His Greatest Pain Read Free Page A

grown over the
years, and she hoped that maybe one day things would progress. But Lauren also
didn’t want to ruin what they had.
    So
she’d take her time with things, let him lead the way, and if he ever wanted to
move things along to a more intimate level she’d tell him this was what she’d
been waiting for.
    Lauren
dried off her face, then let her hair down but put it in a loose braid. After
she finished putting on a little eye makeup, she heard the sound of Ace pulling
into the driveway. Leaving the bathroom she watched him through the living room
window as he climbed out of his vehicle, all six-foot-three inches of him. Even
though he worked as a construction contractor and did hard labor, he also
worked out religiously. She knew it wasn’t just to keep in shape, but the fact
he needed that release to help calm the darkness in him.
    He
walked toward her front door, his big body moving like some kind of damn wild
animal. Yeah, she’d gone there, but it was true. In the last four years he’d
gotten his tattoos finished, meaning he now had full sleeves on both of his
arms, and even the majority of his chest was covered. She hated that he felt
the need to try to cover up what had happened, but she also knew why he had to
do it. Ace needed that for himself.
    She
opened the door before he even reached it, and her smile faded when she saw the
look on his face. He was in one of those moods. It was the kind that she’d
witnessed hundreds of times over the years, the kind that pulled him down and
held on tight. He was depressed, living in the past, and she could see how
tense his body was. Sometimes this happened, not always, but when it did she
knew that what he needed was to know he wasn’t alone. Some people wouldn’t have
stuck around, wouldn’t have bothered with a man they saw as “too damaged” to be
loved. But Lauren saw something so special and warm in Ace, and to her he was
the one for her.
    “Hey, Poppy.”
    She
smiled at the term of endearment he called her on occasion. Poppies were her
favorite flower, and when he’d found that out years ago he had started calling
her that. It made her feel warm and fuzzy, made her
feel even closer to him.
    He
came up to the front door and smiled, just a sad smile that barely had the
corner of his mouth lifting. She looked down at his knuckles, saw they were
bruised and scabbed over, and knew that over the last couple of days he’d been
fighting extra hard. He was either not protecting himself at the gym, or he was
doing the back alley bare-knuckle fighting.
    “Ace—”
    “Not
now, Poppy.” He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, and then moved past her
and into the house.
    She
shut the door, and before he could move away from her anymore, she reached out
and grabbed his hand. He looked over his shoulder, stared down at her hand, and
she saw and heard him swallow. “Come here, Ace.” She tugged on his hand until
he turned around and moved toward her again. Looking up at him, she reached up
and brushed her hand over his forehead, moving the short hair back, but smiling
when it fell right back into place. “You know I don’t want the negative stuff
in the house.” It might sound stupid to have a rule like that, but she’d seen
the difference it made in him.
    “You’re
right, and I’m sorry.”
    He
exhaled, nodded, and pulled her in for a hug. They just held each other for
what felt like forever, and when Ace placed his hand on the back of her head,
holding her to the center of his chest, she closed her eyes and just absorbed
the feeling of having him close. “I wish I could make you happy all the time, Ace.”
    He
pulled back, this pained expression on his face. “ Poppy .” He closed his eyes, “God, please don’t say shit like that.”
He opened his eyes, the startling green piercing right through her. “If not for
you I don’t even know where I’d be.” He clenched his jaw, the light stubble on
his cheeks dark, just like the short hair on his