“Torch," she whispered his name.
“Tomorrow night, I will pick you up. Wear something comfortable." He touched his lips to hers briefly then left her standing there looking after him.
She touched her lips with her fingertips and sighed. No wonder females fell at his feet. He was sexy and dangerous. “What am I going to do?”
Chapter Nine
Isis decided to have breakfast in her suite. She didn’t want to run into any reporters and she didn’t want to have to answer anyone’s questions. Shit, she was so confused herself, she wouldn’t know any answers to give. She would have happily remained in her suite the whole day, but she had morning practice. She turned on the TV on the wall to watch the news.
She froze in place. Isis could hear her heart pounding and heat rising throughout her body from shock and fear. There stood Ishop, he was posing at a dignitary party. He looked the same as before, tall and blonde, physically beautiful. But he was the cruelest male Isis had ever met. He was standing next to a tall blonde female, one of his hands was resting on her hip. Isis knew immediately who the female was. Clovis, a female that was not royal but hoped by sleeping with the royals would elevate her status. She was one of the royal courtesans. She smiled up at Ishop with adoration. Evidently she had her sights set on Ishop. They deserved each other. Her greed and his cruelty made them a perfect match.
Isis turned up the volume. The reporter said the name of the hotel the event was being held but she missed it. She thought it had sounded familiar. But she had seen a lot of places in the nearly eight months she had been gone from her home world. Truth was she didn’t really miss it. The GCFA had become more of a family to her than the Isle of Isia ever was.
The news turned to some other event. She turned the TV off. It was the first time she had seen anyone else from her home world. What misery would she have suffered had she stayed? She was grateful that she would never know. She left that part of her life behind. She wouldn’t look back now. Her future was here with the GCFA.
*****
Later that morning Isis was being put through the ringer with Zara’s training. She was going one on one with the tall brunette. “Come on, Icycle, you can do better than that!” she taunted Isis.
“You know what?" Isis asked.
“What?" Zara took the bait.
Isis did a reverse kick back so quick it caught Zara in the mid-section unexpectedly and she went down to the mat. Isis wasn’t done. “I have had it with the name calling." She walked over and kicked Zara in the face with her foot. “My name is Isis, use it!”
Zara shook off the kick with a smile. She spit blood out of her mouth but kept smiling. “Not bad. Not bad at all, Isis."
“Uh oh!" Alana came over and stood next to Isis.
“What?" Isis asked, turning to look at what Alana was pointing at. Nigel walked into the training facility. He didn’t look in Isis's direction, he was headed straight for where the men were training and he looked pissed.
Oh shit!
*****
“You have a visitor," Zen told Torch who had his back turned away from the entrance.
Torch turned around slowly and saw Nigel in his fancy suit storming his way. He gave the other male a smirk. “What brings you…”
Nigel slammed his fist into Torch’s face hard, knocking him backwards onto the floor.
“Man, you should be a fighter,” Zen commented as Nigel stepped over Torch’s stunned body and headed toward where the females were training. All the females stood in front of Isis to protect her.
“Move out of the way!" Isis yelled, shoving her friends aside so she could face Nigel. He deserved to confront her. Zara refused to move. She was ready to take Nigel down if he tried to hurt Isis. She appreciated that her friends, even Zara, cared about her. She focused on the angry male before her.
He took a deep breath and let it out. “Isis, may I have a word with you privately?”
“No." Zara told him at the same time that Isis said, “Yes."
Isis glared at Zara. “I’ll be fine." She followed Nigel’s long strides out of the training facility. She glanced back once to check on Torch. He was still down on the ground. She hoped he was okay. She had no idea Nigel had that in him.
Impressive.
“Nigel I…" She was cut off when Nigel grabbed her arms and pushed her up against the wall. His lips crashed down on hers and he put his tongue in her mouth. She was too shocked to stop him. He gentled his hold on her and she relaxed into the kiss.
