Page 34 of It's Only Love

“What’re you doing? Don’t mess around with Christy. You’re looking for something serious and she’s only sticking around for a couple of weeks at the most. There’s no point in getting anything started and I love you but if you hurt her, I’ll never forgive you. She’s been treated badly by men her whole life,” Taylor said quietly.

Now he felt like he was being told off by his mom, and he immediately went on the defensive.

“It was a mistake, it’s nothing serious and I was so drunk that night-” he started, but she interrupted him.

“No, you weren’t.”

He pursed his lips shut before another lie slipped out. He could feel himself getting hot under her stare.

“It was just a stupid moment and I had been drinking. It was a mistake, she pushed me away and I’ve already told Beau about it and apologized,” he explained. She nodded, seeming satisfied with this.

“She pushed you away? Interesting.” She smirked.

“Yeah, yeah laugh it up, I got rejected.” He took another swig of his beer.

“Good.” She lifted her stare to focus on something over his shoulder, he saw her face brighten briefly before her expression blanked and she turned away. A moment later a large hand clapped him on the shoulder, and he turned to see Beau easing down onto the stool next to him.

“Hey, man,”

“Sorry I’m late, I got held up at Christy’s,” Beau replied, trying to get Taylor’s attention to order a drink but every time he waved at her, she turned away and conveniently didn’t see him.

“No worries, is she good?” he asked, he felt weird asking Beau about Christy, but he wanted to show he was supportive of their budding relationship, even though it killed him.

“Yeah, we decided to just be friends though.”

A frisson of excitement rushed through Dean at the news, now she was unattached, free which meant…nothing. His eyes flicked over to Taylor as he remembered what she said. He couldn’t get involved with Christy even if he wanted to, he clenched his teeth in frustration. Christy was officially off limits. He took a swig of his beer, trying to act nonchalant.

“Oh yeah? That’s a shame buddy, what happened? Shit, did I mess things up between you?” he said, guilt pouring from his words.

“Nah, we just work better as friends. I was pretty gutted to be honest. I had a crush on her for so long and when I saw her again, I really thought it meant something for us. But we kissed and there was just no spark, it felt like kissing my sister,” he sighed.

Dean choked on his beer. No spark? No fucking spark?! Christy’s kiss damn near sent him up in flames. She was passion incarnate; she kissed him with her whole body, nothing held back. He shook his head as his jeans tightened against his crotch, don’t think about that now! He wiped his hand over his mouth.

“Aw that sucks, man, sorry to hear that. Was she upset when you ended things?”

“Me? Oh no, it was her, she said she felt nothing either. It’s the funniest thing,” Beau chuckled to himself. Dean was lost in thought as Taylor came over.

“Taylor, so glad you finally noticed you had a customer,” Beau said dryly.

“I noticed, I just didn’t care,” she smiled at him tightly.

“There’s that five star customer service I keep hearing about,” Beau deadpanned.

“What can I get you?”

“How about a smile?”

“I’ll smile non-stop as soon as you leave.”

“Do you know what’s funny?” Beau asked.

“Your dating history?” Taylor shot back, fire crackling in her eyes. Beau chuckled darkly then raised his eyes to meet hers.

“I thought I saw someone from school earlier, what’s his name again, oh yeah, Bobby Bryson. Didn’t you used to date him, Taylor?”

Dean felt the air between them thicken with tension, Taylor blinked, momentarily shocked. She just stared at Beau and then grabbed a beer, slamming it down in front of him, suds flying, and stormed off. What the hell was that? Dean thought, staring at Beau as he calmly lifted his beer to his mouth. After a beat Beau turned to him.

“Anyway, there’s a lot to do at Christy’s house, I’m gonna need an extra hand if you’re up for it? I know you offered the other day but if the garage needs you, that’s cool.”

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