Behind the dazzling smile, silver tongue, and painted lips, was a lonely girl with an empty space where her heart used to be. So Sierra Palmer began to take tiny pieces from the hearts of the men who foolishly welcomed her into their beds. Slowly cr...
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Scottie sat across from her at her small kitchen table, looking rather stoic. It made her feel antsy and uncomfortable. He had called her up after a week of radio silence. In a moment driven by fear she had invited him over to her apartment so they could talk in person. Now that he was here she found it difficult to say all the things she had been practicing. Sierra had never been good at dealing with emotions, well her own emotions. Thanks to the baby growing inside of her, she constantly felt overwhelmed by them.
"Can I get you something to drink? Are you hungry?" Sierra went to rise from her chair, only to freeze when his hand came to rest gentle over her own. She sucked in a breath, trying to keep herself from apologizing again. This wasn't acting like the strong and confident girl she had built herself into. It was embarrassing that she had been falling back into her old habits and insecurities.
Sierra wanted to blame Scottie, and the way he made her feel. She wanted to blame the baby and the changes in her body, zapping her control. In the end, she knew it was her own weakness at fault. Sierra had always longed to be loved, and had looked for it in all the wrong places. That was becoming abundantly clear.
"Don't worry yourself. I ate before I came over." He pulled his hand away, cheeks turning a faint pink color. He cleared his throat, "So how are you feeling?"
"Like a complete jackass."
Scottie chuckled at her response, the tension that had been with him since he had entered, leaving, "I meant with the pregnancy? My sister told me the first trimester is the worst for most women."
Sierra felt heat rush up her neck to her face, "Right, of course that's what you meant..." she was now wishing she had the ability to rewind time to make herself look less like an idiot. She readjusted herself in her chair, "I haven't had any problems yet. My friend Reagan bought me a couple of books...haven't read them yet..." she noticed the small furrowing of his brow, "but I plan to, of course." She amended.
Scottie gave her a small smile, "You were never much for reading that I recall."
She found herself smirking, "I really hated it." They both shared a small laugh at her response, more ease washing away the tension that had been sitting between them.
Sierra leaned forward, resting her elbow on the table, "Listen I want to apologize..." His blue eyes focused on her intently as if he was hanging on her every word, "I should have told you sooner. I wanted too. I was just afraid to how you would react...I was afraid of ruining whatever was happening between us." That was the truth. Probably one of the first truths she had really spoken to him.
When Scottie said nothing Sierra began to backpedal, "I mean not that there is anything happening between us. It was more like the possibilities of what could be between us..."
"Do you always ramble when your nervous?" He questioned, deep voice rumbling with amusement.
Sierra let out a small sigh, "I used too."
"Seems to me you still do." She nodded, lacing her fingers together to keep from fidgeting. Scottie tilted his head back with a long sigh, "I think we might be doing this whole thing backwards. Usually people meet, date, get married then have babies..."
"Well I'm usually one for breaking social norms."
He chuckled at her response, dropping his gaze to meet her stare, "Well while we're breaking the norms...I think maybe you should leave the reading to me. I'll do a spark notes on the important stuff." He winked playfully at her.
Sierra felt her heart speed up, he was too good to her. She definitely didn't deserve to be treated so well, not after all the bad karma She had been building up for herself. Maybe though is she tried to make things right and straighten herself out she could be deserving of him.
"Maybe we could start over..." Sierra suggested, "I mean I don't even really know that much about you."
"That's funny because I know so much about you." Scottie leaned forward, giving her a charming smile that intrigued her.
She arched a brow, "Oh yeah? Enlighten me."
"Well for one I know you smile when your probably lying." Her heart paused for a moment, "I also know that you blink more when your scared. You hate reading but I know the one book you've read is Princess Bride."
"That was for school because Mrs. White was a bitch...she hounded me all semester that year. Told me she'd fail me if I didn't actually read one of the books from the required reading list." She fired back quickly, throwing her hands into the air.
Scottie laughed, seeming to enjoy her response, "Whatever you say. It looked like you enjoyed it to me."
She shook her head, looking away from him, "Shut up."
"As you wish..."
Sierra turned her gaze to him, lips pursed. There was something about the Scottie that pushed past her barriers. Perhaps it was his familiarity to her, and the fact that he didn't seem to mind who she had been and who she was. It seemed that he saw her the same in his eyes. She shifted on her chair, admiring the handsome man sitting across from her, "So you want to do this with me? If you change your mind I won't hold it against you...I know that I'm asking a lot of you..."
Scottie rolled his eyes, before meeting her gaze, "You obvious haven't put everything together...All that really matters to me right now is that you give me your trust. As long as you can trust me, I don't see where we can go wrong. Everything else we'll figure out along the way."
She stared at him in silence for a long moment, "Trust? That's all you want from me?"
"You undervalue its worth I see." He teased, "Come on, Sierra. All you have to do is take a leap of faith that I'm not a complete asshole. That I'm not going to screw you over. You don't think I'm giving you my trust in this?" His tongue kissed the rough of his mouth, "Plus, I assure you that the benefits will far outweigh the risk." He wiggled his eyebrows at her, playfully, trying to ease any tension.
Sierra found herself smiling, despite her doubts, "Alright. I'll trust you...for now"
"That's all I ask." He threw his hands up as if being accused, lowering them slowly, "Not too bad, right?"
Sierra pushed up from her seat, shrugging her shoulders, "I don't know...when do I get to reap the benefits?"
Scottie's gaze raked over her body slowly, igniting the fire that had been building. She had a taste of him but she wanted more. Sierra wanted to taste him until her hunger of him was satisfied, if that was possible. He met her lusty gaze, cocking a smug grin, "I think you owe me a proper apology..."
Sierra licked her lips, gaze dancing down his chest to where his waist disappeared from view, "Do you want it here or in my bedroom?" She lifted her eyes to his, enjoying the burn of the fire she found there. They might have gone about this backwards but at the moment there was no regret, he helped her to forget about all of that.
