The End of a Marriage (Colette and Matheo) novel Chapter 223

CHAPTER 19

Isla lay curled tightly in the fetal position beneath two weighty blankets, her jeans still clinging to her legs, their fabric stiff and uncomfortable against her skin. Her breath hitched, her chest rising and falling in uneven spurts. She thought the bed was trembling beneath her, and for a fleeting moment, she wondered if it was an earthquake. But she didn’t dare move–not even an inch. Her muscles were locked, and her body felt like a taut string ready to snap.

It took a moment before the truth dawned on her: the bed wasn’t shaking. She was. Violent, uncontrollable shivers racked her frame. Was it fear? Isla wasn’t sure. She only knew one thing for certain–life as she had known it was over. The realization sat heavy in her chest, suffocating and undeniable. She had lost control–not just of this

moment, but of herself entirely.

And she knew exactly when it had happened.

It was the moment he kissed her.

Her trembling intensified as the memory clawed its way to the forefront of her mind, unbidden and relentless. She had been sitting on his lap, completely unprepared for the way his arms had wrapped

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around her, pulling her so close that the boundary between their

bodies had vanished. Her heart had stuttered, her breath faltered, and

then… his lips.

Oh, God, his lips.

She pressed her trembling hands to her mouth, as if trying to erase

the ghost of that kiss. The motion was futile; it was seared into her.

Her lips still tingled with the imprint of him, as if his kiss had lit a

fire beneath her skin. She tried to silence the choking sob rising in

her throat, clamping her hands tighter over her mouth. But her body betrayed her, shaking even harder under the weight of her emotions.

He had kissed her with such force, such raw hunger, that she’d been

utterly consumed. His arms had pinned her against him, her soft curves crushed to the unyielding hardness of his chest. She’d never

felt anything like it–she hadn’t even imagined it. She had no reference, no roadmap for this overwhelming onslaught of sensation.

The first touch of his mouth on hers had been like an explosion. A

detonation of everything she had ever known about herself. Her lips had parted in shock, and he had taken that as an invitation. The way his lips moved–forceful, insistent–made her panic and surrender all

at once.

Her body had betrayed her completely. Trepidation and fear twisted in her gut, but alongside them, something far more unfamiliar surged

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to life: heat, raw and searing. Her innocence left her defenseless

against the strange cocktail of emotions that flooded her. Desire

tangled with fear, a confusing, combustible mixture that ignited every nerve ending in her body.

Her skin burned as if she’d been set ablaze, her senses overloaded with the strength of his grip, the scent of him, and the commanding

dominance of his kiss. It was too much. Too much for her mind to

process, too much for her heart to endure. She’d felt like she was

drowning in him, swept away by a tidal wave she didn’t understand

and couldn’t escape.

Burning.

It was all she could feel–an unfamiliar, insistent heat spreading

through her body like wildfire. The tips of her breasts, crushed

against his unyielding chest, burned with a strange, aching need. And

lower, deep in the core of her being, between her legs, that same fire

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