Page 10 of Savage Protector

Chapter Five

Isabella

With his hand pressed to the center of my back, and yards of fabric swishing between us, he escorted me inside the bar and grabbed a table. I made a beeline for the ladies room. This dress was driving me insane.

I reached under the skirt and pulled on the layers of tulle underneath. Cringing at the first tear, I tugged ripping out more as I started to giggle. Those layers of delicate looking fabric were amazingly well attached.

After a sweaty bout of jumping up and down and pulling as hard as I could, several layers lay scattered across the bathroom floor.

If that wasn’t a metaphor for my life, I didn’t understand the definition.

I glanced at my appearance in the mirror and breathed a sigh of relief that I didn’t look half bad. Certainly not as bad as I’d expected after making a mad dash from the church, or the wrestling match with my dress. My hair wasn’t perfectly in place, but that wasn’t an odd occurrence. My long, thick curls were a constant fight to tame so I’d pretty much given up on perfection when it came to hair.

However, when I pressed a paper towel to my sweaty brow, the ginormous diamond ring I still wore flashed in the mirror with the brilliant power of a neon sign flashing a warning to oncoming vehicles and men.

I tugged at the too tight gold band as an involuntary shudder worked down my spine. I’d come way too close to a life of servitude with a cruel man. Jerk probably purposely bought my ring two sizes too small so I could never get it off.

After several tugs, a lot of slippery soap and a few well placed curse words, the ring slipped from my finger and into the palm of my hand.

The sink called my name and I almost washed the ring down the drain. My stomach twisted, tightening at the idea of keeping it for another second.

I took a deep breath—I had to be smart and not let emotion rule my escape. I had to be smarter than my father if I wanted to get farther away than downtown Seattle. I had some money, but it wouldn’t last forever.

This ring could be pawned and was probably worth more than the sum I had rolled into my purse. I grabbed the wristlet dangling from my arm and shoved the gaudy piece of jewelry inside. Thank God I didn’t have to deal with it right now. The day had been long and miserable, but I had a chance to make something better out of it.

He was sitting right outside that door. My opportunity to a fresh start. Maybe someone out there would judge me for running from one man to another. In some ways it looked perilously close to the life that I’d run from. I didn’t believe that. I couldn’t believe that.

Breaking my father’s bonds meant everything to me right now and I wanted my new life to be drastically different than the old. That meant I wasn’t above grabbing onto something new and outside my comfort zone at the first opportunity.

For the first time in my life I was truly in control and ready to take a different kind of risk. One that might infuse my boring life with—well, life.

Satisfied with my current choices and feeling a hell of a lot more comfortable, I returned to the table where my mysterious badass stranger sat waiting, watching me as I strode toward him with straight shoulders and a renewed purpose.

His eyebrow rose and a spark of humor fired in his eyes, but in an unexpected gentlemanly gesture, he refrained from asking. I sat down in an empty chair and heaved a sigh of relief. “I guess I should introduce myself.” I glanced around the room looking for someone to take an order. That drink he mentioned was sounding better and better.

“I already ordered a round of beer and tequila shots.”

I turned and met his intense gaze again. Those vibrant blue eyes mesmerized me as much inside as they did outside. Call it lust or whatever. I just knew it felt good for a change.

“Thank you.”

“You were going to tell me your name.” He leaned slightly into my space.

I focused on his full mouth and imagined all the decadent things he could do to my body with those gorgeous lips. The marks he’d leave on my skin with the stubble on his cheeks and chin. I barely bit back a moan as the heated thoughts swept through me.

As did fear. My thoughts and feelings were jumping all over the place.

This is not where my head was supposed to be. I had no business thinking about sex when I didn’t know where my life was going tomorrow, let alone what I was going to do with a badass tonight.

Go with your gut.

It was a long ago gotten piece of advice from a friend and I grabbed onto it for dear life. If my life was going to be like a turbulent thunderstorm from here on out, then I’d grab all the good while I could.

“Isabella.” The minute the word left my mouth I wanted to recall it. Shit. A new life called for a new name, didn’t it? “Although I prefer Izzy,” I amended quickly, repeating the long forgotten nickname in my head a few times. Yeah. That sounded much better.

“I can work with that.” He grabbed my hand and covered it with his much larger one. “Houston,” he returned.

“What?” I couldn’t think with his hand touching me, the warm rough skin of his thumb rubbing back and forth along the side of my hand.

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