He gave up trying to pick the knot apart. Jumping away from the bed, he really scraped the sides of the hands and hurt one of his wrists, but he didn’t know what else to do. At least he’d released her without having done something he should apologize for, but now he needed to find something to cut that fabric while he could still think. It seemed like all the blood had rushed to his cock, and he feared that very-loved part of him may actually explode.
Looking around the room, he saw something shiny on the desk. Scissors and a note.
Here you go, Beau. Don’t blow this.
What the entire hell? He went back taking deep breaths on his short walk back to the beautiful vision he’d missed so much more than he’d ever admit aloud.
“Did you find the scissors?” Karessa said, looking at him expectantly.
“Yes. Did you know she left them for me?”
“I didn’t know they were for you, but she did tell me the scissors were there.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that?”
She looked away, like she could only look at him for short periods of time. He remembered when she would follow him around with her eyes all day, but that was just one more thing he could chalk up to what he’d done to her. “I was shocked to see you. It’s been a few years.”
“Eight,” he said with more bite than he’d intended.
“What?”
“You haven’t seen me in eight years.” That came out better. Matter of fact…no emotion…no theatrics.
She nodded and looked anywhere but at him. He made quick work of slipping the scissors between the fabric and her skin, and then he checked to make sure that none of her skin would be damaged or cut when he closed the sharp metal knives that would set her free. The noise of the scissors sliced through the air, sounding like a guillotine, but at least it was over.
“There you go,” he said, hoping the relief he felt wasn’t in his voice.
“My hero.” She sounded even more snarky and sarcastic. Damn. It was hard to believe how much that turned him on.
“Anytime,” he said as he buttoned up her—his—shirt. He drew out every slip of the button through the hole, because he didn’t want this quiet moment to end, and he didn’t want to move away from her. The weight of her gaze was so heavy he swore he could actually feel it, so he looked up to see if he should back off. She was studying him, but she’d gotten better at hiding what she was feeling. The young woman he remembered had every emotion displayed on her face like a movie projector. He missed how easily he could read her. Fastening up the next to last button he took a breath, knowing there was no reason to stay this close to her. “I heard that there is food in the kitchen. Let’s grab a bite and talk.”
“Talk? Now you want to talk? After all this time?” When he only blinked back at her, Karessa rolled her eyes. “You never once looked me up, came to see me when I visited home or returned any of my letters.”
He wasn’t even sure he had the words for this. He’d done it for her. If he’d told her then what he was doing, she wouldn’t have allowed it. And she would have grown to resent him…eventually. So he’d taken the hard route and made her hate him, so she could get the life she’d always wanted. He wouldn’t be sorry, because she’d done it…she made it, and he was so damned proud of her.
He turned toward the kitchen and noticed then that the flickering flames weren’t candles, but little lights that looked like candles. “Let’s just eat, and if you don’t want to talk to me, then I can just look at you.” Beau knew his words were going to cause a problem as soon as they left his mouth. He wanted to laugh, because he’d always thought he was pretty good at flirting and conversation, but apparently when he was talking to this particular woman, things came out sounding like lines from a cheesy porn movie.
“Don’t try to sweet talk me, Mr. I’m-Such-a-Sexy-Playboy.”
“Karessa, I’m not trying to sweet talk you. I just want to feed you.” He walked to the kitchen knowing the woman she was would have followed him. He had to believe that person was still in there.
“I’m not the poor little girl you have to look out for anymore, the one you had to make sure had something to eat because her mother was too drunk to care. You gave up that gig years ago, and I take care of myself…but thanks.” He could tell she’d not moved from the spot where he’d left her, but he continued walking to the kitchen.
Beau set about getting them fed. At least if they were eating, he wouldn’t have room to put his foot in his mouth. There was enough food for at least six people. He got out some water for Karessa and a beer for himself. True would have made sure both of them had their favorite food and drink. She could be flighty sometimes, but when it came to knowing what her friends liked, she knew every detail. He fixed a plate for himself and for Karessa, then he leaned against the sink while waiting for her to come in.
She made him wait much longer than she usually did.
He didn’t call out to her because he knew she was angry. She had every right to be. A few minutes later, she walked in wearing his buttoned-up shirt and panties, looking as regal as she had when she accepted the Parisian Pleasures award this year for the best and most elegant undergarments of the year…for the second time in three years.
She sat down where he’d set her plate and appeared to be confused. “Thank you for making me a plate.”
“You’re welcome.”
She took a few deep breaths, and he could almost see her trying to pull herself together. “I apologize. I don’t know what I’m all worked up about. What we had was over a long time ago..” She didn’t look at him, so he couldn’t really tell what was going on in her mind, but he figured he’d just play along until he knew what she was about.
“That’s understandable,” he said sitting down across from her, trying to stay quiet but wanting her to know that he was involved in the conversation.
