Chapter 12 Beau #2
“Are you that man, Beau?”
I looked at Charlotte then. “I don’t even know what’s happening between us yet.”
“She sleeps like the dead, and I’m dying. Your secret will be safe with me.”
My heart pounded, the room suddenly growing hotter as I faced the truth that had been staring me in the face since the night she left me on the dance floor.
“I’d like to be. If she lets me.”
Charlotte smiled. “I think she will. She’s sweet on you.” Her eyes dragged, and she let out a long sigh. “Now take our girl home.”
Her saying our girl felt like the stamp of approval I didn’t know I was waiting for. I swallowed back the knot in my throat and nodded. I had barely made it out of my chair before she was asleep.
Walking over to Claire while she was sleeping felt surprisingly the same as the first time I met Henry. There was something horribly vulnerable about it: the uncertainty, the fear of doing something wrong, the hope that they’d like you. It was all there.
I crouched down in front of her. “Claire,” I whispered, and she stirred a little. Brushing her hair back behind her ear, I leaned in a little closer. “It’s time to get up.”
She hummed, nuzzling into my touch. “Is that really you?” she rasped, her voice thick with sleep, and I hoped to God himself this wasn’t the last time I’d hear her voice like that.
“It’s me, baby. Now let me see those pretty eyes.”
Claire’s eyes blinked open then, and that brilliant mossy green pierced me right in the heart. “What are you doing here?” Twisting, she stretched and yawned, her perfect face puffy from sleep. She sat up slowly, her hair falling down her back in a tumble of dark, chocolatey red curls.
I was so far gone for her that it physically hurt.
“Came to see your mom. She told me to take you home.”
She scoffed, looking down at me with an arched brow. “Did she now?”
“She did, and I know when to listen to what I’ve been told, so let’s go.”
I stood and held a hand out for her, which she didn’t take, but I wasn’t expecting her to. Charlotte was right, Claire was the most independent woman I’d ever met.
But when we walked down the hall together, and she laced her fingers with mine without any kind of prompting, I felt like I’d won something.
“Did you see the Whispers?” she asked once we were in the elevator, breaking the silence.
I ran a hand over my mouth, chuckling. “Anna woke me up with it and demanded to know every detail.”
Silence, and then she said, “What did you say?” Her voice had shifted, going from tired to husky.
I wondered if she was thinking about our kiss like I was.
The air slowly grew thicker, every breath harder than the last. Having her so close in this tiny space with her hand in mine was one hell of a potent drug.
“I told her we kissed, and she asked me how it was.”
She looked up at me then, eyes heated. “And?”
I turned, facing Claire fully. “I told her the truth.”
She shifted towards me. Wetted her lips. My dick was so hard I could barely think. “And what’s the truth?”
I shouldn’t be encouraging this right now with what she was going through, but God, when she looked at me like I was all she’d ever need, I couldn’t resist. I took our joined hands and pulled them behind my back, making her step closer, her chest brushing mine with every breath.
“I haven’t been able to stop thinkin’ about you.
I’m tempted to press the emergency stop button and take my sweet time with you.
As much as I loved the way you gasped my name, I wanna hear you scream it.
I wanna make you feel things you’ve never felt before.
And that kiss was the best goddamn kiss I’ve ever had in my life. That’s the truth.”
The air simmered to the point of combustion.
Time was suspended as she stared into my eyes, my soul, as if she were deciding whether to see if I meant it about the emergency button or not.
She wouldn’t have to tell me twice; if she wanted it, I’d give her everything I had right up against that fucking wall.
The elevator dinged, and the doors slid open, but we didn’t move. Locked in this trance of unspoken feelings and want.
Someone cleared their throat, and only when Claire moved did I. My hand lingered on the small of her back as we walked through the lobby. And when we made it outside, she let out a long breath. “You really have a way with words, don’t you?”
I let out an amused huff. “You’ve got no idea.”
“It’s overwhelming,” she said, quieter.
My stomach dropped. I knew I shouldn’t have gone that far. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said any of that with what’s goin’ on. You said you needed time, and I shouldn’t—fuck, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s the good kind.”
We got in my truck. “These F-450s are nice,” she said, looking around. Then she smirked, her cheeks a little pink. “But I prefer a F-250 myself.”
