I push his face down hard one last time and he pushes at the table trying to get away. I stand back, fighting myself not to tear him limb for limb for hurting her like that.

  He grabs a napkin off the table and wipes at his face, horrified. I wave at the security. “Take this fucker out of here before I kill him,” I tell them and they lift him by his arms carrying him out with his woman following behind.

  Emily is looking at the ground. It’s like she’s a ghost of the person she just was, she was just smiling and having fun

  But this fucker had ruined all of that.

  I bend over and lift her gently off the ground, carrying her bridal style out of the restaurant.

  I’m sick to my stomach that someone had the audacity to do something like this to her. To open the wounds, to hurt her because we got into a restaurant before them, a restaurant I own.

  Some people deserve to fucking die. I will hurt him for hurting her.

  I watch my security throw him in his vehicle, vowing to myself to not show mercy next time, no matter the cost.

  I open the truck door with one hand, setting her inside. “Emily,’ I say softly wanting her out of her head. I want those beautiful eyes on me.

  She slowly blinks and looks at me, tears in her eyes. I fight myself from going ballistic, but she needs me right now.

  “I am so sorry,” I tell her. I don’t know what else to say to her but I’m so fucking angry that a grown fucking man would say something like that.

  Her lips tremble. “It caught me off guard. I got lost in the memories for a moment. I’m ashamed that I let it get to me like I did.”

  Anger burns through me that she is blaming herself for feeling. “Fuck, don’t be ashamed. He did it to hurt you. You are human, baby. You have been through so much but you are here and you are so fucking strong. I am so proud of you.” I cup her face wanting my words to take root.

  She sighs, a tear rolling down her face. I catch it with the tips of my fingers and press my forehead against hers.

  We stand there breathing and taking in the moment together. Every second feels like hours until she stops trembling and the fear leaves her body.

  I’m fucking heart broken.

  “Want to go home?” I ask.

  She shakes her head no, surprising me. “We wanted to go dancing and we are going to go dance.”

  I shake my head in disbelief that she is even up for that after what just happened. If that isn’t a testament for how strong she is, then nothing is.

  “Are you sure?” I have to ask again to make sure she is really okay with it and not trying to push herself into something she really doesn’t want to do.

  She nods. “Yeah, I want to do this. We can’t let people like that ruin our night.” My heart burns with anger once again thinking about what he said.

  “Okay baby.” I take her hand and help her back out of the truck. She fixes her dress and smiles at me.

  God, she is so fucking strong.

  We walk the short distance to the bar that is right down the street from my restaurant. The owners of the bar are good friends of mine.

  I look over at her and she smiles at me, the tears in her eyes long gone.

  Emily

  I was shocked at what happened in the restaurant, but it just sealed the fact that there are horrible people everywhere in this world.

  No one has the right to ruin a second of my life anymore. I am going to live and those people can fuck right off.

  I’m proud of myself in this moment. Proud of the way that I pushed through it and didn’t let it affect me too deeply.

  Isaac stood up for me. The anger that rolled off him was shocking. It’s hard to believe that the moment prior to that he was touching me so gently and then he was slamming someone’s face into their plate.

  But he did it for me.

  I think I may be falling in love with him. The way he makes me feel safe and takes care of me, I’m so gone for him.

  He holds the door open for me and the first thing that hits me is the strong smell of beer. It’s dark inside the bar, neon lights everywhere and you can see people dancing on the dance floor to the left of the room.

  He pulls me along to the dance floor. I laugh seeing a couple almost falling over someone else.

  They look at me and laugh with me.

  A slow song comes on over the speakers at the perfect time. Nerves hit me and I stand in front of him like a loser, unsure of what to do.

  He smiles. “May I have this dance, beautiful?” he asks me and I giggle at his formal tone.

  “Why sure, handsome,” I say with a country accent.

  He laughs and pulls me to him. I lift my arms resting them on his arms. I’m flush against him. He has one hand on my side and the other on the small of my back.

  He’s so handsome. Most of the women in the room are staring at him and I can’t blame them. But I’m relishing in the fact that he’s here with me.

  He stares at me like he can’t believe I’m here with him. “What?” I ask him, wanting to know what he’s thinking.

  “You’re so fucking beautiful, sometimes it takes my breath away.” He shakes his head, smiling at me.

  “Isaac,” I say breathlessly, my eyes burning from the emotions of it all.

  He undoes me.

  He cups my face so I can’t look away from him. “It’s true. You are so fucking beautiful I can’t breathe sometimes and I have to fight myself on telling you that you are mine because I don’t want to scare you.”

  I stop breathing. All the fear of him not feeling the same for me goes out the window at his admission.

  “I’m yours?” I ask, moving closer to him.

  His eyes darken. “You are mine.”

  I want to kiss him. I look at his lips for a second before pushing up on the tips of my toes, lifting myself up so I can reach him.

  He doesn’t move. I swear he doesn’t even breathe. Everything around us slips away and it’s just us in this moment.

  My heart is beating so fast, I feel like I’m going to pass out from the power of it. I lift my hand, pressing it against his cheek, loving the feel of his warm skin.

  “I’m going to kiss you,” I tell him.

