First Love (Love Nibbles Book 2) Read online

  She winced. “You think they’ll be happy about this?”

  “They’re already so upset about me leaving, it couldn’t get any worse.”

  “That’s very comforting. In that case, I’d love to come inside and chat with your mother.”

  He laughed and scooped her up in his arms, spinning her around before setting her on her feet. “Don’t worry it’ll be fine. We’ll be fine. I’ve got a lead on a job at a place my uncle knows. We’ll get an apartment.” He kissed her. “I’ll take good care of you and when we’re ready we can get married.”

  She smiled at his assurance and enthusiasm. “You have it all planned. I just have one question.”

  “What?”

  “Where exactly are we going?”

  He grinned. “Well, the job lead is in South Bend, but anywhere you want to go, Rachael. Our choices are wide open.”

  She could get a job too, maybe as a waitress in a diner or a sales girl in a shop. She didn’t need to be sheltered and protected and taken care of. She could earn money and contribute to their needs.

  Rachael stood on her toes to kiss and hug him again. “We can do anything.”

  The End

  A Note from Bonnie: Love Nibbles is a series of short stories and novellas written for various anthologies over the years. Although newly edited, they represent an earlier time in my writing. I hope you enjoy these shorts.

  If you want to stay informed about more Love Nibbles or my full length new releases, please SIGN UP FOR MY NEWSLETTER by clicking on the link. You can learn more about my backlist at http://bonniedee.com and find me on FB and Twitter @Bonnie_Dee. And if you want to help spread the word about my books, I’d love to welcome you to my street team at FB

  If you enjoyed this short and are interested in checking out some of my full length novels, you might enjoy Bone Deep, which is also about a couple from different worlds trying to find common ground.

  In 1946, Sarah, a grieving war widow goes to the carnival with friends and is riveted by the tattooed man in the freak show, adorned in head to toe body art. Later she discovers the man hiding in her hayloft, escaped from imprisonment by the evil owner. She shelters Tom on her farm, fighting a powerful attraction while learning about his mysterious past and gentle nature.

  When a child goes missing, Tom uses his psychic gift to find her but his assistance doesn’t relieve the locals mistrust of such an exotic stranger. Small-town prejudice tears the lovers apart and a very real threat from the carnival owner endangers them. Can the lovers rise above obstacles of fear and hatred to create the family both have always craved?

  The man was a walking tapestry of color. Every bit of his skin was covered in tattoos. Angels, devils, dragons, flames, flowers and skulls were tossed on blue waves. There was no common theme to the tattoos and only the decorative blue swirls connected them. It gave the impression of flotsam floating in the wake of a shipwreck.

  In the center of the man’s chest was a red heart, not a Valentine confection but a knobby fist-shaped lump with stubs of aortas sticking out. Wrapped around the heart were links of black chain, binding it tight. The movements of his muscles as he took his seat caused the images to expand and contract, as if they pulsed with life.

  With all the ink covering his body, it took Sarah a moment to notice how very nearly naked he was. A loincloth hung from his hips. As he sat, propping one knee up on a rung of the chair, the cloth opened to reveal that his thigh was covered with images right up to his groin.

  A flush of heat lanced through her, settling warmly in between her legs. She brushed her hair back from her burning cheeks and tucked it behind her ear. She knew she should move on, but couldn’t stop staring at the tattooed man.

  He gazed past her, across the tent, focusing on something. Sarah fought the urge to look over her shoulder at whatever he was seeing.

  His body was as concealed as if he were clothed. The designs covered every limb and muscle, distracting the eye from his nudity. Even his face and shaven head were tattooed. More tentacles of the swirling blue design marked his cheeks and framed his eyes making their vivid blue seem to glow like a gas flame. When he turned his head to the side, images bloomed up the back of his neck and fanned over his scalp in a fountain of colors. The shreds of pale skin between the tattoos served as contrast to red, purple, ochre, green and inky black.

  Sarah suddenly realized that her friends had already looked at the tattooed man and gone on ahead while she still stood and stared. Unwillingly, she started to walk away. Just then he turned his head and his eyes caught and held Sarah’s.

  Her breath stopped and her heart pounded. He was gazing at her as intently as she had been looking at him, peering deep inside her.

  She felt naked in front of him and longed to run away from his searing gaze, but found it impossible to move her feet. It was as if he saw and marked her pain, still percolating underneath the veneer of dull ennui. His scalpel gaze hurt as it cut through her scars. Tears stung her eyes and she blinked to clear them.

  Then the man looked away, once again staring sightlessly at that invisible mark on the opposite side of the tent.

  Sarah moved on, feeling shaken and anxious, wondering what had just happened. That moment of connection had been as sharp and real as anything she’d ever experienced. She longed to go home, bury herself under her bedcovers, and forget what she’d seen tonight.

  She hurried past the rest of the exhibits, but before she followed her friends out of the sideshow Sarah took a last glance at the tattooed man. A cluster of people blocked her view. She had to leave without seeing him again.

  The rest of the evening passed in a blur of carnival lights and music and too much noise. She made pointless small talk with Grace, Mike, and Andrew but nothing registered. She felt as if she was walking in a dream. Her mind kept returning to the arresting vision of the tattooed man, to his intense eyes even more than the art decorating his muscular body. If only she could steal away from her friends, pay her quarter and see him one last time. Instead, she bid them all goodnight, rejected Andrew’s offer to see her home, and walked over the hill, through the pasture to her house.

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