Seven Letter Words #Wattys2016

Part 14

Juliet

I was watching him eat. It was ridiculous, but I couldn't take my eyes off of him. He was so different than my boyfriend back home. Liam was handsome and rugged, but in a way that spoke about how together he was. He knew what he was doing and had a purpose and for some reason, I found that overwhelmingly attractive. His shirt was stretched across his muscles, but not in a pretentious way the buffer guys at schools wore theirs as if to show how large they were. No, Liam's shirt stretched because it was the perfect size for his amazing body.

He leaned back in the booth and ran a hand over his short hair. I saw the ink of a tattoo peak out briefly from beneath the back of his shirtsleeve. My stomach fluttered and seemed to jolt my heart to life. Jeez, it was just a little ink, but the good girl in me instantly felt that forbidden attraction to the bad boy. I almost laughed at where my thoughts were headed.

"What's so funny?" he asked and I quickly sobered, trying hard to contain the smile on my face.

"Nothing. Sorry. What's your tattoo?"

He ran his hand over it and turned his arm so I could see. He pushed his sleeve up over his bicep. The dark outline of the Eagle, Globe and Anchor was tattooed over the tight muscle. He knew he didn't need to explain it to me. My brother had a matching one as did thousands of Marines I'm sure. I nodded my head. "You have any ink?" he asked teasingly.

"I do." I answered honestly. His face grew serious and his eyes stared into mine. It grew so tense between us, our breathing seemed to sink up. Clearly he was as affected by this attraction as I was. It was a very fun distraction from the grief.

"You're kidding." He deadpanned. I lifted my brows and tightened my lips. Shaking my head, I grabbed a fry and drug it through the ketchup. He leaned in again, dipping his head a little lower to catch my eyes when I looked away for just a minute. "You look like too much of a goody-goody to have any ink."

I shrugged my shoulders. "Good girls can hide things. I got it on my eighteenth birthday. My brother took me for my present."

"So what is it and where is it?" His elbows were on the table and he was waiting on my answer.

"It's a small American flag with a yellow ribbon in the center." I was so proud of that tattoo, and yet I held back a little from telling him the whole story. It wasn't really something you spilled over lunch.

"That's cool. I see why he took you to get it."

"Oh," I shook my head and took a big sip of my sweet tea, "he wasn't on board right away." I laughed a little. "It's right on my bra line beneath my arm so I had to go without a bra to the tattoo place. He only took me because he didn't trust the tattoo artist not to try to see my boobs."

Liam was just taking a sip of water and he laughed. He nodded his head like he completely agreed. I tossed a crumpled napkin at him. "Not all guys are like that!" I demanded. My words caused his eyebrows to shoot up and a look of disbelief cross his face. He almost choked on his next sip of water.

"Yes," he coughed a little, "yes, we are." I rolled my eyes, but inside I knew he was probably right. That's why I'd let Ken take me in the first place.

"Fine. All men are pigs. Are you happy now?" I teased.

"'Better the devil you know than the devil you don't know.'" He winked and I felt my heart tumble a little. That time I skipped the napkin and threw my fry.