“I was young when I was last with you. I’m sure I’d blown up our attraction and sexual chemistry way out of proportion. Now that I’ve seen you, I know we can get through this wedding and get back to ignoring each other.”
Like a red flag before a bull, her words seemed to wave and taunt. “What do you mean by that?”
“Nothing. I was just saying that we should be fine now that we’ve greeted each other and the first shock is over. We can enjoy the wedding like civilized people.”
He should be happy with that. They weren’t going to dredge up the past. She was going to continue to run her wildly successful, huge-fish-in-a-big-pond company while he poured drinks in his little swamp of the world. He should be happy, but he wasn’t.
The flavorful wings had just the right amount of spice and heat. They should be, since this was his recipe. True always got a kick out of him liking his wings better than any others.
“You make great wings, Beau.” She licked her fingers clean of the barbeque sauce, and Beau tried to keep himself focused on what she was saying instead of her pink tongue drawing her fingers into her mouth, one by one, and sucking them clean.
“How did you know they were mine?” He cleared his throat and followed up with a deep swig of his beer.
“I know True. She would have both of our favorites on hand, and I know how much you love the flavor you created. It won in the Wild Wing Off a while ago.” She looked pretty smug about knowing that, and he’d give her points for the surprise, because that genuinely shocked him.
“How did you know about that?”
She shrugged. “Sometimes I ask questions.”
He started to open his mouth.
“Don’t bother. I already know you don’t ask about me…you don’t mention me. I’m surprised you remember me at all.” The sadness filled her eyes again just as a self-deprecating giggle left her lips, and his heart felt like it cramped up just a little.
“I can see why you would say that, but you know I’d never forget you. I’m really proud of your success, Karessa, and anything I’ve done was with your best interest at heart.”
&n
bsp; “I really want to say thank you for having my best interest as your first priority, but I can’t. You always think you know what’s best for everyone, but newsflash, other people involved should have a say.” She gave a wobbly smile but stiffened her lips and continued to eat.
“If I were a gentleman I wouldn’t call foul on something you said just now, but we both know I’m no gentleman. There has always been and there will always be sexual chemistry between us. You don’t have to admit it to me, but I can feel it. Our bodies respond to each other like a spark and paper.”
“Who gets to be paper?” she asked.
He looked over at her and was rewarded with a smile. This is the way they used to get along. He would say something, and she would fuss...he missed her questions and snappy retorts more than she’d ever believe.
“I disagree. What happened back there was the shock of being tied up, and then released by a person I was not expecting to see.”
“It’s been a while, but I know how your body responds to me. I was starting to smell the sweet scent that accompanies your pussy getting slick. Your nipples were almost begging me to taste them, but if you want to believe that’s not what was happening…that’s fine with me.” He picked up his bottle before realizing that there was almost nothing left in the bottle to cool him down, but he tipped up the bottle to his mouth anyway.
“What we had was so long ago we’ve probably just built it up in our minds as something spectacular. You’ve gone through who knows how many women since I’ve seen you last?”
“And that means?” Under normal circumstances he’d have let that go. He didn’t have to prove or explain what he did with other women to anyone and he didn’t care what people thought. At least he didn’t before this, but there was no way he was going to let Karessa get away with what she was thinking…especially since this was the second time she’d said something like this.
“What we had has been lost in the time warp…it now means nothing.” She shrugged like what she was saying was just a casual observation, but he watched her pull herself back from her slight lean toward him and stare at her plate, as if the answers to all the problems in the world could be found there.
“No one has ever compared to you, Karessa.” He didn’t want to get into all that right now, but there was no way he was going to let her think she was just another woman. She deserved to know that, at least.
“You must have authored the wet panties manual since I’ve been away. You actually sound pretty sincere. I don’t remember you being this poetic.” She rolled her eyes like she heard bullshit like this all the time, and she wanted to keep it light.
“Are your panties wet, Karessa?” His voice dropped a few octaves. He’d been in different stages of arousal since he’d first got a whiff of her, as was evident by the half chub he’d been sporting this whole time. Her left brow lifted and he expected she was going to reach into her smart ass box for a retort.
“Why don’t you check for yourself?”
He chuckled as he was reminded of the soft-spoken girl she used to be. She had always been the picture of sweet loveliness, but it was deceptive. Karessa wouldn’t back down from a challenge, and he could see in her eyes that was what she considered him.
“I owed True a favor, and she called it in tonight, but I don’t think she would make you stay if you didn’t want to.” Beau didn’t really want to give her an out but he figured it was the gentlemanly thing to do. Maybe that was why this gesture felt so foreign, because he didn’t think he’d ever even pretended to be a gentleman. The slight snort from across the table shook him from his thoughts.
“I owed True a favor too. How do you think she convinced me to be tied up and blindfolded in the middle of the bed?”
They looked at each other and laughed in earnest. He’d missed this. He knew he missed her curvy body, her passionate sex drive and her breathy moans for more when her orgasm was closing in on her, but he’d somehow forgotten just how much he liked to spend time with her, laughing, talking, and just playing around.
