Beautiful Beast (Enchanted Fairytales) (14 page)

“Yup,” he said. He held out a small plastic card. “I’m official now.”

Calli looked down at it, surprised. He’d told her he wouldn’t get a license because he didn’t want a photo of himself. But there he was, looking up at her from the small plastic rectangle.

“Can I . . . come in?” he asked hesitantly.

“Oh. Yes, of course,” she said, standing back to admit him. He stepped in and looked around. Calli followed his gaze with hers, trying to see her home through his eyes. It was clearly poor and shabby, but at least it was clean.

“My dad and Marla?” She cocked her head. “No, it really doesn’t. My mom died giving birth to me, so I didn’t know her. All I have are photos. She was really beautiful.”

He unbuttoned his coat. She stepped forward to take it, but he shook his head at her. Confused, she stepped back. He took a breath, swallowed loudly, closed his eyes and slowly began to remove his coat. Calli didn’t understand—until she saw that beneath it he only wore bike shorts. He shrugged the coat off his broad shoulders and let it fall to the floor.

Calli sucked a breath in. She’d known he had pretty good muscles from their workouts, but had only seen them through a wet t-shirt when they swam or sat in the hot tub. He’d managed to bulk up pretty well, she thought.

A scar patch covered his right shoulder and ran halfway down his arm. She stepped closer and placed her hand on it, running her fingers lightly down his arm to the end of the scar. He opened his eyes and looked at her.

Thin ropes that looked like rivers of scar ran down the front of his chest in three places. Another large blotch covered his ribs and hip on the right, disappearing beneath his waistband. Two thick scars on his thigh merged into the one she’d seen before on his lower leg. She walked around behind his back and placed her hand over the largest of the scars that marred his back.

She tried to imagine the pain of a little, seven-ear-old boy covered with such serious burns, lying in a hospital bed with the weight of the deaths of his mom and sister sitting on his chest, aching for a father who didn’t come.

Still behind him, she slid her arms around his ribs, laying her cheek against his wounded back, splaying her fingers across his ribs. He stilled beneath her touch, and then ran his hands across her arms, threading his fingers through hers.

“Not in the least. I mean that, Alex. I love
you
, and that includes everything about you.” She smiled at him. “Even that horrible temper.”

He leaned his forehead against hers. “I’m sorry about that—again. I swear, Calli, if you’ll give me another chance, I’ll be more careful with you.”

“Alex,” she said, touching his cheek. “I’m not that fragile.”

“Can I kiss you now?” he asked.

“
Please,
” she laughed.

He cupped her face with his hands and lowered his mouth to hers. He moved his lips gently across hers, a kiss full of sweetness and promise. He lifted his mouth a hairsbreadth from hers. “I love you, Calli. I never imagined having someone like you love me back. My dad was right about one thing.”

* * * * *

Sometime later,
after Alex had put some clothes he’d brought over his bike shorts, they sat on the couch, Calli curled up against his side. He saw the letter from the University sitting on the coffee table. He knew what it was without asking. But he asked anyway. He pointed to it.

He shrugged. “I hadn’t ever really thought beyond now. Then this crazy, gorgeous girl came into my life and showed me that I
have
to start thinking like I have a future.”

“Good for her,” Calli said.

“So, I’m going to bite the bullet, I guess,” he said, “and go to college.”

Calli sat up and looked at him. “What do you mean,
go
to college?”

“I mean I’m going to go to college. Live on campus.”

“Alex!” She bumped him with her shoulder. “I’m so happy for you. I mean, honestly, it sucks, because I’m going to miss you. We’ve already spent too much time apart. How am I going to live without you?”

Alex shrugged. “Maybe you won’t have to.”

“What are you saying?”

He picked up her letter. “I’m saying I don’t know that I’m strong enough to be on campus alone yet. But if I knew a stubborn, bull-headed, funny girl willing to be seen with me, it might not be so bad.”

“No!” Calli exclaimed, bouncing up and down on the couch on her knees. She threw her arms around him and planted her lips firmly on his.

“Yes,” he mumbled behind her mouth. She pulled back, and he said, “I figured if I have someone who looks like you walking next to me, maybe no one will notice me.”

“Are you kidding?” she said. “How many times do I have to tell you how amazing you are? I’m going to have to beat girls off you with a stick.”

“If you hadn’t come into my life, I’d have lived the rest of my miserable existence holed up in my room, raging at the moon every night. I haven’t felt the need to do that for almost as long as I’ve known you. You tamed the beast. You saved me.”

“And you saved me back,” she said, kissing him again.

# # # # #

Note from the Author

I hope you enjoyed
Beautiful Beast
. This story has been haunting me for a few years now with various scenarios, but always with the beast as someone burned performing, or attempting to perform a heroic act who feels forced to hide from the world, and the beauty as someone who becomes his friend, then his love. Once I began writing this version, I couldn’t stop until I had finished it. I wanted to know how it was going to turn out! It is the first story in the Enchanted Fairytales series. Once I have all of the short stories released, I will combine them together in an anthology. Watch for the release of my full length Rapunzel story coming from Sweetwater Books February 2013. And remember, “
Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book.” ~Anonymous.

Thank you for reading
Beautiful Beast
. – Cindy C Bennett

About the Author

Cindy C Bennett is the bestselling young adult author of
Geek Girl
(a Sweetwater book),
Heart on a Chain, Immortal Mine,
and
Reluctance
(a Noble YA book)
.
She lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with her high school sweetheart who also happens to be her husband. She's the proud mom of two sons and two daughters, as well as two daughter-in-laws. When she's not writing (or any of the many activities that go hand-in-hand with that) you might find her on her Harley Davidson, cruising the canyons near her home. She happens to adore her readers, and is grateful to them for reading her work and giving her the chance to do this thing that she is so very passionate about. Yup, she's living the dream!

Connect with Cindy online at her website:
www.cindycbennett.com

At
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(search Author Cindy C Bennett)

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Twitter
(@cinbennett)

Email her anytime at [email protected] and she promises to answer!

Discover other titles by Cindy C Bennett

Geek Girl

Heart on a Chain

Immortal Mine

Reluctance