Izzy's Fight: The Izzy Rose Chronicles Book 1

by Nicole Clark

  A normal day of peace and quiet on my farm was not like any other day I spent out here alone. The sound of a backfire outside my house caused me to jump as I had a flashback of a bomb exploding. Out of force of habit, I rolled off the couch and hit the floor while seeking shelter from any shrapnel. When nothing happened, I looked around at my surroundings noting that I was in my house, not back in the war zone I’d left not long ago. Pushing myself to my feet, I ventured out the front door to look around and locate the source of my flashback. Just up the road was an older blue Mustang with the hood up. Leaning over the engine block was a female who appeared to be looking for the source of the problem. Descending the stairs, I started for the damsel in distress.

  As I got closer to the female, I couldn’t help but lick my lips at how good she looked from behind. She was wearing jeans that hugged her ass perfectly and faded into heels, with an even tighter tank top. She was the hottest thing I’d seen in quite a while considering that I’d seen almost every woman that lived in the county.

  “Excuse me, ma’am?”

  As she spun around, her hair flipped in the air a little catching the sunlight in an entrancing way. Not only did the shoulder length short hair look good against her tan skin, her brilliant blue green eyes caught my attention. Once again my eyes slid down her body taking in everything from her full lips and breasts pressed against her tank top to her sexy heels.

  “Yes?” she asked cocking her hip and crossing her arms.

  “Do you need help?”

  “Yes!” she said clearly exasperated. “The damn thing died on me and I have no clue what’s wrong with it.”

  Chuckling, I motioned for her to get out of the way. Placing my hands on the frame of the car, I bent over and looked at the engine. My eyes quickly but carefully scanned everything to make sure nothing was out of place. The moment my eyes landed on it, I shook my head.

  “Well darlin’, you blew your radiator hose and leaked all your antifreeze.”

  “And that means?” she asked.

  “That means your car is stuck until you replace both of those items. I can take you to town and let you buy them and then I can install them for you, if you want.”

  “Thank you.”

  As I dropped the hood on her car, I looked over to see her leaning into the car to get whatever it was that she needed. I could feel my jeans growing tighter and I was forced to press my palm against my groin in a lame attempt to keep myself in check. If I was honest with myself, I wanted to take as long as possible to keep this beauty in town. She was stunning as far as looks went. But, her attitude was something to be desired. The small huff of exasperation and roll of her eyes made me cringe. As she pushed herself up, she headed towards me while slinging her purse over her shoulder. Mentally I cursed myself for having such a hard on for this beauty. I loved the way she handled her body when she slid her hands in her back pockets. The movement caused her breasts to become the center of attention, and I wanted to know more of her body unclothed. Even though I knew I wouldn’t get any serious relationship out of her because I wouldn’t allow myself to fall into a relationship.

  No one needed to deal with me and my issues. No one wanted to.

  “Are you ready?” she asked a brilliant smile spreading across her face.

  “Yes,” I said as I returned her smile. Holding my arm out, she hesitantly took it and followed me up to the house and around the back to the garage knowing that she had no other choice but to trust me.

  Driving into town, I kept glancing over at the woman by my side. She looked mighty fine in my truck. I’d never had a woman in my truck that made me want to pull over and spend the night in the back of the truck just staring at the stars.

  “Why are you starin’ at me?” she asked turning to look at me.

  “No reason. What’s your name darlin’?”

  “Aubrey. And yours?”

  “Austin.”

  Laughing, she shook her head. Her laughter was contagious and soon I found myself laughing even though I had no clue why. It was several moments before the laughter in the cab of the truck died down and she had a somber face once more.

  “Why were you laughin’?” I asked curiously.

  “I just find it hilarious. Your name is Austin, mine is Aubrey, I have a friend named Bailey and her husband’s name is Dallas. They are all places in Texas not that far from each other.”

  “Wouldn’t happen to be Bailey and Dallas Westmore, would it?” I asked not missing the statement she’d said about us all living in Texas with names reflecting Texas towns.

  “Yeah that’s them. How’d you know?”

