Beau locked eyes with Charlotte. “We’ve been a little busy.”
Nick slid him a curious look.
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. I hope we didn’t miss the guys crossing the finish line,” Jillian said as she smoothed her hand down her black sleeveless blouse. “Nicky got into it with a hot cowboy at the gas station.”
Nick shook his head with a tight expression. “The jackoff was staring at her ass.”
“I have a nice ass.” Jillian wiggled her butt. “It should be admired.”
Beau and Nick both mumbled, “Jesus, Jilly.”
“We are going to get along so well,” Charlotte said with a big grin.
Beau embraced Nick. “Good to see you, little brother. Don’t make me regret saying that.”
Nick mumbled something indiscernible. Then he tipped his cowboy hat to Charlotte and said, “Nice to meet you, sweetheart.” He gave her a quick hug, smirking at Beau over her shoulder.
Bastard.
“I’m excited to finally meet both of you.” Charlotte flashed her killer smile, and Beau put his arm proprietarily around her, pulling her closer.
Jillian’s eyes widened, and before Beau could say a word, she blurted out, “You two are together? I didn’t know you were that kind of busy!”
Shock registered on Nick’s face.
“We are,” Beau said proudly, meeting Nick’s scrutinizing eyes. “Like I said, back off, bro.”
“Hey, Nick, maybe if you ask nicely Char will let you play with her blow-up dolls,” Aiyla said, earning a sideways glance from Nick. “When Ty and I were here last summer, Charlotte pulled us into her office and made us get down and dirty with them.”
“Really?” Nick’s interest was obviously piqued.
“For research, asshole.” Beau glared at him. “And she doesn’t need to use them now that I’m here.”
Cheers drew their attention to the far end of the property, where hordes of people were waving flags and shouting happily. Spectators lined up between the final hill and the finish line hooting and hollering, unwilling to relinquish their front-row view.
“We’d better hurry,” Aiyla said. “I want to get pictures of Ty.”
“Come on!” Jillian grabbed Aiyla’s and Charlotte’s hands, and they ran toward the crowd.
Nick sidled up to Beau and said, “You are leaving at the end of next week, right? Meaning Charlotte will be available once you’re gone? Because I’m feeling a need for a mountainside-inn vacation.” He chuckled.
Beau glowered.
“HURRY UP, YOU guys!” Aiyla urged as she ran toward the hill, camera in hand. She was faster with her prosthesis than either Jillian or Charlotte were in their sandals.
“Go! We’ll catch up!” Jillian said, still clinging to Charlotte’s hands like they were best friends. “Get pics of Graham, too!”
Aiyla blew them a kiss and took off running at full speed.
“God, I love her,” Jillian said as Aiyla disappeared into the crowd at the top of the hill. “She and Ty are so in love.”
“You should have been here after last year’s race. Ty took such amazing care of her.” Charlotte smiled to herself, thinking about Beau and the way he was always looking out for her.
Jillian looked over her shoulder at Nick and Beau, then dragged Charlotte away from the crowds. “Okay, you have to tell me what you’ve done to my brother. The man has stars in his eyes when he looks at you and fire in them when Nick looks at you.”
“Fire, huh?” She stole a glance at Beau, who was watching her, his jaw tense as he listened to something Nick was saying. Beau lifted his chin, the edges of his mouth quirking up, and she felt herself blushing. From a glance! She looked at Jillian, who was grinning like a Cheshire cat.
“See what I mean?” Jillian hugged her. “Thank you! Beau hasn’t made time for anything in his life but work for as long as I can remember. He doesn’t usually give women a second glance, and look at him! The man cannot take his eyes off you, and clearly it’s mutual.”
Charlotte realized she was staring at Beau. But how could she not? He was everything she’d ever dreamed of and more. “It’s definitely mutual.” And I can’t imagine how sad I’m going to be when he leaves.
“I don’t know how serious you guys are, but please don’t hurt him. He’s been through a lot.”
Charlotte was touched by how deeply Jillian cared for her brother. “Hurting him is the last thing I’d ever want to do. He told me about Tory.”
“He told you? Okay, then, you two must be serious. He won’t talk about her with anyone.”
