Page 30 of The Widower
Her body tensed for a moment—shock, maybe resistance—but then something shifted. The air changed. She softened beneath my hands, and the shock melted into something that hit me like a punch to the gut: acceptance.
Her lips yielded to mine—first hesitant, then with a quiet surrender that tore down the last of my restraint. The kiss started uncertain, like we were feeling our way through forgotten territory, but it deepened fast—raw, hungry, desperate. It was both a reunion and a confession.
The warmth of her skin seeped through my shirt. My heart pounded out of rhythm—I couldn’t tell if it was mine or hers. Every movement, every breath, every brush of our lips carried the weight of all we’d lost… and the force of everything still burning between us, no matter how many times I’d tried to kill it.
She tasted the same. Smelled the same.
And she still had that same devastating power to destroy me.
And me—the man who thought he could keep her at a distance—found myself sinking straight into what I feared most: the living memory of what we once were.
Her hands, once tense, slid up my shoulders, over my neck, and tangled in my hair. When she pulled me back to her, I realized I wasn’t the only one kissing anymore—she was meeting me halfway, with the same urgency, the same need.
The kiss deepened, gaining rhythm, hunger, soul.
Her breath burned against mine, the sound of our sighs filling the silence around us. It felt like the world had stopped, like nothing existed beyond that moment—two bodies trying to remember how to breathe together.
When I finally pulled my lips from hers, the air returned thick, too heavy to fit between us.
Isabelle—my Isabelle—kept her eyes closed, her lips still parted, as if she didn’t want to let the moment slip away.
And looking at her, I realized just how wrong everything inside me was. Because no matter how hard I tried to deny it, she was still my weakness.
And kissing her—God, kissing her—was the most inevitable mistake I’d ever made.
Isabelle!
“Colin… don’t start something you won’t finish.”
I don’t know why, but that line flipped a switch in my head. Maybe because she was right. No—she was right. I had no intention of giving this woman false hope, and she didn’t, either.
Isabelle worked for me, period. I couldn’t let my body make choices my mind already knew would explode in my face later.
I stopped the kiss abruptly—the same kiss I’d started.
I didn’t even know what I was feeling anymore. Was it anger? Or fear? Fear that this thing between us was already spinning toward something I wouldn’t be able to control.
ISABELLE CAMPBELL
We never expect certain decisions to play out differently right before our eyes—but this one slipped completely out of my control.
Getting caught up with Colin again wasn’t something I wanted… but God, it felt good. I had no doubt about that.
I honestly thought we’d pick up where we left off at my front door, but this time it was Colin who pulled away, turning his back to me.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He didn’t say a word. For at least twenty seconds—seriously—nothing. Time stretched, and he just stood there, motionless, still facing away from me. I didn’t understand what was going on, but before I could say anything, he spun around abruptly, eyes blazing with anger, staring straight at me.
“If that shit happens again, you’re out. Got it?” he said slowly, every word dripping with arrogance.
“Excuse me?!”
I had to be hearing this wrong.The jerk kisses me twice and then says that out of nowhere?!
“That’s exactly what you heard. Was I clear, or should I write it down for you to understand?” His face was still hard with fury, and it hit me right then—Colin Adams was insane. Completely. Certifiably. Out of his mind.
“I get kissed, and now I’m fired if it happens again? What the hell is wrong with you?”
