by Milly Taiden
A couple of places he noted would be great for a commercial building. He could imagine bringing in a big box store, or better yet, a mall to the area. They’d have to tear down several houses for the parking lot. Still, he’d give them a great price for their properties.
Maybe a hotel or a large movie establishment would be great. With his latest project, he had expansion already on his mind. Never too early to think ahead when it came to business growth.
And small towns like these were dying for new things and corporations to come in. There was not much here. She’d told him herself this was a small town with very little to see. He still didn’t know how people could live such quiet lives in little places with nothing to do. The city was his place and he never saw himself in a town this tiny.
In the parking lot of an old building that resembled schools built in the 60s, a big group of kids with musical instruments marched in formation. He wondered if they were practicing for a football game or parade or maybe competition. The massive high school Storm’s children went to had a band, but he was never into that kind of thing. He wondered if Isaline played an instrument.
11
Isaline said goodbye to her sister and asked him, “Are you musically inclined?”
“No,” he said. “You?”
Shrugging, she said, “I played piano when I was younger. Learned to read music but had too much other stuff going on as a kid to do much with it.”
“Can you still play?” he asked, turning to her.
“If you consider Mary Had a Little Lamb and Chopsticks as playing, then yeah.” She laughed, and the sound tingled in his ears. He could listen to her joy all day.
Ahead, he saw flames shoot into the air in front of the fire department. Several kids stood around the fire. “What’s going on there?” he asked.
“That’s the fire chief and his monthly demonstrations. He works with kids and families on fire safety and what to do in case of a fire. They get tours of the trucks and equipment afterwards. It’s really cool.”
“I bet it is. That would’ve been great when I was a kid.” Still, he knew if those kids saw his dragon shooting flames, they’d probably talk about it for months.
“Yeah,” Isa said, “I can’t imagine what it was like growing up in the city.”
He was sure it was much more exciting than living here, but he wasn’t going to tell that to her. Then a female in a light blue button-down and dark blue coat stepped off the porch of a house. Behind her, she pulled an oversized wagon with boxes. “Is that—”
“A mail lady personally delivering mail?” she finished for him. “Yeah, it is. If you look closely, you can see the mail slots in doors or containers on the porch for mail. Don’t see that in the city, huh?”
“No. Our packages wait with the concierge, delivered by guys dressed in all brown who drive brown vans,” he replied.
“Oh,” she said, her voice quiet and soft, “I remember going to New York and being so overwhelmed. I don’t know that I could go back with that many people rushing to get from here to there. I almost had a panic attack.” She shook her head. “Hang on. I have to get gas.”
Isaline signaled and edged the car into a gas station with one island pump with four tanks. The store at the back of the lot reminded him of corner Stop N Shops.
“This is where you get gas?”
“It’s great, isn’t it?” She obviously hadn’t read his expression correctly. The place was so small, he would’ve missed it driving by. He slid his seat belt off, going to offer to work the machine for her, but she jumped out of the driver’s seat. “I got it. You sit tight where it’s warm.”
He couldn’t get a word out before the driver’s door closed. He looked around, noting the place could use a facelift but was clean and well lit. A lady coming out the store’s door stopped to talk with a lady coming in. They hugged for a brief moment then chatted away.
At the side of the store, a teen was helping an older gentleman put bags of ice in a cooler in the back of his beat-up truck. How many bags of ice had someone helped him with in his lifetime? Zero.
The driver’s door opened and a cold-looking Isaline fell into her seat, shivering. “That coldness cuts right to the bone.”
He had to stop himself from pulling her into his arms and rubbing her until she wasn’t cold anymore. He hated that she’d gotten cold filling her tank. Where the hell were the people who were supposed to do it?
Pulling back onto the street, she asked, “Want to see the most recent exciting thing to hit the town?” Her eyes were all lit up with excitement. Must’ve been something great.
“Sure.”
She turned her palm up and gestured out the front window. There were coming up on an intersection with mom and pop stores on all four corners. Scattered cars parked along the street sides. His eyes searched for something cool and new, not seeing anything remotely close to that. His silence must’ve clued her in to his obliviousness.
“You don’t see it?” she asked, disbelief in her voice.
“What would ‘it’ be?”
“Hello. The flashing yellow light?” she said like she couldn’t understand how he’d missed that. He burst out laughing. She smiled along with him, signaling her poking fun at him. “You know how long we’ve been waiting for this?” He couldn’t imagine. “Years,” she replied. “Now we feel like a real town.”
He couldn’t stop laughing at her playfulness. “Nah, really,” she continued, “we’re not sure why the county even bothered. Everyone here follows the stop sign. Haven’t had any wrecks at this intersection in forever.” Flipping the turn signal again, she said. “And here we are.”
“Here” was a warehouse-like building next to a park that would’ve been a great place for a customer retail pavilion. He could see businesses lined up along the edge, offering all kinds of knickknacks, beverages, sweets, and other souvenir type items.
