Ready to Trust , livre ebook

Title Page
READY TO TRUST
Two Intimate First Time Tales


By
Scarlett Knight



Publisher Information
Ready to Trust published in 2012
by Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published, and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
The characters and situations in this book are entirely imaginary and bear no relation to any real person or actual happening.
Copyright © Scarlett Knight 2012
The right of Scarlett Knight to be identified as author of this book has been asserted in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyrights Designs and Patents Act 1988.



Ready to Trust
By Scarlett Knight
Shay slowly kicked her feet back and forth under the cerulean blue water. Soaking up the summer sun’s hot rays, she sat on the edge of the hotel swimming pool on the deep end. Beads of chlorine-scented water dripped off her waist-length black hair, making little puddles on the cement beside her. A few young children splashed around in the shallow end, their parents reclining in swimsuits on the chairs in the shade of a palm-tree.
Licking her lips, Shay watched the kids play and attempted to absorb some of their happy, carefree attitude. Her heart pounded from inside her petite chest, but it wasn’t from any sort of vigorous swim. Two hours ago, she’d left the little countryside church with Gabe, who she’d married that very day. Today she would give him what she’d been holding back, what she’d been treasuring up until this moment. Her virginity was the last bit of herself that hadn’t been tainted by the ones she loved, the ones who had abandoned her. Finally giving it up meant having to trust again.
But she was ready. She knew she was. From the time Gabe had walked into the restaurant where she’d been waitressing, she’d known he was different. His blue eyes sparkled with a kindness she wasn’t used to. Never-mind that her teenaged body had betrayed her as soon as she’d set eyes on him. It had responded to his tanned, muscled frame, hard from working construction, and his long blond hair, which he kept tied back in a ponytail. Yes, her body wanted him, though her mind cried out to hold back.
She’d been 17 at the time, and now, two years later, she found herself Gabe’s wife. He knew all about her past, about the mother who left her when Shay was only a child, how she had to then live with an indifferent aunt. Then she’d told him about that same aunt who gave her up to a great uncle, who soon after passed away. Then it was a series of foster homes. Shay had tried to trust so many people, and so many people had shown they didn’t want her. They abandoned her time after time. She’d confessed to Gabe that because of her life’s traumas, she wasn’t giving up her virginity until she knew for sure that man wouldn’t leave her. He’d understood completely.
Shay looked down at her bare left hand. She’d taken her wedding ring off so she wouldn’t lose it in the pool. Already her finger felt naked without it. She took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. Gabe wasn’t going to leave her. He’d made her a promise when he asked her to marry him, and he’d kept it. For the first time in her life, Shay had hope of turning her expectations of people around. She wanted to give the world another chance to be there for her. Trusting Gabe with her virginity would seal the deal.
“Hey, beautiful.” Gabe’s deep voice snapped her out of her determined daydreaming. She turned around and beheld him leaning against the metal fence that surrounded the pool. “I got the beer if you’re ready to come back up to the room.”
“Okay.” Her pulse pounded in her ears, and she quickly looked away from him, trying instead to focus on the calm waves of water her feet stirred up. “Cool.”
“Shay, look at me.”
She turned and peeked at him through a curtain of dark, wet hair. “What’s up?”
“You okay?”
He looked like one of those golden gods she’d learned about in school: tall, trim, and broad-shouldered, with that long, sun-kissed hair. His short-sleeved button-down revealed a V of tanned chest, the guitar-pick necklace she’d made him hanging just low enough that she couldn’t see the actual pick.
“Yeah, I’m good.” It was mostly true. She didn’t want him to think she was as scared as she really was, scared not only because sex was supposed to hurt the first time, but because this was such a huge step for her, emotionally. “Really good.”
“Great.” When he smiled, the entire world lit up. “I’ll be upstairs when you’re done swimming. Beer’s nice and cold.”
She nodded, and he left her alone again. As the sun started to go down, she shook her head as if waking from a slumber. What was she doing stalling the inevitable? Gabe deserved more than this. With a burst of inner-strength, she got up from the side of the pool and wrapped her towel around her.
When she got back to the room, she knocked on the door, having left her plastic card key inside. Gabe quickly let her in. He proudly handed her a beer, which she downed halfway before she’d even found a seat on the edge of the bed.
The room was dark, all curtains having been drawn, and a couple of small bedside lamps turned on. Shay drew her legs up under her and covered them with her towel. The air conditioning was a bit cool, and it brought goose-bumps to her flesh. Her nipples poked through the thin, red fabric of her two-piece swimsuit. Gabe sat in a reclining chair next to the window and strummed his guitar.