Chapter 9
Kat
W hat the heck was I playing at? I should have let Beau tell the Patchwork guys the truth, but there was something in his eyes when I walked into that stall that I had never seen before. Uncertainty. I had seen Beau Wynters cocky, flirty, sad even, but I had never seen that. I’m not sure I would have believed it was possible until a little while ago. Just seeing that made me want to protect him. To get him back to the jerk that I was quickly realizing he honestly wasn’t.
This whole thing was turning out to be way more than I expected. Beau wasn’t supposed to be this little boy trying to prove that he was more than people thought. He wasn’t supposed to be caring and protective. He was supposed to be wise-cracking and trying to get me into bed. He was supposed to flirt with the hostess who flirted with him and let me go as soon as his sisters walked in. I assumed he told them the truth. There was no reason for him to act like we were an actual couple around them, but the longer I sat with them, the more I questioned if they really believed the same lie we had told Randall and Leonard.
“I’ve read your articles.” Daphne smiled at me. We were waiting for the next set of riders, which included both Dallas and Beau, to get started.
“Really?” I remembered both Daphne and Hailey from school, but they were both older than Beau, and I. Hailey had already graduated by the time we got to high school, and Daphne was a junior, which meant she didn’t befriend lowly freshmen.
“Yeah.” She nodded. “They’re good.”
“Thanks.”
“You should join us some Saturdays for brunch.”
The invitation surprised me. Everyone in town knew about Saturday brunch for the sassy six. That was the nickname people gave to Daphne, Hailey, and their circle of friends.
“Yeah. That would be really cool. Especially now that Ginger moved. We need another girl if we are going to keep that nickname accurate.” Hailey winked with a laugh.
Daphne rolled her eyes. “I don’t know where that silly thing came from.”
“Probably from the fact that there are six of you, and you’re all pretty sassy.” I threw it out there.
Both of them laughed. “We just let people think that. Honestly, we’re just a group of friends that like to eat and gossip.”
If that was what she wanted to believe, but I wasn’t so sure. I knew Blair Cummings from the paper and Sunday from Cozy Chapters Bookstore. While Blair could be quiet, Sunday was about as sassy as they come.
“You should definitely meet up with us next Saturday.” Hailey nodded. “Unless you think you are going to be too tired from hanging out with our brother.” She wiggled her eyebrows.
Okay, they had to know. There was no way that she would say something like that unless she knew the truth. I looked around before leaning closer.
“You know, don’t you?” I lowered my voice.
“What? That you both are full of it?” Hailey whispered right back. “Absolutely. There’s no way Beau could keep something like this to himself. Not without our momma finding out.”
“And if she knew, then we’d know,” Daphne added.
“Then why are you being so nice to me?” I looked between them.
“Have we not been nice to you before?” Daphne asked.
“You’ve never been anything to me before,” I told her. “I’m not sure I would have guessed you knew who I was before now.”
Both of them burst out laughing. “Oh, honey.” Daphne shook her head. “We’ve known about you since the first day of our baby brother’s sophomore year.”
“Momma, momma.” Hailey changed her voice. “There’s this girl with glasses in my homeroom, and I’m gonna marry her.”
“What?” If I had been drinking anything, it would be all over the row in front of us.
“Why do you think I was so surprised when I saw you two out yesterday?” Hailey smirked. “We’d figured he missed his shot years ago.”
They had to be joking. “There were plenty of girls with glasses in our school.” I tried really hard to think of another one that had been in our homeroom class and couldn’t.
“Probably, but we heard about you for a good six months before Dad told him if he didn’t have the nerve to ask you out, then there was no way he could get you to marry him,” Hailey said.
“You know, I think he’s been trying to prove he has the nerve ever since,” Daphne added. “Maybe that’s why he’s always pestering you. I think he’s been trying to test the waters.”
“But..” I got cut off by the announcer. It was a good thing too, because I needed a moment to process everything I just heard.
There was no way either of them could be right. None whatsoever. Beau didn’t have a problem asking anyone out. Everybody knew that.
“Up next is our own hometown stud.” The announcer called out as if reinforcing my thought. “All the way from Bliss Haven, Oregon. Riding Valentine and dedicating this one to his special someone, welcome Beau Wynters.”
The crowd went wild. Women hopped up before they finished saying his last name. The cheers were so loud that I missed the start of the music, but I knew the song. It was one of my favorites from the indie group Deaf Wolves.
Whenever you’re close. Whenever you’re near. The whole world just disappears. Whenever I hear you. Whenever you call. I want to be the man to break down your wall. Girl, we’re destined. Mated together through time. Nothing else could be as true. Cause baby, I’ll howl for you.
I bit my lip to keep from smiling as I watched him ride through the ring. His control was as strong as always. His concentration was on nothing but the move in front of him. Minutes later, he was done and riding back off the field to more cheers.
“Damn, he’s so good,” Daphne yelled with the rest.
“Always has been.” Hailey held her hands up in the air, clapping.
“Yeah, he has.” I let my smile go.
My head tilted as I wondered exactly what was really happening here and just how much of it might be real.
I TOOK SOME TIME TO say goodbye to Madison, Dallas, and their cousin, Victor. Dallas had been right. Victor was so busy showing his new girlfriend around that he didn’t have time to really spend with anyone.
“Where’s your fiancée?” Devon seemed to pick the one moment when I wasn’t interviewing someone or surrounded by people to find me. I was on my way to tell Beau goodnight, and I really should have taken Dallas up on his offer to walk me there.
“Putting his things away.” I kept walking.
“You’re not really going to marry that douche, are you?” Devon continued beside me.
“That’s normally what happens when people are engaged.” I sidestepped his question. I had too many conflicting thoughts going in my head to give a simple answer.
“You can do so much better.”