  “Please.”

  I smile at his plea and split the very short distance between us. Gently, almost like a whisper, I touch my lips against his.

  He’s shaking and I know he’s fighting himself not to take control. “It’s okay.” I pull back and tell him, giving him permission to kiss me.

  That’s all he needs as he presses his lips harder against me and lifts me off the ground with his arms banded across my back. I stand on the top of his feet giving me a few extra inches.

  This kiss is soul altering. I feel it in every part of my body. We are one in soul, body and mind. It’s just us right now, nothing else matters.

  Isaac is the one. In this kiss, I know wholeheartedly he is it for me.

  His hands bury into my hair, tilting my head back so he can kiss me deeper. I sigh, tightening my arms around his neck, wanting to be closer to him.

  Someone bumps into us and I laugh, breaking the kiss and he laughs with me. His eyes take my breath away. I can see full happiness in them.

  I put that there. “You make me happy,” I tell him softly. I run my thumb across his bottom lip.

  He presses his forehead against mine. “You make me happy.”

  I feel on top of the world. We stand there, forehead to forehead, people dancing all around us. The music is no longer slow but pounding, yet we are so wrapped up in each other, we don’t notice anything.

  Chapter

  Seven

  EMILY

  A WEEK LATER

  “Are you sure he won’t buck me off, Isaac?” I stare at the horse scared but excited at the thought of finally riding.

  I got cleared by my doctor because I’m fully healed. He offered once again to refer me to a plastic surgeon, the best in the country.

  I’m still not sure I want to do that as I’m just getting to the point of where I’m not ashamed of my scars.

  “I will be right beside you,” he encourages me and I nod. I put my foot in the stirrups and Isaac pushes my butt giving me a boost onto the horse.

  I laugh and turn around to look at him. “Why Isaac, are you just using this as excuse to just touch my ass?” I arch an eyebrow at him.

  He laughs, tapping my hip. “Do you want me to?” He wiggles his eyebrows.

  I smack the hand that is on my hip playfully. “Maybe I do.” I smirk and he puts his foot in the stirrups and climbs on behind me, shocking me.

  I tilt my neck back and look at him. “I can’t stand being that far away from you,” he confesses and I press a kiss to his cheek.

  He wraps his arm around me taking the reins. “I never want you to be away from me.”

  He kisses my forehead. “You will never be away from me if I can help it, baby.”

  The kiss we had last week has changed everything. We’re closer and it’s because we both know where we stand with each other.

  We have gotten closer and the feelings I have for him have grown. I lean back against him and he leads us through the field. The leaves are falling all around us; fall is such a beautiful time of the year.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” he asks me. He was with me today at the doctor.

  I sigh. “They keep pushing plastic surgery. I know my back is hideous but I just can’t bring myself to do it,” I tell Isaac and he tightens his arms around me. “It took so long for my back to heal and I just don’t want to go through anything like that again.”

  He kisses my cheek. “Baby, you do what you want. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. This decision is yours and yours alone.” He grips my face gently in his hand, turning me to look at him. “No matter what, you will be the most beautiful and selfless person in the world.”

  I could die every time he says all of these words to me. It’s like they touch every part of my soul. It heals a broken part of me, soothing the hurts.

  “Isaac, the way you talk to me makes me feel special.”

  “It’s because you are special.”

  I grip his thigh, needing to touch him. “You are special to me, Isaac.” He presses his forehead to the back of my head, sighing.

  We ride to the edge of the mountain looking at the sky. The sun is starting to fall and the sky is turning beautiful colors.

  “Do you want kids someday?” I ask him.

  “I do.”

  My mind wanders to a little boy running around looking like Isaac. “Do you want boys or girls?”

  He takes my hips, lifts me up and turns me around so I’m facing him. “I want a little girl.” I smile thinking of how great Isaac would be with a little girl.

  “I know you’d be an amazing dad.”

  “What do you want?” he asks me.

  I smile wistfully. “I want a family, call it cheesy,” I laugh. “I want to be a stay-at-home mom and have a soccer mom van filled with kids. I want to sit on the porch and watch them play in the yard with their animals. That is the dream life for me. It seems like heaven.”

  He pushes my hair away from my cheek so he can run his finger along the back of my cheek. “You’d be the best mom, angel.”

  I bite my lip trying not to blurt out I want to have his kids, but he would probably think I was mentally ill.

  “Ready to go home?” he asks me and I scoot closer, lifting my legs over his thighs. “Ready.”

  He laughs and puts one arm around my back, holding me to him. “I think I’ll stay right here,” I tell him, trusting him to keep me from falling.

  I rest my head on his chest, snuggling in close. Every night no matter what, we always seem to end up in bed together. I love waking up and him holding me all night long. The nightmares seeming to be further and further away.

  He still has them sometimes and it hurts me a million times worse than mine do. To see the pain in his eyes once he escapes them. No, he doesn’t escape them, he feels them for hours after.

  Last night I found him on the floor in the bathroom asleep where he woke from one and I didn’t hear him.

  It’s heart breaking and I wish I can take it from him.

  The house comes into view and Isaac helps me slide off the horse. “I’m going to go put him away.”

