7. Beau
7
Beau
I f she kisses him again, I’m going to lose my mind. Or touches his arm or laughs at something he says. I know she’s just doing it to get a rise out of me, but what the hell? This is ridiculous. The first time she’s let me come near her and Shep has to ruin it all. Yeah, I asked him to bring her, but he’s enjoying this way too much. I’m not sure what’s changed for him, but he’s not just playing along. He’s touching her back, making eyes at her, encouraging her every chance he gets. And it’s pissing me the fuck off. He was just supposed to ask her to come to the fair, not flirt with her all night.
It’s taking all the restraint I have to act like this isn’t bothering me. While she’s flitting around, batting her lashes at him and smiling up into his stupid face, I just want to tuck her into my side and never let go. But I can’t. I have to keep on pretending and hope I can get five minutes alone with her at the end of the night.
“You want to ride the Ferris wheel before we go?” Shep says to no one in particular.
“Sure,” Tessa answers.
That’s it. I can’t do it anymore.
“Don’t you think it’s about time I got some time alone with my date?” My tone is surly as hell, but I don’t care.
They look at me blankly for a second before Shep leans into her hair and whispers something. She looks up at him with a soft expression and nods.
“I’m gonna get something to eat, you want anything?” He asks me, walking backwards. He snags Peyton’s arm and tugs her along with him.
“Yeah, for you to get lost.”
He shakes his head and walks away. And I face her with my hands on my hips.
“You’re doing that on purpose, aren’t you?”
“Doing what on purpose?” She has a wide-eyed look of innocence, like it couldn’t possibly be her that’s driving me up the wall.
“Could you stop?” I’m frustrated and I think it’s showing.
“Could you stop being an ass? I was having a nice time.”
“Yeah, with him!” I practically shout at her and she drops the act.
When I turn around and start walking the other way, she pauses for a second and then follows, like she doesn’t know what else to do. She comes up beside me, grabbing my arm.
“I don’t know how to do this,” she says honestly.
“Well, I don’t either.”
“All I know how to do is yell at you.”
“Clearly you know how to tease me.”
“That’s not what I’ve been doing,” she says with the most adorable little crease between her dark brows. I give her a pointed look and she sighs. “Well, I wasn’t trying to. At first,” she admits. Then she throws her hands up in the air. “I don’t know how to be nice to you!”
We start walking and I’m just hoping that if I go slow enough, she’ll keep talking. Usually she’s too smart to be distracted. “You have no problem being nice to everyone else.”
“Yeah, well, you haven’t always given me a chance.”
I groan and sneak a peek at her face in the moonlight. She’s even more beautiful when she’s mad. “I’m always nice to you!”
“Please. Leering at me? All those looks you give me up and down my body. You call that nice?”
“Some would call that a compliment.”
“And I’d call you an idiot.”
“Do you want to ride the Ferris wheel or not?”
She stops walking and looks up abruptly. We’re standing in front of it and it’s the only thing I can think of to shut her up. And it works.
“Sure,” she says simply.
I take her hand and pull her along before she changes her mind. When we sit down in the bucket together, I pull the bar over our laps and try to buckle the strap, but she takes it out of my hands.
“I can do it,” she says like a child and I hold my hands up in surrender.
The wheel takes off and we sit in silence while it spins. If I’m being honest, I don’t know how to be nice to her. I know how to tease her and rile her up and stare at her and get on her last nerve, but I don’t know how to date her. And that’s what I want to do. That’s what I’m trying to do. Everyone thought I’d forget making a promise to marry her when we were little, but it was never a joke to me.
Tessa has an energy about her. It practically makes me vibrate every time we’re together. She’s fun and energetic, witty as hell. The things that come out of her smart mouth make me laugh like no one else can…until she pisses me off again. But that’s my favorite part, her bite.
She’s not soft and I don’t want her to be. Do I want to bend her over someone’s tailgate and spank her ass raw for all the backtalk she gives me? Hell yes, but I also don’t want to tame that spark because it makes me come alive. Every girl I’ve dated, correction, every girl I know is so focused on becoming the sweet, little Georgia princess her parents raised her to be. There’s no fight. No challenge. No spark. My Tess is built around spark. She’s a live wire if I’ve ever seen one.
“I’m sorry,” she says, just as I was about to ask her if we could start over.
She’s staring at me with those big, green eyes and I can’t look away. “For what?”
“Trying to make you jealous.” She lowers her lashes and they sweep across her cheeks. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
“Why didn’t you say no to coming with me?”
“You didn’t ask me,” she huffs.
“I think it’s because you like kissing me. You don’t want to like it, but you do.”
“I don’t like you,” she says with a haughty tone.
“But you like kissing me. That’s why you didn’t say no.”
She’s quiet and I wish she would just confirm it. Just inflate my ego for once and put me out of my misery.
“I do like kissing you,” she says softly.
I’m glad the bar and the belt are holding me in because I could fall to my death from the top of this wheel and not be any happier. Tess has always been the end goal for me. But until now, she’s been unattainable. Hell, she’s probably still unattainable, but I’ve wiggled my way in. Put a few cracks in whatever is keeping her from saying yes.
