35. Beau
Beau
D rops of water dripped from Beau’s hair onto his face as he brushed his teeth. Was he going to regret leaving Tim in charge for a few hours on a Saturday? Probably. Could he skip Jacob’s birthday party? Not without getting an earful from Olivia.
Jacob was young, but the kid practically worked at the garage. Maybe in a few years Beau could add him to the payroll. Jacob knew more about cars than Tim.
“Beau! We need to leave. Chop, chop!” Olivia shouted.
Spitting his toothpaste into the sink, Beau grabbed a towel and rubbed it over his dripping hair. “Get out of my room!”
“You two sound like siblings,” Dawson said.
Dawson and Olivia stood in the bathroom doorway looking way too excited to be going to a pre-teen birthday party.
“Ever heard of boundaries? Personal space?” Beau asked.
“What’s that?” Olivia asked, scrunching her nose the way she used to do whenever she caught their parents kissing when she was a kid.
Beau ran a brush through his hair and reached for the shirt draped over the towel bar. “I said I’ll be there. You don’t have to watch me until I walk out the door.”
Olivia crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe. “I just wanted to tell you that Anna is waiting on you. She’s in the kitchen.”
“Lead with that next time,” Beau said as he pushed past Dawson and Olivia.
“Do you two want to ride with us?” Dawson asked.
Beau slid the shirt over his head and grabbed his wallet and keys from the dresser. “Nope. I need a getaway vehicle.”
“Don’t you dare have fun!” Olivia shouted behind him.
“I did that once. It was awful,” Beau said as he headed toward the kitchen.
Anna stood at the sink washing dishes. The sleeves of her white sweater were pushed up past her elbows, and her blonde hair was pulled back in a high ponytail with stray pieces framing her face .
“What are you doing?” Beau asked as he stepped up behind her. His arms wrapped around her waist, and he breathed in her warm vanilla scent.
“Washing dishes. I thought I’d make myself useful while I waited.”
“That is one hundred percent Tim’s job today.” Beau pressed a kiss to Anna’s temple at her hair line. “You never have to lift a finger when you’re here.”
“That’s sweet, but I would feel horribly useless if I didn’t.” She turned to look over her shoulder at him and pressed her lips to his cheek.
The woman was intoxicating. Every nerve ending in his body roared to life like a diesel engine whenever she was around.
Beau handed her a dish towel. “Are you ready to go?”
She dried her hands and hung the towel carefully on a hook by the sink. “Yep. I can’t believe Jacob is growing up so fast. I feel like he was a kid just yesterday.”
Beau reached for Anna’s hand as they made their way to his truck. “He’s still a kid. He’s just smarter and way more mature than your average pre-teen.”
“What did you get him?”
“Custom floor mats for his Porsche,” Beau said as he opened the passenger door for her.
“He’s going to love that! I got him a new bat he’s been wanting.”
Beau slid into the driver’s seat and headed for the main road. He was getting used to having Anna beside him in his truck, and reaching for her hand was becoming his new favorite thing to do while driving.
He was still getting used to this alternate reality where Anna wanted to kiss him—where he could touch her and hold her.
Every step of their new relationship had come and gone in the blink of an eye.
His entire focus had changed in a few weeks’ time, but not one part of him wanted to pump the brakes.
Still, there was the annoying reminder that everyone in town had shown up to Anna’s wedding. Actually caring about what people thought was new to him, but every time he thought about someone judging Anna, a low roar crawled up his chest.
“So, what are we telling people today?” Beau asked.
“You mean when people see us looking cozy?”
He glanced over at her and was greeted with her playful smirk. At least she didn’t seem worried about it. “Yeah. That.”
She rested an assuring hand on his arm. “It might be a good idea to lay low for a little bit. I mean, people are going to talk no matter what, but I’d like a chance to breathe before the rumor mill comes knocking.”
“It’s not like I’m big on kissing in public anyway. We can just play it cool, and maybe no one will notice. ”
Anna leaned toward him, and it took every bit of his self-control to focus on driving. “You mean you don’t want to kiss me in front of a bunch of pre-teens and their parents? I’m crushed.”
Beau glanced at her. She was close enough he could lean over a few inches and press his lips to hers, but a new and urgent instinct demanded he drive safely when she was in his truck. “I always want to kiss you. Make no mistake, that’s at the top of my list every day.”
Anna leaned closer until her warm breath brushed against his ear. “Can we do a little bit of that before we join the party?”
The air in the cab of the truck grew thick and hot as his entire body heated. He swallowed hard and tightened his jaw before his body allowed him to respond. “Anything you want.”
Anna bounced in her seat and pressed her lips to his cheek. “You’re fun, you know that?”
Beau huffed. “You are the first person to ever say that to me.”
He parked as far away from the house as possible and shut off the truck. He didn’t waste any time pulling Anna in for a deep kiss. Her soft lips molded to his, sending sparks down his spine.
He broke the kiss long enough to say, “Let’s just skip the party.”
Her forehead rested on his shoulder as she laughed. The joyful sound vibrated into his skin and found a direct path to his heart. “We have to at least make an appearance.”
“Ten minutes? No one will miss us.”
“Olivia would send out a search party. She’d recruit all of the kids to find us.”
“Not if she valued her life,” Beau added.
“Actually, she might let us run off together. She’s definitely cheering us on.”
“For once, I can’t hate her for getting in my business.”
Anna pressed her lips to his one more time before reaching for the door handle. “Let’s go. Everyone is going to wonder why we’re parked but haven’t gone inside yet.”
