The Lion's Lamb •Max Verstappen•

One

Stella Ivy James has spent the majority of her life alone. It wasn't by choice, but artist tend to isolate themselves by accident. She was one of those artist who found her visions when by herself. She would spend hours in her room, painting, until her vision became a reality.

Most people would never work as hard as she does to make a living, but she lived in Monaco. The country where money flowed. Stella knew she wasn't like other residents that surrounded her in this country. She wasn't rich and she didn't have a trust fund to fall back onto. Don't get it wrong, the girl's paintings sold high enough to be able to live in the country permanently, but she was barely scrapping by.

One might ask why she would choose to live there if she could be living comfortably anywhere else. The reason being the name. Monaco is known for the wealthy and in her line of work, Stella needs the rich to buy her work. She had about three regular clients in Monaco that provided 80% of her income.

Coffee was the only time she took a break and wonder into the outside world. And today was one of those day where she needed a break. Stella had been in her room for the past 4 hours trying to come up with something, but her mind had drawn a blank. A client had commissioned a piece about 3 months ago and gave the 23 year old a wide range of creative ability on the painting as long as it was a darker piece. The girl was the epitome of bright and bubbly and couldn't seem to get her mind into a darker frame of thought. With the piece needing to be done in a months time, the girl was starting to stress.

Stella had ordered her cup of coffee at her usual spot. She heard her name being yelled at the counter and quickly went up to grab her drink. Once in hand, the girl turned only to run into a wall, spilling coffee all over herself and the wall. To add fuel to the fire, she slipped on the coffee that had spilled on the grown and fell to the floor hard causing more attention to be drawn onto her. While on the ground, she noticed two shoes in front of her.

She hadn't ran into a wall, but instead a man. She followed the legs that in the shoes until she looked all the way up at the man's face. Piercing blue eyes starred down at her in annoyance. She could tell he wasn't truly taking the girl in but rather glaring at her for spilling both their coffees.

Jumping up quickly, Stella immediately grabbed some napkins off the counter of the coffee shop and tried her best to wipe the stains off the mans white shirt.

"I'm so sorry sir!" the girl says with tears building in her eyes. "I didn't see you! I'm so sorry!"

As she wipes the man's chest, he grab her hands causing the girl to look up at him. It was then, he took in the details of the girl standing before him. Her big green eyes starred up at him, tears threatening to spill out of the sides. She had a light sprinkle of freckles that ran along her cheekbones and over her nose. She had light brown hair that was pulled back out of her face, but bangs to frame her face perfectly. Her lips were the perfect size and her cheeks were now the color of her lips from embarrassment. There was a certain shine in her eyes that drew him. He couldn't tell if it was because of the tears or something else, but he needed to find out.

"It's alright," he said. Stella picked up an accent that wasn't from Monaco but she couldn't place it.

"Please, sir, let me buy you your coffee! It's my fault, I can at least try make up it up to you by getting you another."

He nods his head at the girls response causing a smile to erupt across her face. The man loved how every part of her face lit up at his response. He didn't even say a word, yet she acted like he hung the stars just for her.

"How do you like your coffee?" she asked.

"Black," he state.

With a nod of her head, she told him to sit down while she waited in line. There were only two people ahead of her but she didn't want the man to have to stand with her after she ruined his clothes. Being around him longer then necessary would cause more embarrassment on her part.

After getting both their coffees again, Stella found her way back to the blue eyed stranger sitting at a corner table by the window.

"Here," she said while putting in on the table. She noticed his shirt was definitely going to stain and winced slightly at the brown blob on his chest "Again sir, I am so sorry!"

She started digging in her bag for some money to give to man for dry cleaning. Pulling out whatever she had, she tried to hand it to the man, "Here. It's not a lot but it should pay for dry cleaning to get that stain out."

"No," was the simple response she got.

"Please! It'll make me feel better if you take it! It's the only way I can make up for spilling you coffee!"

"Sit down," he said. She tilted her head in confusion at the blue eyed man. "Sit down and tell me your name. I don't want your money but I will take a name and a conversation as payment."

A blush quickly took over the girls cheeks as she shyly looked away from the man and sat down across from him. When she sat down she finally got a good look at his face.

He was attractive. He had these piercing blue eyes that would stare into her sole. He looked at her with softness but the green eyed girl was scared to be on the other end of that stare when he was angry. He was tall, or at least taller then her, but that wasn't saying much as she was only 5'2. He was a dirty blond and had a bit of scruff that started to turn into a beard. She could tell he didn't smile much due to him having very little smile lines. He was a serious man and it showed.

"Your name?" He stated.

"Stella," she said softly, "and yours?"

The man's eyes quickly flashed a look of surprise before they softened again, "Max."