She gathered a couple bags from the back and climbed from the car. He followed her inside the ice rink front entrance where she was promptly attacked by a horde of squealing ten-year-old girls. He froze in his tracks.
The girls all spoke at once, vying for her attention while dragging her away. She glanced back at him with a “sorry about this” expression and he chuckled, waving her on. This was her thing, and he was just tagging along.
At a distance, he followed the gaggle of girls through a set of glass doors into the ice rink area. Women a bit older than he looked sat throughout the benches in the skate exchange area. The younger kids swarmed Isa while she laced up her skates. He made his way to an empty bench close to the front to watch.
He heard one of the girls beg, “Please, Miss Isa? I have the CD all set up.” Then all the little ladies chimed in with pleeeeease.
Isaline glanced at him, her cheeks had a warm, rosy color. Was she blushing? What did the girls want her to do with a CD? He smiled an encouragement to her to do whatever the tweens wanted. Isaline turned back to the sprawl and told them yes. They erupted into cheers.
The group scattered, Isaline stood, and his eyeballs almost fell out of his head. She had taken off her long winter coat to reveal her outfit. His eyes skimmed from her white skates, up her pumped calves and curvaceous thighs to her skin-tight leotard with very short skirt. It was a short trip from there to imagine her naked and in his bed. Holy fuck, she looked good enough to eat.
Her full breasts stretched the top of her colorful suit. He wanted to peel the material away, replacing it with his mouth around her hardened nipple. His dick was quickly filling with blood. He groaned quietly, realizing he was surrounded by females who wouldn’t miss a hard-on in his suit pants.
Fuck, if this was his reaction to seeing her wearing something sexy, he couldn’t imagine how seeing her naked would turn out.
12
Beast straightened his tie to take his mind off the desirous image skating into the rink. The form-fitting skate outfit Isa wore drove him and his dragon bonkers. He moved around on the bench, trying t
o get comfortable with a raging hard-on. So not happening.
He couldn’t take his eyes off her when she glided along, stretching her legs and body. Some of those stretches he wanted to try in bed with her. Shit, that was the wrong thing to think. She stopped in the middle and nodded toward the girls lined along the rink wall.
Music blared from overhead speakers, catching him off guard. Then what was happening hit him. She was going to perform a routine.
And then he recognized the music from the Broadway musical named after the title of the song: Beauty and the Beast. How appropriate, he thought. She was a beauty. He couldn’t deny that.
One of the young girls glanced at him with a shy smile then leaned over to whisper into her friend’s ear.
With Isa’s first push into a graceful backward glide, he was entranced. He realized for the first time when around her, his dragon was quiet, had stopped pushing at him to take her to their cave and claim her. It was as enchanted as he was. Speechless as the siren floating on air danced before them.
The music swelled to a high and Isaline launched into the air, spinning, then landed on one foot with the other straight out behind her in a backward gliding curve around the side. The girls clapped and screamed.
A couple of the kids glanced back at him and giggled. He felt a presence moving closer behind him and smelled soft perfume.
“She’s so graceful out there,” a soft voice said behind his shoulder. Without looking at the speaker, he nodded. She continued, “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” He could only nod again—words were not in his brain for the vision. Isaline completed another jump, and the gaggle cheered.
“My daughter, the third from the left,” the mom rambled on, “has dreamed of being as good as Isaline for years. Isaline is her idol.”
Wait, what? Someone idolized Isaline besides him? He glanced over his shoulder at the mom, only taking his eyes from Isaline for a second. “What do you mean?” he asked.
“Since you’re accompanying her here, I’m assuming she’s told you about her near Olympic career?”
“Are you kidding?” he replied. “She hasn’t mentioned a word about that.”
The woman laughed. “That’s not surprising. Isaline’s not the type of person to brag about herself or past accomplishments.”
“Tell me more,” he said, still watching the sight on the ice.
“Well, when she was a teen, she was good enough in individual ice dancing to make it to the Olympic trials. That’s when my girl first became interested in skating. Isaline was magnificent in her routine. Nailed her jumps, stuck her landings, and should have been selected. Her family always showed such support. They were always here, always cheering her on and watching.”
When the lady didn’t go on, he had to ask. “Why wasn’t she selected?”
The mom harrumphed. “No one knows, but my opinion is the judges wouldn’t select her because she doesn’t have the ‘traditional’ skater’s body.”
Beast couldn’t believe his ears. Isaline was fucking perfect in body and soul. How could anyone want for more?
As if reading his mind, the mother said, “The judges wanted the women to be stick-like and look fragile. Deathly thin like runway models. Isa is healthy and has muscle, which is the image I want my daughter to appreciate.”
“I can understand that.”
The woman nodded. “For a while last year, Isa struggled with her weight, but she’s been eating super healthy and has talked to the girls about the importance of nutrition and nourishing the body to be healthy and strong, not necessarily skinny. She’s been so open about going to a nutritionist and doing different forms of exercise. Things to get the body moving and not get bored.”
