Page 26 of Sweet Surrender
“So, we’re over there, are you joining us?” he asked. She scanned the bar, there were only a few customers wanting a drink, nothing Kayleigh couldn’t handle. She nodded and he gestured for her to lead the way as she did the same thing.God why was this so awkward?She moved past him, ducking out of reach, afraid to touch him, even accidentally.
Christy, Justine and Dean were all sitting around a table but there was only one chair free.
“We thought you might like to, uh, sit on my lap?” he said, flushing again. When he was like this it reminded her of what he was like when they first met. As usual the memories and the hurt barreled into her, stinging her.
“You thought wrong,” she replied, pulling a chair from another table. Besides, Christy wasn’t sitting on Dean’s lap so it would look weird if she sat on Beau’s. That was the reason why, it had nothing to do with not wanting to be close to him.
“Where’s Blake?” she asked Justine, pulling her chair up next to her.
“He’s checking in on Rebelle,” Justine replied with a sunny smile.
“Really?”
“Oh yeah, he does it a lot. He’s very protective of her, acting like he’s her big brother.”
“That’s nice that she has someone looking out for her like that,” Christy said.
“Yep, ever since that scary night at the shelter he’s been doing it. Stops him worrying about her.”
“I worry about her too,” Christy frowned.
“We spoke briefly at the laundromat the other night. That was nice,” Taylor added. Beau pulled her chair closer to him, the metal legs scraping against the wooden floor making her glare at him.
“Hopefully we’ll all talk to her more and she’ll feel like she can hang with us.”
“Because who wouldn’t want to hang out with you, darlin’,” Dean teased Christy, putting his arm around her and kissing her.
“Exactly!” Christy squealed before their lips met. Beau shot Taylor a questioning look and she shook her head, no. She didn’t want his arm around her, pulling her close to him, soaking in his heat and squeaky-clean nice guy scent.
He leaned in so only she could hear him. “You said you would co-operate,” he murmured, his breath trekking over her skin, goosebumps rising to greet it.
“I will but we don’t need to be the King and Queen of PDA,” she hissed. His jaw clenched but he said nothing.
“Sis, we were saying it would probably be a good idea for you to take some self-defense lessons, given everything that’s happening,” Dean said when he pulled himself away from Christy.
“Absolutely, so if you do find yourself in a position where you need to defend yourself, you can kick ass!” Justine added.
It wasn’t a bad idea actually; she loved the idea of being able to beat the crap out of someone. She had a lot of pent-up rage that needed to go somewhere.
“Say, doesn’t Beau teach self-defense?” Christy’s innocent tone wasn’t fooling anyone. Taylor glared at her.
“I can teach you self-defense. I would be happy to,” Beau said.
“I can’t afford you.”
“I wouldn’t charge mygirlfriendfor lessons on how to protect herself,” he said, giving her thatplay along you idiotlook.
“True, but I really can’t-”
“You owe me, remember? I’ll get payment for it one way or another.” His voice dipped low, sounding like a promise. She couldn’t speak, just nodded her head like one of those stupid bobbing dogs.
“Great.” He smiled wide, white teeth flashing and her stomach fluttered in response which immediately had her scowling again.
Chapter 8
The next week was a nightmare. Every time Beau tried to act like he and Taylor were a couple it was awkward, clumsy and extremely unconvincing. They’d had numerous arguments, and insults were thrown around like confetti. One night they were at dinner with their friends and during a particularly spiteful argument Beau realized just how badly their poor relationship was impacting the group.
“You gravitate towards each other just so you can hurl insults and spit mean barbs, and I for one have had enough!” Justine fumed at them.
