Southern Storm

by Natasha Madison

  “Yeah,” she says, avoiding my eye contact and forcing a fake smile on her face. “I was just leaving,” she says, walking toward the door. “I’ll just leave you two be.” She nods, and she is out of the house before I can even do or say anything.

  “Well, now that we are alone …” Melody says, and I can swear her hips thrust forward, making my cock duck for cover.

  I slowly peel her arms away from my neck, and she looks at me confused. “Listen, Melody, I don’t really have time for a relationship right now. I just became mayor, and I want to focus on that.”

  “But …” she says, trying to think of something to say. “It doesn’t have to be anything serious.” She winks at me. “We could be friends.” Her voice goes low. “With benefits.”

  “I couldn’t do that,” I say, and she crosses her arms over her chest, pushing her tits up even higher.

  “I know about Teressa,” she tells me, and I look at her, pinching my eyebrows together.

  “Teressa, the woman who works at the bank?” I ask. She’s the teller who always serves me.

  “You don’t have to pretend. I know that you guys have your dates, or shall we say rendezvous on Wednesday, and I—” I hold up my hand now.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but there has never been anything with me and Teressa, nor has there been anything with any woman in this town.” I don’t mention that it’s been a fucking long time since I’ve been with a woman. After I found out about Jacob and Savannah, I went after anyone I could get. I had sex just to have sex, hoping that I would get that connection with someone, but it all amounted to nothing. It always came back to the woman I wanted who I thought slept with my best friend.

  “But,” she says, and I shake my head.

  “How about we forget that we had this conversation?” I try to make her feel better and less embarrassed about this whole thing. My phone starts ringing in my pocket, and I see that it’s Jacob. “I really have to get this.”

  She looks down at the floor. “Of course, I’ll get out of the way.” She turns and walks to the door. “But the offer is on the table.”

  She turns and opens the door and walks out, and I let out the breath I was holding. The only thing I can think of doing is getting to Savannah when I answer the call.

  Chapter Eight

  Savannah

  I shouldn’t have walked out of the house like a child having a tantrum, but I just couldn’t stand there and watch it. I’ve seen it enough over the years from afar that I didn’t want to see it in front of my face. Instead, I make my way over to the bar. Pulling up, I spot Tony and his construction van, holding his clipboard in his hand. He looks over when I get out of the truck.

  “Hey there.” I put my hand up in a wave, walking over to him.

  “Hey, Savannah.” He smiles big. He usually comes into the bar every weekday night at six to grab a beer before going home. Sometimes on Saturday, he comes in with his wife, but it’s a rare thing.

  “If you are here for your nightly beer.” I smile at him. “You’re fresh out of luck,” I joke with him.

  “I’m not here for that.” He shakes his head. “I got a call from Beau.” It shocks me that Beau would have called him already. “Decided to see if we could help.”

  I look at him shocked and speechless. “That is really kind of you.” I look over at the bar. “But I can pay for it.”

  He nods. “Now that you’re here, you can show me inside.”

  “Sure.” I turn, making my way into the bar. After opening the door, I hear Tony whistle from beside me as he takes in the scene. The destruction still shocks me. “I tried to clean up some of it.” I walk in and pick up a chair. “But”—I shrug—“I didn’t get far.”

  “Wow.” He looks around, taking it in. “They didn’t miss anything.”

  “Nope.” I shake my head while he writes things on his clipboard. I pick up a couple of chairs, then walk over to the bar and decide to sweep up all the bottles.

  Thirty minutes later, Tony comes over while I finish sweeping the broken glass into a box. “I’m going to head out,” he says. “We’ll be here tomorrow bright and early.”

  “Okay.” I smile at him. “I’ll see what I can get done tonight, and I’ll also be here tomorrow.”

  “See you then.” He turns and walks out of the door. I squat down to clean up the remainder of the mess. I grab a notepad to take inventory of the glasses that are left. I’m about to put the pad down when the door swings open, and I look up, seeing Beau coming in with two bags in his hands. I try not to look surprised, but I’m sure that I fail miserably.

