Too Haught

by Leela Lou Dahlin

  Karessa cleared her throat, unwilling to talk about how much those shirts had meant to her. Even though it saddened her that his aroma was almost non-existent anymore, she continued to wear them. “How is Two Haught coming along?”

  “Don’t want to talk about the shirts, huh? That’s cool. Two Haught is coming along better and faster than expected. True wanted to talk to you about the small shop she’s set up featuring the Haught Line.” It sounded like he was inside now because there wasn’t as much noise but then it sounded like he was walking again.

  “Actually, she did, and I wanted to talk to you about something, but I was going to wait until tomorrow.”

  “Well, go answer the door and then we’ll talk.”

  “There’s no one at the—” She couldn’t even finish that because the doorbell rang. Who the hell would be at her door at this time of night? “Let me call you back.”

  “That’s okay, I’ll wait, but take your phone with you,” he said.

  She grumbled on her way to the door. It was probably the doorman with something for her. He was cute, but he wasn’t ever going to get any from her. The man should just move along. If he was going to be bringing shit up to her door in the middle of the night, she would have to cut back on the smiles and niceties for him. Beau was on the line, and virtual sexy times were on the way, and she had to stop for nonsense?

  Standing on her tip toes to peek out the viewing hole in the door she didn’t see anything. Hell if she was going to open up the door. She watched scary movies and that’s how they got you.

  “Who is it?” Beau said, as she put the phone up to her ear.

  “I don’t know,” she whispered into the phone.

  “Why are you whispering?” Beau whispered back.

  “I don’t know. Maybe because it’s creepy that someone would just knock on my door in the middle of the night, but then stay away from the viewer so I can’t see them. If my lights go off, I’m going to freak all the way out.”

  The laughter on the other side of the door matched the laughter on the phone. That’s impossible right? Karessa looked at the door like if she tried hard enough she could see through it. Her hand that was holding the phone to her ear had dropped to her side but she held on to it like a pacifier or a weapon. It was crazy to think that she could hear him this close to her. The confusion was making it hard to figure out what was going on because she couldn’t allow herself to believe what she wanted to believe. Karessa took a deep breath and tried to slow the loud beating of her heart. She could barely hear anything over the pounding in her ears.

  “Beau?”

  “Yes, baby?” The voice she loved so much came through the door.

  She threw down the phone, unlatched the locks, and flung open the door only to be gathered up in a bear hug from the best smelling man on the planet. Karessa wasn’t a crier. Damn it, she just wasn’t so she didn’t know where the water on her face had come from.

  “I can’t believe you’re here,” Karessa buried her face in the fragrant skin of Beau’s neck. The tears were escaping her eyes with no way to hold them back and it had to be from the surprise of it all. Grabbing onto both sides of his face, she tasted the lips she’d missed, and it felt like it’d been forever. Beau seemed content to let her have her way with his mouth, and when she’d had her fill, she wanted answers. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”

  “Because then it wouldn’t have been a surprise.”

  “How long are you going to stay?” It was hard to suppress the rapid fire of questions but she couldn’t help it. If she found out that she had fallen asleep and this was all a dream she was going to wake up really cranky.

  “I’m going to stay here as long as you’re here.”

  The shock of that statement stopped her barrage of questions. She leaned back to study the face she’d been missing since she walked away from him. “Beau, I can’t believe you’d leave your brothers. Family is the most important thing in the world to all of you Haughts.” She stared at him, wondering who this man was and what he had done with Beau.

  “Family is the most important thing, and that’s what you are to me.” His eyes looked clear, so he’d not been drinking and he’d have come a long way for a practical joke. If that’s what this was.

  She continued to stare at him, because she had so many questions but didn’t know where to start.

  “So you up and moved here, even though you don’t know French and I’m the only person you know?” She studied him because this didn’t sound like the ever accepting, fate abiding Beau she’d grown to know and love.

  “J'ai appris le français et je suis assez bon dans ce domaine,” he said with a smirk on his face. “And you’re the only person I need to know.”

  “So you’ve been studying French, huh? Well, you’re right. You are pretty good.” Damn, she loved this man. “Where is all your stuff?”

  “I only have a suitcase. The other things are being shipped.”

  “Let me guess, True was assisting you with this move.” She looked at Beau and wondered how she ever got this lucky to have someone overcome their thought process so they could be together.

  “Of course, she was assisting. She was the happiest of everyone.” He looked confused at the questions she was asking, and of course he would since he didn’t know what she and True knew.

  “Was she sad to see you go?” She walked away from him but continued to face him. When he finally got what she was saying his face would be priceless. Of that she had no doubt.

  “Not particularly. She wanted to make sure I had a nice trip, but she wasn’t half as sad as I thought she’d be.”

  She sat down on the couch and asked him to sit beside her by patting the seat next to her.

  “When we were on the phone, you asked if I knew about True and how she was selling my brand from your new store and her gallery…”

  “Yeah, I remember.”

