Karina: A Cinderella Story

3

Jason’s POV

“Hi Jason,” I hear who I’m assuming is Karina say to me.

I had seen her the minute she walked out of the security barrier. She barely resembles the picture that Mark gave me. She is so radiant. Beautiful dark brown hair that reminds me of the color of hot fudge and eyes so dark I can drink them in like my black coffee. As I look at her I can see her talking but I am so caught up in my thoughts, then I notice her lips. Perfect little bow shape lips that I wouldn’t mind tasting.

“…leave…” is all I hear her say.

I reach out and instead of grabby her arm or motioning her to follow me. I take her hand. I couldn’t resist it and the moment I did I regretted it. I regretted it because of how perfect it felt, how well it fit into mine, the feel of our skin touching, and the sight of her blushing when I did about sent me over the edge.

Ok Jason…just get to the rig. You can ignore her once you are there and start over. She is an assignment you cant think that. Only every second I held her made it harder for me to convince myself to let go. It’s a good thing I brought a driver and that we didn’t have to walk far. I led her to the rig opened her door and let her climb in shutting the door behind her.

I climbed into the front seat noticing how empty my hand felt without hers in it. What is happening to me? In not this person I think to myself as we pullout into the arrivals traffic trying to leave the airport. We didn’t make it far before she was asking for food.

Her voice its like that favorite lullaby every kid has that only his momma can sing right. I had heard it in the airport but now in the confines of this rig its like a song and it’s the only thing I want to listen to for the rest of my life.

I look at the driver and give a slight shake of my head as to say, no. We have food at the house and clothes for, the location is only 30 minutes away and she can hold off until then I caught a glimpse of Karina out of my peripheral when I looked at the driver, she had already decided it wasn’t worth asking again and was trying to sleep.

Dear God, two months with this girl. What am I going to do? I want to hold her while she sleeps and help her leave her demons in the past. I want to kiss away her pain and show her what love feels like. Here I go again, I tease my buddies for thinking crap like this. Get it together man!

My inner turmoil is distracted by the driver to let me know we are at the location. I knew the general area but I wasn’t given the address until we arrived. That’s why we had a driver. I look back at Karina and she has fallen onto her side on the middle row of the rig. I try to talk to her but she doesn’t here me. She just keeps breathing that very soft snore and I know she is deep in sleep.

“Well man, you mind opening the door and carrying in whatever we have in the back from her flight? I’ll carry her in and put her in bed?” I ask the driver as I get out and open the back door to have better access to Karina.

I reach in and unbuckle her first. Then I slide my right arm under her thighs and my left behind her back to support her while I walk. I wasn’t expecting her to really be that heavy. She is quite tiny and maybe weighs 110 pounds soaking wet, no big deal. She winches when I readjust her weight after climbing out of the rig. I was very careful so I wasn’t sure what was wrong with her.

Holding her in the position I was able to get a clear view of her face. She had small scars on her cheeks but I’m not sure what could cause something like them. Her arms I could tell had longer more noticeable on them. Like someone had hit her repeatedly with tree branches or something thin that would cut skin. My heart hurt looking at her skin and wondering who could do something so terrible to such a beautiful human.

The driver beat me into the house with what little belongings she had. He did a quick sweep and took off as soon I crossed the threshold of the front door and he was able to lock it up. I went to lay Karina on the couch and to my shock when I tried to put her down she threw her arm over my shoulder and held on tight. I don’t think this girl has ever had any kind of affection from anyone. She would probably be mortified if she knew about any of this.

I attempted to put her down again and she gripped even tighter. All then it was followed by a scream of pain and her twisting back to let go of my neck. I begged her to wake up and then I felt it. The warm sticky feeling of what I can only assume is blood coming through the back of her shirt onto my arm. So I try harder to wake her up until her eyes are looking into mine.

“Karina this going to sound very inappropriate and apologize. I need you to take a shower and then leave your shirt off so Incan properly dress your wounds.” I gave her a few minutes to register what I had said. The look that followed broke me even more. She looked shocked that I knew she was hurt and then the pain in her eyes from open wounds.

“I don’t know if I can let you do that. No one has ever even tried to help me aside from Lexi. I am not worth it. They will heal eventually. I apologize for you having to carry me. Please put me down and show me to my room.” Is all she said.

I could see the hurt on her face and the self doubt. Someone really did a number on this girl.

“Karina. Please let me help you.” I grabbed both of her hands so she would be forced to look into my eyes. “Please let me help. It will feel a lot better. I know how to treat your wounds. I can make food while you shower and Lexi sent me a list of clothing to order you. So it’s all cleaned and put away for you in your room.” I had never begged a woman for anything and I was ready to grovel at her feet if I had to.

She gave me a half-hearted smile and said, “um..ok but, do you know how to make eggs benedict with hash browns and do we have orange juice? Should I really eat before you dress them? I might throw up or pass out if it hurts too much.”

I was smiling until that last question. It made me want to scream, comfort her, and pummel whoever thought it was ok to hurt such a delicate person.