  “What are you doing here?” I ask, setting the pad down on the bar top.

  “I went by your house, and you weren’t there,” he says, walking in. “I figured you came back here, so I got you dinner.” He lifts his arms.

  “You didn’t have to do that,” I say, wondering what the fuck happened with Melody. Not that I care because he’s free to do what he wants. But still.

  “I know I didn’t have to,” he says, looking around for a place to put the food. He walks over and puts the bags down on the bar. Walking around the bar, he grabs a rag, wetting it and then wiping the bar down. He’s always helped me close on the weekends and any other time he’s in here. Most nights, he even helps bus the tables. “I wanted to.” He tosses the rag into the sink and then turns to look at me.

  “I got you your favorite,” he says, taking a Styrofoam container out of the bag. “Meatloaf.” He puts it on the counter. “Mashed potatoes.” He takes out another one. “Fries.” I look at him. “And slaw.”

  “You are too good to me.” I shake my head, walking around the counter and picking up two stools for us to sit on. “Also thank you.” I slide onto one stool, and he slides onto the stool next to me.

  “Well, I promised you dinner.” I look over at him. “And you ran out of the house like your tail was on fire.”

  I roll my eyes and try to pretend it didn’t bother me. “I did not. Your girlfriend showed up. I wasn’t going to stay around and be the third wheel.”

  Opening the container and grabbing a plastic fork, he takes a bite. “She is not my girlfriend,” he says, grabbing his own fork. “She’s just someone I went on a date with.”

  My stomach almost turns over, the meatloaf in my mouth suddenly tasting sour. “Whatever,” I say, nudging my shoulder against him. “You don’t have explain your dating situation to me.”

  “There is nothing to explain.” He chews. “We went out on one date.”

  “Oh, come on,” I joke with him. “You went on five dates with her in three weeks.”

  He looks over at me. “You’ve been keeping tabs on me?” His eyes light up just a touch, and a smile forms across his lips, but before I can say anything, the door opens, and we both look over our shoulder.

  “Sorry,” Chase says. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. I just thought you might be hungry,” he says, holding up a bag in his hand. I suddenly feel like the biggest bitch in the world for leading him on. I shouldn’t have done it.

  “Oh, that’s so nice of you.” I slip off my stool, going over to him. He is cute in a rugged type of way, and I tried really freaking hard to like him, but I just couldn’t even get to that point with him. “Do you want to …?” I point back at the bar where Beau now sits facing us as he glares.

  “No.” He shakes his head. “I should go. I have an early day tomorrow,” he says, handing me the bag.

  “You should take this.” I motion to the bag. “There is already too much food here.”

  He grabs the bag back from my hand and nods at me. “Have a nice night, Savannah.” He looks over my shoulder. “Beau,” he says, nodding as he turns and walks out.

  I wait for the door to slam and then the sound of his car door before I let out a huge deep breath. “That your boyfriend?” He points at the door with the fork in his hand.

  “Shut up.” I turn, walking back to the stool and slipping back on it. “He’s as m
uch my boyfriend as Melody is your girlfriend.” Now he throws his head back and laughs out loud. I have the sudden urge to lean over and just kiss him. But instead, I look down at my food and take another bite. “It’s going to be the first time since I bought this bar that I’m not open on a Saturday night.”

  “It’s definitely going to be strange for a lot of people,” he says while chewing. “It’s the local watering hole.”

  I nod. “It is,” I say proudly.

  “You really did an amazing job of turning your dreams into reality.” I look over at him. “I mean, remember when we cleaned out this place after you bought it?” He shakes his head. “You moved a crate from over there.” He points at the corner of the bar. “And found a family of rats living there.”

  I shiver now, thinking about it. “It was a mother and all fifteen of her kids.” He just laughs. “It was so gross,” I say, eating another bite. “I couldn’t have done this without you.” I look over at him. “You were by my side the whole time. Cheering me on when I would get into my head and tell myself that I couldn’t do it.”

