12. Chapter 12
Chapter 12
Beau
" T hat's not a phone," I exclaimed, bewildered, looking at the beat-up thing in her hand like it was a relic from the Stone Age.
"Is too," Mira shot back, holding up the tiny, scratched burner that could probably only handle a few texts and a couple of calls before it gave up entirely.
I raised an eyebrow. "That's not a phone. That's...what is that, a pager from 1980?"
She sighed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, clearly annoyed. "It works. I can make calls and send texts. That's all I need."
I stared at her, absolutely floored. "Mira, that thing is one step away from being a walkie-talkie. What happens if you need to reach me? Or Pari gets sick? What if there's an emergency?"
She shrugged, looking down at the burner like it wasn't a big deal. "I can manage all that just fine with this phone."
"Fine?" I repeated, incredulous. I was trying to keep my temper in check, but it was starting to bubble over. "This isn't about you managing . It's about Pari; about you having an emergency. You need to be able to reach me, reach anyone, immediately. What if something happens and you run out of minutes, or the battery dies on that ancient thing?"
"I'll make sure that doesn't happen," she muttered, biting her lip. "I can't let you buy me a phone, Beau. I can't get used to things I can't afford. How will I manage after I leave?"
That hit me like a slap.
" Leave ? What the fuck, Mira? I thought we'd sorted this out?" And we had. After the Fallon debacle, I'd kept my family and Fallon away from Mira. Nova and she had started to get to know one another better in the past month. Mama saw Pari but only when I took her to visit. Trevor and Katya were busy and flitted in and out, thank the Lord!
I'd told Fallon that we were managing fine when she poked her nose in, which was all the fucking time. But I'd invited her into this aspect of my life so I couldn't blame her for being concerned.
We'd set up Pari's room, which was a little girl's dream come true—Mira's words, not mine. The interior designer had done one hell of a job, and it was all blues and pinks, rabbits, and unicorns—everything Pari loved. She still ended up in Mira's room at night, not seeking me out, yet . I wondered if Fallon had been right, that I needed to slowly assert myself as the parent Pari turned to, which meant putting some distance between her and Mira. But that little girl had gone through enough upheaval, and I didn't want to add to it. Also, I liked having Mira around. We were becoming a family of sorts, especially in the past two weeks since Roxy took her month-long summer break.
We ate together—went for walks, went shopping, and spent our weekends doing kid stuff like going to the zoo or spending the day by the pool. I usually worked all the time or went out with friends or on a date—so this was way more domestic than I'd ever been. But, already, I couldn't imagine life without Pari…or Mira—both my girls had ingrained themselves indelibly into my everyday life.
Mira and I were vibrating with sexual tension—but we'd held back, not letting our libidos get the better of us. It would be easier if I could go out and get laid, but I didn't want that—I didn't want to be away from my little family. I ignored the voice in my head that reminded me, " You also don't want any other woman but Mira! "
I was, as my friend Gabriel Rhodes joked, becoming house-trained. He should know. His wife, Aurora, had just had a baby girl, Sarah, and they were cocooning, as he put it, along with Gabe's older daughter, Sophia.
"I'll eventually have to leave," Mira confirmed what I feared she was thinking.
Frustration was building in me, pushing against the limits of my patience. She was always doing this—putting up walls, insisting she wouldn't stay long-term, that she didn't need or want help, when it was obvious that she didn't want to leave and needed my help.
"You're not leavin', Mira, so get that into your thick head. And you can't afford a phone, so you'll get one from me. Deal with it." I tried to keep my voice calm, though it came out sharper than I intended. This woman was pushing all of my buttons.
She glared at me. "I don't want to rely on things I can't maintain. It's not practical."
I pinched the bridge of my nose, exhaling slowly to keep myself from snapping. "I'm not asking you to take a Ferrari here. It's a phone. A basic necessity. You need it, not just for Pari, but for yourself."
"I don't want to owe you, Beau," she murmured, barely looking at me now.
That one cut deep. I wasn't trying to control her, I was trying to protect her and Pari, but she couldn't see it that way. Or maybe she didn't want to.
"You won't owe me," I said, my voice soft but firm. "This isn't about you and me. This is about making sure Pari is safe. I don't care if you don't want to accept it for yourself, but please do it for her. You need to be able to reach me anytime."
She looked down at the floor, her jaw clenched like she was fighting with herself. I could see the exhaustion in her eyes, the strain of everything she was bearing. It wasn't just about the phone—it was about her pride, about the life she'd been scraping together, piece by piece. But damn it, she couldn't keep doing this.
"I'll get you a phone," I stated, my tone leaving no room for argument. "One that actually works. And you're going to use it."
Mira opened her mouth, probably to argue again, but then closed it, her shoulders slumping slightly in defeat. "Okay," she whispered, so quietly that I barely heard her. "But nothing fancy."
What the fuck did that mean? I'd get her a basic fucking iPhone, and she'd do with it what every person I knew did with their phones—use the damn thing to live their lives.
"Sure," I said, even though I had no intention of getting her anything less than the best.
For a second, the room went quiet, the tension between us was thick and familiar. She wouldn't say it, but I could tell she hated this. Hated needing anything. But I wasn't backing down on this one.
"This is good for all of us," I added, offering a small smile to ease the tension. "Trust me."
