Troubled Hearts

by Jolie Cain

  “No, really. Everything’s fine.”

  Abby studied her sister’s averted face for a long moment before realization began to dawn in her eyes. Katherine refused to meet her eyes. “Katherine Marie Montgomery. You and Beau? You and Beau? Are you two … involved?”

  Abby watched the confused expression on her sister’s face. “You are! When did this happen? Why didn’t you tell me? Beau didn’t say anything. Come on, spill it.”

  Katherine knew that her sister would not let this die. It was time to tell her the truth. After taking a deep breath, she began explaining the complex relationship she had with her ex-stepson. When she had finished, Abby sat there with a stunned look on her face for several long moments.

  “You and Beau … all those years ago? Damn. I am stunned. I can’t believe you never told me.” She shook her head. “And he never said a word, either.”

  “It’s not exactly something either one of us was proud of. I mean, I was married and he was my stepson.”

  Abby just shook her head again. Then she pinned her with a knowing look. “So, how do you feel about seeing him again?”

  Katherine thought for a moment. “I don’t know. I’m still really attracted to him, and truthfully I’ve never been able to forget him. But it’s been twelve years. We’re different people now. I just… I’m going to play it by ear, and we’ll see what happens. I mean, he may not even be interested.”

  “Yeah, right. The first chance he got, he asked you out. Well, well, looks like my wedding is going to be even more interesting than I thought.”

  Katherine just laughed weakly. “Please, Abby. Don’t say anything to Beau, okay?”

  “As if I would interfere…” she began but stopped as Katherine glared at her. “Oh, all right. I won’t interfere,” Abby agreed reluctantly. “But you’re taking all the fun out of this.”

  The rest of the afternoon was spent on wedding details and, finally, after a leisurely supper with Abby and Jack, Katherine arrived back at her motel. As she dressed for bed, she couldn’t help but speculate over what the coming days—and nights—were going to hold.

  * * * *

  The next day flew by with more wedding preparations and dress fittings. She and Abby also spent the afternoon just lazing by Abby’s pool and catching up on each other’s lives. Before Katherine knew it, it was time for her to return to the motel to get ready for her dinner with Beau. She had been surprised at how readily Abby had accepted the news about the tangled relationship she had had with her stepson. Ex-stepson. In fact, Abby had even gotten that gleam in her eyes that Katherine knew did not bode well. Who knew what she was plotting and planning? Oh, hell.

  Determined to think of other things, Katherine concentrated on dressing for her dinner date. She hadn’t brought that many clothes with her, so her choices were pretty limited. Finally, she settled on a white cotton top with a low scooped neck and a low-slung brown floral skirt that left a strip of skin bare where blouse and skirt didn’t quite meet. Strappy brown sandals and a gold bangle bracelet completed her outfit. It was casual yet somehow classy, the perfect outfit for dining out in a tourist town like Gulf Shores. It would work at just about any local restaurant from the very casual to the more formal. After affixing some gold hoops in her ears, Katherine brushed her hair and pulled it up into a high ponytail, fastening it with a gold filigree barrette. Unlike her sister Abby’s luxuriant waves, her own rich auburn tresses were board straight with not a hint of a curl. Katherine pulled some tendrils loose in front of her ears to create a tousled look. She stepped back and examined herself as best she could in the hotel mirror. The brown color emphasized the porcelain smoothness of her complexion and the skirt lovingly molded itself to her shape, the hem striking well above her knee. Perfect. Let’s just see what Beauregard Dalton thought of her choice of clothing style these days, Katherine thought to herself, a smug smile curling her lip as she remembered Beau’s long-ago lecture about dressing younger. Just then a tapping on the door caught her attention, and she picked up her purse from the dresser before crossing over to let him in.

  *

  Beau stood in the doorway studying the vision before him, hardly able to think coherently. She took his breath away. “You look lovely, Kat.” He reached out to take her hand. Smiling up at him, she blushed, and he took a step toward her. His gaze intent on her full lips, he could barely resist the urge to pull her against him and capture her mouth with his own.

