8. Beau
Beau
A good steak could make even the worst situations bearable. If nothing else, he’d eat like a king for the next week.
Was food the way to Beau’s heart? Probably. He just wasn’t going to announce it to his present company.
Anna strode into the room with her shoulders pulled back and her head held high. An hour without her phone ringing or talking about Dean had done wonders for her mood.
“Oh! Do you want to check out the hot tub?” she asked, rounding on him with wide eyes and a bright smile.
No wonder Anna got everything she wanted. It wasn’t easy to say no when she lit up like a sky full of fireworks when she was happy.
But the hot tub? No way. Anna was a knockout. That was a fact, not an opinion. The less he saw of her, the better.
He put the dessert on the counter and headed for his bag. “Nope. I’ll be at the gym if you need me.”
He brushed past Anna without glancing her way, but her delicate fingers wrapped around his arm, stopping him in his tracks.
“Hey,” she whispered.
Every muscle in his body tensed. Why did Anna feel like a threat when she was this close?
Slowly, he turned. Her light-blue eyes searched him with a dangerous brightness.
Her words were soft, but they held plenty of weight as she whispered, “Thank you for coming.”
With a nod, he stepped out of her grip. Her fingers trailed across his bicep as he disappeared into the bathroom to change. When he stepped back into the room to grab the key card, Anna was wrapping a towel around her body.
More coverage was all for the best, but not when her top was strapless. He’d never found bare shoulders to be a problem, but she was hard to ignore when they were the only two in the room.
Beau grabbed the card from the counter and turned his attention toward the wall. “I’ll be back in an hour.”
After all but jogging to the elevator, Beau pressed the button for the first floor and leaned back against the wall. Threading his hands into his hair, he closed his eyes and sucked in deep breaths.
She needed to get one thing straight. He wasn’t honorable or perfect, and he wasn’t here for her.
He’d run away as many times as it took to get the message across. While she was doing romantic things like lounging in the hot tub, he would be as far away as possible.
Would distance keep his thoughts in check when he knew what she was doing? Probably not.
An hour in the gym with rock music blasting in his ears was enough to get his mindset under control. Anna who? She didn’t exist in his world. If she did, thoughts of her were carefully filed away under “Not Beau’s business.”
The room was quiet when he returned. It wasn’t that Anna was a loud person. She just had a way of screaming her presence whenever she was near.
Grabbing his sleep clothes, he slipped into the bathroom. Tile covered the floor and walls, and a granite countertop ran the length of one wall. The double shower was outrageously large, and the whirlpool tub was equally extravagant. This bathroom was bigger than his bedroom at home.
So what if he took an extra five minutes in the shower? The heat and water pressure soothed his aching shoulders after an unnecessarily tough workout.
Clear-headed and ready for bed, Beau tiptoed out of the bathroom. The lights were still on, but there was no sign of Anna.
Good. She’d probably gone to bed already, and he could grab a pillow, hit the couch, and go straight to sleep.
He’d barely taken two steps into the common room before the balcony door slid open and Anna stepped inside. One hand gripped the towel at her chest, and the other shook as she closed the door behind her.
When her gaze met his, the color drained from her face, leaving dark circles under her eyes and pale lips. She’d been glowing when he left an hour ago.
“Anna?” Beau asked, taking a quick step toward her.
She melted just as he reached her, grabbing her body as her eyes rolled back and she went lifeless in his arms.
Gathering her to his chest, he knelt and brushed the wet hair away from her face. “Anna. Anna!”
Her eyes opened, and she blinked rapidly, grabbing for his shoulders. “What?”
Her skin burned against him, seeping through his clothes. “You’re burning up. Have you been out there all this time?”
“Um, yeah,” she said groggily.
Adrenaline surged through him as he wrapped her up and stood, cradling her in his arms. Gently, he rested her on the couch and pulled his phone from the pocket of his sweatpants.
“I’m fine,” she whispered, pressing her shaking hands to her temples.
No, she was not fine. As a matter of fact, Beau wasn’t fine either. His pulse raced harder than it had during his workout.
Travis answered quickly with a friendly, “Hey, man.”
“I’m here with Anna, and she just spent an hour in the hot tub and passed out. What do I do?”