“I know,” she said as Aiyla raced past them in the other direction.
“Where are you going?” Jillian called after her.
Aiyla lifted her camera and yelled, “Finish line pictures!”
“Come on!” Jillian grabbed Charlotte’s arm and ran toward the finish line. “She’s right! We need to see them cross!”
“What’s wrong?” Beau asked as they approached.
Charlotte grabbed his hand as they ran past, dragging him with them. “We’re waiting at the finish line! Run!”
Nick fell into step beside them, glaring challengingly at Beau, like a bull preparing to charge. Beau’s nostrils flared.
“You two are ridiculous!” Jillian said.
Charlotte was totally confused. “What—”
Beau dropped her hand and took off toward the finish line. Nick was right there with him, neck and neck. Their hulking bodies and powerful legs ate up the distance so fast, Charlotte couldn’t believe her eyes as she and Jillian ran after them.
“I thought Beau was a walker!” she said as Beau kicked up his speed even faster, leaving Nick in his dust.
“Beau was a runner in high school. He won all sorts of awards. Nick never runs. He’s all about muscle.” Jillian grabbed her side and doubled over, panting.
“Are you okay?” Charlotte asked.
“Fine. Not used to running.”
Beau sprinted over the finish line, and Charlotte screamed, jumping up and down. She and Jillian hugged and cheered. Beau and Nick high-fived, and Beau headed straight for Charlotte with a look of satisfaction on his ruggedly handsome face. She wanted to run to him, but she hated to leave Jillian hanging.
“Oh my God. Go before you burst!” Jillian shoved her toward Beau.
Charlotte ran as fast as her legs would allow. Beau reached her in seconds, sweeping her into his arms as Ty and another guy raced past with a pack of other runners on their heels.
“You were a runner!” she said between happy kisses.
“Long time ago. That win was for you, baby.” He kissed her hard, then set her on her feet out of the way of the competitors. “That’s Ty and Graham in the lead. Come on.” He looked over his shoulder at Jillian and said, “Need a carry, sis?”
She waved him on. “Not unless you know a hot single guy!”
Beau made a growling noise. Charlotte loved the way Jillian purposely poked his protective side. They weaved through the crowd. Ty and Graham sprinted shoulder to shoulder.
Aiyla cheered Ty on as she took pictures.
“Push it, Graham!” Nick hollered.
Beau cheered for both Ty and Graham, holding tightly to Charlotte’s hand.
Suddenly Ty bolted off to the side and scooped up Aiyla, carrying her toward the finish line. The crowd roared, waving flags and hollering as Ty passed three runners, still behind Graham and a handful of others. Nick whistled, Beau and Jillian cracked up, and Charlotte was in love with them all.
“That is going in a book!” Charlotte exclaimed.
Graham crossed the finish line, and the crowd went wild. Charlotte and the others screamed, cheering and hugging each other as more runners crossed the line. Ty and Aiyla took sixth place, but Ty didn’t seem to mind giving up the gold. He was too busy lip-locking with his wife.
“Come on, baby. I want you to meet Graham.” Beau led her through the crowd.
They caught up with the others, and Beau hung back, letting everyone
else congratulate Graham first. Graham looked so much like Beau, he could have been his leaner, younger doppelgänger, with the same short brown hair and dark eyes, which seemed to be a Braden trait. He had a nice smile, and as Beau embraced him and they hugged for a beat longer than the others, Beau said something that made Graham pull back and search Beau’s eyes.
“Really?” Graham asked.
Beau gave a curt nod. He reached for Charlotte’s hand and said, “Charlotte, this is my little brother Graham.”
“Little, my ass, old man.” Graham opened his arms and said, “I’m sweaty, but pleased to meet you.”
“I don’t mind sweat.” Charlotte embraced him. “Congratulations. That was awesome!”
“You and Ty were both awesome.” Beau put his arm around Charlotte.
“I’m not sure I would have taken first if not for my lovesick cousin missing his girl,” Graham teased.
“You won fair and square.” Ty grabbed two Gatorades from a volunteer and handed one to Graham. “You got the gold, but I got the girl.” He pulled Aiyla into a kiss.