"I already have so much to thank you for." She didn't smile back. Her eyes clouded with something I couldn't quite place—fear, I wondered. But what was she so afraid of?
"Darlin'." I pulled her into me, touching her for the first time since that night I'd kissed her. I wrapped her in my arms, hugging her, feeling her body curve into mine. "Stop worrying so much, will you, Mira?"
She leaned her forehead on my chest, and I felt her body shake a little. I raised her head by putting a finger under her chin. Her eyes were shining with tears. "Hey."
"I…what happens when I get a job? What happens with Pari?"
I wiped her tears, cupping her face with both my hands. "Pari will start daycare soon, and we'll make sure she has a nanny, if it comes to that. Roxy will pitch in. You and I will still be there for her."
Job? What job?
"Nova thinks I can get a job at her company," she answered my unasked question.
"At Savannah Lace?"
Mira sniffled. "Yes. Someone called Nina is…opening a cafeteria for the employees, and also to cater to guests and clients."
"Nina Davenport," I supplied. "She's the CEO and President of Savannah Lace. Nova works for her. What would you do at this cafeteria?"
Her face flushed. "I'd run it. I…well, I'd cook and manage the kitchen."
I blinked. "Can you…ah…can you do that?"
Her face fell, and I felt like an asshole. I wasn't being critical; I was genuinely curious. I wanted her to be set for success. I wish she'd agree to go back to school. I'd pay for it, but I already knew she would fight tooth and nail to stay with Pari, and she wouldn't take a dime from me. As it was, she wouldn't even let me buy her new clothes when we did it for Pari, so she was still in her ratty best.
"I all but ran the diner where I worked for three years. I was seventeen, Beau, and we did about four hundred covers a day, and nearly double that on weekends. I can run a cafeteria that serves less than fifty people a day."
"I'm so sorry, darlin'. I know you can. It sounds like a great opportunity. When would you start?"
We'd started to move things along on the custody front now that the DNA test results were in. Mira had given me information about her parents' lawyers. My lawyers wanted to file paperwork with the courts, establish me as a parent, and then reach out to the Sens. I had told Mira it was all taken care of because every time the topic came up, she freaked out. I didn't know what the hell was going on with her and her parents, but she didn't want to even talk about them.
My mother thought it was suspicious, and I told her to stay the hell out of it. Once I had full legal custody of Pari and was listed on her birth certificate as her father—which I wish Asha had put me on and made some of this red tape easier—we could figure the rest of it out.
"I don't know. I have to go to an interview with Nina. Nova said she'll let me know when." She licked her lips. "You don't think I can do this job?"
"I think you can do anything you set your mind to. Look at how wonderfully you've raised Pari." I tilted my head toward my daughter's room, where she was taking a nap after lunch.
Mira blushed, and the compliment made her radiant.
Fuck me! I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to kiss her, fuck her, be inside her. It was becoming increasingly hard— hard being the operative word—to not just take what we both wanted. Before she went on vacation, Roxy had mentioned that she'd seen how we were eye-fucking each other, basically saying that we should get on with it while we were alone at home.
My mother had the opposite reaction, wanting to move in while Roxy was away, as if my housekeeper was some Victorian-era chaperone, safeguarding Mira's virtue.
"I'm going to go see some friends tonight," I told her, not wanting to leave, but if I stayed, I'd take her into a bedroom—any one of the many I had—and fuck her raw and myself blind.
"Oh. You won't be home for dinner, then?"
There was a wealth of domesticity in that question, and BPB, the Before Pari Beau, would've run like the hounds of hell were after him. But the APB liked it.
"Do you want to see if we can get a babysitter for Pari, and you can come along?" I suggested, suddenly wanting her with me. "Nova might be there with Anson, and a few of my other friends will have their spouses with them."
Mira's eyes widened. Had I just suggested that she was a kind of spouse? What the fuck was I doing?
"I am the babysitter," she said quickly, freaked.
"You're her aunt. Not her babysitter. I'm her father and not her babysitter. Okay?"
She smiled, and I wanted so much to brush my lips against hers. Feel her mouth, that sandalwood taste of hers. Would her pussy taste just as good? Smell as potent?
"You go, Beau. I'll stay home. Pari and I are going to bake cookies tonight."
The one thing I had discovered about Mira was that she was a world-class cook, and I wanted her to go to CIA and become the chef I knew she could be. The woman whipped up meals that made me grateful that I hit the gym every day because I, who ate out in some of the finest restaurants in the world, was worried about eating too well at home, and putting on the pounds.
"Well, I'll see you when I get back." I reluctantly let her go. I didn't want to, though. This woman was doing something to me, and I craved her—her company, voice, smell…all of her. And I hadn't even fucked her. Yet.
For a man who frequented sex clubs and often enjoyed sex with two women at a time, and even foursomes, though crossing swords was not my thing—this unintentional celibacy was quite a change, yet not at all a challenge, as I assumed it would be. Part of it was a shift in my thinking—becoming a father brought with it a new sense of responsibility. Not that fathers couldn't have threesomes—they could, if they were lucky—but being a dad had turned me into a bit of a homebody, something I'd never been before.
She took a deep breath. "You really think I can get that job at Savannah Lace?"
"I do, darlin'." I kissed Mira's forehead, and her scent went through me like warm bourbon. "It's all going to work out, I promise."
She looked at me with all the trust in the world, and I was felled by the force of it. "Thank you, Beau."