“The landlord is on the line,” the realtor said, holding his phone toward Isabelle. “You can talk to him.” When Isabelle took the phone and turned away, the man gave Jacob a wink–a sign that everything was going smoothly.“Hello, I’m looking at an apartment here and I understand that the rent is only three hundred bucks?” Isabelle said into the phone.“That’s right,” the man on the phone replied. “I know it sounds shocking, but I’m about to move abroad and wanted to get tenants before I leave. I figured I would get a tenant quickly if I lowered the rent.”“Oh,” Isabelle muttered. That kind of made sense, she decided. If the landlord was moving abroad, it made sense that he would lower the rent to quickly attract a tenant. She still thought the rent was too low, but as long as the landlord had confirmed it, she was willing to let it be.“Feel assured and take the house,” the landlord continued. “I was very happy to get a call that someone wanted the house. Please don’t worry about the

Isabelle picked up the form and ran her fingers around the edges nervously. “Even if there are side effects, they said that they will compensate me.”Jacob gave her a look that suggested he thought that was ridiculous. “And you believed them?”“It’s in the registration form.”His brow furrowed. “Let’s say they are not lying, what if the drug has serious side effects on your health? Are you okay with that just because they’ll compensate you? What if you suffer permanent effects?”“Many people have done this before,” she said, trying to calm him down. She couldn’t understand why he was so angry about it. “You’re overthinking, I’ll be fine.”“Overthinking?” he scoffed. “Don’t you care about your health at all?”“I need the money, okay?” she told him finally, dropping her gaze to the floor. “I need money urgently and this was the best option I could find.”“What?” he asked, his voice full of disbelief. “You’re putting yourself in danger because of money?”Isabelle clenched her teeth toget

So he went for the next best thing–her bed. Walking past her, he threw his body onto her bed, resting his back against the headboard. He lifted his legs onto the mattress and took one pillow in his hands. This way, her sweet fragrance surrounded him.“Wh…what are you doing?” Isabelle stuttered, turning to regard him. The embarrassment on her face was still evident, her ears red from how hard she was flushing. He enjoyed how flustered she appeared, but he wasn’t going to mention it.“Tell me what happened,” he said instead of answering her question. “What was so good that you screamed?”“I can tell you in the living room,” she said, her attention still on the fact that he was still lying on her bed as if he belonged there. Was she the only one who thought he was crossing a boundary?“I’m okay here,” he said, cradling her pillow in his arms.She couldn’t exactly physically eject him from the bed, so she gave up and took a seat on her vanity chair. “I got an order from a client on Monday

“It’s not your place to tell us how to do our jobs,” the manager snapped at Isabelle, taking a step towards her. “I’m telling you now, if you and your husband don’t leave right away, we’ll detain you and call the police to take you away.”Seeing that the argument was getting heated, and that Isabelle seemed ready to lash out at the manager, Jacob grabbed her arm and pulled her back to his side. “It’s okay,” he whispered to her, “just let him be.”Isabelle looked up at him, her face troubled. Her nostrils flared, betraying the fact that she was truly worked up and barely holding on to her civility by a thread. “You heard what he said,” she told him, as if she couldn’t understand why he was asking her to back off. “He is making false accusations to humiliate us. We cannot let him treat us like that.”“Why don’t you listen to your husband? He seems to understand what’s going on,” the manager butted into their conversation, sounding smug.Immediately, Isabelle tried to break from Jacob’s

As he kissed her deeper, he dropped his hand to her neck, caressing her soft skin, annoying its feel beneath his fingers. His hand moved lower to her shoulder, which was bare but for the straps of her camisole.He went past the straps to her bare arms, stroking her skin lightly. She shivered in his arms, and he wondered whether it was a reaction to him or the cold.Her hands, which were now clutching to his shoulders tightly, pushed him back and she tried to disengage their lips. But he only pulled her closer, now teasing her lips with his tongue. She gasped and drew in a breath through her mouth, and it was only then that it occurred to him that she was out of breath and wanted a break.Before he could give her a little space–with full intention of resuming the kiss right after–the two jerked apart as the car suddenly skidded to a halt. Jacob quickly wrapped his arms around Isabelle to keep her from falling off the seat and glared at Kevin.“I’m sorry, sir. I almost ran into a cat an