Page 26 of It's Only Love

“So, not one of your many girlfriends from the city then?” Dean asked with a hard glint in his eye. Beau shook his head.

“Nope.”

“Oh, okay. I know you were seeing a few women before so I wasn't sure,” Dean said with a smug grin.

“I wasn’t seeing that many!” Beau replied hotly. Dean chuckled,

“Come on man, no need to be shy. We all know you’re a ladies’ man. I used to love hearing about all your conquests. Wasn’t there this one time with a set of famous twins...”

Taylor nudged him, “Dude, shut up!” she hissed theatrically. It was Christy’s turn to raise an eyebrow at Dean. You wanna try and psych me out by talking about all his girlfriends? Go ahead buddy, we’ve all got a past. After a moment, the conversation started again with Beau telling stories of ridiculous things his clients did. Taylor was talking about all the new music acts she signed up and said that Justine was singing again next Saturday.

“If you’re sticking around a bit longer, you’ll be able to come?” Taylor asked and the hope in her voice made Christy’s heart squeeze.

“Yeah, sounds great.”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Beau and Dean chorused. Desserts came and went, and coffees were ordered. She watched the camaraderie between Dean and Taylor, they were adorable. As she watched them tease each other she was grateful that Taylor had him, she’d worried about leaving Taylor alone all those years ago. She felt herself beginning to soften towards Dean as she thought about all the ways he would have looked out for Taylor and protected her. No, don’t soften now, his behavior earlier was appalling! She felt so confused, her mind warring with her emotions. When the check finally came, she leaned over to Beau and whispered,

“Don’t even reach for that wallet of yours, you said I could pay for the next one,” Beau started to protest as she reached out to snag the check, but Dean snatched it up first.

“My idea, my treat,” he said, not even glancing at the slip of paper. She mentally worked out the total in preparation for paying. She wasn’t by any means a snob, but Dean was the manager of a garage in a small town. He couldn’t be making enough money that he could cover their total bill on a whim. Beau tried to take it off him.

“Pretty sure this was my idea, buddy,” he said, but Dean held it out of reach.

“No way, I’m going in,” Dean said, getting up and heading inside the restaurant. Beau followed him and they squabbled as they went. When they disappeared inside, Christy eyed Taylor.

“What’s the deal with you and Beau?”

“There’s no deal. I should be asking you that,” Taylor replied, shifting nervously.

“You used to be such good friends and now you can’t stand each other, what happened?” she prodded again.

“Nothing happened. People change and grow apart, it’s no biggie.” Taylor avoided her eyes.

“He’s certainly changed. Are you okay with me seeing him?”

“What? Of course, I’m not jealous!” Taylor scoffed.

“I didn’t say you were, I meant if you don’t like him are you okay with me seeing him?”

“Of course, babe! You do you, just don’t expect it to be an exciting affair.”

“Oh my God, he’s so not boring!” Christy cried.

“Well, he certainly ain’t exciting!” Taylor shot back.

“Just because he’s well groomed, has manners, communicates with words instead of grunts, and doesn’t ride a motorcycle like all your other boyfriends, doesn’t mean he’s not interesting.”

“Eh.” Taylor shrugged, and Christy laughed at her. The men returned back to the table.

“We were thinking we could head back to the bar for a drink or two? It’s still pretty early,” Beau said, helping Christy to her feet.

“Yeah, sounds great, if that’s okay with you Taylor, as it’s technically your night off. Do you want to go to work for socializing?” Christy asked. Dean snorted as he helped Taylor up.

“Can’t keep her away normally,” he said.

“Yeah, that’s cool with me, it's been at least a day since I whipped your ass at pool,” Taylor teased him. Dean gestured for Christy and Beau to lead the way, Beau took her hand and started walking ahead. She followed Beau but felt heat at her back.

“Will be interesting to see what we’re all like with some more drinks in us,” Dean whispered softly, warm breath fanning her ear and a tremor moved through her. She gasped and looked over her shoulder, but Dean was busy talking to Taylor. She thought she was hearing things but then he looked at her and winked, a sly smile playing across his lips. She narrowed her eyes at him, he was just trying to get in her head and she wouldn’t let him.

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