Page 20 of The Heir

Hmm hmm."Kingindeed,"I tease quietly, failing to bite back a grin.

Something about the way she says my name causes a rush of pleasure to swell high in me. I'm going to straight up beat her ass if she doesn't say my name like that the first time I fuck her. It has to be just like that, or I'm afraid I won't rest until I hear what I want.

Placing her tray on the table, I slide in without asking for an invitation. Isobel keeps her gaze averted as she slides in slowly on the other side, suddenly very enamored with her purse.

Clearing my throat, I rake my eyes all overher face and torso until she brings her eyes up to meet mine. I give her a smile, loving I make her nervous. "Hi," I say, deepening my voice.

Isobel flushes a nice pink color. "Hi, uh… what are you doing here?" She clears her throat and then casts her eyes around, almost as if she's nervous. She might be, because I have been stalking her for nine months now, and in two days she's seen me at two separate places that we don't have in common.

"Well, when I have a long day where I'm drawing, I like to go out for lunch, opting for change of scenery other than being in a dark room with my tools."

"Ohhh, it must be so exhausting drawing up little anime characters all day?" Isobel says in with a sarcastic tone, putting some chowder in her mouth. She visibly blushes at the look I give her. "My bad, I-I'm sorry. I don't mean to come off rude."

"Do you like anime? The little fuzzy characters?" I tease back.

Knowing that comment had to come from somewhere, I reach into my back pocket and grab my pen, snagging a white napkin off her tray and beginning to draw. I want to impress her. If she knew how much I charged for a simple drawing she'd fucking piss her pants. I smile at my small joke as my pen makes broad strokes across the napkin.

"I never watched the shows, but I think they're cute. It'd be cool to own one of them in real life. I've never had a pet."

Keeping my focus on the drawing I can't help my grin spreading even wider at the fact she'd been pet shopping just a couple weeks ago. Another possession she wouldn't let herself indulge in. "No? Not even a cat? They're unproblematic, though a bit neurotic," I say rather absentmindedly, giving her a quick glance from my napkin.

"No, we were too poor growing up."

Ah, we're getting somewhere.

"Too poor foracat?Must be lonely for a little girl." We're quiet for a second.

"I had my sister to look after and make sure we could keep custody of, I wasn't ever lonely. When I wasn't with her, I was busy making money."

I grunt. "Hence the almost borderline,manicobsession with perfection concerning your job and reputation?" I keep my tone low and level, unfolding the napkin so I can give her little flourish designs. Even though folding the paper out makes it thin, and weaker, I can work under just about any circumstance. So, I adjust the pressure of my strokes, taking the weight off my free fingers and moving it to my wrist.

I look up once again and see her chewing on her lip. "Yeah something like that."

"No, not something like that. We all have a story, a past. What happened?" I'm still drawing, non-threatening.

"I don't talk about it," she says, putting another bite in her mouth. I lick my lips when she does, wishing I could taste the chowder on her lips. "You know, you say you come here to eat but you're not eating."

"Going to have a tasting later with Fabian. I'm hoping I'll be full as a tick by the time I'm out of there."

Isobel laughs. "You should bring your girlfriend, I'm sure Fabian won't mind. He wants us to experience the 'romantic taste of love.'"She arches her hand in a little half circle and laughs. I'm enjoying this soft side of her.

"I have no girlfriend," I correct her.Brat.

"Ah. Too bad. I bet it's going to be amazing for the customers. I'm a little jealous… I probably won't be eating anything."

"Oh yeah? Why's that?" I finish the drawing and then click my pen, turning the napkin and pushing it to her so she can see. "A gift, for you," I quip, winking at herand grinning.

"Hm," she says. Pushing her tray away she reaches into her bag and pulls out another small, seven inch cylinder fabric bag that she opens and pulls out a few colored pencils. I tilt my head, watching as she begins to carefully color in the drawing I made but she doesn't just fill it in, she takes her time with shading, doing ombre designs.

God her fingers are fucking beautiful.

"Because all we ate for three solid straight years was top ramen. I've had it every which way you can think of. Regular, stir fried. With broth, with little pieces of meat and boiled egg. I've even had it raw, with the sprinkle packet on it and ate it like chips."

I'm floored. Because that's a new one for me.

"Why?"

"Because we didn't have electricity at the time to boil water to cook it."

---