  “I will make some dinner.” I walk into the house, not able to resist looking out of the window at him brushing his horse.

  I add the ground beef to the pan to start the tacos. I pick up my phone to start a new book, waiting for the meat to brown.

  I try to read but I can’t take my eyes off his body, the way his body flexes with every movement. The way his hat is turned backwards, his shirt tight around his biceps, his jeans hugging his thighs.

  I squeeze my legs together trying to control what I’m feeling. I want him and it’s scary for me to admit that.

  What if he thinks I’m disgusting from the abuse I suffered? I can’t not think of that. Maybe my trauma is too much for someone to handle?

  I rub my eyes, my heart heavy at my depressing thoughts.

  I’m clean, all of my test results came back a few weeks ago. I never thought I would even want to be with a man again, but Isaac isn’t every man.

  He is everything.

  He walks towards the house and I hurry to plate everything so it’ll be ready for him when he comes in.

  I set the food on the coffee table and I walk back to the kitchen grabbing a beer for him and wine for me.

  He sets his boots by the door and his eyes immediately search me out. “Dinner is ready.”

  He walks to me and sits down. “This smells amazing, baby.”

  My stomach flips at him calling me baby. I will never get used to that. I hand him the sauce and take a bite of the taco turning on Criminal Minds - he is obsessed with it.

  I can feel him staring at me. I peek over and give him a confused look. “You don’t have to take care of me, baby.”

  “I love taking care of things like this. It’s my love language,” I say easily not even thinking of what I’m saying until I hear his sharp intake of breath.

  I peek back at him, but did I not mean it?

  No, I do love him. I think I fell in love with him when he never once left me in the hospital. Held my hand all night long so I wouldn’t be afraid. Held me when I cried, cleaned my wounds that were so gruesome, nurses ran out of the room. Held me all night trying to fight the nightmares for me.

  I do love him.

  I’m not exactly sure when it happened but it happened. Isaac sets his plate in front of us on the table and lifts me onto is lap. “I love you too, baby.”

  I close my eyes letting his words wash over me like a balm, healing parts of me I didn’t know was fractured.

  When I open my eyes, a tear rolls down my face. “I love you too, Isaac, more than anything.”

  I kiss him hard, needing to be close to him, pouring everything I have into this kiss. He stands with me in his arms, walking with me to the bedroom.

  I tighten my legs around him, his body holding mine up. I’m set gently onto the bed, with me looking up at him.

  I want to be with him more than anything. “I want to try,” I tell him. I know he’s nervous.

  He cups my cheek. “Are you sure?”

  I nod, putting my hand on top of his. “I have never been more sure of anything,” I tell him honestly.

  He pushes my hair over my shoulder. “We will take it as slow as you want. This is about you.”

  “I know I am safe with you.” I know my words touch him.

  He grips the bottom of my shirt and I lift my arms so he can pull it over my head leaving me in my bra.

  He has seen me shirtless before, but this time this isn’t about him cleaning my wounds. There is heat in his eyes this time.

  He runs his fingers down the side of my neck gently, running the tip of his finger down the center of my chest, down my sides until he grips the shorts I’m wearing.

  I lift my hips and he slips them down my legs, leaving me in my bra and underwear.

  I wait for the fear but it doesn’t come. The way he is looking at me, I don’t think I could fear him even if I wanted.

  I know he loves me and that he would never hurt me.

  I have a scar on my hip where the whip missed my back and wrapped around my hip and his eyes are on it.

  “Lay back, angel, on your belly.”

  I hesitate because my back will be exposed to him and he will be seeing all of it. I have some on the back of my legs in random parts where their aim wasn’t true.

  But I do as he asks.

  I lay down with my arms tucked under my face so I can stare at him.

  He climbs onto the bed next to me, studying me. “I know it’s ugly.” Feeling really vulnerable right now.

  He looks shocked, almost hurt by my words.

  He shakes his head no. “No, you’re so fucking beautiful, I can’t help but look at you.”

  “My scars.”

  “No.” He puts a finger to my lips stopping me from speaking, “No, you are beautiful. I’m going to kiss every scar, every little freckle, every mark on your body until you know how beautiful you are.”

  My eyes burn, but the tears don’t fall. I let go of the emotional pain my scars have created, how they make me feel unworthy. He pushes my hair over my shoulder, off my back.

  “Beautiful.” He leans down and I close my eyes at the first feel of his lips pressed against the largest, jagged scar.

  I grip the sheets, my heart aching from the intimacy of it all.

  He pulls my hands loose from the sheets, intertwining our fingers, lifting them above my head. “Don’t hurt yourself,” he whispers in my ear.

  I swallow hard, feeling his lips so close to me. His breath on my neck sending goosebumps down my body.

  He kisses the scar where my neck meets my shoulder and I let out a deep breath. I’m wet instantly just from the small touch of his lips.

  I tilt my head to the side so he has better access. I close my eyes and I’m going to just enjoy this, enjoy being worshiped.

  I tighten my hands in his, loving the feel of his large hands in mine, the callouses from the hard labor he does around the farm.

  With his free hand, he runs his finger down the center of my spine causing me to arch my back.

 

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