“I don’t care what they think,” he reminded her, and tugged her back into his arms to nuzzle the back of her neck.
“I know you don’t, but I do. Hop to it, Mr. Lawrence.”
The party was a circus of kids running around screaming. Did they have to shout all the time? The boys had a paintball war in the backyard while the girls stood off to the side with their heads together whispering to each other. Every once in a while, they’d point and giggle at the boys.
“Aren’t they cute?” Lyric asked as she glanced out the window into the backyard.
Asa watched the kids with his arms crossed over his chest. “Jacob is going to be one solid bruise tomorrow. He can’t stop looking at the girls long enough to keep from getting shot by the paintballs.”
“I think the girls can’t stop looking at him either,” Anna said, pointing to a girl who tossed her hair whenever Jacob looked her way.
Olivia joined the viewing party and rubbed her hands together like an evil mastermind. “Looks like the guys are out of ammo. Time to stir the waters.”
“Hide-and-seek!” Dawson shouted as he burst into the backyard.
Olivia grabbed Beau and Anna’s hands and pulled them toward the door. “Let’s get in on the action.”
“No thanks. I’m just here to eat cake,” Beau said, pulling back on his sister’s hold.
Olivia tightened her hold on his hand. “Shut up and quit being a buzzkill.”
Anna leaned over and whispered, “She won’t let you out of it. Ask me how I know.”
Outside, Dawson and Olivia gathered the kids and explained the rules of hide-and-seek as if it were an Olympic sport while Beau formed a game plan.
When the kids scattered, Beau took Anna’s hand in his before she had a chance to run off after them.
He jerked his head in the opposite direction. “This way.”
He kept a tight hold on her as they approached an old shed close to the tree line. Olivia had deemed this section out of bounds, which meant it was the perfect place to “hide” with Anna.
“Ten seconds in, and you’re already breaking the rules,” Anna said.
“I don’t care about Olivia’s rules.” He reached behind a bush near the door and fumbled around until he found what he was looking for. A black box with a key inside.
“Is Asa going to be mad at us for breaking and entering?” Anna asked, glancing back over her shoulder as if the officer himself would appear with handcuffs.
“I’m not breaking anything. I’m using the door.” Stepping to the side, he let Anna enter first.
Faint light drifted through the dirt-caked windows, and dust floated in the cold air, mixing with the cloud of Anna’s warm breath.
“No one will find us here.”
He didn’t have to see Anna’s face to know she was smiling. She radiated happiness over small things all the time, and he could tell when she was smiling even on phone calls now.
Beau reached through the dim light until he found her hand. Pulling her to him, he skimmed the tip of his nose over her jaw and up to her ear to whisper, “Found you.”
Her hands slid up his chest and around his neck to pull him down to her.
Their mouths crashed together in a rush, leaving a roaring in his ears that drowned out everything except the feel of Anna in his arms. The world could crumble around them, and he wouldn’t notice.
Anna was his new center of gravity, and he was more than happy to be locked in her orbit.
Was this it? Had God jerked Beau out of his content life to place him beside Anna? It was improbable. Impossible. Yet, his world had shifted, and he didn’t want to set things back in order.
When she broke the kiss, Beau rested his forehead against Anna’s. There was a hungry lion in his soul that settled whenever he could hear the steady rhythm of her breaths.
“I have a surprise for you,” she whispered into the darkness.
“What is it?”
She quietly laughed. “If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise.”
“Why did you tell me about it then? That’s just mean.”
She traced her fingernails over the back of his neck, playing in the short hairs at the nape as if it didn’t light a fire that raced down his spine.
“I’m a little nervous, but I think you’ll like it.
Well, you may be proud of me, but I’m not really sure if it’s going to be a good thing or a really tough thing. ”
Nothing about her vague explanation gave him the slightest hint at what she meant, but one thing stood out that he couldn’t ignore .
She took a deep breath and tucked her chin to her chest. The shadows fell on her face in all the wrong places, so he lifted her chin with a finger.
“I’m always proud of you.” He didn’t whisper this time, and he wouldn’t leave room for misunderstanding.
Her smile was back, and he kissed her slowly, careful to let her know with each movement exactly how much he adored her.
The shed door burst open, letting in a flood of light. Anna broke the kiss and took a step back as Jacob peeked his head through the doorway.
“Um, Mom said to let you know that we’re going to cut the cake and sing happy birthday now so Aunt Olivia can leave for work.”
“We’ll be right there,” Anna said, not moving to follow Jacob as he closed the door.
When they were alone again, Anna patted Beau’s chest. “I need to go anyway. I don’t have long to make my move.”
Beau grabbed her hand in a show of solidarity. “Do you need me to do anything?”
“Not this time. It’s something I have to do on my own.”
Man, it was good to see her taking control of her own life. She’d come so far in such a short time. “You’re amazing. You know that?”
She pressed a soft fingertip to his lips. “I don’t know how this is going to go yet. Save your excitement for later.”
Sliding his hand around her wrist, he removed her finger from his lips, then pressed the palm of her hand against his chest. “When can I know about the surprise?”
“Hopefully, we can talk about it later tonight.”
Beau jerked his head toward the door. “Then let’s go.”
Anna lifted onto her toes to press a quick kiss to his neck just above his pounding pulse before darting out of the shed.
What was happening to him? He wasn’t a stranger to taking risks, but Anna was the most dangerous thing he’d ever loved. Cars could break him, speed could kill him, but Anna would consume him.