Broken by Janet Taylor-Perry Page B

Raif reached into his inside jacket pocket. "Do you want to see what I got?"
    "Sure."
    He showed Colleen the pendant.
    "Very nice," she approved. "Now, go before she locks up. She's still scared. Maybe you can take her away from here, though I'll miss her dreadfully. I've known her since she was born. Her momma died of breast cancer when she was three. Her daddy never married again and raised her all by hisself. She was his greatest masterpiece. Treat her like a work of art."
    "I will. Thank you again, Colleen."
     

    A couple of young co-eds exited Timeless Tattoos as Raif held the door for them. Neely did not hear the bell for his entrance as she sterilized the equipment she had used. Raif watched her quietly. She is absolutely gorgeous. Without the rose tattoo, she could have been a Miss America contestant, though tattoos are no longer taboo . A perfect hour-glass figure. Quite voluptuous, and even the scar from her splenectomy and uterine repair don't detract from her perfectly tight abs. She wore a pair of cut-off jeans that showed her shapely legs and a tightly fitting t-shirt that displayed her midriff. She had her long blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail, and she wore simple post cross earrings in the only piercing she had. She used very little make-up, just enough to accentuate her cheek bones and her eyelashes with a natural shade of lipstick. She's natural floated through Raif's mind. She could have been a flower child of the 1960s.
    Since she had been terrorized enough, Raif did not want to frighten her; therefore, he opened and closed the door. She turned around, thinking she had another customer. Neely inhaled sharply when she saw Raif with a dozen peach-colored roses.
    "Good evening, Miss Rivers," he said. "May I interest you in dinner with me, such as I am?"
    "You came back," she said in disbelief.
    "I told you I would. I'm not a good liar, so I usually say what I mean and mean what I say. So, how about dinner?"
    "Yes, but you're dressed very nice. I'm not."
    Waving an index finger up and down, she indicated his black perfectly tailored Armani suit that accentuated his broad shoulders and slim waist, a white button-down shirt with a royal blue silk tie, and black wingtips.
    Raif said, "If I recall correctly, pretty lady, you live very nearby. I can wait."
    Neely practically skipped to the door, her eyes alight with happiness. She locked the door, flipped off the "OPEN" sign, and turned off the business lights.
    "Oh, by the way," said Raif, "these are for you."
    Gathering the flowers to her, she inhaled the fragrance. "Oh, the last time anybody gave me flowers was my senior prom. Thank you."
    "Next time I'll bring something different."
    "You don't have to do that."
    "But it makes me happy to see you happy."
    "Then, bring me the whole flower shop!" She laughed as she opened her apartment door.
    "I could arrange that."
    "I'm only joking, Raif. I'll hurry." Neely placed her roses in a vase before she headed to the bathroom.
    Raif sat down to wait and thumbed through a magazine on the coffee table. He heard the shower, and about twenty minutes later, he heard, "Raif, I don't know what to wear."
    "It doesn't matter, Neely," he called back.
    "But I don't have any really nice dresses. Come help me pick something out."
    He laughed and walked into Neely's bedroom. He turned around in the doorway and stammered, "Please, put something on—bathrobe—anything."
    "Why?"
    "Because you're too big a temptation without it. Please do this for me."
    "All right," Neely said. She knitted her brow in confusion but slipped on her bathrobe. "I'm covered."
    Raif turned around. "Thank you. Now, let's see." He looked at the three skirts Neely had on her bed and the half dozen blouses. "This skirt," he said, choosing a modest, long, black skirt with slits up each side. "And this blouse." He chose a silver, satin, spaghetti-strap top. "And"—He went to Neely's closet—"these shoes." He picked out plain black patent leather pumps. "Go