  “Well, I set all that up. Along with working with a few of the stores in the bigger cities, they’ve put in orders to almost get me out of debt with my funders.”

  “That’s awesome,” he said, pulling her onto his lap like a sexy Santa.

  “The funny part of you being here is that…I’m leaving France.” Karessa enjoyed the slightly stunned look for a few seconds before she was overcome with the giggles and the need to hug him.

  “You are?” he asked. The question in his voice and his hot breath in her ear reminded her of when he was trying to cut her out of the rope True had put her in. It was sexier now that she wasn’t as confused about her feelings and his.

  She pushed back so she could see his face as he turned his gaze to their surroundings. There were boxes stacked around the room. It looked as if he wasn’t the only one who had a surprise.

  “Yes, I’m coming back to Larasville.”

  Beau threw back his head and laughed so hard it made Karessa want to know what was that funny.

  “Well, my brothers know how to keep a secret. They threw a going away party and everything. It was a pretty touching tribute, actually, but True was in charge of sending my stuff and making sure everything was squared away.” He shook his head like it was all coming together for him and he was figuring it out.

  “Then she didn’t have much to do, because she knew I was coming back in a few days to surprise you.”

  “That woman keeps us on our toes.”

  “Ain’t that the truth.” It was hard not to stare at him, because she just couldn’t believe that he was there.

  “I wanted to show up for your final opening tomorrow. You wouldn’t know this, but I had a hotel booked and was prepared to wow you. In the end, I couldn’t wait. To be in this beautiful city and not be with you and you being this close was more than I could handle.”

  “I had a whole speech I was going to give to you when I showed up at your house and hand cuffed myself to your bed.” She shook her head thinking of the things she was going to say and the outfit she’d made especially for that occas
ion.

  “What?” He pulled away from her with a look of shock on his face. “Fuck. I missed out.”

  She smacked his arm. “Silly.”

  “Well, I had a short little something to say, too. So, how about you shorten what you had to say down to a few key items, and I’ll do the same?”

  She nodded because she liked the idea but then wondered how she was going to say all she wanted as unprepared as she was. This was going to be what she was going to perfect as she made her way home on the long flight. Karessa stood up and walked across the room because she need to say the words of her heart, but when she had the chance to have him with her she just wanted to touch, taste, and savor him. Maybe moving away from his particular type of temptation would make what she had to say easier.

  “When I walked away from you at the airport five weeks ago, I had every intention to making it back into your life. There were a lot of things I had to pull together, and I didn’t want to make any promises, because although you never said it, you’re used to whatever you love leaving you in some way. You told me you loved me and then let me go for what you thought was better for me. I appreciate it, but you’re not losing me. I’m going to be here with you for as long as I’m me.”

  She’d seen when he’d gotten up from the couch and stood closer to her, but he must have known she wouldn’t have been able to finish unless he stayed a few steps away. She closed her eyes so she could concentrate on what she was saying and then waited for him to respond. The seconds dragged on to minutes and he’d yet to say anything. Finally she opened her eyes because she had to know what his response to her words would be. She never knew how he looked when he was floored, because she’d never seen it, but this had to be it.

  “Are you going to give me the key items in your speech?” she asked, getting a little concerned when the minutes continued to stretch on too long.

  “Ah, sure. Yours was much more thought out, and I really only had one question.” He was standing there so handsome and regal with a determined look on his face that made way for something else.

  He watched her with an expression she’d never get tired of…love. It covered his face and flowed throughout the room.

  “Well, what’s the question?” No matter what happened to them she was the same ole Karessa and impatience came with that.

  He took both of her hands in his and dropped to one knee.

  “No, fucking, way,” she said as she shrieked, but then settled down to hear the words she’d wanted to hear from him since the moment she’d met him at sixteen years old.

  He looked into her face, and she could barely hear what he was saying because her heart was beating so loud.

  “Karessa Marilyn Monroe, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

  She tackled him and they both fell to the floor as she covered his face with kisses. He got them up and seated on the couch as he let her continue hugging and kissing him. When she was finally done, she sat back and stuck out her left hand.

  “I would take for granted that all that meant yes, but I actually want to hear you say it.” Beau looked better than she’d ever seen him and she wasn’t sure if it was because she missed him, even though she saw his face all day, every day at work, or because he’d just made her dreams come true.

  “Beau, I feel like I’ve been anticipating that question my whole life. I thought it was coming the day you took me out to our favorite spot when you actually dumped me, and I’ve wanted nothing more than to give you the answer to this question. The answer is now and forever more…hell yes.”

  He smiled and shook his head. “I was going to propose to you at our favorite spot, but you’d gotten word that you had were being granted an internship in France. I wish I’d have thought that through, but I’m going to say that things happen for a reason. I believe that reason is to show us both that our love can stand the test of time. I love you now more than I ever have before, and it’s going to keep growing.”

  He placed the ring on her finger, and she took a few moments to admire the sparkle.

