Graceful Scars Page 17

  Three days, three wonderful days, of no cell service and complete silence from the outside world. It was going to be a first for me, a well needed first at that. We pulled into a gravel driveway that led up to an adorable single floor log cabin that had high windows that stretched the entire front of it. I was smiling from ear-to-ear at just how beautiful the place was. As the car came to a stop Talon jumped out, rounded it, and opened the passenger’s side door.

  “Are you ready to spend three entire days with yours truly with no interruptions?” His deep brown eyes danced with anticipation.

  “I wouldn’t want to spend the next three days any other way.” I took his hand and stepped out of the car.

  The wind wasn’t quite as cold as it had been in Chicago, but it still had a nip to it. I zipped up my coat and walked around to the trunk, hand-in-hand with Talon. He grabbed his duffle bag and I reached for mine when he stopped me. “I got these.”

  I stepped back knowing that trying to argue about carrying my own bag would be one argument I wouldn’t win. “Thank you.” I kissed his cheek as we started walking up the walkway to the cabin.

  “How did you manage to snag this place for the weekend?” I turned the key in the door and pushed it open. I held the door as Talon passed the threshold, dropping our bags just inside the door.

  “My boss owns the place.” He swooped me up into his arms and kicked the door shut behind us. I was giggling like a school girl as he carried me over to the couch and plopped us both down. The plush cushions were large and the couch was not only long, but deep as well. Deep enough for two people to lie comfortably on it. Talon pinned me to the couch and linked our hands together above my head. “I’ve been dying for the opportune time to bring you here. With everything getting so hectic and far from routine, I didn’t think we would ever get the chance. Thanks to Adalynn I was able to make it happen.” He leaned down and took my mouth with his.

  His lips lingered on mine until I flicked my tongue against the seam of his lips. He chuckled. “You impatient little thing, you,” Talon managed to say before I pulled his lips back down to mine and took the chance to deepen the kiss. The taste of mint flooded my senses as our tongues danced together. I groaned as he broke the kiss and sat up on the couch. “We need to get some food in us before we start all of that.” A wicked grin danced across his lips as I nodded in agreement.

  Talon went to the kitchen to whip us up something to eat while I took our bags and headed to the bedroom. The cabin wasn’t very big but the open floor plan was absolutely stunning. The kitchen, dining area, and living room were one large room that stretched the entire left side of the house with the laundry room just off the kitchen, followed by the guest bedroom and bath, while the master bedroom and bath were off of the living room. There were large dark wood pillars on display throughout the entire cabin, and the furniture and décor contributed to the rustic, woodsy feel.

  The master bedroom was painted hunter green with tan accents. The bed had four large pillars that stretched to the ceiling and had to be a king because it was definitely larger than mine or Talon’s, although that wasn’t saying much. The dark wood was beautiful and the bedding was chocolate brown with light brown and green stripes decorating it. I flopped down on the bed and instantly didn’t want to move. It was like my body molded into the mattress.

  “I never want to leave this place,” I said out loud to myself.

  “I wish we didn’t have to,” Talon’s baritone voice came from the doorway.

  I rolled my head over to see him. He was leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his broad chest. A kitchen towel was hanging from his front pocket as he smiled at me. I leaned up on my elbows, “Once you lay on this bed you’ll definitely not want to leave.”

  “I’m trying really hard not to come over there right now and show you exactly how bad I never want to leave this place.”

  I nibbled on my bottom lip and sighed from the depth of his words. “Come show me then.”

  Talon took a step forward and ran his hands through his dark hair as he hesitated. I started undoing the buttons on my navy blue and grey plaid button-down shirt and once my black bra was exposed he growled and crossed the room to where I was lying. “You’re bad…” He crawled over me, pushing me back until I was flush with the mattress as he went.

