning back to the ball machine.
"Yes, I did luck out there." Kate smiled thinking of how great it had been to be on the same path as someone else. Garrett kept up with her like no one else ever could and he challenged her in ways she'd never expected anyone to. "What about Emmett?"
"Emmett?" Bella snorted the name trying to hold back a laugh. "Talk about a set of dimples with no further thought process happening."
"I don't know," Kate began, attempting to bait Bella just as she had Emmett earlier. "He can be pretty sweet when he wants to be." Bella stopped again and turned back towards Kate. "Really, when he's not being the typical jock, he can be really great."
"Emmett?" she asked again, mulling it over in her thoughts.
"Just think about it, that's all I'm saying," Kate said as she stepped up to switch places with Bella. "If nothing else, he could be a nice little distraction for awhile." Bella moved to the side of the court while she thought a little more about what Kate had said.
June 30th continued
The air had begun to cool as the sun set and James took a deep breath letting the salty air fill his lungs. Isabella walked along beside him in comfortable silence watching the birds dip into the water every now and again. James smiled just watching her take everything in. In some ways it felt like he was doing things all over again, picking up on things he hadn't caught or experienced the first time. He laughed, watching a mom round up her two young sons who kept running into the ocean, trying to evade her. There was an older couple out on their deck and James marveled at the way the old man still seemed to look at his wife as if they were just starting to date.
Maybe they are, James thought absentmindedly. Some elderly people do still decide to date once their spouse passes on. James chose to believe that their love had simply transcended over the years. Love? Why am I thinking about love? he thought confused. He wasn't a lover, he was a player, and he knew this. The girl standing next to him smiled at him with adoration in her brown eyes and he thought maybe she sees something different. This isn't different, this is a distraction until the guys get here, he scolded himself. He glanced over at Isabella again and somewhere a little voice inside him whispered, Stop lying to yourself.
"You feel like having some dinner?" he asked as they came back to his deck.
"Like with your family?' she asked uncertain.
"No, they'll be out I'm sure," he said, opening the door for her.
"Oh, okay then. What'd you have in mind?" she asked more upbeat.
"Marcus can make just about anything, what would you like?"
Bella pursed her lips and cocked her head to the side in thought as they walked through the huge living room. "This is going to sound really odd," she stated, leaning on the counter once they reached the kitchen, "but French toast sounds so good right now." James laughed loudly unable to contain himself as Marcus walked into the kitchen.
"This must be the lovely Swan girl," Marcus said with a nod causing Bella to blush fiercely.
"Bella," she said with a small smile, shaking his hand. "Why did you laugh at me?" She turned to James, anger present in her tone.
James looked at Marcus. "She wants to have French toast for dinner," he told him with a sly grin.
"Of course." Marcus laughed, shaking his head.
"What is so funny?" she asked, her hands on her hips, looking indignant.
"French toast is Master James' favorite meal when his parents are away," Marcus explained, still chuckling as he pulled things out of various cupboards. Bella smiled shyly at James looking embarrassed.
"Why do you only eat it when your parents are away?" she asked, sliding on to one of the stools along the counter.
"My mom doesn't approve of having breakfast food for dinner," he explained as he sat down next to her.
"How funny, my mom doesn't approve of having dinner foods for breakfast," she said with a chuckle.
"What kind of dinner food do you eat for breakfast?" he asked as he crossed his arms and leaned on the counter.
"Um pizza?" she asked in a 'duh' tone.
"Touché," he said with a nod of his head.
"So what do you normally do when you're here early and your friends aren't?" Bella asked, making small talk.
"Well this is a rare occasion," he admitted. "Normally we come out the same time as everyone else; we haven't been out this early since I was a kid."
"That's when the French toast started," Marcus said with a laugh.
"To be honest, I used to spend a lot of time right here," he said, remembering back.
"Used to drive me nuts," Marcus said.
"Tell me about young James," Bella requested, shooting James a sly smile.
"He was quite the talker," Marcus said as he began cooking. "He'd sit up there on the counter and just go on and on and on about the most trivial things."
"He ever tell you about the cloud stories?" Bella asked with a smirk. James bumped her lightly with his shoulder.
"We can't all be star gazers," he said, slightly annoyed. "Marcus actually taught me how to play poker."
"I've never really played," she replied, shrugging.
"We should play then," he told her as Marcus set their meals in front of them.
"Okay, so you want to get runs or sets basically," Bella said after James had explained some of the basic points of poker. "And it's better if they're suited."
"Yes." James began dealing out the cards. "You get five cards and you get to throw away once," he said, explaining.
James looked at his cards, three eights, a five and a two. He tossed the five and two and caught the fourth eight. He smirked to himself; he had always been good at cards and looked forward to the poker games at Emmett McCarty's house once school started back up. One of the only things he looked forward to during the school year. Emmett's parties were legendary and he normally took home quite a stash.
"So two fives would be bad right?" she asked, bringing him back to the present.
"Yeah, you want to have something better than that if you're going to bet," he said. They played a couple more hands and her cards seemed to get worse and worse.
