Page 37 of Backed By You
“I’m okay, but thank you,” I say, smiling at the little naked men sitting on the rim of everyone’s drinks.
Conversation continues around me—laughter and stories, occasionally including me with a smile or question. An hour passes, and I’m much more relaxed, even laughing at some of their wedding planning disaster stories. Frankie sits at my feet, watching me eat a handful of pretzels someone brought out with big, greedy eyes.
“So, Callie,” Alison asks, setting up a card game, “how do you like living out here in the middle of nowhere?”
“I love it,” I answer honestly.
“And how’s having Beau Montgomery as your landlord?” Cassidy asks curiously, pouring herself another glass of red. “I swear he came back with the personality of a grizzly bear.”
Heat rushes to my cheeks as unwanted images flood my mind: Beau asleep with a towel draped low on his hips, his muscled chest rising and falling with each breath. Beau walking around my cabin shirtless. Beau fetching me tea and rubbing my feet.Beau smiling. Beau laughing. Beau carrying me and Hulk to safety like a true mountain man.
“We don’t really…interact much,” I say.Liar, liar.
Cassidy snorts, taking the five cards Alison hands her. “That’s Beau for you. The Montgomery brother who’s allergic to human interaction.”
My brow furrows. “Why do you say that?”
“It’s not that he’sallergic, Cass.” Maci sits beside me, handing me a set of cards. “We just haven’t gotten to know him much since he got home.”
“He’s always been that way,” Lily—introduced to me earlier as Beau’s sister—interjects. “He’s kind of the black sheep of the family. A bit of a loner, a bit of an asshole.”
Everyone laughs and the conversation shifts toward the card game, much to my relief, but I can’t shake my lingering questions about Beau. Has he really always been this way? I understand the desire to be alone, but even a strong man like him would get lonely sometimes, right? And the way he’s looked at me the last few days…
He cares. He has to.
The sound of multiple trucks pulling up out front catches everyone’s attention.
“Looks like the boys are here with ourtequila,” Cassidy sing-songs, standing with a shake of her hips. “It’s margarita time!”
My stomach drops. The boys?
Frankie yips and Hulk huffs, his big head lulling in my direction as the back door opens once again. Several men spill into the yard carrying bags and bottles, their laughter boisterous through the tree line. My breath catches when the last one exits—his tall, broad frame filling the doorway.
Beau.
Our eyes lock across the dimly lit night. His expression shifts from surprise to something unreadable. My heartmaybe racing at the mere sight of him.
He starts walking toward me, passing Cassidy drunkenly making out with her already-husband-but-soon-to-be-wedded-husband, but gets sidetracked by Duke asking for help grabbing more stuff from the truck
“Jesus, you two, get a room,” Levi—the youngest Montgomery brother, according to Lily earlier—burps out as he stumbles past carrying a…block of cheese?
“He eats cheese when he’s drunk,” Rhett says, plopping onto the empty dining chair beside me. “Or sad. He’ll eat that whole block if someone doesn’t stop him pretty soon.”
My brows raise, impressed. “I take it he’s not lactose intolerant.”
Rhett chuckles. “Thankfully, no.”
“So, which is he? Drunk or sad?” I ask, having a hard time looking away from the chaos of everyone. It’s hard to decide where to look; there’s so much going on. Like Duke and Maci slipping back inside and giggling like a couple of high schoolers.
“A bit of both,” he admits. “He used to boast that he’d be the first of the brothers to get married, and now…he’s not. I think it’s hitting him harder than he expected.”
That’s sad. “He should stop looking,” I murmur. Rhett turns to look at me with a raised brow. I blush, hurrying to add, “You know, that saying? The right person will come along when you least expect it.”
Rhett smirks. “Is that what’s happened with you and—”
“Callie,” Beau says, his voice low and gravelly and draws my attention straight to him. A stern sort of glare directed at his brother.
“On that note.” Rhett leaps to his feet with a grin, his elbow bumping Beau’s as he walks toward the cabin. “Told you.”
