Tattered Love (Needle's Kiss)

was comfortable looking. Markers, pencils and sketch books lay on the coffee table, framed photos littered the room: Scarlett at different ages and poses, some her and Teeny, some just her and a few with an older man who I assumed was her father. I noticed none of her mother; in fact, she had never spoken of her before, a topic for another day.
    The sun had set hours beforehand, and with the earlier mood of the evening, we’d both opted for a movie. Scarlett came into the living room with a bowl of popcorn and two cans of soda as I was putting a disk in.
    “What’d you pick?” she asked putting the popcorn and sodas down.
    I pulled her by her hands, flopped down on my back, setting into the deep folds of the couch, my head on the cushions, and grabbed her waist, pulling her on top of me hip to hip. My one hand palmed her ass, while the other gently pulled her cute, confused face toward mine. “Don’t know. Didn’t plan on watching it, babe.” My hand slid up the back of her thigh under her tiny sundress and flicked her clit ring driving the point home. Her eyes became hooded, her breathing hitched, and she whimpered before I kissed her hard and deep. We spent the next hour making out like kids while some action movie played in the background.
    When the movie finished, Scar took my hand and dragged me toward the bathroom. Stripping us both, she turned on the water, stepping into the chocolate and cream tiled double shower stall. By the time we were done with soapy sex and washing each other, the water had cooled. We toweled off and slipped into the large king bed. One thing I had learned early on about Scarlett was she slept naked, which suited me perfectly. Not much could feel better than her perfect, soft inked flesh pressed tight against mine, spooned behind her, my hand splayed across her taut stomach. As I drifted toward sleep, I swear I heard her whisper a barely audible, “Don’t break my heart; I don’t think I could take it”.
    I said nothing laying there in the dark, holding the very thing I had been unconsciously looking for. Feeling all kinds of conflicted, I realized I was pretty fucking certain I was falling in love with her, yet deep in the pit of my stomach, I knew I didn’t deserve her or her heart.

 

     
    It had been ten weeks of sleeping beside each other at least a few times a week, getting to know one another better, sweet kisses and scorching hot sex. We hadn’t been without disagreement. Scarlett was stubborn and hot headed. She wasn’t used to being taken care of; it was something she was slowly getting used to. She might have come across as a hard ass, but she could be sweet, and she was damn cute when she got mad about shit. We’d learned a lot about each other. She hated pickles, this was after her and Teeny had overdosed on them as kids. She was terrified of spiders—something I had found hilarious after finding her screaming and standing on a chair, her shoe in her hand pointed like a sword at a tiny black spider a foot away from her on the floor. I’d gradually added bits and pieces of my crap around her house as the weeks went by, a toothbrush here, a shirt there, my favorite coffee mug in the kitchen.
    We spent most of our free time together, dinners out, movies, long Sunday afternoon drives in the Cobra. I’d even taken her to the cemetery to visit with Belle. We were damn near perfect together. For every funny moment, there was a serious one. For every argument we had, there was hot-as-shit make-up sex. We balanced each other out. Although on occasion, I had to find inventive ways to shut her rambling moody mouth up. Not that I’d ever complain about it.
    A small murmured, “Morning” was the only clue to Scar being awake. I kissed the trail of tiny butterflies that started behind her ear and ran down her neck and over one shoulder, one hand palming her breast, the other roaming her warm body. With the tips of my fingers and my tongue, I traced her tattoos starting with the wings running the full length of her back. The morning light shining around her made her look like an angel. Goosebumps broke out over her skin from the barely there contact against her naked flesh. I made it to the very lowest part of her back before I introduced my teeth, nipping at the perfect creamy orbs of her backside, drawing a gasp from her; moving lower, I ran my tongue through her slick folds with a groan as her sweet juices coated my tongue and lips.
    Ignoring the disgruntled