Surrendering Love: An enemies-to-lovers second chance small town mountain romance (Sugar & Spice Mountain Series Book 1) by Tara L Newby

Author:Tara L Newby [Newby, Tara L]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sugar & Spice Books
Published: 2023-09-18T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter twenty-five

Ava

I woke in the morning curled up on Thunder’s chest, his protective arm wrapped around me, even as he slept. The sun streamed in promising a good day. Breathing in his musky scent, I traced my fingers across his torso, taking in the tattoos. There was so much I wanted to know about this man. But those weren’t the kind of conversations we could have. No-strings sex meant getting to know his body – not his mind. But there was one story I really wanted to know.

Every time he took his shirt off, my eyes were drawn to the large tattoo on his left pec. The two swords were obvious nods to the fantasy novels he loved. But there was more to it. There was the hooded figure. The man’s face was so intricately detailed, and pain hung in his eyes. But tenderness also lay in the tattoo. I had already created my own version of this story. After all, Thunder had never hidden his bisexuality. But we’d never really talked about his previous relationships.

I ran my fingers across the two swords and then circled the man’s face. This part of Thunder was now almost as familiar to me as my own skin. I glanced up at him. His eyes were open, watching me trace the tattoo.

“Are you ready to talk about it yet?”

Thunder squeezed me closer. He planted a delicate kiss on my forehead. “I think you already know.”

“Lightning?”

“Lightning.”

“He was more than your friend, wasn’t he?”

Thunder nodded.

“Tell me about him.”

“We met dancing. In many ways he was the opposite of me. My childhood was full of the Welsh mountains and countryside, his was the buzz and chaos of Liverpool’s streets. I was at my happiest covered in sawdust, he preferred getting caked in engine oil.”

Pushing myself up onto my elbow, I stroked his face. The lines etched across it were edged with pain. “You were in love.”

“Not straight away. But yes. As soon as we met, we were like life-long friends. Thick as thieves. The other dancers gave him his nickname because we spent so much time together. But it took a couple of years before it became more than a friendship. I’ve been openly bisexual for decades, but Lightning was more private about his sexuality. I think he’d had a hard time in the past. I don’t know. He didn’t really talk about it. He didn’t really talk about much.”

“And that’s why you wanted to run this project? To give men the opportunity to talk, without feeling like they’re being confronted?”

Thunder did not reply, but I caught the darkness swooping across his face, the pain flaring in his eyes.

He sighed and sat himself up, pulling me into him. “The irony is I’ve not talked much about him since his death. It was too painful, so it was better to just bury it, you know? But I’m beginning to realise that’s probably not healthy.”

I snuggled into his chest. “What happened?”

Thunder let out a short laugh, heavy with pain. His fingers brushed through my hair, his chin resting on my head.

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