Big Bad Wolf Chapter 16

Big Bad Wolf Chapter 16

Everything In His Arms

Javier

“Can you promise not to land naked on me again?” He asked, smiling into her hair after a long moment.

“I think so,” came her mumbled reply against his chest.

“Okay, we’ll stay here if you like. Text Fox and Artie and let them know not to worry.”

He told her what to do, and he decided to always protect her interests first. It was what she needed from him. He just had to remember when she was kissing him like they both might die if she didn’t kiss him.

She smiled up at him, the most brilliant smile he’d ever seen. He’d grant her anything if she would always smile at him like that. He studied her as she did as he asked her. She was alive, so very much alive.

That was important because he wasn’t a hundred percent sure she’d been fully alive when they first met. It was his job to make sure she didn’t fade, and he was sure she wasn’t fading at the moment.

He had to figure out how to make sure she never slid back to the fading beauty she’d been when they first met. That was what he needed from her forever, the smiling, living real woman.

She sent the text to Fox, and he let Luke off the hook for managing the construction site on Thursday morning. They sat and talked on the porch for a while. She told him about her, her life in California, and growing up in Greece. He told her about growing up in El Paso, about being in a street gang as a youth, and having lived for some years in California as well.

“Fox told me you and Eli have kids. Is it true?” She asked after they’d fallen into a quiet lull in their conversation.

Javier ran his hand through his hair and blew out a breath. He wasn’t sure he was ready for that conversation. It had to be done at some point.

If it would push her away, maybe sooner was better than later. It would hurt less before he got too involved. He was already too involved.

“It’s true. My son Monty and my daughter Liv attend universities. Eli raised them mostly. Our relationship ended poorly. I wasn’t right for her, nor was she for me. I did a lot of things I’m not proud of, but my children I’m proud of.” He spoke the truth to her.

“Do you still love her?” Isabell asked softly.

Javier replied without hesitation. “Yes. She’s the mother of my children. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t. Look, we had something good once. It died with too many parties and too many nights out. I killed it, but she didn’t want it by then anyway. She stayed for the kids. I admire her for that. Luke helped her get better after she and I split up. I won’t lie and say it didn’t hurt at first. I watched as the woman I’d spent twenty years of my life with found comfort in another man’s arms.”

Javier let her see the pain in his eyes. He held nothing back. He couldn’t lie to Isabell. She’d become too precious to him for lies. Lies would only push her away, and he wanted to draw her closer. He hoped what he said didn’t turn out to be the deal-breaker.

“Luke made her happy in a way I never could. I don’t regret what happened. Luke befriended me separate from Eli. He’s a good man. Because of him, a lot of the pain and misery Eli and I caused one another is finally healing. We’re friends. I like things better that way. It’s good in a way we never were before.”

Javier sighed. Isabell needed a different answer.

“Isabell, I don’t want Eli, and Eli doesn’t want me. We have a past life and two awesome kids, but friendship is all that remains for us. I hope you can understand that. I’d help her if she asked me because I owe her that. But we’ll never be together again, and that’s a great thing.”

Javier told her the answers to her query in stark truth. He didn’t hide his pain, his shame, or the newfound friendship he and Eli had. He wanted Isabell to know the truth, and he wanted to tell it, so she understood his side.

Javier found he wanted her to know him as a man, the good and the bad, the light and the dark. He wasn’t perfect.

“Thank you for the truth. I needed to hear you say it,” Isabell whispered.

“You hold my mind and my heart in your hands. Hold them gently lest they break and can never be repaired.”

Javier wanted the gentle bird to keep his heart. He wanted to tell her what was on his mind. Eventually, he would give her his body and soul as well. He was immortal. He had time.

“Shall we turn in?” Javier asked. “I’ll have to oversee the construction crew tomorrow.”

She smiled at him with her answer. As they entered the cabin, she asked. “Can I paint here tomorrow, then? I’ll stay away from the construction area. I won’t bother anyone.”

She could bother them all she wanted. There would only be a problem if one of them bothered her. The idea of another man speaking crudely to his innocent phoenix raised the hackles of his direwolf’s fur.

“It would save me from having to drive you back early in the morning. Okay, I don’t see why not, so long as you paint where I can see you, and I don’t worry about your safety. Oh, please don’t talk to the crew. I’d hate to have to kill them.” He smiled at her.

She thought he was being cute. He would kill them for trying to steal her away from him. He meant what he said about not wanting her to have regrets and taking things slow.

He wouldn’t allow her the option of another man. She was his to protect. Javier would be the only one she wanted. He wouldn’t be sharing anything about her with anyone else.

He took out a pair of joggers and handed her one of his t-shirts. Javier left the room and allowed her privacy to undress as he stripped out of his clothes and put the loose joggers on to sleep.

When he re-entered the room, she folded neatly her clothes into a pile on top of the chest. Her underwear lay on top. Red lace thong panties and a matching bra.

His cock got the wrong idea at seeing them, and he was wondering what possessed him to agree to allow her to stay there alone with him.

His shirt never looked so good, either. She turned around and crawled up the bed. His shirt barely covered her heart-shaped ass. He could see the olive skin of her bare thighs as she moved up the bed.

Javier longed to reach out and grab her ankle and pull her back down the bed. When he had her where he wanted her, he would lift her hips and enter her fully from behind.

He blinked, and the vision was gone. He lay down beside her, and she shifted into his arms. Palms on his chest, face turned up so that her ear pressed against him just above his heart, he wrapped his arms around her tight, caging her to him.

She snuggled up tight to him. She breathed deep. Isabell was everything.

“Damp earth and sawdust. You smell like damp earth and sawdust.” She whispered as if to herself.

Her breathing evened out as he stroked her dark hair. He lay awake a long time listening to her breathing. He replayed their kisses, their run, and her stroking him through his jeans to near completion in his mind.

He’d likely have to spend himself tomorrow, but he was content with things as they were as he drifted off to sleep. He had everything in his arms.

Thank you for listening to another episode of Big Bad Wolf, by Ophelia Kee.

Thank you for your support! Welcome to the dream… Sincerely, -OK

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