Something about my reputation bothers her. She throws flirting in my face when she needs a ready-made insult. Does she think it’s more than flirting? A little thrill goes through me that she cares who I’ve slept with. I can’t tell her that whatever body count she’s made up in her head isn’t true. I’ll look pathetic if she finds out that other than the two serious girlfriends I’ve had and a few random flings, I’ve been waiting for…well…her. I can’t tell her that her face would come to mind sometimes when I was sleeping with them. I feel like enough of a creep because I can’t tell her yesterday wasn’t the first time I’ve caught her at the pond. It’s exactly the sort of thing that would ruin this night.
I look over at her in that tiny blue sundress and the memory of what’s hidden underneath flashes unbidden into my mind . Perfect curves, flawless skin. No, yesterday wasn’t the first time I’ve watched her swim. It was just the first time I couldn’t stop myself. She looked so peaceful floating and I wanted a piece of that. I needed to see that expression directed at me, just once. I can’t stop thinking about how smooth her skin was as I held on to her. It’s what I’m looking at as we make another rotation. The wide expanse of soft, tan skin that’s showing where her dress has ridden up.
“What are you thinking about?” she asks and I have to work hard not to glance at her thighs.
I clear my throat, hoping she can’t see what’s written on my face or the semi in my jeans. Fuck, we’re just talking and she has me like this. “I’m glad you came to the fair.”
“You know what? I’m glad too. You wouldn’t be so bad if you acted like this more often.”
“Like what?”
“Nice. Not pushy. Not cocky. Not trying to piss me off every five seconds.”
I purse my lips and answer her with plenty of sarcasm. “Oh, so if I just don’t act like myself more often?”
“Exactly.”
I laugh and she does too, but I can feel her scrutinizing my profile. When I look at her, the full force of her gaze is on me and I’m lost in a sea of moss.
“What?” I bump my knee into hers.
“Could you kiss me again? I mean, don’t tell anybody, but could this Beau kiss me again?”
She’s always quick, but there was no hesitation in that question and damn, if that doesn’t turn me on. Asking for exactly what she wants. I look her over, trying to gauge how serious she is. Her dainty little hands sit demurely in her lap. There’s nothing demure about her though, especially when she’s asking me to kiss her. She’s a tiny firecracker, wrapped up in the sweetest package. I want to hold it in my hands and stare at it. There’s a burn coming. I don’t know when, but it’s inevitable and I couldn’t care less about the pain.
Tess is devastating . And she has absolutely no idea.
Something that looks a lot like need sparks in her eyes. I lean in, cupping the side of her face and angling it towards me. She’s staring straight at me, unafraid and expectant. But it’s her mouth I can’t quit staring at. The mouth that almost made me lose it when she opened her perfect lips for a bite of ice cream.
I kiss the corner of her lips, wanting to save the best for last. She stills as I trail kisses down her jaw and when I move over a particularly sensitive spot, she whimpers. I know she didn’t mean to make that sound. I know she couldn’t stop it from escaping. My jeans tighten at the thought and she grabs the back of my neck, surprising me.
She pulls me where she wants me. “I said kiss me, not tease me,” she rasps in a breathless whisper.
But she’s the one who puts her lips on mine. And she’s the one who slides her tongue into my mouth. Firecracker, indeed.
We come to a stop on the last rotation and pull apart. She lets her hand fall from my neck and the spell is broken. I wish more than anything we could go around one more time.
“Does this mean you like me?” I ask her, only half joking.
She considers it for a moment, cocking her head and smirking. “No,” she says before getting off the ride.
Brat.
We walk back through the fairgrounds alone. I want to hold her hand but the mood has changed and I don’t think she’d let me. At the car, Shep’s waiting, leaning against the passenger door. Peyton must have caught a ride with someone else. We get in without a word and the Jeep is quiet. I miss her voice and the noise of the crowd. I’m uncomfortable on the short ride home.
When we pull up, I move to get out, but Shep beats me to it and opens her door. Irritation flares in my chest, but I lean forward, hoping to catch her eye.
“I had a good time,” Shep says. He leans down to whisper loud enough for me to hear, “Even if we had a third wheel.”
She smiles and glances at me. “Bye, Beau.” She waves and turns to go inside.
“Bye.”
We watch her go and it feels like the end of something. I got one night with her and now it’ll go back to the way it’s always been. It’s not Shep’s fault, but I take my anger out on him.
“What the fuck was that?” I ask when he gets in the Jeep again.
“What?”
“You were totally serious. You acted like I really was the third wheel.”
“That’s because you were. You asked me to invite her.”
“You know what I mean. You liked it. You treated it like a real date.”
“No, I didn’t,” he says firmly. He looks out the window, avoiding me.
“Yes, you did! What was with all the touching and the laughing and wait… Do you like her?” I’ve got both hands on the wheel, gripping too tightly. I try to ease up, but he doesn’t say anything. “Shep, answer me!”
“Yeah, okay. Maybe.” He mutters.
“Maybe?” My blood pressure spikes. “You maybe like the only girl I’ve ever called?”
“You can’t call dibs on a person.”
“She’s been off-limits forever!”
“You don’t think I know that?” He barks, giving up his smartass tone. “I’m not going to do anything. Jesus. Yeah, I like her, but I wouldn’t do that to you.” The way he says it like I’m stupid for not knowing this already only pisses me off more. And if I weren’t driving, I’d punch him. “I’ll stay away from her. I gotta go back in a week anyway.”
He looks out the window and I stare at the road as I drive us home, trying to calm my racing heart.