Page 86 of Sweet Surrender
“Really?”
Taylor nodded eagerly.
“I guess I can start next week?”
“Perfect! Wait, how old are you?” she asked. His face was young but his mannerisms spoke of someone much older.
“I’m twenty-six and a non-smoking Sagittarius who likes long walks on the beach and quiet nights in,” he quipped then his smile fell. “Ah, sorry about that, my mouth runs away with me sometimes.”
“Then we’re gonna get along just fine. And you’ll be fine with Kayleigh too, you’re the same age so you’ll probably have loads in common.”
He looked at Kayleigh again, concern on his boyish face. “Yeah, we probably do.”
Then Blake was rushing inside with Beau right behind him.
“Taylor!” Beau shouted when he spotted her, all frantic energy. He pulled her into his arms, holding her tight and she wrapped herself around him.
“Are you okay?” he asked, trying to examine her for injury.
“What happened?” Blake asked, taking out his notepad.
She hugged Beau again, not ready to let go. His arms flexed around her as she went into detail for Blake. The whole time, Beau’s hand was running up and down her spine in soothing strokes. When she mentioned how she defended herself, Beau gripped her chin, tilting it up.
“I’m so fucking proud of you, sweetheart,” he said fiercely, and his stare fell to her lips before he pressed a hard kiss to her forehead. Her eyes closed in bliss as she bathed in his pride, warming her like the sun. She finished explaining what happened with Kayleigh just as the paramedics interrupted to say they were taking her to hospital.
“Surely you can arrest him now? That’s assault,” Beau said.
Blake nodded. “Yeah now we can, just need to find him first. Um—and who are you?” Blake turned to Ben who had been watching Kayleigh quietly. Ben introduced himself.
“Are you prepared to give a witness statement?”
“Anything for my new boss,” Ben smiled, and Taylor had a good feeling about him.
“Right, let’s head to the station then. I’ll get a man posted in the area to keep an eye on the bar and your cabin, see if this asshole shows his face again,” Blake said, then ushered Ben out. Taylor locked up the bar then Beau drove them to the hospital.
“Are you really okay?” he asked. She took in his clenched jaw, his knuckles white from choking the steering wheel, his clipped tone. The man was on edge.
“I’m a little shaken. I didn’t know what he was going to do, Beau. I didn’t know what his intentions were. But I stayed calm and did what you taught me.” She thought that might calm him but judging by the rigid set of his shoulders he was getting angrier by the second. His nostrils flared dangerously; she needed to show him she was okay.
“I kicked his ass!” She whooped and Beau’s eyes flicked to her briefly, and she did a series of karate chops shouting ‘hi-yah!’ like a fucking pro. When he turned back to the road she saw the twitch in his lips and had to settle for that.
“Thank you for showing me how to defend myself. You protected me without even being there,” she said.
“When I think about what could have happened…”
“Don’t,” she shushed him and took one of his hands, lacing their fingers together. They rode the rest of the way in silence. When they got to the hospital, they had a long wait until Kayleigh was finally discharged. When she tottered out into the waiting room, Beau wrapped an arm around her shoulders, holding her up.
“You’re gonna have a badass scar,” he said, pointing to the stitches on her forehead.
“Kay, I’m so sorry about what happened,” Taylor said, pulling her away from Beau and into a hug. When she had first started at the bar, Kayleigh had annoyed the hell out of her but now, she was the little sister Taylor never had, she was family. “Obviously take as much time as you need to recover.”
“You want me to come back?” Kayleigh asked, her eyes wide and bright.
“Of course! Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because I said…never mind.”
“Besides, we have a new bartender to train up and I can’t do it without you,” Taylor said, squeezing her shoulders again. They drove Kayleigh home, getting her settled. Her parents immediately began fussing over her.