It was a really good kiss. Nigel knew just the right amount of pressure to use with his tongue and mouth. As good as he was, her responses were forced. She didn’t respond to him naturally. She couldn’t understand why. This male was perfect for her. But something inside of her told her to stop. That as nice as the kiss was, it wasn’t what she really wanted. He wasn’t what she really wanted.
Nigel released her lips and pulled back to stare into her face. He was aroused and breathing hard, but he hadn't seen what he was hoping for in her eyes. His arousal dimmed, replaced with disappointment. He released her arms and stepped back.
“Did I hurt you?” He looked at her with concern.
She shook her head. “No. I was just surprised.”
“I had to find out if I stood a chance. After the photos of you and Torch going into your suite, I knew there would be a slim chance of me winning you from him if he had already slept with you.” Nigel ran a hand through his hair making his perfectly groomed locks a little messy. Isis couldn’t help but think the messy look really looked good on him. Then it hit her what he had just said.
“What photos? I didn’t sleep with Torch.”
Nigel pulled out his phone, showed her the early morning exclusive of her and Torch close together at her suite. The article said they had slept together. “He never came into my suite. He didn’t even kiss me.”
Nigel nodded as he put his phone away. “But I still do not stand a chance do I?”
She didn’t deny it. Nigel was a good male and deserved the truth. “I am so sorry, Nigel. You are perfect in every way. I just feel…I don’t feel that way for you. I don’t want to lose our friendship. I don’t have a lot of friends.”
He lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles. “I will always be your friend, Isis. I wish you and Torch all the best. But if he ever hurts you, I will come back and kick his ass.”
Nigel let her hand go and grunted at Torch who came bursting through the door searching for them. “Treat her right, flame boy." Then he stalked off.
Torch rushed to Isis’s side with concern. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
“I’m fine but are you okay?" She touched the bruise on his chin.
He took her in his arms. “Nothing that won’t heal." He had been stunned to be decked like that by a suit. By the time he came to his senses, he was told that Isis went outside to talk to Nigel. He was so worried that Nigel would take out his anger on his female. He sniffed Isis and caught Nigel’s arousal on her.
“He touched you?” Torch growled.
“He kissed me but then realized that it was pointless and stopped,” Isis told him, still gently caressing his cheek. She knew it shouldn’t matter but the fact his first concern had been for her safety, made the ice around her heart melt a little toward him.
“Why was it pointless?" Torch pulled back to stare into her beautiful blue eyes.
“Because I don’t want Nigel in that way. Only as a friend. He knows that now too. That he is not the male I want.”
He caressed her cheek. His voice was husky, “Who do you want, Isis?”
“You," she whispered as she leaned up on her toes to kiss him.
“Mmm…ouch, ouch!" Torch pulled back with frustration. “I think the bastard hit my lip too. Hurts like a son of a bitch!”
“Sorry." She looked at him with concern.
“Don’t ever be sorry for kissing me. Just be gentle for now. Then tonight, you can kiss me like you mean it.” He winked at her.
She giggled as she leaned up and gave him a very soft kiss. “Until tonight.”
Chapter Ten
“So where are you taking her?" Zen asked as he jogged on the treadmill next to Torch. He could go much faster but he set a steady pace to keep up with Torch.
“Don’t know yet," Torch said, gritting his teeth with anxiousness. He had to do something special, something different from what Nigel had done. So Isis would know just how much she meant to him.
“Dancing and dinner is always a good start," Zen offered.
“That is so typical. You need to do something else. Go to a movie, then you can pull her close and you don’t have to worry about talking," Hammer said, punching a bag.
Rage snorted, “Just take her back to your bedroom and don’t let her leave for at least twelve hours. By morning she will agree to be your mate.”
Zen chuckled. “I think he should leave off holding her as a sexual hostage for now." Rage shrugged his shoulders and grabbed a towel to wipe his sweat. Zen continued, “Just think about Isis and make the date fit her, what she likes.”
Yeah, easier said than done.
Torch had never been one to think of other people. In the facilities where he had been locked up most of his life, he learned to take what he could before it was taken from him. He only thought about his survival, and of his brother.