A laugh tore out of me, and I shook my head, pulling out of the parking spot. “You’re trouble.”
She just hummed, pleased with herself. We rode in silence for a while as we made our way out of town towards our ranches.
I wasn’t really sure what to say, what was off limits or not.
I didn’t want to push her too hard or scare her off.
I’d already spilled my guts in the elevator, so I imagined bearing my heart and soul to her would be a little too much.
“Beau.”
“Yeah?”
“I can hear you thinking.”
I sucked my teeth and tapped my fingers on the dashboard behind the wheel. “You’re awfully perceptive.”
“Well, I apparently like to stare at people, so it kinda comes with the territory.”
I shot her a smirk. “Still hung up on that, huh?”
“I just can’t believe you noticed. Fifteen-year-old Claire is humiliated.”
“But adult Claire isn’t?”
She smacked my arm, laughing. “Asshole.”
“It’s okay, I know I’m sexy. It’s hard not to notice.”
“When’d you get the tattoo?” I considered it a win that she didn’t deny thinking I was sexy. I wasn’t sure my ego could take her denying it.
I let out a heavy sigh. “When I was twenty-two, right before I came home from college. I thought Mount would think it was some great declaration of my love for the ranch. That I was as dedicated as he was. That I had what it took to run things one day. He took one look at it, said it was the stupidest thing he’d seen, and never brought it up again. ”
“I’m sorry. That must’ve been really difficult.”
I shrugged a shoulder, brushing off the phantom sting of his words. “I don’t know what I was expecting, honestly. Nothin’s ever good enough for that man.”
Her hand was warm and comforting on my thigh, an anchor in the storm of emotions my father stirred up.
“I think what you’re doing is really brave.
I’ve seen all the changes you’ve made to Circle M.
The improvements. And while I’ve nearly shot your drone out of the sky a handful of times, I could only dream of that kind of stuff for Golden Bridle.
Or just the simple act of someone who cared about it as much as you care about Circle M.
Don’t let him convince you that you don’t have what it takes because you’re already doing it, Beau.
Your siblings believe in you, and so do I. ”
Why’d it feel like she just ripped my heart out and somehow repaired it at the same time? I brought her hand to my mouth, kissing her knuckles. It was all the thanks I could muster without exposing how much I needed to hear that.
Claire’s phone rang, thank God. I could focus on not crying while she took care of that. “Hello?” She let out a disgusted sigh, and my interest was immediately piqued. “What do you want?”
“Who is it?” I mouthed.
She put the phone on speaker, setting it on the center console. Preston Hollis’s smug voice filled the cab. “…and I’ve been talking with Beaumont, and he’s said some pretty interesting things about pushing you out of your land once he gets this partnership with Cavendish.”
I wrenched my jaw, my knuckles whitening around the steering wheel. I opened my mouth to respond, but Claire held up a finger, silencing me. “Really? That’s funny because I’m sitting with him right now, and he has no fucking clue what you’re talking about and looks pretty pissed.”
Preston started blabbing random shit. Panicking. And all I felt was pride.
“Why don’t you pull your head out of your pretentious ass and realize that we are never going to sell to you. I can speak for both of us when I say we’d rather die than do business with you and your greedy as fuck family. Do not call me again, or you will regret it.”
She slammed her finger on the screen, hanging up on him as I pulled into Golden Bridle’s driveway. “God, he’s fucking annoying,” she snapped. She glanced over at me, doing a double-take when she saw me grinning at her like a fool. “What?”
My smile widened, and I shook my head. “Sexy as hell,” I murmured, looking back at the road.
“You’re sick in the head, Beaumont.”
“What can I say? I like what I like.”
I walked her to her door. “You didn’t have to walk me up,” she said, fiddling with the key in the deadbolt. I made a mental note to fix that next.
“I know. But I wanted to.” I don’t want to leave you yet, I almost admitted.
“I’m not inviting you inside,” she added as if that were some kind of deterrent.
“I know that, too.”
“Well, you just know everything, don’t you?”
I smiled smugly. “Sure do.”
“I bet you don’t know this,” she said, and then got on her toes, her mouth hovering by my ear. “That was the best goddamn kiss I’d ever had in my life, too. And I’m gonna think about it later tonight.”
And then she slammed the door right in my fucking face.