  “If there is anything that I know.” He looks over at me, grabbing a bottle of Coke and taking a drink. “It’s that if you set your mind to it, you will do it.”

  “You really mean that?” I ask, looking back at my food before I get lost in his eyes.

  “I do,” he says. The sting of tears threatens to fall, and I blink them away. I pick at the food and finally give up trying to eat. Standing up, I put away everything.

  Beau finishes his food and stands to start cleaning up in front of him. He puts everything in the bag and places it to the side. Then he walks over to the stage where the bands perform and begins to pick up some of the debris from there. “You don’t have to do this.”

  “I know,” he says, “but if I help, that means you can open sooner.” He shrugs. “I don’t know what I would do with my nights if I wasn’t sitting on that stool.”

  With a laugh, I continue picking up the stools and wiping them off. “You always were in my way.” I side-eye him. “Always coming behind the bar and trying to lure the ladies with your talk of pouring drinks.”

  He shakes his head. “I wasn’t trying to lure anyone.” He steps off the stage. “I was trying to help you.”

  I laugh, shaking my head. “You liar.” Shrieking, I say, “You asked both Becky Johnson and Ashley Walker out while pretending to help me.”

  “Hey.” He points at me, walking over. “They asked me out. I didn’t want you to lose business, so I took them out on one date.” He puts the box on the bar. “So technically, I was doing you a favor.”

  I roll my eyes and prop up the last stool. “That is such bullshit.” Walking over, I put the rag down next to the box with the trash and prop my hand on my hip. “I owe you a lot, Beau.” My voice goes low when he steps toward me.

  His hand reaches out to wipe my cheek right under my eye. “You owe me nothing, Savannah,” he says. His voice goes a touch low, and we just look at each other. “You’ve already given me so much.” My hands go to his hips, and I swear that my heart is going to beat out of my chest. “Besides, who else is going to help you fend off all the men?”

  Chapter Nine

  Beau

  Her blue eyes gloss over to a dark blue, the same blue as when she gets nervous. The same blue that I’ve fallen in love with. “Besides, who else is going to help you fend off all the men?”

  She laughs, breaking the moment. I was so close to kissing her, and I thought this was going to be it. I was going to take the leap and just do it, but then she laughed and the moment was broken. Her hands on my hips now push me away, so my hand falls from her warm cheek. “Fend off what men?”

  “All of them,” I say, turning and grabbing the box with the debris that I picked up from the stage. “Literally all the single ones who wait by the bar to see if you will pick them.”

  She swings around now. “That’s such hogwash.” She bends down and picks up one of the chairs, only to have it fall on its side. I look down and see one of the legs are broken.

  “You don’t see it.” I grab the broken chair and set it off to the side. “They stand there and watch you,” I say, and she watches me while I pick up another chair to see if it’s broken. “Sometimes when you twirl and dance to the music …” I spot a broken chair and set it down next to the other one. “They stand there and just watch you like you are the main event.”

  She stands there with her mouth hanging open. “That’s not true.”

  I laugh now. “It’s so true.” Walking over to the bar and grabbing the wet rag, I toss it to her. “Wipe down the tables while you catch flies.”

  She glares at me now, walking to a table that’s been flipped over. She puts it up right, then wipes it down. “I think you are just saying all these things because I teased you about your harem.”

  “My harem.” I shake my head, putting all the good chairs to one side. “Harem or not …” I look over as she bends down and washes off a table. Her ass is perfect and round, and now I’m like one of those creeps checking her out. “I leave with only one girl every single time.”

  She looks over her shoulder at me. “That you do.” She walks over to the jukebox and presses a couple of buttons. “Might as well sing while we work.”

  She heads to another table while “Slow Dance in a Parking Lot” comes on. “Dance with me?” I ask her, or maybe I am telling her. She looks over at me. “I like this song, and you can never dance when you are working.”

