Meg called the kids to dinner, and we sat down at the table. Dishes went flying around the table, and food was consumed at an alarming rate. Beau was beside me, and his knee kept brushing against mine. I tried to ignore it. I didn’t want to get distracted and miss out on eating, but every time I felt the touch of his body, a tingle shot through me.
I was doing a pretty good job of not thinking about sex with Beau, which was hard to do when he was so close. He leaned toward me and slid his arm across my back to tap Jeremy on the shoulder.
“Hey, Jer, how are things going at school this semester? I heard a rumor that you have a girlfriend.”
Meg’s eyebrows shot up, and she looked pointedly at Jeremy. The corners of Beau’s mouth twitched, and he straightened up, but he didn’t take his arm off my shoulder. Now the electricity was running all through my body.
“W… Where’d you hear that?” Jeremy stuttered at Beau. “I don’t know any girls who would go out with me.”
“Me neither, Jer. Me neither,” Beau said. He laughed. “Ain't life a bi.., uh pain?”
“You are such a bad liar.” Jeremy smiled around me at Beau. “Everybody knows you’ve got it bad for Bree. The whole town is talking about what will happen if Bree goes to jail, and you’re reduced to dating Lucy Howe like Jim.”
I smacked my forehead with my palm.
“Doesn’t anyone have anything better to talk about than my life? I didn’t know every detail was common knowledge.”
“Sweetheart,” said Beau, “There is nothing more interesting than what’s going on in your life. Every woman in this town is dying to be you. Or if not to be you, at least to be as wanted as you.”
“Ewww.” Meg said. “I think we’d better change the subject.”
“Yeah, why don’t we talk about me instead?” Beau pulled me close. “I’m likely to die of unrequited love at any moment. We could write my eulogy. That way it’d be all ready to go when I fade away of a broken heart.”
“If you haven’t died of a broken heart yet, it’s not likely to happen now,” Tom said. “You’re closer to having your dreams come true than at any other time in your life.”
“If they haven’t already,” said Meg pointedly, raising an eyebrow in my direction.
“What are you guys talking about?” asked Gemma. She looked around the table.
“Romance,” Pete said. “Bree is pretending that she doesn’t like Beau to throw Mom and Dad off the trail.”
My mouth hung open. Since when did Pete become so perceptive?
“Maybe she really doesn’t like Uncle Beau,” said Louise. “She doesn’t have to be pretending.”
“Oh, she likes Uncle Beau, all right. She’s just afraid that something will go wrong, and it will ruin her friendship with Mom and Dad.”
“How do you know?” Louise asked Pete. “I’ve never heard Bree say anything like that.”
“Ryan heard his mom say that she heard Bree say that to Val in the coffee shop the other day. Anyway, Ryan’s mom was talking to Ryan’s dad at dinner, and Ryan told me ‘cause Beau’s my uncle.”
“Our uncle.” said Gemma.
“Uh, I think I need to go.” I slipped out from underneath Beau’s arm and stood up.
“Oh, don’t be such a spoilsport.” Beau grabbed my hand. “If it wasn’t for you, half the women in this town wouldn’t have anything to talk about besides their kids. I know you want to keep everything casual. I’m a big boy. If that were a problem for me, I wouldn’t hang around. You can sit down and eat your dinner.”
I took a stab at pulling away, but Beau had a lock grip on my arm. I could make a scene and leave, but then Jeremy would tell Ryan, who would tell his mom, who would tell anyone who would listen. Then the whole town would know I had a crush on Beau. So I sat.
“Bree,” asked Gemma, “how come you don’t like it when people talk about you?”
“I like to pretend that my life is private.” I looked her in the eye. “I do lots of stupid stuff. It makes me feel bad when everybody knows.”
“Well, I won’t tell anyone, Bree,” she said, “and I don’t think you’re stupid. I’m glad Uncle Beau wants to romance you. I think he should marry you, and then you’d be family, too.”
“I’m already family, Sweetie. Your mom adopted me.”
“Like our cat.” Louise smiled.
“Yeah. Like a cat.”
Eleven
Beau stood shoulder-to-shoulder with me, scanning the shelves in the video store. I’d suggested a movie after our dinner with Meg’s family, but he was on call at the volunteer fire department tonight. We’d compromised on a DVD, and he had offered to let me pick the movie.
“How about ‘Enchanted April?’” I asked. “It’s one of my favorites.”
“Cool. Let’s rent it. It’ll give me insight into how you think.”
“My taste in movies, maybe, but how I think? I’m not buying it.”
“Humor me,” he said. “I’m trying to be nice here.”
Trying to get me into bed again, more like it.