  My shirt was wide open and my hands were shoved up under his Henley, feeling the hard yet smooth contours of his abs. Talon was one of those guys you adored for his looks and assumed that he would be a total jerkoff, but surprisingly he was the polar opposite. He went above and beyond to help others, not to mention raising Zoey on his own for three years. Talon was the type of man that made you a better woman. I was just hoping that I wouldn’t tarnish him along the way.

  “What are you thinking about?” He asked as he brought his lips deadly close to mine.

  “Nothing,” I whispered back.

  “It didn’t look like nothing…” He dragged his lips lightly against mine before moving back just slightly.

  “Kiss me,” I demanded.

  “Tell me what you were thinking about,” he countered.

  He wasn’t budging. “I was just thinking about how great of a man you are and how afraid I am of changing that.”

  Talon stopped moving and sat back on his heels. “Why would you even think that you would change me?” His brows dipped low between his eyes in confusion.

  “I—I’m a mess, Talon. You know that! My life isn’t one I would wish upon people, and I know it could be worse, but I don’t want to change the loving and caring person that you are. I tend to darken rooms instead of brightening them.”

  “Do you know how crazy you sound?” He leaned forward to run a hand across my cheek but I moved away. I know he didn’t mean to call me crazy in the way that I was taking it, but hearing him say that still hurt.

  I slid off the bed and started unpacking my clothes, which I had neglected to do when I first came into the room.

  “Did I say something wrong?”

  I ignored him. “No, you need to go check on the food while I put these away.” I kept my eyes on the clothes instead of Talon.

  “Hey.” He grabbed my hands and turned me towards him. “What’s wrong?” I kept my eyes down until he lifted my head by placing his hand under my chin. When my eyes hit his I saw his confusion laced with sadness and realized just how much of a bitch I was being. My feelings had gotten the best of me when I knew he hadn’t meant what he had said the way I had taken it.

  “Just ignore me.” I shook my hand in the air as I fumbled with the buttons on my shirt as I tried to button it back. “I’m just tired from the drive.”

  Liar. My inner self was yelling at me.

  “Tegan…” Talon warned.

  “I thought you called me crazy…” I sighed in defeat. “I know you didn’t mean it that way but it hurt to hear you say that. I’ve thought I’ve been losing part of myself for a long time; like I was going crazy, ever since that bastard ruined me. So when that word is thrown around at me it stings more than it should.”

  “Babe…” He pulled me into his arms and held me tightly against his chest. “I did not mean it in that way. You’re not crazy. That was a figure of speech, one I won’t use again with you. I never meant to hurt you or your feelings. I was just saying you were completely wrong about you darkening a room instead of brightening it. You don’t see how those girls look at you when you walk into the studio, or how Adalynn smiles every time she sees you. You’re loved beyond measure by so many people, and I sure as hell know you brighten my life, and Zoey’s too.”

  I looked up at him with tears in my eyes. “I love you, Talon, so damn much.”

  He wiped away a stray tear that escaped down my cheek. “I love you too, sweet girl. This weekend is also a no crying zone, so we need to turn around this heartbreaking look of yours.”

  The sound of a timer going off broke our moment. “That would be our dinner.” Talon gave me a peck on the lips an
d took off out of the room towards the kitchen. I shook my head and smiled to myself as I continued unpacking our bags.

  Dinner was delicious! Talon had fixed up seasoned chicken breasts along with a fried potato medley with onions and shredded cheese. Definitely a nice meal for being out in the middle of nowhere in a gorgeous cabin. “I think I’m going to pop.” I sat back in the kitchen chair and placed my hands over my stomach.

  “That good, huh?” Talon grinned.

  “Totally.” I got up from the table and started loading the dishwasher. Seeing that the cabin had one made me want to laugh. The cabin was so secluded and rustic, and the décor was so outdoorsy, I had assumed we would have to hand-wash the dishes. But we didn’t.

  I felt Talon step up behind me before his arms wrapped around my waist as I shut the dishwasher. “Thank you for cleaning up.” He kissed just under my ear.