Having been freed from the facilities, he learned there was a huge world that he was expected to function in. He had to learn to get along with others, which was hard. The only people he had ever trusted was himself and his brother.
It didn’t help matters that Isis was so reserved. She let very few people get close to her. She had to be the most mysterious female he had ever met. He would have to draw on everything that he did know, which wasn’t much.
“I’ll think of something.”
*****
Isis was nervous. More nervous than she had been when Nigel took her out. She went through her entire closet trying to find something to wear. At first she tried on a pale pink dress, but then she remembered Torch told her to dress casual. So she eliminated anything that was a dress or skirt. She settled on a pair of black jeans and a button up pale yellow blouse.
She was surprised at how much she was looking forward to spending time with Torch. The times she was around him before she never felt like she had to put on an act. She could be herself around him. She liked that. Her phone rang and she picked it up smiling.
“Hello?”
“Isistania?" a familiar male’s voice asked.
She felt her heart racing. Isis hung up her phone without responding.
Oh God no!
He couldn’t have found her. Maybe he somehow got her cell number but that didn't mean he knew where she was. Did he?
Eight months. She had been gone almost eight months with no word or sign from anyone on her home world that her new identity had been discovered. Until now. It was only a matter of time before she found the answer to "why now".
She had hoped by now Ishop would have moved on with someone else. Her phone started ringing again. It was the same number as before. She blocked it. That wouldn’t stop him or the Council. But it would buy her time to figure out what she should do next.
She didn’t want to leave the GCFA. She worked too hard on her career and now she had a life and friends. She wasn’t willing to give all of that up. Not now.
She prepared herself for when that time came but never really thought it would happen. She was an adult and had a right to live her life any way she wanted. If they wanted her back, she would fight them with everything she had. The doorbell to her suite interrupted her thoughts.
She walked over and opened the door. Torch stood there in a pair of blue jeans and a tight black t-shirt. He gave her a sexy grin.
“Hi, gorgeous.”
“Hi." She forced a smile. She was still shaken up by the phone call.
“Is everything okay?” He dropped his flirty attitude right away.
“Yeah, just heard from someone in my past that I didn’t want to hear from again,” she told him. Why did she tell him that? She could have just said that she had bad news or something. But the idea of lying to Torch made her feel uncomfortable.
He straightened and looked at her with a serious expression. “Is there anything I can do?”
“Just help me to forget things tonight, for a little while anyway,” Isis told him.
“I can do that.” He gave her a warm smile.
Isis grabbed her purse and walked out into the hallway shutting her door behind her. “So where are we going?”
He smiled as he led her to the elevator. “It’s a surprise.”
“A surprise? I’m not sure about surprises. They’re not always pleasant.” Her thoughts flashed to the phone call.
“You’ll love it,” Torch told her reassuringly.
As the elevator doors closed, Torch’s cell phone went off. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw a text from Zen.
“Tell her that she looks extremely beautiful this evening."
Torch growled as he texted his reply.
“Shut the hell up!"
He stuffed his phone back in his pocket and looked down at her. “You look beautiful.”
She smiled big at him. “Thank you.”
Okay, Zen was right
this
time. But the interfering male needed to stay out of this. He didn’t need a third wheel texting him throughout his date. Just to be sure, he pulled out his phone and turned it off completely.
They took the elevator down to the lobby. Torch escorted her out of the main entrance and down the loading ramp of the ship. He had called ahead of time and had a shuttle waiting for them.
“You really aren’t going to tell me where we’re going?" Isis peered through the window of the shuttle as they moved through the spaceport city.
“Nope." He moved closer to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. He couldn’t help but nuzzle her braided hair. Her scent was intoxicating.
“Are you sniffing me?” She laughed as she pulled back to look up into his eyes.
He chuckled. “I can’t help it. You smell so damn good.” He needed a taste, just a small one. He leaned down and kissed her softly. He was going to pull back but she reached her hand up to cup his cheek keeping him where she wanted him. She opened to him and he eased inside teasing her. She moaned and pressed closer. It was all the sign he needed.