Chapter 12
REBEKAH
Once my embarrassment dissipated, dinner with Beau went smoothly.
He was a lot of fun to talk with. I smacked a hand over my face when Derrick placed a slice of pumpkin pie in front of me after picking up our plates and refilling our drinks.
I still couldn’t believe that I had called him a piece of pumpkin pie.
“Can I ask you about your time in the military? What was it like?”
“It’s war, so it’s scary. But with the right people on your squadron, things are easier. I’m lucky I had a fantastic team who stood with me.”
“Did you go anywhere crazy? What kind of missions did you go on?”
“Almost all of my missions were classified, so I can’t tell you about many of them. I can say that I’m grateful for the time I spent in the military, but I am happy to be out and get to do the work that I do now.”
I understood the feeling. I might not have served, and I didn’t do the scary job that he and the team do now, but I was grateful that there were people out there who did the work.
“Ready to go home?” Beau asked, settling the empty pie plate to the side as I slid the last bite into my mouth. Realizing that I had eaten the whole piece by myself, I blushed and rushed to apologize.
“I’m so sorry! I should have shared the pie with you!”
“I got it for you, sweetheart. I don’t eat sweets.”
Gasping, I looked at him. How could someone not eat sweets? That was a crime against humanity. Sweets were an important part of the food pyramid.
“How can you not eat sweets? Then again, looking at you, it makes sense.”
“What makes sense?”
“It makes sense that you don’t eat sweets. You look like a Greek god.”
Wow, I really needed to stop opening my mouth to insert my foot. First, I’d called him a piece of pie, and now I’d told him he looked like a Greek god. That’s it, I couldn’t show my face around him ever again. I was going to move away and change my name.
“We are going to pretend like I didn’t just embarrass myself again. No need to continue this conversation. Yes, I am ready to leave if you are,” I replied, going back to his original question, hoping to distract him.
It must have worked because he gave me a grin before helping me out of the booth and directing me toward his truck. Now, if only I could make it the rest of the way home without saying something stupid, it would be a miracle.
The drive was thankfully a quiet one, but it gave me time to think.
I really wanted to bring up to him the conversation that I’d had with Josh and Seth, but I also didn’t know whether I really wanted to open that can of worms. Once I broached the topic of him calling himself Daddy, there was no going back.
Did I really want to know that much about my boss? My heart immediately said yes, but thankfully, my brain was being logical for once. I didn’t want to listen to the logical side of my brain. For once, I wanted to throw caution to the wind and see what happened.
Beau pulled into my driveway and shut off the truck. “Do you want to come inside?” I blurted before I could chicken out.
“Are you sure?”
“Not really, but I also don’t want to say good night just yet.”
“I’m not ready to say good night either.”
I gave him a small grin and a wave before turning to climb down from the passenger seat. No reason to be worried about him being in my space. He’d seen it all before. Plus, it’s not like we were going to do anything besides hang out and talk a little bit more.
I felt his warm presence behind me as I worked to unlock the front door. After I’d swung it open, I flipped on the light and dropped my bag on the counter before slipping out of my shoes. I was a little shocked when I saw Beau follow suit and remove his shoes.
“Well, you got me in here. Now what, sweetheart?”
“Uh, see, I didn’t really think that far. Want to watch a movie?”
“Sure, do you have any snacks? You can’t watch a movie without the proper snack to eat.”
I shook my head. I didn’t keep a lot of snacks in my house. Especially not any that I thought he would eat. “How about I go grab some popcorn from mine while you pick a movie?”
“Sounds like a great idea.”
“Be back in five,” Beau said, slipping back into his boots and sending me a wink as he headed back out the door we just entered.
Deciding I wanted to be comfortable, I headed back to my room, stripping as soon as I hit the doorway.
With a pair of sleep shorts and a tank top in my hands, I went into my bathroom to freshen up a little bit.
I threw my hair into a bun on my head and headed back into the living room, digging around for my DVD case to find a movie to watch.
There was no way that he would want to sit and watch a Disney movie or a chick flick, so my options were limited. I went with Gone With The Wind, a classic from my grandpa’s movie stash. After finding it, I popped it into the DVD player and waited for it to boot to the main menu.