I stopped and faced him. “Is that so?” I crossed my arms. “And just who did you have in mind? You?”
“Nope. I’m not the marrying kind, but neither is Wynters. Way too much each tail out here for guys like us to settle down.” He smiled as if that was something to be proud of.
“Did it ever occur to you that you and Beau are two completely different people?” I asked.
“You might want to believe that, but I’ve known him a long time. Seen him on the road when you haven’t.” He leaned in closer as I backed up. “And I know we are more alike than you think.”
Was he right? It wasn’t as if Beau had the best reputation at home. Who could say what he was like when he went off to ride at different rodeos? Maybe all that talk about how many women he has been with lately was only that. Talk.
“Look, you know me,” Devon went on. “I’m a from the hip kind of guy. No pretense. What you see is what you get. I would never promise you something I couldn’t follow through on.”
I narrowed my eyes as I stared back at him. “What’s your end game here?”
“Excuse me?”
“Well, you just admitted that you aren’t interested in anything serious. You said yourself you aren’t the marrying kind, but you want me to what? Walk away from Beau? Sleep with you? What?”
“I’m just looking out for you.” He tipped up the side of his mouth. “I’d hate to see you get hurt. If that lands us in bed together, all the better.”
“How do I make you understand this?” I pulled in a long breath and held it for a moment. “Even if there was no Beau or any other man on this Earth or any planet in the sky, I still wouldn’t sleep with you. Like ever, and it has nothing to do with your reputation or the fact that sex is the only thing you want. I wouldn’t do it because there is nothing about the way you act, talk, or carry yourself that tells me you would have any emotion about it except for checking off a box on a list of women you think you should have.”
“And what are you? God’s gift to men?” He sneered.
“Not even close, but I do have standards, and you don’t meet them.”
“Bitch.” He stepped toward me, but before he could touch me, Beau was right there.
“I know I didn’t just hear you disrespect my girl.” He stepped between us.
“You know what? Fuck both of you.” Devon looked me up and down. “You’ve never been worth it. I hope you’re happy when he’s screwing women in every state, and you’re home with nothing but a broken heart.” He stormed off.
Beau took a step toward him, but I held onto his arm to keep him there.
“Don’t.” I moved my hand up and down his arm. “He’s pissed he didn’t get what he wanted.”
“But he had no right to talk to you like that.” He spun to face me. “And why are you alone?”
“Cause I’m a grown woman.”
“But you knew he was being an ass.” Beau looked about as angry with me as he was with Devon. “I told you I wanted someone with you after the way he grabbed you yesterday.”
“Again, I’m a grown woman, and I don’t need a babysitter or a bodyguard. I handled myself just fine.” I pointed out.
“Really? What were you going to do if I hadn’t come out when I did?” He asked. “It didn’t look like he was going in for a hug.”
“Then I would have handled that, too.” My own anger rose. “You need to chill the hell out. I’m not really your fiancée. None of this is real, and all this heavy-handed crap is really starting to get on my nerves.”
“I know that, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t care about you.” He argued back. “And stop saying none of this is real. It might have started off fake, but it was never fake to me.”
“Yeah, right. Like you would marry me after five seconds and one not-real date.” I turned to head for the exit. “Also, for the record, I am going home, and do mean my home. If you try to blackmail me into staying again, I will drop-kick you where you stand.”
“Just a minute.” He rushed up and stepped in front of me. “I have known you since we were fifteen. It isn’t just five seconds and one ‘not real’ date.” He put his hands up to make air quotes.
“You don’t know me.” I pushed back.
“Really? Then how come I know you spent thirty minutes every other week picking out a new book at the bookstore?” I stepped back. There was no way he should know that.
“How come I know your favorite soda is ginger ale? That when we were in high school, you used to walk past the library every day on the way home from school even though it was two blocks out of the way?”
“I know you love your kitten, Austin, who you named after your favorite author. That even while you were in college, you had Sunday dinner with your mom every week, that you secretly want to be a feature writer like Margo Munro, or a documentary filmmaker. I also know that you really hate covering the rodeo.”
“There’s no way you can know all those things.” I shook my head. “Have you been following me all these years?”
“I might have watched you walk home a few times to make sure you got there safe, and I might have noticed you at the bookstore and asked a few questions,” he said it like that wasn’t creepy.
“What about Austin and the soda and the writing?”
He rolled his eyes. “Anyone with eyes can tell you really don’t like being here, and I saw your eyes light up when you asked me about the exclusive. Plus, you’re too good a writer to be happy doing this. You’ve also been getting the same soda for years.”
“And Austin?”
His cheeks turned red. “Your mother might have mentioned it to my mother.” He put his hands on my waist. “My point is, I do know you. Maybe not well enough to get married, but I know I want to know more. I’ve always wanted to know more.”
“What about the deal?” I questioned.
“Fuck the deal.” He pulled me in for a kiss that had so much possessiveness and passion in it, I had to hold on to him to stay standing. His tongue pushed at the seam of my lips until I opened for him, and he slid in. His hands moved easily from my waist to my lower back and further down.
“Beau,” I whispered out when he kissed his way down my neck, his teeth pulling at my ear.
“I want you.” He lifted me into him and took a few steps until I was pinned between his hard chest and the wall behind me. “I want you in my life. I want you in my bed. I want you in my future.”
“I...I...” I couldn’t think. Not with him kissing me like this, and his hands kneading my ass. I could feel his hard cock pressed into my stomach. My desire for him was just as strong as what he was giving off, and it was all way too overwhelming. Falling in love or lust wasn’t part of the plan.
“I have to go.” I pushed at him. I needed to get away. Needed a moment to think about everything. “I can’t.” I pushed harder.
Beau let me down. “Why?”
“I just. I have to go.” I ran to my car as fast as I could and headed home, where everything made sense.