Travis’s casual tone died, quickly changing to all business. “Is she conscious now?”
“Yeah.”
“How long was she out?”
“A few seconds.” A few seconds felt like hours when his chest seized, waiting that long moment for her to come back to him.
“Is she nauseated?” Travis asked.
“Are you nauseated?” Beau repeated for Anna.
She slowly shook her head. “No.”
“She probably got too hot. Try putting her in a lukewarm bath for a few minutes and have her drink lots of water. Eating would probably help too.”
The crushing fear began to ease as Travis’s calm tone gave logical direction. “Thanks, man. I’ll try that.”
“Call me back with an update,” Travis said.
Beau ended the call, putting the phone to the side and scooted closer to the couch where Anna lay. “How are you feeling?”
“A little better. I didn’t realize I was out there that long until it was too late.”
“Travis said you need to sit in a lukewarm bath for a little bit. I’m going to run the water, and I’ll be back to get you.”
She gave him a tiny nod as her eyes drifted closed. She wasn’t bouncing back as quickly as Beau hoped, but maybe the bath would do it.
When the water was running, he went back to get Anna. She opened her eyes when he knelt beside her.
“Are you ready to move?” he asked.
She nodded, and he took that as his cue. Sliding his arms behind her back and knees, he gently lifted her to his chest, leaving the wet towel on the couch. Her arms wound around his shoulders, and her head rested against his shoulder.
In the bathroom, he lowered her into the water, careful to set her down easily. Once she was settled, Beau quickly pulled his arms away. Being close to Anna, touching her, worrying about her—the closeness tangled his thoughts into an anxious knot.
“You okay?” he asked, stepping away from the tub where Anna wore nothing but a tiny, hot-pink bikini.
“Yeah. I’m feeling a lot better,” she whispered, raising her knees until they propped up out of the water.
“I’ll be right back.” Beau quickly jogged to the minibar and grabbed a bottle of water. Remembering Travis’s suggestion to eat, he picked up the room service menu before heading back to the bathroom.
The color was returning to Anna’s cheeks, and she gave him a soft smile as he handed over the water.
“Thanks. Sorry I caused so much trouble.”
She had caused trouble, just not the kind she thought. “You scared the life out of me,” He sank to the floor, resting his back against the wall beside the tub.
Anna swiped her hands over her face, leaving water droplets racing down her skin and dripping from her chin. “Sorry again.”
Beau held up the menu and opened it. “What do you want to eat?”
“We just ate,” she reminded him.
“Yeah, but Travis said you need food.”
“What about the dessert?” she asked.
“I don’t think that’s the kind of food that’s going to help you recover from overheating.”
“But it’s the kind of food that’ll taste good,” she pointed out.
Beau pushed to his feet. “Fine. We can start with dessert. ”
He grabbed the bag from the counter and took it into the bathroom. He opened the container with the cake, then the separate bowl with a lid on it.
“The ice cream is melted, but the cake looks good,” he said as he handed her the spoon.
She slid the spoon through the soft cake and lifted the bite to her mouth. Her eyes drifted closed as she chewed.
The skin on Beau’s neck heated. How did she make something as simple as eating seem attractive?
“Where’s yours?” she asked.
“My what?”
“Spoon. You’re eating this with me,” she said firmly.
Beau shook his head and sat down beside the tub. “Nope. That’s all you.”
“You promised.”
Her soothing voice had a way of turning off the rational part of his brain. How did she do that? Whatever she said seemed to make sense. It was as if she turned the volume down on his logic.
When he didn’t move to get another spoon, she scooped up another bit of cake and held it out to him.
“Nope. I’m good.”
She waved the spoon in front of his face. “You’ll be better after eating this bite of cake.”
She wasn’t going to give it up, was she? Against his better judgment, he took the spoon from her and slid the cake into his mouth.
Shoot, it was just as good now as earlier. He never ate desserts at home. Why had he been skipping the best part of the meal?
He loaded up the spoon with another bite and held it out toward Anna. “Happy now?”
Instead of reaching for the spoon, she leaned forward and took the bite.
And that was how Beau ended up feeding Anna cake in the bathtub on her wedding night.