But I didn’t say it out loud. I wasn’t sure how I was feeling about that possibility. We rented the movie and jumped in the truck to head back to Beau’s house.
Plopping down on his couch, I took in Beau’s surroundings while he loaded the movie into the DVD player. It was a small house, at least from what I could see of it. The living, dining and kitchen areas were all one room. Along one side, the floor-to-ceiling windows looked out onto a deck spotted with rectangles of light spilling from the windows. The place was sparsely furnished but comfortable. No rugs on the floor. An overstuffed couch and chair, dining room table with four chairs. A fireplace filled the wall at the side opposite the kitchen. Nothing on the mantle.
No dogs or cats. Hardly any signs of human habitation. Beau lowered himself onto the couch next to me and pushed the play button on the remote.
“You don’t have any animals,” I said.
“No, I’m out of town too much for that.”
“I’d never guess a mason would have to go out of town to get work.”
“Oh, I’m in demand. Travel all over. Apparently, there’s a shortage of good stonemasons. I’m leaving tomorrow for a job in California. I’ll be gone a couple of weeks.”
“What are you building?” I asked.
“A fireplace and chimney for a couple in Grass Valley. I’m going to face the lower part of their house with stone and put in a patio, too.”
“Will you do all that by yourself?”
“No, I’ve hired a local contractor and his team. They’ll do most of the grunt work, and I’ll oversee it. Certain stuff, I always do myself, like the fireplace. So I’ll build the fireplace myself with maybe one guy helping me. While I’m doing that, the local guy can work on the patio with his team. You’re missing your movie.”
It was raining in London on the screen. Lottie was stalking Rose through the church sale.
“I love this movie,” I said.
“Why?” Beau slid his arm around my shoulder and pulled me to him.
“Because it’s about transformation. These women transform their lives by doing something out of the ordinary. By taking chances. Lottie is totally unappreciated by her husband, and it’s affected her self-esteem. But in Italy, she blooms. I’m not telling you any more, or you’ll fall asleep instead of watching it with me.”
“I have no intention of falling asleep. Quite the contrary.” He kissed me on the neck.
“Hey,” I said. “If you start that, we’ll miss the whole movie. You said this was a date, not a make-out session.”
“Making out is part of a date,” he said. “I won’t rush you, though. I don’t want to ruin your favorite movie.” He ran his fingers through the hair at the base of my neck.
On the screen, Lottie and Rose were turning Mrs. Fisher down. I was starting to think the movie wasn’t that important. Beau’s body was warm next to mine, and I had this visceral memory of the last time we were alone together. I leaned into him and closed my eyes.
The phone rang in the kitchen, and Beau swore. He disentangled himself from me and strode into the kitchen. His legs were long and strong. His backside was inspiring. I remembered what it felt like to run my hands down the warm skin on Beau’s back and over his butt. It was still raining in London, but now I really didn’t care.
“Shit!” Beau hung up the phone and turned to me. “There’s a fire.” He pulled on boots and picked up his fire gear. “I’ve got to go. Stay. Watch your movie. I’ll be back before long.”
* * * * *
I opened my eyes to find Beau bending over me. He gathered me in his arms and carried me up the stairs.
“Where was the fire?”
“Just an old barn down by the flats.” He lowered me onto his quilt and pulled off my sneakers.
“No one hurt?”
“Naw. “
Beau yanked off my socks and unzipped my jeans. “Do you want me to sleep downstairs?” He grabbed the bottoms of my pant legs and slid them off.
“Pete said you wanted to romance me. I’d hate to miss that.”
“You seem kind of sleepy for romance.” He looked around his room. “What do you want to sleep in?”
“Sleepy sex is the best.” I reached around to unhook my bra. “I don’t sleep in jammies, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“I thought we were talking about romance, not sex.” But his voice caught in his throat as my bra slipped down my arms. His eyes softened. His demeanor changed from all business to something else entirely. Beau sat down on the bed and ran a finger from my lips over my chin. He traced my skin lightly. Down my neck, between my breasts and over my belly until his finger snagged on the top of my panties.
“You sure you want me to stay with you? I’ll have to leave before morning. I have a plane to catch.”
“Are you kidding? This is my last chance until you get back. I might be in jail by then.”
“Doubtful.” He turned and unlaced his boots. They dropped to the floor with a thud. Then he shucked his jeans.
“You’re not wearing underwear. I’m shocked.” The thought that he’d been sitting next to me all evening without his skivvies on flashed into my brain. Electricity shot straight down my spine. I wasn’t sleepy anymore.
“I was doing laundry. If I waited for them to dry, I would have been late to dinner.” He pulled his shirt over his head.
“You were commando all evening, and you didn’t tell me?”
