His Scarred Woman (Curvy Women Wanted Book 22) Read online

  EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ®

  www.evernightpublishing.com

  Copyright© 2020 Sam Crescent

  ISBN: 978-0-3695-0176-9

  Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

  Editor: Audrey Bobak

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  HIS SCARRED WOMAN

  Curvy Women Wanted, 22

  Sam Crescent

  Copyright © 2020

  Chapter One

  She was a beast.

  A monster.

  Disgusting.

  A vile living thing.

  Ugly.

  Ugly. Petra Hall smiled as she thought about the four-letter word. Out of all the things she’d been called in her life, ugly was the nicest, which was weird considering the insult. She wondered what Drake Dome thought of her, like really thought. Not that her thoughts should ever wander to the man within her employ.

  He’d stayed on, playing the role of bodyguard like she’d asked. Every morning, he checked the perimeter, and each night, he ate dinner with her. So far, she hadn’t caught him looking at her as if she was some kind of monster.

  Over five years ago, her life had changed forever.

  Stepping away from her computer, she went to the bathroom, and without wincing at the sight of herself, she stared at her face. One eye was gone, that had been taken during the attack. She only had vision in one now, but her other eye was closed shut, like it never existed. Just one blue eye staring right back at her. Another scar ran from her forehead down past the closed eye and across her cheek. There was still pinched skin from the blade being pushed in. He hadn’t killed her by ramming the blade into her face. No, he’d taken his sweet time hurting her, carving down to her neck, teasing her over the artery.

  When she had first recovered, her face had been a mess. Now though, the scars weren’t as red or severe. She no longer hated the way she looked. Sure, she had lovely blonde hair. The kind that some women got out of a bottle. Not her; she’d been born with really light-blonde hair, almost white. Her mother had similar coloration, or at least she did before she passed.

  She didn’t want to think of her mother’s passing.

  Her cell phone buzzed. Reaching out, she picked it up to see Drake calling. “Hello.”

  “Lunch is ready.” He didn’t say anything else, simply hung up.

  Her head of security also liked to cook for her. She didn’t need him. In the past four years, she’d gone through twenty different security guards. Her house was locked up tighter than any bank. She had seen to it, at least after her attack, and she never put her life at risk again. The guard was just an added touch. If someone were to break in again, she wanted to be able to scream for help.

  After splashing some water onto her face, she dried it, and leaving her computer open, made her way toward the dining room.

  Drake always served her meals there. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, even super, he seemed to know whenever she was hungry. She wasn’t going to judge because she got fed out of it.

  With her hands at her sides, she took several deep breaths.

  Most of the previous guards wouldn’t even look her in the face, but Drake? He looked at her, and there were a few times she was sure he was checking her out, but that had to be a lie.

  It had to be.

  There was no way anyone would ever want her. She was ugly. Horrible.

  Pushing those thoughts aside, she stepped into the dining room to find Drake already sitting beside her chair. He always sat on the side where she couldn’t see, making her turn toward him, so he’d see all of her face.

  Tucking her blonde hair behind her ear, she went to her seat.

  “The border is all clear. No breaks within the perimeter.”

  “That’s good. Not even wild wolves or anything?” Sitting with him made her nervous.

  “You know your fences are locked tight. I’ve checked the feeds as well. You’ve got a package that came for you.” He grabbed a brown box and handed it to her. “I checked. It looks like a couple of books.”

  He was always so thorough.

  She took the box from him, glancing through the paperwork. It was just a couple of books she’d ordered, but right now, it gave her something to do rather than look up at him.

  “How was your morning?” he asked.

  This was what confused her.

  He was so thorough as the bodyguard, keeping her safe. Then there was this, the man, that made her even more confused.

  “I don’t think you should ask me that question.”

  “I ask you it all the time. I don’t see why this is any different.” He took a bite of his sandwich. Cheese and pickle. It was his favorite.

  She hated pickles but he always had it. For her, a simple salad was nice. Lettuce, tomato, a few slices of cucumber, and some onion. She loved raw onion. Taking a bite, she chewed her food, wondering if she should count to a hundred before swallowing.

  “It’s been good.”

  “You don’t have to worry about small talk, Petra,” he said.

  She had tried to get him to call her Ms. Hall, but it hadn’t stuck. It kind of reminded her of her mother before she passed.

  “I just, I’m not, I mean, why do we have to have small talk?”

  Drake sat back, watching her. “You haven’t had a lot of people around, have you?”

  “Mr. Dome, you’ve been working for me for six months, you tell me.”

  “You don’t go out. You don’t answer the door. I take your deliveries and from previous experience, your other guards did exactly the same. You don’t have any visitors and anyone who offers to stop by, you lie to.”