  “Thank you, Beau.” Her mouth trembled, and he could feel himself leaning toward her, like a magnet drawn to steel.

  She pulled back abruptly, turning to pick up her purse. “Where are we going?” she queried, stepping toward him, and he moved to the side to allow her to pass, pulling the door closed behind them. As he slid his hand beneath her elbow, he silently directed her down the path towards his parked car, a black Mercedes. He ushered her into the passenger seat and quickly crossed to the driver’s side. After buckling himself in, he gripped the wheel for a long moment. Then he looked over at Katherine. “It’s really good to see you again, Kat. I’ve missed you.”

  She turned her head to meet his gaze. “I’ve missed you, too, Beau,” she confessed. “I guess it’s best to get it all out now so we won’t have it hanging over us for the rest of the night. I want to apologize to you for the way things happened that last day. It’s bothered me for a long time how unfair to you I was.”

  His hand reached over to smooth down her cheek before cupping her chin. “Unfair?”

  “Yes,” she looked down. “I have no justification for what occurred, and I really have no excuse for treating you like I did. My only explanation is that I was too emotional and too immature to know how to handle my own feelings.”

  “Look at me, kitten.” Her eyes were drawn back up to the swirling brown depths of his own. “If you’re apologizing for walking out on me the morning after we made love, then I accept your apology. But if you’re saying that you’re sorry we made love at all, then you’re going to really piss me off.”

  She bit her lip. “But Beau, you were my stepson. I used you…”

  He interrupted. “Stop right there. I can tell you right now that the last thing I felt was used. I wanted you, Kat. It was inevitable that we make love then, just as it’s inevitable that we will make love many more times.”

  “No, we shouldn’t…”

  “Yes, we should. You feel the heat between us just like I do. It was there twelve years ago, and it’s still there. I see it in your eyes every time you look at me. Denying it is pointless.” Refusing to allow her to ignore what was still between them, he released his seatbelt and moved towards her. His mouth closed over hers, and he felt like he’d come home.

  He licked across her closed lips with his tongue, probing against the crease. She resisted his demand at first, but couldn’t hold out for long. Finally, her mouth parted and allowed him into her warm depths. His hand came up to grasp the back of her head, holding her still for his probing tongue. Initially she just accepted his kiss, but soon she was responding, entangling her tongue with his. A low groan emerged from his throat, and he reached down to release her seatbelt before pulling her completely against him.

  Kat seemed to realize that the kiss was close to moving out of control and tried to insert her hands between them to push him away, but Beau would not allow it. Releasing his hold on her waist, he grasped her wrists and shoved them behind her back, locking one hand around both. Then his other hand cupped her breast, squeezing and probing for the nipple. At his forceful action, she arched against him. His mouth slid from hers to nip his way down to her neck, licking lightly and gently tugging on the skin. As he heard a low moan, he knew that if he didn’t stop now, he wouldn’t be able to. And he didn’t want this first time with her in so long to take place in the front seat of a parked car. No, he had much better plans for them. He drew back, releasing her hands and pushing himself over to his side of the car. His cock was an uncomfortably solid bulge, urging him to pick back up where
he had just left off. He longed to sink into her wet cunt and had to restrain himself from pulling her close again. Reaching down, he adjusted his pants to better accommodate his hardness.

  “Damn, kitten. I want you.” He saw her draw a breath and lick her lips.

  “Beau, I don’t know if this is a good idea…”

  “Look at me, Kat.”

  At his command, she turned to face him and he told her harshly, “I have wanted you for what seems like my whole life. Good idea, bad idea … I really don’t give a damn. And you want me, too. You can’t deny it after what just happened.” A thought struck him. “Are you seeing someone? Is that it?”

  She shook her head, laughing shakily. “No, I’m not seeing anyone.”

  “I hope you’re not going to say it’s because I’m too young.”

  This time her laugh was more natural. “No. You’re definitely not too young. Not anymore.”