  She doesn’t move. She just looks at me unsure on what to do. I reach out and grab her hand, pulling her to the dance floor. “We dance,” she says to me when I slip my arm around her waist and pull her to me. “I mean, not all the time.”

  “We’ve danced four times,” I say, and her eyes go big.

  “Six,” she counters, wrapping her arms around my neck. “Just last week, you walked behind the bar and pulled me to this dance floor.”

  I look down into her eyes. “I beat Teddy to it,” I admit. “One of his friends dared him to come over and ask you to dance, so I beat him to it.”

  She throws her head back and laughs out loud. “You did not.”

  “I did, too.” I smile, lifting one hand to push her hair away from her forehead. “He was just going to try to cop a feel,” I fill her in, “and there was no way in fuck I was going to let that happen.”

  “Aren’t you my knight in shining armor?” she says. We stop dancing and just stand in the middle of the dance floor. “Mr. Mayor,” she jokes with me.

  “I hate that title,” I say, admitting that out loud for the first time in my life. “It’s so old-school. Why can’t I be Mayor Beau instead of Mr. Mayor?”

  “You can be whatever you want.” She raises her eyebrows. “You’re Mr. Mayor.”

  “When my father told me he was retiring, something woke up inside me. I wanted to be the one who was in charge now. I wanted to be the one who made a difference. I wanted to be the one to bring new changes.”

  “Out with the old and in with the new.” She moves her hands from my neck to my chest, laying her palms flat.

  “Not everyone is going to like the new changes I want to bring.” My voice goes low. “But I don’t want to be just a little town anymore. I want to bring people here. I want them to come visit every single summer with their kids and have all these memories.”

  “What changes do you want?”

  “I want to build a rec center. After-school programs, sports programs, community dances. Senior centers.”

  “That sounds amazing.” She looks at me, and she has a tear in her eyes. “It sounds amazing, and I’m going to be the one beaming at you from the front row every single time you have a ribbon cutting.”

  I shake my head. “It’s all talk for right now.” My arms hold her closer than before, squishing her hands between us. “We have a meeting tomorrow, so let’s hope that they are ready for a change.”

  “If anyone can convince them, you c
an.” She smiles, and I start moving us in a circle. “Everyone loves you.” I want to ask her if that means her, too. I want to know if she feels the same way. I want to tell her that everyone loves her, too, but I love her the most. I want to tell her all this, but I don’t. I just look into her blue eyes as though I’m in a trance. My head moves down just a touch, and I swear I hear her breath hitch. The song stops, and it’s now so quiet all you can hear is the two of us breathing. “You are going to do great things, Beau.”

  “You have that much faith in me?” I ask, and she smiles shyly and nods her head. I don’t know if it’s the dust or the fact that it’s been a really shitty couple of days, but all I want to do is kiss her. My head moves closer to her. “Thank you,” I whisper, and she just looks at me. “For being on my side,” I say right before my lips land on hers. I don’t know if she’s shocked or not, but her mouth opens just enough for me to slip my tongue into her mouth. I swear this has to be the sweetest fucking kiss of my life. Her tongue touches mine, going around and around, and just when I want to take it deeper, I step away from her. I open my eyes just in time to see her eyes flutter open. She puts her fingers on her lips as if to make sure this really happened.

  “You kissed me?” I don’t know if she’s asking me or she’s telling me.

  “Yeah,” I say, ready to go in for another kiss but not wanting to push her. “I’ve been wanting to do that for a while,” I tell her, and she just blinks, not sure how to handle what I just told her.

  “I should get you home,” I say, pretending I didn’t just kiss her in the middle of her bar. “It’s getting late, and I have emails to go through.” She remains standing in the middle of the room, trying to mentally take everything in. “I have the bag of food. You get the lights.” Turning, I clean up the food bags while she turns off the lights, and then we walk to the door. I watch her lock the door and then walk her to her truck.