  “Look, I don’t need you to tell me what I should or shouldn’t do. If you don’t like your job, quit. Believe me, I’ll find someone else to take your place. I’m not stopping you from moving on.” She got to her feet, about to leave, but he grabbed her arm.

  It was the first time she’d been touched in so long. She gasped, shocked at the contact.

  She hadn’t even gotten a hug after her accident. Her mother had been long dead by that time.

  Why did this touch matter at all?

  ****

  Drake watched as her eyes went wide. She looked like she was about to have a panic attack. This was the last thing he wanted to do to her, to scare her.

  He didn’t remove his hand though.

  From all of his research and talking to some of her old bodyguards, he knew Petra didn’t accept touch of any kind. Not even from the mailman. In fact, she’d never even met the mailman, which he found so fucking sad.

  Her entire story was really fucking sad. Look at her now, scared, a shadow of her former self.

  She’d never been the kind of woman to stand out in a party and make a spectacle of herself. He’d seen images and videos of how she used to be. A stunning smile, sweet, catching every single guy’s attention, at least those who didn’t want to be seduced. She had this friendly way about her that allowed people to relax within her company.

  He felt it.

  It was hard to fight.

  She tried to cover her face as much as possible and he did everything to stop her from doing that.

  Yes, when they first happened, the scars were ugly. Every single part of what ha
ppened to her was ugly. The man, who was now rotting in jail, had found Petra alone in the house and had intended to rape and kill her. He’d only gotten so far as scaring her. Changing her entire life forever.

  He hated it. Hated the fact someone could be so fucking selfish. It pissed him off.

  Her family. He didn’t even want to think about her family, not right now. Not with what they wanted him to do.

  Fuck!

  “Petra, I’m not going anywhere.”

  “I don’t think you should be touching me.”

  “Why, do you have some disease?” he asked, smiling, trying to show her he wasn’t offended or going to go away easily. Fuck that shit. She had way too many people push her aside, and he wasn’t going to be one of them.

  She wasn’t going to get rid of him. Not because of her family either. He still needed to work out that shit. Her family, her deadbeat fucking shit of a father, his new wife, and their kids wanted the money or some of the money that had been left to Petra.

  Drake knew all the details of the Hall fortune. Petra’s mother had been rich. Heiress to an empire. Her husband, Petra’s father, had thought he’d manipulated her enough to put the entire wealth in his name.

  Wrong.

  Petra’s mother had known what a cheating asshole he’d been, and on her mother’s death, Petra got everything. The empire, the house, the yachts. All of it. She confined herself to a relatively small country estate. One with a great deal of security and in the middle of nowhere.

  Much to his shame, he needed money and had been offered this job as a way to make some quick cash. His security company had hit on some hard times. One of his employees had stolen all of his assets, millions of dollars. In order to keep his company going, he needed quick cash flow.

  Petra’s father had offered him the source, Petra herself. All he had to do was make Petra fall in love with him, knock her up, marry her, and get control of her fortune. He’d have it made.

  What this woman possessed, it was shocking.

  But he had a problem. A big one.

  He wouldn’t be like all the men who had tried and failed to get close to Petra. They saw the scars and didn’t think they could go through with it.

  Drake, he was a first-class asshole because he saw the scars, and to him, they were fucking beautiful. Being a bodyguard wasn’t new to him. It wasn’t something he just randomly decided to do. Security, being a bodyguard, it was all part of his training and work. This was who he was.

  The scars on her face, the smile he detected sparingly, they were all part of the fighter within her. She had been attacked and survived.

  In fact, he found Petra Hall extremely beautiful. Sensitive. Lonely.

  Watching her tore at him. He never wanted to see her look so sad and lost but she didn’t allow anyone close. It was why he tested their boundary of employer and employee. He never cooked for anyone else, but he wanted to do something special. This wasn’t about the money or his company’s future. This was about him and how she made him feel, and it was fucking powerful stuff. Heady. Intense. Surreal.

  He wasn’t a monk. He’d never denied himself women when the need arose. Being with Petra, he realized really quickly that she was everything. She wouldn’t be just some fuck. When he looked at her, he wanted to protect her. Love her, and of course, he wanted to fuck her.

  That body. Full tits, which she tried to hide in the most hideous of shirts. They were always three sizes too big. He’d gotten a feel of those hips as well. Nice and round. He’d get a nice good grip and fuck her hard. Then, of course, there were her thighs. He wanted them wrapped around him so he could take her as hard as he wanted.

  In fact, when it came to Petra, she was the perfect woman for him. It only made the job he’d originally come to do so much harder.

  No matter what happened, her family would never take advantage of her again. He wouldn’t allow it. Another day, he would tell her the truth, but only when he knew she was strong enough to handle it.

  He wasn’t going anywhere because he’d found the perfect woman for him. He’d never been a fool. Only a fool would walk away from her.