“Get a room,” Nick teased. “And a shower.”
“The awards ceremony isn’t until four o’clock,” Charlotte reminded them. “The dinner and dance start at seven, so you guys have plenty of time to shower and get a massage if you want to.”
Jillian wrinkled her nose at Ty and Graham and said, “You guys are pretty dirty.”
“Hey, I like my man dirty,” Aiyla said, leaning in for another kiss, which Ty was more than happy to give her.
“Speaking of dirty, where’s Butterscotch?” Nick asked. “He’s usually right up there with you guys.”
“Jon?” Charlotte asked. Jon Butterscotch was a physician and Ty’s brother’s business partner.
“You know Jon?” Beau asked.
“Oh, please,” Charlotte said. “There’s not a single female on earth who can get within a hundred feet of ‘Mr. Fifty Shades of Sweetness at Your Service’ without knowing him.”
Beau grimaced.
“He’s harmless,” Ty assured him. “He’s the one who helped Aiyla after the race and worked through her diagnosis. He was there every step of the way. He’s a good guy, and last year he stayed back during this stretch of the race to help one of my friends with a sore ankle.”
Nick’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah, Trixie Jericho. She’s a friend of mine, and Jon better keep his paws off her.”
“You know Trixie?” Charlotte asked, wide-eyed. “I love her!”
Beau chuckled. “Nick, I thought you had no interest in her. I knew there was more to you two than met the eye.”
“She’s a friend,” Nick sneered. “And Butterscotch thinks he’s God’s gift to women. He’s not right for her.”
Jillian crossed her arms and flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Are you right for her? Because she’s all cowgirl and you’re full-on cowboy.”
“Come to think of it,” Ty said with a glimmer of mischief in his eyes, “I think Jon was with Trixie earlier today.”
As Jillian and Ty harassed Nick, Beau whispered in Charlotte’s ear, “How’s my girl holding up?”
“Good. I love your family. You’re so lucky to have so many of them around.”
His eyes shifted to the others, who were talking and clapping as runners crossed the finish line. “I am pretty lucky. But I’m luckiest because I found you.” His lips came tenderly down over hers.
“Speaking of getting the girl and getting a room,” Graham said, earning cheers from everyone and a sneer from Beau. “I thought you were just here to do repairs.”
“I am,” Beau answered. “Charlotte’s really good at repairing broken thirty-year-olds.”
He pressed his lips to hers, and she felt the approving eyes of his family on them.
“Who the hell are you, and what have you done with my brother?” Nick asked.
Beau glared at him.
“Actually, what Beau said isn’t really true.” Charlotte gazed up at him and said, “You weren’t broken. You were just lying in wait, like Sleeping Beauty, waiting for the right kiss.”
“Sleeping Beauty.” Nick’s deep laugh rose above everyone else’s. “That’s about right.”
“Christ, shortcake. Couldn’t you have said Thor?”
“Mm, Thor,” Jillian said, earning another slant-browed stare from Beau.
“I never saw that movie, but I don’t think the analogy would work,” Charlotte said. “Besides, I can’t compare you to Chris Hemsworth. I mean, just look at you.” She waved at his body.
“Damn,” Graham said. “That’s harsh.”
“I know, right?” Charlotte put her arms around Beau and said, “Beau is about a million times hotter than Chris.” She looked pointedly at Nick and added, “And my man wields a much bigger hammer.”
Chapter Sixteen
CHARLOTTE AND BEAU had watched most of the race and had seen Trixie and Jon cross the finish line, separately, which Nick seemed overly pleased about. They hung out with everyone during the awards ceremony and were meeting them in ten minutes for dinner. Beau put on his sport coat and headed to Charlotte’s suite. He pushed open the door just as she was coming out of the bedroom. Their eyes connected, and his thoughts stuttered. They both stood stock-still, each taking in the other. Charlotte looked elegant in a short black dress that cinched at her waist and flared to just above her knees. Lace covered her beautiful shoulders, and her hair was pinned up in some kind of twist with a few pretty tendrils framing her face. She never wore makeup, and she didn’t need it, but tonight her eyes were smoky, her lips a soft shade of red.