  I closed my eyes. “You cooked, it’s the least I could do.”

  “I’m sorry for earlier.” He rested his chin against my shoulder as I leaned back into him.

  “You don’t have to keep apologizing, Talon.”

  “I really didn’t mean to make you feel like I was calling you crazy.” He placed his lips against my neck and let them linger for a moment. “You’ve been through a lot in your life so far, and you’ve dealt with it in ways I would never be able to. I admire the woman you are, Tegan. You’re remarkable, beautiful inside and out, and absolutely the person I want to be with for the rest of my life.”

  My knees felt weak. If that was just Talon being Talon, I couldn’t imagine what a proposal would be like coming from him. He had a way with words; they made you feel what he was saying, not just hear. It was another reason why I adored him so much.

  I turned in his arms so that we were face to face and linked my hands together behind his neck. “You’re a remarkable person yourself.” I smiled and gently pressed my lips to his. After a few gentle kisses, I rested my head against his chest as we continued to stand in front of the now-running dishwasher. The sound of it washing was the only noise in the entire cabin; it was almost soothing.

  “What do you want to do for the remainder of the night?” His voice was low as he pressed his forehead against mine.

  I stifled a yawn. “Whatever you want to do.”

  “You made me yawn,” he said as he followed my yawn with his own.

  “Sorry.”

  “Sounds like we need to call it a night.” He scooped me up into his arms, yet again. I noticed this was becoming another one of his things.

  I snuggled against his chest as he walked us to the bedroom. “I am pretty tired,” I agreed.

  Talon put me down when we entered the bedroom and walked over to pull the comforter back. I changed into a pair of cozy pajamas that were decorated in little snowflakes as he slipped his shirt and jeans off, leaving him in a pair of plaid boxers. We both got into the bed and quickly snuggled against one another, my back to his front, and said our goodnights.

  I woke to the smell of bacon filling the room. My stomach growled with hunger as I rolled over and found the bed empty. I had no idea what time it was but the faint crack between the curtains and the window was showing that the sun was alive and bright. I dragged my sleepy self out of bed, padded into the open living room and saw Talon’s naked back at the stove. The large script that read For I Have Sinned across the top of his back was staring at me. His muscles rolled as he moved his arms to flip the bacon in the skillet. I stood there for God knows how long wondering what exactly his tattoo stood for. I had never brought it up, but the message itself was something I had a feeling would be heartbreaking.

  I padded the rest of the way over to where he was standing and smoothed my hand up his toned back. “That smells delicious.” I kissed the center of his spine.

  Talon looked back over his shoulder and smiled. “Good morning, beautiful. I hope I didn’t wake you.”

  “You didn’t, but the smell of the bacon most likely did.” I ran a hand down his ribcage and watched his muscles contort from my touch. He was very ticklish on his sides.

  “Gah!” He tried not to laugh.

  “Sorry!” I smiled mischievously back at him and walked over to the fridge.

  “Sure you are…” He narrowed his eyes at me, but the smile adorning his lips never left.

  I grabbed a jug of orange juice, followed by two glasses from the cabinet beside the fridge and made my way over to the kitchen table as Talon finished up the bacon. He brought the heaping plate over and sat it in the center of the table before going back to retrieve another plate I hadn’t noticed.

  Waffles.

  I love waffles.

  “You made waffles!” I almost shrieked with excitement.

  “I know how much you secretly love them.” He laughed at my over-enthusiasm.

  “And I thought I was hiding my addiction well,” I giggled.

  “Not at all.” Talon handed me a fork.

  We fell into a comfortable silence as we dug into the delicious breakfast he had fixed. I devoured two large waffles and a couple pieces of bacon before I felt like I was going to explode. Breakfast was probably my favorite meal of the day; I was more of a bacon and eggs kind of girl than a salad or pasta kind.

