Read Online Scarred (Book 1, #1) by Kylie Walker - Free Book Online Page A

father would force his way in...
    “No,” was all she said.
    “Something about it calms me,” he said. “I can be completely undone after a day at work and a walk on the beach renews my spirit.”
    She knew what he was talking about. Every step they took caused the sand to shift under their feet and squish up through their toes. Chloe didn’t verbally agree or disagree with him. She didn’t want him to feel like he was bonding with her over a common goal as they watched the white tipped waves roll in and spread themselves across the beach softly. Chloe found it strange that she could stand here next to this man and feel so comfortable in his quiet presence that was until she felt him touch her. He had simply reached over and took her hand, intertwining his fingers with hers. His touch was gentle and warm, but after two years of being alone...and mostly afraid, it was foreign. She shuddered involuntarily.
    “Are you cold?” he asked. He stopped walking and let go of her hand. She didn’t want to tell him that she was now, suddenly. He didn’t wait for her answer anyways. He slipped off his jacket and offered it to her.
    “I’m okay,” she said. Derek smiled at her and draped the jacket around her shoulders.
    They were face to face, so close that she could feel his warm breath on her face. For a fraction of a second, she thought he was going to kiss her. The most frightening part of that was that she wasn’t sure how she would react if he did. Part of her was aching for it. Her pounding heart and suddenly ragged breath were indicators of how badly she wanted to feel his lips against hers. The knot that remained twisted up in her stomach however said otherwise.
    She moved her hands up and pulled the jacket around her. “Thank you,” she said as she once again took a step back, putting a distance between them that she was comfortable with.
    They started walking again and he said, “How long have you lived in Rhode Island?” It was an ordinary question for a first date. He was trying hard to make conversation and she knew that she wasn’t making it easy.
    Taking a deep breath she said, “A couple of years.”
    He nodded and said, “And how long have you worked for Roxi?”
    “About a year and a half,” she said.
    Something suddenly made her want to tell him that she didn’t enjoy it. She didn’t like gyrating to sleazy music and sliding her body up and down an oiled pole half naked while men got off watching her. Part of her wanted him to know the real Chloe...the one who didn’t have far to go to finish her degree and become a teacher, the one who got straight “A’s” in school and got a full ride scholarship to college...but she caught herself before she opened her mouth. That was the Chloe who was too much like Kelly Ward...she had to do something with Derek that she didn’t have to do with other people...remind herself to be careful.
    “Do you like to dance?” he asked.
    She had to be careful, “Yes.” She said, simply. She wondered if he was getting frustrated with her one word answers. She wondered if he was regretting spending the evening with someone who didn’t seem able or willing to open up and let him know who she really was. She wondered why she cared so much. On their walk back up towards the car, he took her hand again. She let him and this time her body didn’t even react in a shudder.
    On the helicopter ride home she began to feel bad about the scanty conversation they’d had throughout the evening and she said, “Did you start your company yourself, or was it a family business?”
    “I started it myself,” he said. “I can’t claim that I could have done it without some initial financial backing from my father, but I paid him that all back eventually so that now I can truly claim the success as my own.”
    “That’s something to be proud of,” she said, sincerely.
    “It feels good,” he said. He didn’t seem arrogant about it in the least although Chloe knew he had