  Satisfaction laced his voice. “Then why can’t we see where this goes? Do you have any good, valid reasons why we shouldn’t enjoy this time together?”

  “What are you—a lawyer? I feel like I’m being cross-examined.”

  “That’s what I thought.” He reached across to take her hand in his and give it a squeeze. “No reason at all.”

  “Okay, Beau. I can’t deny that this isn’t something that I’ve thought about before. Us together. But you do know that in two weeks I’ll be going back to Jackson, right? There’s no future here.”

  Smiling, he reassured her. “We’ll take it one day at a time, baby. One day at a time. Now,” he said as he cranked the car, “let’s go eat.”

  Chapter Five

  A short time later, they were being shown to a table at a local seafood restaurant. After placing their orders, Kat decided to put the evening back on a more even keel. “So, tell me, what is this surprise that you have planned for Abby and Jack that you need my help with?”

  He smiled at the somewhat suspicious tone in her voice. “What, do you doubt that I really have a surprise planned?”

  “I don’t know. You tell me.”

  “Well, I know Abby told you that she’s having the ceremony on the beach behind my house.”

  Katherine nodded. “It sounds like it’s going to be beautiful.”

  “I agree. I had thought about hiring one of those planes, you know the ones that fly past the beach with banners advertising local restaurants? But instead, it could say ‘Congratulations, Abby and Jack’ or something like that. What do you think? Or maybe you could help me pick out a quote about love or happiness … something romantic?”

  Katherine was smiling. “Really? I think that’s a wonderful idea. Abby will love it.”

  Uncertainly he looked at her. “Do you honestly think so? I couldn’t decide if it was clever or silly.”

  Laughing at his surprising indecision, she reassured him. “No. It’s perfect. You know how Abby is. She loves drama and big gestures. I don’t know Jack well enough to comment on his feelings, but if he loves Abby as much as it appears he does, whatever pleases her will please him as well.”

  His eyebrow quirked upward. “Yes, you’ve read Jack exactly right. He’ll go along with anything he thinks Abby will like. Well, good, then. I’ll make the arrangements with the pilot to do a flyby. Right after the ceremony, do you think?”

  “That would be perfect.” She considered Beau’s pleased expression. “It’s odd to see you so diffident about something.”

  He acknowledged her comment. “Yes, it surprises the hell out of me, too. But, you know, Abby has always been really special to me.”

  Katherine tried to quell the twinge of jealousy she felt at his explanation.

  “When you and my father were married, she was a bright spot in an otherwise hellish situation.” His frank gaze met hers, and she couldn’t look away at the emotion she saw there. “And once you left, well … with all the crap that went down with my father … she helped keep me sane. I’ve always felt as if she were almost my own sister.”

  He shrugged. “I just want this day to be as wonderful as possible for her. And Jack, too. He’s a really good friend, and he’s been through some tough times in the past few years. It’s great to see him so happy.”

  Katherine relaxed at his explanation and shook off her envious mood.

  “By the way, Kat, would you mind acting as my hostess for the party tomorrow night?”

  A little caught off guard by his request, but also flattered, she asked, “Me? Are you sure there isn’t someone else you would rather ask? I mean, I am sure there are lots of women in Gulf Shores who would jump at the chance to help you.”

  He just stared at her for a moment, his eyes steady on hers. “No, there’s no one else. No one else at all.” His words were stated firmly, and Katherine knew that they held a deeper significance than simply an answer to her question. As she quietly agreed to help host the party, she couldn’t help but be glad that there was no current woman in his life.

  Just then their dinner arrived, and the rest of the meal was spent enjoying the delicious seafood and making small talk. Surprisingly, at least to Katherine, they had very similar tastes. Before long the meal had ended, and Beau was escorting her out to his car. Instead of taking her straight back to her motel, however, Beau drove east down the beach, until the condos and cottages began to thin and traffic became almost nonexistent. Turning in to the empty driveway of a deserted beach house, he loosened his seatbelt. “Let’s go walk on the beach.”