“True is something else,” she said, lifting her drink. “To True.”
“To True,” he replied and clinked his glass bottle to her plastic one.
They cleaned up the little kitchenette like they’d been doing it every night for the last fifty years. The easy camaraderie and conversation went from the Haught Line she’d created for the wedding to questions about the Haught Spot and his brothers.
Leading her back to the quasi-bedroom lit with simulated candles, he tried the voice-activated system. “Fifty percent,” he called out and watched the room dim around them.
“You’re a quick study, huh?” Karessa stared at him like she didn’t know what to do next.
“Are you ready for your panty check, Karessa?”
Chapter 2
Karessa
The soft gasp that escaped from her mouth probably told him he surprised her, and by the smug look on his face, he was silently congratulating himself.
“The time limit expired on that offer,” she said in her uber professional tone. How that offer slipped out of her mouth in the first place, she would never know. It was probably a Freudian slip, because deep down she wanted him to see how hot he made her. Not that it would matter. He knew how much she’d lov…she meant liked him eight years ago, but that hadn’t stopped him from kicking her to the curb so hard she’d had internal bleeding.
“There was no talk of time limits. You offered, and I’m accepting.” He stood there, in the large warehouse that had been made to look like a comfortable master bedroom, complete with lavender vanilla scent and a full bed, and watched her. The flickering candle lights made the whole mood of the room more erotic than it should have been.
“There was a time when I would have said something like that to you, and you would have chucked everything to the floor to call my bluff, then and there.” Why did she have to sound like she wanted him to do just what she’d described?
“I’m older now. I’ve learned that timing is everything.” He hadn’t moved, but somehow it seemed like he was coming closer. That was quite a trick.
“So, since I’m here and you’re here, we should just go with the flow? Get this lust monkey off our backs and see what happens?” It wasn’t that it was a bad idea. She’d thought of it herself a time or two, but since Mister “I know what’s best for you” came up with the idea, there was nothing she could do but balk at it.
There were times that she’d planned revenge on the easy way he let her go. She thought about how she could waltz into town and take him to bed before she walked off into the sunset, making him feel like she had so many years ago: used, rejected, and not worth fighting for. Those plans had continued to fill her head. Sometimes she’d use them to get her through a lonely patch and other times it was the only way she didn’t feel guilty with him occupying space in her thoughts. The raunchy, uninhibited sex they’d had was off limits except when she really, really needed to get off. This was totally not the time to think about that.
The one thing she shouldn’t have done was coming back to haunt her now and that was she should never have told True any of her plans. It was sometimes hard to remember that True was Beau’s best friend, too. Now that she was looking at him, she wondered if she really could do a one night stand and leave him wanting her, like she’d been left wanting him all those years ago. He looked so much better than he had when she left. Time had been good to him. Damn it.
“Lust monkey?” He chimed in, breaking her out of her train of thought.
“Don’t think I don’t know your body twice as well as you know mine. By the time you noticed me in high school, I could have filled out a full personality profile on you, broken down by your likes, dislikes and life plan. I could feel the throbbing of your cock when you were trying to calm yourself down because your arms were wrapped around me. Are you going to deny it?”
“Of course not. The fact that I have always been attracted to you isn’t something I’ve ever hid
den.”
He took a step closer to her, only to have her back away and turn to study the room. “True outdid herself with this room, didn’t she?” she asked, and tried to stop the stupid giggling response that hadn’t been a problem for years. This was the one man who shook her confident, “woman in charge” persona, and she didn’t like that. She’d fought hard to get rid of that giggling girl she had been so she didn’t appreciate her popping back up now. Taking some calming breaths had helped in high stress situations before and she hoped like hell they’d help her now.
“Are you shy now, Karessa? That’s new.” He’d stepped closer to her and she could almost feel his warmth as much as she could smell his provocative scent.
“I’m just trying to think this through. I’ll only be here until Sunday, the day after the wedding, and I don’t know if I want to get all this started with you after so long.”
He stopped in his tracks, and she was as mad as she was relieved.
“That’s fair. I wouldn’t ever push you. I’d enjoy just getting to know more about what’s been happening for the last few years.” His voice changed in tone and texture. What had been a deep, sexy timbre had altered a bit to filter out some of the sexy. What the hell? Did he have a soundtrack?
She spun away from him and walked to the bed. She knew she was acting unreasonably, but she wasn’t sure how to play this game. “Just like that, you’re going to let it go? The Beau I knew would have at least tried to give me a few reasons we should take this big bed for a spin.” He put his hand on her arm and swung her around so she was now looking at him.
“I know you see me as the bad guy, and you are doing everything to place me in that role, but it’s not what I’m about. Would I love to spend some time revisiting your body? Yes, I would, but if that’s not what you want, I’m okay with that too.”
Too Haught Page 2