After pulling out two glasses, I poured water into his and a Dr Pepper into mine.
Looking at the clock, I realized that it had been longer than five minutes since Beau had left.
Maybe he decided that he didn’t want to come over anyway.
I grabbed my phone to look and see if he had texted me when there was a knock at my door.
When I looked in the peephole, like I was told I needed to do every single time someone knocked, I found Beau standing there with popcorn and candy in hand.
Stalling to unlock the door, which I didn’t even realize that he had locked on his way out, I pulled it open and stepped back, letting him inside.
The smell of popcorn made my mouth water, and I let out a little squeal when I saw he had sour gummies in his other hand. “I was beginning to think you weren’t coming back. Not that I would have blamed you if you had chosen not to.”
“Do you really think I would have turned down the opportunity to spend more time with you?” he asked, dropping onto my couch.
“Well, I mean, maybe. I don’t really know.”
“The answer is no. No, I wouldn’t ever turn down spending more time with you. I know I should keep things professional between us, but it’s hard to battle the growing feelings I have for you.”
“You barely know me,” I replied with an eye roll.
“I know enough to be sure that I want to learn more about you and be around you more.”
He had me there. I felt the same way and couldn’t deny that there was this desire to be in his presence all the time. Beau was like a drug, and I was an addict searching for my next hit. I had never felt so strongly about a guy until I met him. That was why it scared me so much.
Deciding not to answer, I grabbed the TV remote and clicked play. With my hand full of popcorn, I threw a few pieces into my mouth. Oh, he has the good popcorn. The kind that tasted just like what you got at the movie theater. I’d tried to recreate that in the past, but it never tasted right.
Over the next forty-five minutes, I watched him from the corner of my eye. Not caring to pay attention to the movie at all. I’d seen it enough that I could quote it in my sleep. It was PaPaw’s favorite while I was growing up.
“If you weren’t going to pay attention to the movie, why did you pick this one?” Guess I wasn’t being as stealthy as I thought, because Beau asked that question, sending a fire blazing across my face.
Caught in the act with no way to lie my way out, I picked the only logical answer to give. “You don’t seem like the kind of guy to watch Disney movies or really girly chick flicks,” I muttered.
“What makes you think I don’t like Disney movies?”
“Well, you’re you.”
Beau sent me a puzzled glance, and I knew I was going to have to explain my reasoning. “Look at you. You’re like the GI doll in Barbie.”
“So, because I’m buff and manly looking, that means I can’t watch Disney movies?”
“When you put it that way, I sound stupid.”
“Not stupid, Little girl. What have I told you about saying mean things about yourself? I’m a Daddy, Rebekah. It’s kinda in our handbook to love all things Disney.”
“There’s a handbook?” I asked, slapping a hand over my mouth.
“There sure is, and I take my job seriously. So, I always try to follow the rules to a T.”
I fell into a fit of giggles picturing this big, burly man sitting and watching Disney movies. Honestly, it would be a sight to see, one I would pay good money for.
“What’s so funny, Little girl?”
“Oh, nothing, just picturing you in a princess crown watching Moana.”
“I would watch Moana any day. It’s one of my favorites that Disney has ever released. I would have been okay watching whatever you wanted to watch, sweetheart,” he replied, bending down to pick up the remote I had left on the table in front of us. Beau paused the movie and turned back toward me.
My brain was screaming at me to fill the silence and ask the questions that had been bouncing around in my head for a while. Deciding to go for it, I took a deep breath and asked the question that I longed to know the most.
“So, you’re a Daddy. Do you have a Little of your own?”
There was a heavy silence following my question. Just as I was preparing to take back my question, Beau spoke up.
“I have known I was a Daddy since I was in high school. The few girls I dated back then never fulfilled that desire. Then, right after high school, I enlisted in the army. I entered with an Airborne Ranger contract. It was extremely challenging, but after completing basic training, Airborne School, and the Ranger Assessment and Selection Program, I was assigned to a Ranger Regiment. I stayed there until I was honorably discharged.”
“What happened?”