"Maybe it's because we're not betting anything," she said after showing her hand of a pair of threes.
"You wanna bet?" he asked uncertainly.
"Well maybe that's why I'm not winning, I have nothing to lose," she said, somewhat frustrated.
"I don't want to take your money," he said honestly as he began to shuffle again.
"We don't have to play for money," she said, staring out the window as a cool breeze blew in.
"I know," he said, suddenly struck with an idea. "How about the loser has to kiss the winner, anywhere on their body they point out." He eyed her with a cocky grin as he awaited her response.
"I think that may just be your attempt to get me to make out with you," she said, smiling.
"You game or not?" he asked, challenging her.
"Game on," she said with a serious look.
James sighed to himself as he looked at his cards, he had a straight. Like taking candy from a baby, he thought as Isabella revealed her hand of two pairs. He started out easy on her and pointed to his cheek. As she leaned over to kiss it, he got a long view down her top. Very nice, he thought to himself as he began shuffling again.
Bella lost the next four hands and James had her kiss his other cheek, his nose, and each of his ears. Bella got a huge grin on her face as she picked up her cards.
"Straight!" she exclaimed, excitedly laying them down.
"You're getting better," he admitted before laying down his flush. "I still win though." He grinned smugly as he pointed to his neck. Bella leaned over placing her hands on either side of his legs and firmly pressed her lips to his neck sliding her tongue along his jugular gently. She smirked, leaning back and he adjusted the waist band of his shorts.
He had a hard time taking his eyes off her as he dealt the next hand. Where shall I have her kiss next? he wondered as he viewed his hand containing another flush.
"You sure you want to keep betting?" he asked, revealing his hand causing Bella to frown.
"Crap, all I've got are two pair again," she said, setting her hand down. James looked perplexed for a moment at her hand before looking up at her. "Two pairs of sevens!" She watched him with a smug expression as he studied her cards. "Right here." She tapped her finger against her jaw line once he'd looked up. James quickly complied.
She'll win one, he admitted to himself.
After eight straight losses later, James couldn't keep his hands and lips off her.
He gripped her hips manically as his lips rushed to taste all the skin that was available to him. The rug was agitating his knees, so he pulled Isabella to his chest and rolled onto his back, placing her on top of him. He hungrily pulled her face to his again, attacking her lips. Their tongues fought against each other, both trying to claim dominance. He began running his fingers over the smooth skin of her back and she sat up straddling him as she tried to gain her balance. James let out a low growl as she made contact with him. She eyed him seductively as she gripped the bottom of her t-shirt, pulling it over her head.
James thought he was going to pass out as he took in her revealed chest. She had on a hunter green lace bra and the curves of her breasts protruded delicately over the lace. He ran his hand slowly over the exposed skin and she shuddered in anticipation. He leaned forward as much as he could and pulled his shirt over his head as well wanting to feel her skin on his. He pulled her to him once again, covering her neck with his mouth. She wound her hands into his hair and he groaned at the feeling of having her pressed against him.
She pulled back a little, breathing heavily and he attacked her stomach with kisses, his hands trailing along her sides and coming to a rest at the top of her shorts. He looked up at her briefly, gauging her mood and she coaxed him with her eyes. He kissed her a couple more times as he slowly undid the button on her shorts. He slid his fingers along the inside of them as Marcus' voice came over the intercom.
"Master James," he said, waiting for a response. James looked at Isabella apologetically as they fought to catch their breath. Bella stood allowing James to go over to the intercom.
"Yes," he said as calmly as he could manage.
"Your parents just pulled in," he informed him.
"Thank you, Marcus." He turned back to Bella who had already rebuttoned her shorts and was sliding on her t-shirt after hearing the announcement. "Sorry about that," he said as she handed him his shirt from the floor.
She smiled at him, pressing her hand against his chest. "I have to say that's the most interesting poker game I've ever played," she said, raising her eyebrows.
"You hustled me," he accused.
"No, I just started getting the hands," she said honestly.
"I call for a rematch tomorrow," he said as they walked down the stairs.
"On the cards or something else?" she asked cockily.
"Whichever," he said smiling as if it made no difference.
After dropping Isabella off, he walked back home and took a quick cold shower before heading down stairs.
"Thanks for the warning," James told Marcus as he pulled some ice cream out of the freezer.
Marcus nodded and looked up before he headed out. "Your parents will be gone tomorrow until late Saturday," he informed James with an interested look.
"I didn't even know they were leaving," James admitted through a mouthful of ice cream.
"Just a little bit of information I thought you might find useful," he said, leaving the room.
That takes care of my parents, but what about hers? I wonder if I could convince her mother into letting her stay. We will be out on the boat all day tomorrow; she may be too exhausted to come home. I bet her mom would buy it. Just turn on a bit of the Evans charm and I'm sure her mom would eat it up, he thought smugly to himself. He licked his lips thinking of Isabella on top of him pulling off her shirt again.
"Duchess, you don't know what you do to me," he said out loud.