Page 10 of It's Only Love

Chapter 5

That evening Dean sat in a booth at the Rusty Bucket Inn across from Beau. He stared at his best friend who had turned up on his doorstep with a six-pack and a suitcase. Something had happened, this wasn’t like Beau, Dean didn’t know what and he didn’t want to pry. He was just glad his friend was back in town.

Beau had moved to L.A. about fourteen years ago, he became a hugely successful personal trainer, and started his own gym company “Beau’s Bodies”. He mainly worked with actors, keeping them in shape, helping them bulk up or slim down for new movie roles. When Beau was a teenager, he was painfully shy, and he had his own body and fitness battles which he had worked hard to overcome. Dean was so proud of everything his friend had achieved.

Dean and Beau used to visit each other regularly, but it had been a while due to how busy they both were. He was happy to see Beau at his door, no matter the reasons for his return, Dean was thrilled to have him stay as long as possible.

Beau took a swig of his beer. “You and Tay still doing your dinners?” he asked.

Dean nodded, “Yeah, not quite every week but often enough.” As the song on the jukebox ended, and quiet descended over the bar, Taylor’s dark chuckle echoed around the building. He watched as Beau’s eyes flicked over to her. His gaze tracking her body and his face flushing before looking away.

“Anything new with her?” Beau asked, sounding bored, but Dean knew better.

“Nope, no boyfriend if that’s what you’re asking.”

“It wasn’t.” Beau rolled his eyes, “Seriously, we gonna do this again? I’m not interested, okay? We can’t stand each other,” he finished, his eyes finding Taylor again and lingering in a way that made Dean feel like he needed to be her protective older brother. He grabbed a handful of nuts from the bowl on the table and tossed them at Beau.

“If you say so, bro.”

“Real mature,” Beau muttered, brushing them onto the floor.

Dean chuckled but got distracted as the door to the bar opened and Justine came in carrying her guitar, followed by Christy. A shot of lust punched him straight in the chest as he took Christy in. Fuck, she looked good.

The ends of her curls teasing her neck and bare shoulders. The lush tops of her breasts peeking out over the edge of her silly little pink sundress. The dress nipped in at her waist and flared out over the curve of her rounded hips before stopping mid-thigh, her creamy skin on display, little white sandals wrapped around her feet. Dean’s mouth ran dry and his pants started to tighten.

“You okay, buddy?” Beau asked, drawing his attention.

“Huh? Uh, yeah,” Dean replied, voice slightly husky. Beau smirked at him.

“Who’s got you looking like you need a cold shower, or fifty?” Beau glanced around the bar and spotted Justine who was standing in front of Christy, shielding her from view.

“Ah, you're still trying to date Justine, huh?”

“Justine? Oh yeah, um, she’s still turning me down,” Dean replied, trying to inject some disappointment into his tone. They both looked back over as Justine moved, and Christy came back into view. Beau whistled low.

“Damn, who’s the blond?”

Dean’s stomach dipped slightly; this is what he had been afraid of.

“It’s Christy Lee,” he gritted out.

“No shit! Christy?”

As though she heard them, Christy turned in their direction, spotting Dean, she headed over. As she walked towards them her eyes moved to Beau and widened, her step faltered slightly and the pit in Dean’s stomach grew. Shit, he needed to get Christy away from Beau as quickly as possible before the inevitable happened and Beau asked her out. His friend was clearly going through something and the last thing he needed was a brief romance with Christy that was sure to end in heartache. Dean was just trying to do his friend a favor that’s all, he was good like that.

“Beau, is that you?” Christy gasped when she reached them, ignoring Dean completely. He watched as her baby blues roved over Beau, she looked like she was ready to start panting. Dean bit the inside of his cheek in annoyance.

“Is that me?! Is that you, Christy? You look amazing!” Beau gushed, standing up to greet her. Beau towered over her, making Dean realize just how petite she was. Beau bent down and gave her a lingering kiss on the cheek and Dean noticed twin spots of pink brighten her cheeks which made him feel—nothing.

“Oh, you charmer!” she chided lightly smacking Beau’s solid chest. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be training all those gorgeous movie stars in L.A.?”

“Well, I’ve got to give them a break sometime, don’t want to work them too hard,” he replied smoothly, winking at her. Christy giggled and Dean rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath. He finally caught her attention,

“Hey, Dean,” she said quietly. The flirty smile disappeared as she took in his frown, which annoyed him, did he not deserve her flirty smiles too? Out the corner of his eye he saw Beau check her out, which ticked him off even more. He needed to get rid of her quickly before Beau could make a move.

“I just wanted to say thank you for fixing my car and not charging me, you didn’t have to do that, especially after the way I behaved earlier today.” Her eyes shifted away like she didn’t want to face him.

“Don’t mention it,” he said abruptly, needing her gone.

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