  Most of the afternoon we spent snuggled up on the couch watching movies or playing board games. I learned quickly that Talon was very good at Monopoly, and always ended up stealing my properties. The fun and happiness around us was something I needed, and it seemed he did as well. More laughter transpired throughout those hours than I had experienced in quite some time.

  “I think we’ve watched more than enough movies and played about every board game in this cabin,” I laughed as I rummaged through the old trunk sitting in the corner of the room for another game but came up short. Talon didn’t reply so I turned to see what he was doing and found him sitting back on the couch staring at me with the goofiest grin on his face.

  “What?” I furrowed my eyebrows.

  His boisterous laugh echoed through the room as he held his stomach from the intensity of his laughter. I was completely at a loss for why he was laughing at me. “You’ve got a price on that ass of yours?” He managed to say through his laughter.

  “What in the world are you talking about?!”

  “Come here.” He waved me over to where he was perched on the couch. I wasn’t sure what was about to happen next, so I moved slowly over to him. “Turn around.” He spun his finger in the air motioning how he wanted me to turn.

  “Now turn back around.” He laughed.

  I erupted with laughter as Talon held up a five hundred dollar bill from the Monopoly game. “That was attached to my butt?” I started laughing even harder as he shook his head yes.

  “You have one expensive ass.” I jerked the bill out of his hand and fell into his lap on the couch. We continued to laugh, but the severity of it died down, as he dropped his lips down to mine.

  “This getaway was exactly what we needed,” he said as I snuggled into his chest.

  “I couldn’t agree more.”

  “How do you want to spend the rest of the night?” He ran his hand lazily up and down my arm.

  There wasn’t a whole lot to do in the cabin and with it being dark, going outside was kind of out of the question, especially since the bottom of the temperature had fallen out. It was well below freezing. “Let’s talk.”

  “Talk?”

  “Yeah, let’s ask each other questions about things we’ve wanted to know.” I was hoping my suggestion wasn’t going to backfire in my face.

  Talon sat there in silence for a moment as he continued to rub my arm lazily. “Sure, why not.”

  “You go first.” The ball was in his court.

  He went straight to a deep subject with his first question. “Why don’t you ever talk about your parents?”

  I sat there in silence as I thought about how to answer that question. I rarely talked to my parents anymore, and when I did it was short and sweet. “We
ll, I guess you could say a mixture of reasons, really. They moved across the country years ago and when all of that happened to me I never told them. When I do talk to them I feel anxious, as if I have to walk on eggshells, so I guess I’m to blame for the lack of communication between us now. I closed myself off from a lot of people, my parents being in that group.”

  “They didn’t give you the option of moving with them?” He sounded as confused as everyone else when this subject came up.

  “They did.”

  “Why didn’t you go?” He continued on.

  “I thought it was my turn.” I poked him in the side in a playful manner.

  “Sorry,” he replied as he flinched away, laughing.

  “It’s fine. I’m just messing with you.” I paused. “I didn’t want to leave the studio behind.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t move.” He pressed his lips softly against my neck. “Because if you had moved, we would have never met.”

  “That’s true.” I turned my head to look into his eyes. The darkness of them shined brightly with his love for me. A smile pulled the corners of my mouth up. “My turn.” I rubbed my hands together like I was thinking hard about what to ask, but I already had my question ready. “What exactly do you do? For a job I mean.”

  “I day trade,” he replied simply.

  “What is that?” I turned in his lap to see his face better.

  “It’s where you trade stocks online, except I don’t do it like most people do. I work for this man from downtown Chicago that owns his own business, Michael Frezno is his name. He runs a metal company that has been growing remarkably for the past three years now. We met while I was attending the University of Illinois in Chicago. He was a guest speaker in one of my finance classes and for some reason I sparked his interest. We talked a couple times after that and the next thing I knew, once I graduated he wanted me to handle Frezno Metal’s funds and stocks. I love it because I can do it from home or the office, which makes my schedule flexible. It’s exactly the type of job I needed so that I could be available for Zoey.”