“I didn’t want to brag.” He eased himself down onto the bed beside me. “Do you like it?”
“No. Not at all.” I reached my arm around his neck and pulled him to me. “Girls are totally turned off by that kind of thing. Didn’t you know?” I kissed him. He smelled faintly of campfire. Oh, yeah, that would be the burning barn. He slid his tongue between my lips and along the edge of my teeth. He broke off the kiss and gathered me up in his arms, twisting his body until he was sitting on the edge of the bed. I straddled him, kissing his neck and ear.
Beau spread small kisses down my neck, and his tongue lingered in the hollow above my shoulder blade. I shivered and started to slide off his lap.
“Where are you going?” Beau held me to him.
“I still have my undies on.”
“No matter.” He reached down and slid the silky material to the side. He arched his back and was inside me. “Oh, my God. I feel like such a tramp! I’ve never done it with my underwear on before.”
“Is that a bad thing? Or do you like feeling like a tramp?” His laugh was breathless as he plunged into me again.
I was overwhelmed by a wave of passion, and speech was lost to me. I latched onto Beau’s shoulder with my teeth and gripped his back with my fingers. We slid off the bed onto the floor with a thump. I was laughing, and he disentangled himself from me.
“Don’t go. I’m sorry I laughed.”
“I’m not going anywhere. Just going to wipe that grin off your face.” He kissed my belly and ran his tongue toward my mound. He ran his mouth over the silky panties and nipped gently with his teeth.
Fire ran through me, and the laughter died. Now I was gasping, so far over the edge and needing him inside me.
“Beau.” It came out as a whisper.
He knew what I needed. He slid the underwear away and thrust himself into me. We came together in a rush of release. We lay together on the floor until I felt a chill shiver through me.
Beau pulled the covers back from the bed and lifted me up. He slid between the sheets with me, and we lay together. His touch was hot and his breathing ragged. I nestled my head into his shoulder and felt his heart beating beneath me.
“Want to do that again?” I smiled into his neck.
“Are you trying to kill me?”
“No. I just don’t want you to forget me while you’re in California. I hear girls are wild out there. I might not measure up.”
“I have no intention of finding out. I’m on rocky ground already, and I don’t plan on screwing things up.”
“On rocky ground?”
“Yeah. The girl I’m crazy about doesn’t want to date me because she’s friends with my brother. I have to be very careful, if I don’t want to screw this up.”
I rubbed my face against his skin. He was smooth and warm. I kissed his neck and closed my eyes. He’s crazy about me. Cool. I felt myself drifting.
He woke me as he slid out from underneath my head.
“You going?” I missed his warmth.
He bent and kissed me. “Got a plane to catch.” He gathered up his clothes.
I struggled to wake up. “I’ll walk you out.”
He kissed me again and gently pushed me back onto the bed. “I can let myself out. I want you to be able to go back to sleep. I’ll call you from California.”
I reached up and threaded my fingers in his hair. “I’m going to miss you. Can’t think why.”
Beau slid away from me. “Promise me something?” “Uh huh.”
“Don’t get back together with Jim while I’m gone.” He rested a finger on my lips.
“I think I can safely promise that.” I smiled at him. “Kiss me again.”
Beau kissed me one last time and left.
I closed my eyes, but I couldn’t go back to sleep. Images of Beau kept running through my mind. After rolling over and plumping the pillow a couple of times, I gave it up for a bad job and drove home.
Twelve
I woke to knocking. The knocking turned to banging. “Go away,” I muttered into my pillow. “I’m not ready to go to jail.” The banging continued for a minute more. I heard the door slam shut, and a moment later, footsteps on the stairs. I sat up, blinking.
“Who’s there?” I called out. I wished my voice sounded just a little steadier.
“It’s me, Bree,” Meg called as she came through my bedroom door.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“I came to make sure you hadn’t offed yourself.” She showed me her
duh
face. “It’s Wednesday. We’re having a spa treatment in about twenty minutes, remember? You made me set aside the whole dang day. So get your bony behind out of that bed. I don’t want to be late.”
“I don’t want to go anywhere today. I’m tired.” I stuck my head back under the pillow.
Meg grabbed the pillow. “Okay, so you had a rough couple of days. So what? You going to ruin the opportunity to be a star for a day? Don’t be so selfish. You know I can’t show up there without you.”
“I could call. It would be all right.”
“But no fun.” She grabbed my foot and pulled. “I don’t want to go by myself. Uff! Have you been putting on weight? You’re heavy.” She looked up to see me hanging onto the headboard. “Okay, now its war.” She tickled my feet.
“Stop! Stop. Okay, I give. I’m getting up.” I wrapped the sheet around me, tumbled out of bed and headed for the shower.