  “I know you don’t have any diseases. You’re perfect, Petra,” he said.

  Chapter Two

  A couple of days later

  Perfect Petra.

  She couldn’t get those two words out of her head. It had interrupted her writing flow, not that it mattered what she wrote. She never published a single word. She’d gone through her assistant’s email. She’d hired Gale straight after her mother died.

  In her mother’s will, there had been a list her mother had made of trusted employees. All of them with the relevant area of expertise. Gale had been at top of the list.

  She’d been there to help her when her father tried to take over the board. He only had a limited number of shares in the company, and Gale had put it into effect that no one was allowed to sell their shares. In fact, if any scandal was to arise which resulted in sales needing to be purchased, as per the agreement, they would all go back to Petra.

  Gale was a ball buster and had helped strengthen her mother’s company. It was why she knew what Drake was all about as well.

  It was a shame he’d gone to her father.

  The file Gale faxed over contained all the details of the deal Drake Dome had struck up with her father. She didn’t know why she waited six months to check him out. He was nice. She liked that he cooked for her. His touch.

  Perfect Petra.

  It was all a game.

  Snapping the file closed, she didn’t even bother with tears. In the past five years, she had come to see that anything too good to be true probably was.

  Drake was too good.

  His sexy self had no reason to be anywhere near her. She felt bad for his company. No one should have to suffer because of the actions of another, and it did piss her off. She got to her feet, leaving her office and locking the door behind her.

  It was the first time she’d done that since Drake had come to work for her, and it didn’t exactly leave her feeling good.

  She went to her room to change out of her clothes and into a bathing suit. She needed to swim. Swimming helped her clear her mind as best she could when she faced a dilemma like this. It was awful.

  She’d been used.

  Not that it should surprise her.

  The pool was clear but she knew he’d be sitting at the computer monitors and would see she’d come here. If he came to her, she was going to fire him.

  Diving into the pool, she didn’t even care how much of a splash she made. She did a couple of laps, and as she came up for air on the fourth, Drake was at the side of the pool.

  “You usually give me a warning you’re swimming. With all the windows, I like to make sure you’re safe.”

  She stared up at his perfect face. His short, black hair that she had tried not to imagine running her fingers through. Both of his blue eyes, so sharp. They were a darker shade than hers, and she loved to look into them, but that would be stopping. All of it would be coming to an end because she wasn’t going to allow herself to fall for a liar.

  “You’re fired,” she said, pushing away from the edge of the pool.

  “You’re not firing me.”

  “Tell my father to give up with sending me useless guards who think they can get into my pants. I have no interest in being manipulated. He tried to con my mother. It didn’t work, and it’s not going to work on me.”

  She expected him to deny it. Instead, he smiled. This was odd.

  “Leave.”

  “I’m not leaving.” He opened up his jacket, and she watched in shock as he removed his clothes, going down to his boxer briefs and climbing into the pool.

  She moved away, a little startled. No one invaded her swimming time. “You need to leave.”

  “No, I don’t.”

  “I don’t like this.”

  “Tough. You know the truth. I’ve been hoping to find an opportunity to tell you.”

&
nbsp; “Why?”

  “Because I knew what I did was fucking wrong. A woman who’s in charge of thousands of employees must know and understand the reasons why I did it.”

  “I don’t understand anything. What was your job, exactly?”

  “Fuck you, knock you up, marry you. Take control of your fortune, pay your father, help my company,” he said.

  “You’re telling the truth?” she asked.

  “All of it. Every single part of my shame.”

  “You consider a deal with my father your shame?”

  “Wouldn’t you?”

  “I’ve never done a deal with my father. It’s why I don’t see him, ever,” she said.

  “I deal in security and I’m trained as a bodyguard. None of that is a lie. Who I am, what I do, I’ve given you the truth of who I am. I have no reason to lie.”

  “You came to me under false pretenses.”

  “Actually, I came to you with an admission of the truth. I didn’t lie to you.”

  “What do you want from me?” she asked.

  He stared at her. His gaze went to her lips then back to her eye.

  She waited.

  “Well, first, I’d like you to kiss me.”

  She burst out laughing. “Are you insane?”

  “No. You know who I am and why I came here. I didn’t hold anything back from you. I didn’t hide. I’ve been open, honest, and this is who I am. You can hate me all you want, but it’s not going to change anything. I want you, Petra. I promise I won’t ever lie to you again.”

  She didn’t move as he waded through the water. They were both at the shallow end, and she made no move to cover herself or to hide.

  “I fired you.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m not going anywhere. I signed a contract for a year to save your life. If you don’t like my services, I’ll consider walking away, but until then, I will protect your ass.”

  “What if I offer you the money for the company?”