  Katherine followed him, and it wasn’t long before they had crossed a small wooden walkway and stood on the edge of the sand. Beau bent and picked up her foot, carefully removing first one shoe and then the other. After taking off his own, he placed them side-by-side on the path and then grasped her hand and pulled her forward. “Come on.”

  The closer they got to the water, the louder the sound of the waves crashing into the shoreline. The sand hardened as it became wetter and wetter, making the walking easier. Beau paused to roll up his pants legs, then moved near enough to Kat to retrieve the hand he had dropped. Without saying a word, they set off, lazily strolling and enjoying the breeze coming off the Gulf of Mexico. Katherine could feel her tension and troubles melting away in the face of such beauty and serenity. Off in the distance, the twinkling lights of distant shrimp boats pierced the darkness.

  Beau’s steps slowed and finally stopped. He turned to face Katherine, and she looked up into his gleaming eyes. Stepping closer he bent towards her, and Katherine parted her lips in anticipation of his kiss. Surprising her, his mouth bypassed hers and instead his lips brushed against her neck, just at the spot where it met her shoulder. Never before had Katherine known how sensitive her skin there was until she felt the movement of his tongue stroking over her. She shivered, taking a step forward to brush her body lightly against his. At this sign of acceptance, one hand closed around the nape of her neck, tilting her head to just the right angle, before his lips closed over hers.

  Sipping at her lips until she helplessly parted them for him, Beau slid his tongue into her almost tentatively, tasting delicately of the moist interior. Another hand clasped the back of her head, holding her steady as he deepened the kiss, probing every corner of her mouth, searching out every secret within. She moaned helplessly at his exploration, giving him all he asked for, wanting to give even more. His hands began to smooth down her arms, sliding around her waist to hold her hips, pulling her body tightly against his at last.

  She could feel his erection firm against her belly, and she quivered in anticipation. He pulled back and turned her around, his hands reaching up to unbutton her blouse and push it to the ground. As she felt his hands cup her breasts from behind, she looked up and saw at the window of the nearest house, a dark figure outlined, watching them. As the mysterious figure stood there unmoving, Beau’s hands squeezed her nipples gently, pinching and pulling at them, and heightening her pleasure in his touch. Her eyes stayed trained on their observer, but she didn’t stop Beau as he
continued to touch and arouse her; in fact, the knowledge that they had an audience heightened Kat’s desire. Did Beau know he was there, that he could see everything that he did to her? Her head turned slightly. When her eyes met his, she could see the knowledge there in his gaze. Yes, he knew, and he didn’t care. “Are you going to stop me, kitten?” She swallowed nervously and bit her lip, but shook her head. “That’s my girl.” He smiled. She turned her eyes back to their captive audience of one, a feeling of unreality sweeping over her.

  Beau’s hands traveled lower, moving to push down her skirt and panties, and she automatically raised her hands to stop him. Gently but firmly he moved her hands away and continued what he was doing until she was completely nude. “It’s okay, sweetheart. You’re so beautiful. Such a good girl. A naughty girl, too.” She shivered.

  His right hand traveled back up to her breast while his left hand sank between her legs, probing at the wetness he found there. “Spread your legs wider,” he commanded, and she reacted automatically to the demanding tone in his voice, stepping out to give him better access to her body. He pushed a finger inside her, and she moaned at the rough, quick penetration. Kat spread her legs even wider but didn’t take her eyes from their audience of one. Why was she allowing this? Why did she find this so arousing? But she knew. It was because it was Beau, and because he was giving her just what she had always wanted.

  She saw movement as the shadowy figure leaned closer to the window. Beau’s thumb stroked over her clit as his finger moved in and out, spreading her moisture over her aching cunt. When he was satisfied with her response, he gently pushed on her shoulders until she was kneeling on the sand. She heard the sound of his zipper sliding down and the tearing of a condom wrapper before he lowered himself behind her, his knee coming between hers to edge her legs apart. “I’m going to fuck you now, Katherine. Tell me now if you want me to stop. I’m giving you this one opportunity. Then you are mine. Do you understand? Mine.”