“Wow,” fell from Beau’s lips as he closed the distance between them.
Charlotte twirled slowly in her high heels, revealing racy, bold cutouts along the back of the dress. “You like?”
“No, baby. I love.” He took her in his arms, his hand drifting down her back. Her skin was like warm velvet, and her lips curved up in a sweet, effortless smile. He remembered the first time he’d held her, really held her, not when they were challenging each other. The first time she’d touched his face, his body. He wasn’t sure how it had happened, but sometime over the last few weeks he’d free-fallen into love with her. A love so true and real, and so vastly different from anything he’d ever known, but he had seen this kind of love between his parents his whole life. He may never have noticed it the way he did if not for the amazing woman in his arms.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked shyly.
He pulled her closer and said, “Because you are exquisite. You’re always beautiful, but wow, baby. You take my breath away.”
“As you do, me.” She ran her hand down his arm and said, “I feel like we’re going to prom or something.”
He kissed her neck, not wanting to mess up her lipstick, and said, “I’m not sure I want to leave this room.” He held her tight against him as he lowered his mouth to her shoulder.
“Mm. I love when you kiss me.”
“I love when you wear your hair up like this.” He continued kissing and tasting. “You’re going to New York tomorrow, and I want to memorize everything about you.” Her skin warmed even more. He put his mouth beside her ear, inhaling her intoxicating scent, and whispered, “Two days apart will seem like forever.”
“For me, too,” she said breathlessly as he kissed her jaw.
He’d been holding in his emotions for so long, but he no longer wanted to try, and the truth poured out. “I’m falling so in love with you, shortcake. I don’t know what you’ve done to me, but please don’t stop doing it.”
“You’re…”
He drew back and gazed into her glassy eyes. “Falling in love with you.”
A single tear slipped down her cheek, and he kissed it away.
“But you said you can’t put down roots.”
He heard the worry in her voice, and as much as he wanted to promise her the world, he went with the truth, because when it came to Charlotte, he would always do the right thing. �
�I don’t know if I ever can, but I love you. I love who we are together, and I want you to know that before you leave.”
He slid his hand to the back of her neck, drawing her in to a kiss.
The door flew open, and they startled apart as Jillian burst in. She hurried toward them wearing a tight sparkly gray minidress with fringe at the bottom and holding her phone straight out toward them.
“See, Mom?” Jillian said excitedly to her parents, who were on FaceTime on her phone. “I told you he had a girlfriend!”
“Jesus, Jilly. Ever heard of knocking?” Beau put his arm around Charlotte, but she was busy smiling and waving at his parents.
“You wouldn’t have heard me,” Jillian said. “You were too busy making out.” She moved next to Charlotte, turning the phone toward them. “Amazing dress!”
“Thanks! Yours, too,” Charlotte said. Her eyes flicked to Beau, her cheeks pink, which he knew was from his confession, and it made him love her even more.
“It’s one of my original designs. Isn’t it fun?” Jillian wiggled her hips, and the fringe shifted around her thighs.
“Hi, Beau honey,” his mother said. “Sorry to interrupt you two. Jillian said you wouldn’t mind.”
Beau glared at Jillian, then shifted a softer expression to his parents. As the shock of the interruption wore off, excitement and nervousness swelled inside him over introducing his family to his girlfriend. “It’s okay. Mom, Dad, this is Charlotte Sterling. Charlotte, this is my mom, Lily, and my father, Clint.”
Bandit barked, and his big, beautiful dog went paws-up on his father’s lap, sniffing at the screen.
“Aw, he’s so cute!” Charlotte squeezed Beau’s hand. “Hi, Bandit. Hi, sweetie.” She leaned closer to Beau and whispered, “I want to pet him.”
“He’s a kleptomaniac,” Jillian said. “He steals everything.”
“Hey, buddy boy. I miss you,” Beau said, wishing he could pet him, too. Bandit whimpered and sniffed the monitor. “Make sure you steal Jillian’s stuff when she gets home.”
Jillian swatted Beau’s arm. “Brat.”
Bandit barked. He was a great dog. If he’d been there, he’d get right between Jillian and Beau, protecting Beau.
Anything For Love Page 20