  “I went to school with Dallas. I was also at their weddin’.”

  “So was I!” The look on her face brought a smile to my face. “What were you wearin’?”

  “I was the one in the blue jeans, black button up shirt, and cowboy boots. At some point in time I might have been wearin’ a black cowboy hat.”

  Aubrey took a moment to think before her mouth dropped open. Arching a brow, I pulled the truck into the repair shop and looked at her.

  “What’s wrong Aubrey?”

  “That was you?”

  “Yes. Is that a bad thing?”

  “No, I just didn’t know that was you. I was kinda bitch to you that night.”

  I thought back to the night Dallas and Bailey had gotten married. It took me but two seconds to remember what Aubrey had been wearing. The smile on her face, the way her hair teased her neck and the way that her dress clung to every curve in just the right areas. She’d danced with Bailey and the other bridesmaids to every song that came on. I also remembered that I had wanted to dance with her but chickened out not wanting to chance her rejecting me. I was only on leave from the Army and was in no shape to be with someone. One thing I know for sure was that she is as beautiful now as she was then. Only then she was wearing less clothes than she was now.

  “No you weren’t. Besides, if you were I’m sure I deserved it. I was slightly drunk that night so whatever I did or said, I apologize.”

  Chuckling, Aubrey shook her head. “Oh honey, it’s completely fine. I don’t remember much about that night myself. I only remember being happy for Dallas and Bailey.”

  Nodding, I sighed. “Well sugar, we’re here. I can go in and get the parts for you if you’d prefer to stay here.”

  “Nope! I’m payin’ for it. It’s my car and I’m sure I’m the reason it busted loose in the first place.”

  Jumping out, Aubrey started for the door to the shop. Shaking my head, I laughed. She had spunk I’d give her that. Following suit, I quickly caught up and wrapped my arm around her. I was thankful that she didn’t shove me away like other women might have. Instead, she wrapped her arm around my waist and leaned into me.

  “This shouldn’t take too terribly long. I know all the parts you’ll need to get that beauty up and runnin’ again.”

  “Thank you so much, you really don’t know what this means to me.”

  Smiling brightly, I walked her back to the section of the store where the parts we needed were located.

  An hour and a half later I had the radiator hose fixed while Aubrey sat and watched. Night was falling and I didn’t know where Aubrey was headed, but I didn’t necessarily want her to leave. Taking her hand I drew her closer to me. Looking down at her, I ran my finger down her cheek wiping away grease.

  “Stay for the night? It’s getting late and I know you wanna get back out on the road but I don’t want you to get tired and have nowhere to pull over to rest. I’ll cook you dinner and let you sleep in my room while I sleep on the couch.”

  Looking around, it looked as if Aubrey was about to say no, but thankfully she looked back to me and nodded. “I’d love to stay, Austin.”

  Grinning like a fool, I laced my fingers with hers and lead her up to the house for the second time that day. Instead of bypassing the house this time, I brought her inside and showed her around before going to the kitchen to whip up a batch of ch
ili.

  Once we’d eaten and the dishes done, Aubrey and I sat on the couch to watch a movie. It wasn’t a particularly scary movie, but after about twenty minutes Aubrey closed the space between us and rested her head on my shoulder. Sighing happily, I wrapped my arms around her and kissed the top of her head. It amazed me that a woman as beautiful and as sweet as her was so trusting with someone like me.

  Sometime in the middle of the movie, I felt Aubrey fall asleep on me. Looking down, I watched her for a moment before standing up then picking her up, then moving to my bedroom. Laying her on my bed, I took her shoes off before crawling into the bed next to her. Sliding my arm around her, I pulled her against my chest and fell asleep. I knew that I’d told her that I would sleep on the couch, but I didn’t want to pass up this chance to hold her close—not when I might never get it again.

  BUT SAVING AUSTIN!

  http://www.amazon.com/Saving-Austin-Nicole-Clark-ebook/dp/B00UKHNIWA/ref=sr_1_1_twi_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1433603266&sr=8-1&keywords=nicole+saving+austin