The mom laughed. “She’s so funny. She admits she can’t go to a gym and workout because she hates routines now so she does other things to get her workouts done. Being here is her favorite. She’s such a great role model.”
He fully agreed with that. He would appreciate Isaline’s body all night long given the opportunity. The song came to an end and the angel on the cloud spun to a stop. The girls erupted onto the ice, racing toward Isa like a starving dog to a steak. They gathered around her, all whispering and glancing at him.
Thanks to his extraordinary hearing ability, he heard all their questions and comments.
Is he your boyfriend? He’s really cute. How old is he? Have you kissed him yet? All things young girls think about when it came to boys. He found himself blushing, something he didn’t do on a regular basis. What was wrong with him? He’d never been this timid around women before, much less a bunch of pre-teens.
Isaline smiled and glanced at him then shushed the girls. From there, they lined up to begin practicing. The next hour flew by as he watched her with the kids. She was a fabulous coach and the girls seemed to love her.
When the session was over, the girls skated off to put their street shoes on. The same mother who spoke to him earlier came up to him again. “Are you and Isaline going to some fancy event?”
13
“No,” Beast answered. “Why do you ask?”
Her eyes skimmed down his body. “No reason, really. You’re dressed differently than most around here, so I was just curious. Have a great day.” She waved at Isa and picked up the skates of one of the girls and headed out of the rink, daughter in tow.
Isaline came up to him. “Want to get something to eat?” she asked.
His dragon took control during his mental lapse from looking at the gorgeous woman in such revealing clothes standing next to him. He growled, “Yes.” Knowing his eyes probably reflected his hungry animal’s gaze, he looked away and cleared his throat. In his human voice, he said, “I’m always hungry.”
When her brow lifted and her pale cheeks turned pink, he knew she’d gotten his double-meaning.
“Give me a minute to change and I’ll be right out.” She grabbed her bags and hurried out the glass doors. With everyone leaving, he made his way to the lobby to wait. Within minutes, she returned in clothes that weren’t as revealing as before. Which meant nothing since he had the image of her in that leotard imprinted behind his eyelids forever.
“Ready?” she asked, walking him to the door. He followed, still at a loss for all he’d learned about the woman in the past hour. He realized there was so much he didn’t know about her, and he wanted to know everything. He wanted it all, down to the first time she said her first word as a baby.
In her Jeep for the second time, he waited till they were on the road before asking, “So, I hear you were an Olympian?”
She blushed and gave a soft, sexy laugh that made him mentally beg his dragon not to fight to take control. “That was a long time ago. And I didn’t make the team, so it’s not like it’s a big deal.”
“From what I heard,” he started, “it’s a huge deal to your entourage.”
Her brows dipped. “Entourage?”
“Yeah,” he said, “the pre-teen groupies drooling over you.”
She laughed. “Those are a group of great girls with potential to go places with their skills.”
“One of the moms said her daughter is skating only because she saw you and wanted to be just like you.”
Her face flushed again. “Really? She said that?”
“Absolutely.” He ran his fingers down her arm. “You’re a rock star here.”
“I don’t know about that,” she said quietly. He was amazed with her humbleness and how down to earth she was. So different from the women he’d dated in his past. So different than Rinelle LeFevre, the rich heiress that didn’t even know where gas went in the limos she was driven in. Rinelle and others before her were so pretentious, so fake about who they were. Not Isaline.
“Tell me about you,” he said.
She smiled and glanced at him, taking her gaze off the road for a second. “What do you want to know? I warn you—I’m really boring.”
“I seriously doubt that.” Just looking at her got him excited. She must’ve picked
up on his energy and laughed.
“Okay,” she replied, “I was born, grew up in a normal family in a small town, almost made the Olympic skate team, failed, graduated college, and got a job, occasionally bake and love feeding the homeless.”
Beast couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “I realize you were born, seeing that you’re alive and driving.” He almost added and sexy as hell, but now wasn’t the time. “And small town is right.”
Isa smiled. “Don’t you love it?” Love wouldn’t be the word he used, but— “This is the best town to live in. All the people care about others. They are willing to help without being asked and stand up for what they believe in. People in the city are snobbish and don’t give a shit about anyone but themselves. Do you see people going out of their way to help others?”
He had to admit there were those who didn’t.
“And how many times do city people flat out lie to your face?” she queried.
“Now,” he interjected, “you can’t lay that squarely on city people.”
“Granted,” she replied, “but you have to agree that those who work in the city will sometimes say whatever it takes to get what they want, truth or not. Especially when talking to strangers.”
“Sometimes,” he agreed.
“Okay,” she said, “what about people who willingly give time or money to make other’s lives better?” she asked.
He didn’t think it was that city people didn’t mean to not help. They just didn’t know who needed help. “My mom is big into charity work. Every week, she goes to one of the soup kitchens to help out those who need it. She helps collect clothes for kids and families who need winter items and shoes.”
“That’s great,” Isaline said and then gave him a quick, curious glance. “Do you go with her?”