  “Damn,” she said as she continued to look at her ring.

  “What?”

  “Now I’m not going to get a chance to chain myself to your bed and make you come to your senses about us.” She looked up to find Beau with his mouth open.

  “That was your plan?”

  She nodded.

  “Give me the ring back.” Beau held out his hand and she smacked his arm playfully.

  “Stop it.” Karessa laughed as he acted like he was trying to take the ring back. He finally pulled her in for a kiss.

  “I’m really sorry I missed out on that. Promise me you’ll do it for something else. I think I’d like to live my life knowing that, at any moment, I could enter a room and find you blindfolded and chained to my bed.”

  “It would lose its spark since that already happened before and we were both shocked.”

  He pulled her tighter onto his lap. “Nothing with you would lose its spark.”

  “Because we are fire and paper, right?”

  “Right.”

  “I decided I was the paper a long time ago,” Karessa said, staring at her ring and her fiancé’s face.

  “Baby, you are definitely the fire, of that there is no question. Let me demonstrate.”

  Epilogue

  Beau

  The opening of Two Haught was big since it was half sports bar, but it also had a connecting Karessable Boutique attached. There was something for everyone and it seemed like everyone in town was there.

  True and Gemmi had put together the grand opening party, and they had a new helper, Roslyn who helped out when she could. Alec and Camden were working the bar, and Beau was just excited to have Karessa by his side.

  Gemmi moved to the microphone. “Hello, guys. We’d like to welcome you to The Haught Brother’s new bar and grill, Two Haught.” The room exploded with applause. They had a great turnout for a Thursday, and the buffet table stayed packed all night, but so did the bar.

  With all eyes on Gemmi she paused for a second then took a big gulp of air. She appeared to be a bit green and her breathing didn’t seem normal. “I’m going to ask Karessa and True to finish this off for me.” Gemmi didn’t exactly run to the bathroom, but she was doing a brisk walk, and Camden followed right behind her.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, we want to thank you for coming to our opening. Eat, drink, and then step next door to get something for yourself or the special person in your life at Karessables. It’s the number one high-end lingerie store, and we have an exclusive boutique right here. We are going to let you all enjoy yourselves while we figure out what’s going on with our Mistress of Ceremonies.” True was a performer because she rattled all that off like she hadn’t a care in the world. Only the people who knew her well would know that she was rushing and worried.

  Karessa and True walked to the back room, and Beau followed along. When they got there, it looked and felt like trouble, so much that the hair on the back of Beau’s neck stood up and he had goose bumps on his arms.

  “What’s going on?” Beau walked over to Camden.

  “I’m not sure. Gemmi is sick all the time, but she doesn’t want to go to the doctor.” Camden looked at the door only to see Alec walk in.

  Beau looked over to the women, who appeared upset but not in the same way the brothers were.

  “Do you ladies know something about this?” Beau asked them all, but his gaze settled on Karessa.

  They all shrugged and looked at Gemmi, who in turn took a deep breath. Beau wasn’t buying it for a second. These three women were the most nurturing he’d ever met. Well, except for Rosie. The jury was still out on that one. They stood on the sidelines like they wanted to be protected, but not really involved. What the hell was up with that?

  “I didn’t know how to tell you this, Camden, because I know your mother died in childbirth and you said we’d talk about children later, but later needs to be now because…we’re going to have a baby.
” Gemmi looked up at Camden with her shiny eyes bright with excitement and then it was Beau’s turn to feel sick. His brother was not going to be able to handle this.

  “What?” Camden looked around at everyone, and it didn’t look as though he was focusing well. He rose from the kneeling position at his wife’s side and sat down hard on the planning table in the kitchen.

  “When did you find out, and why didn’t you tell me?” Camden stared at the floor like it would have the answer he was looking for or open up and welcome him in.

  “Should we give you all some privacy?” True asked.

  “No!” said everyone in the room.

  “Alright, I was just asking. Far be it for me to make everyone miss something that should be between Gemmi and her husband.” True crossed her arms and stepped back but didn’t leave the room.

  Alec moved closer to True and put his arms around her as he stood behind her, and Beau wondered if the world was going topsy turvy. Gemmi was pregnant, Camden looked like he might be sick and Alec was for once not running away from True.

  “We are here for both of you. There isn’t anything we Haught’s can’t make it through.” Alec said from behind True.

  “Just one more thing,” Gemmi said as she stretched out to reach her husband and place her hand on Camden’s knee.

  “There’s more?” Camden asked standing and moving back toward his wife. Like he’d just remembered how to be the caring person he’d been all his life. “You know I just want you to be okay. There are people who have babies all the time. I’m sure we’ll be fine. I’m not saying I’m ready, but I’m going to get ready.”

  “Good, because I found out today that we’re having twins.”

  Did you miss A Haught Date – Haught Brothers Book #1? Check out a sneak peek…keep reading.

  A Haught Date – Haught Brothers Book #1