Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 21964 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 110(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 21964 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 110(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
She lay on her stomach, her feet kicked into the air, swinging back and forth, as she looked at him. Randomly, she’d take a bite out of a strawberry. Her long, brown hair was pulled back into a clip, and the length was curled, as it fell around her face in ringlets.
“Okay, so your favorite author?”
“I love too many to name one,” Lucy said. “You?”
“I don’t read all that much.”
“You don’t?”
“Nah, never had the time to read.”
“What about before you came to Saint Falls?” Lucy asked. “What life did you have before?”
Isaac couldn’t help but have a flash of his past life. The kills he made. The pain he caused. The violence.
“It was kind of boring,” he said.
“It was?”
“Yeah.”
“What did you do?” Lucy asked.
He knew it was only natural to be curious. There was no reason to be suspicious, and leaving that life, coming to a small town would make a lot of people curious about his past.
“I was a ... bodyguard for some people.”
That wasn’t far from the truth. She was not ready to know that in his life before Saint Falls, he was a soldier with the Rostova Bratva. One of the most feared of all that served the Bratva with loyalty. Until they squashed that loyalty and killed his family. She didn’t need to know his past.
“That sounds scary. Is that why you have all the ink?” she asked, pointing to his arms.
He got the ink as a way to hide the scars of the tortures he went through. The school he was forced to attend had their own methods of making men strong, so they wouldn’t crack beneath the torture. Isaac refused to be tortured. He refused to submit. He fought everything.
“I like getting ink,” he said.
“I thought once about getting a tattoo of a dolphin, because I love dolphins. Or of a rose, or of something, you know. Something I like. I even went to the tattoo parlor in town, and I sat in the waiting room, looking through their booklets. Then I chickened out, and I just couldn’t do it.”
Isaac laughed. “Getting ink is not for everyone. It can be painful to some people, for others, not so much.”
“Was it painful for you?” she asked.
“No.”
“You see, I don’t know how that is possible.” She wrinkled her nose.
“Trust me, I can handle a lot of pain.”
He had been repeatedly punched in the face, had his balls and stomach kicked, all to make a man out of him. She didn’t need to know any of that. Getting ink was easy compared to some of the things he experienced.
“Do you think I should get a tattoo?” she asked.
She lifted her head, and the way she did it showed off the valley of her cleavage. Isaac was not known for being a gentleman. At least, not in his former life. Kissing Lucy on the cheek, and not taking those lips that looked like they were designed to be kissed, was testing his patience.
He wanted to kiss her. To make love to her. No, scrap that, he wanted to fuck her, hard, raw, and show her how to ride his cock. He wanted to get down and dirty with her.
But he also wanted to show her she could trust him. He would treat her like his queen.
Also, he had a feeling her friend Marge would come for him, and someone called Harry, as well as Betty, and pretty much everyone who knew Lucy and cared for her. Did she have any idea how much the town loved her? Including Richard, the guy that owned the bar in town. Isaac got a nice little phone call Saturday morning, with a warning that he better not be using Lucy for fun.
Lucy was not the kind of girl men discarded without consequences. He knew what that meant. If he treated her badly or hurt her, there might be a few broken bones in it for him. Not that he had any intention of hurting Lucy. He loved being around her. She was sunshine. He was darkness. He came from horror and pain. Lucy came from love and happiness.
They were two completely different people, but he knew in some odd way that he was capable of making her happy. That was exactly what he wanted to do.
“I think you should do whatever you want to do, and if you want to get a tattoo ... I’ll be right there with you.” To make sure no other man could attempt to take her from him.
****
“You know, you didn’t have to do this,” Lucy said, carrying out the tall glasses of lemonade.
Her friends were due back from their trip tomorrow. In the last three days, she had enjoyed hanging out with Isaac. She helped out around his mechanic shop, as there had been a couple of emergencies. They spent a lot of time in the park, near their spot by the pond. She loved to watch the ducks and swans taking baths and swimming in the pond. It was so cute.