Page 30 of It's Only Love

“Sure.”

“That I’m a huge idiot for not asking you out when we were younger.” She sucked in a breath as her mind flashed back to that afternoon in the school hallway all those years ago. Would he bring up the elephant in the car? No, of course he wouldn’t, it’s not like he would come out and say, yeah, I was into you, but Dean thought you were a boner killer sooo….get a grip woman!

Beau continued, “I was young and immature. I was overweight, had zero confidence, and you were so gorgeous there was no way you would have gone out with me.” He rushed out the last part. And last night, she kissed his best friend, even though she and Beau weren’t official it was still a shitty thing to do, she felt like a snake.

“Well you seem pretty confident now, and much, much older,” she joked, he gave her a mock glare. “And I liked you too,” she finished.

“You did? Well, shit,” he chuckled, they sat in comfortable silence for the rest of the journey and when they arrived at the bar, he pulled up next to her car. She unbuckled her seatbelt but before she got out, he said, “Oh, and Dean told me about last night by the way, if that’s what you were wondering about.”

Her stomach dropped and she stared at him. “What?”

“Yeah, he said he had too much to drink and that he laid one on you, but you pushed him away.”

“He…he told you about that?”

“Yep. I chewed him out about it, but we’re cool. It’s not like me and you are official but he still shouldn’t have done it.”

“Oh, okay,” she mumbled, still in shock, her mind trying to process the information. It was technically true, but she had kissed him back, should she tell Beau that?

“So, I’ll meet you back at yours and we can go for breakfast, I’m starving,” he said, changing the subject. She nodded and grabbed her purse, getting out of the car. She got in hers, it took a moment to start up as she hadn’t driven it since before the funeral. She set off with Beau right behind her and all the way back to the house her mind was racing. Dean had told Beau about the kiss; this she had suspected, but not that he took the blame for himself and left her out of it. That was the opposite of what she thought he would do and she didn’t understand why. What kind of game was he playing? It made no sense and she didn’t trust it.

When she arrived back at the house, she put the incident with Dean out of her mind, wanting to focus solely on her and Beau today, to see if she could make sense of how she felt about him. She left her car and got back into Beau’s.

“Ready for breakfast, although now it’s probably brunch?” she asked brightly.

“Definitely,” he replied, pulling away from the curb. “You know your exhaust looks like it’s hanging a little low under your car, maybe you should get Dean to take a look?”

She waved a hand dismissively. “I’m sure it’s fine, it’s an old car so that’s probably why it looks so low.”

They spent the day together, talking and laughing through brunchfast and then went for a walk by the lake. They talked and got to know each other better, had a bit of light flirting, and when he dropped her home later that evening, he walked her to the door.

“I’ve had a really nice time with you today,” he said, she nudged his shoulder as they walked.

“Yeah, I did too. Thanks for letting me pay,” she teased.

He snorted. “Are you kidding? I thought you were going to rip my hand off when I reached for my wallet.”

“Ah see, look how well you know me now, I was definitely going to,” she replied, and he barked out a laugh.

As they reached the front door they lapsed into silence. She felt a bit awkward, was she supposed to wait or go straight in? He took her hand in his and stepped closer, with his other hand he cupped her cheek, stroking it with his thumb and tilted her head back. He leaned down and covered her mouth lightly with his. His lips were soft, gently pressing against her, she opened her mouth to welcome him in and he tasted like mint. He pulled back and then placed another quick kiss to her mouth. She opened her eyes and found him looking down at her, a confused expression on his face, he blanked his features quickly, but she saw it.

“I’ll be back tomorrow and you can tell me what you want to do to the house,” he said, brushing her hair behind her ear. The fluffy curls immediately rebelled and popped back out to fall over her cheek. He squeezed her hand and then left, waving as he drove off. She sat in the old wicker chair on the porch, staring after him.

Beau was great. She had gotten to know him more, he was witty, so smart and genuinely nice, not boring at all like Taylor thought. Despite all of his amazing qualities, his muscles being right at the top of the list, there was still no spark. There was no heat in his gaze, no lingering touches, no electricity when they accidentally brushed against each other. His kiss, although very good, hadn’t left her begging for more like it had with De-, she clenched her teeth, cutting off the thought.

Did she want to sleep with Beau? Not really, she didn’t feel any sexual chemistry between them. It wouldn’t be right to lead him on and when he came by tomorrow, she would tell him straight away and give him the out so he didn’t help her out of obligation. She didn’t want him to think she was using him to fix the house. Heaving a deep sigh, she got up from the chair and went inside. Although it was still quite early, she felt bone tired and went straight to bed, ignoring her father’s bedroom and went into the guest room.

The next day when Beau arrived, Christy was a bag of nerves. She had never broken up with someone before, they usually left her so she didn’t know the best way to start the conversation. She didn’t know how Beau felt and didn’t want to hurt him. She opened the door to him and as usual he smiled down at her and ducked his head to kiss her cheek, but today she felt like he seemed reserved.

She stepped back to let him inside and as he walked past, she looked him over. He looked gorgeous, his navy t-shirt stretched tight across his rippling muscles, there was no denying it, hell she had eyes! But while she appreciated his looks, and his ass in those faded blue jeans, there definitely wasn’t a spark. She decided to just jump straight in.

“Can we talk?” she asked, motioning for him to take a seat on the couch. He looked a bit apprehensive but sat down. She paced in front of him, wringing her hands, unsure how to start.

“Everything okay?” he asked. She stopped in front of him and faced him. She decided as painful as this could be, honesty was definitely the way forward if she wanted to salvage any type of friendship with him. She squeezed her eyes shut and blurted out,

“Idon’tthinkweshouldseeeachotherromanticallyanymore.”

After a moment of silence, she cracked open one eye to peer down at him and saw him smothering a grin.

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