He was doomed.
Chapter 4
Karessa
The stare-off had been going on for at least two minutes when Karessa remembered how good True was at this game and figured she may as well just give it up.
“What the hell, True? I thought you were my friend.” Karessa almost rolled her eyes at herself for how adolescent that sounded, but she couldn’t believe she’d been played like that.
“I am your friend, but I’m Beau’s friend, too. There are things you don’t know about him, and things he doesn’t know about you. Unfortunately, I know all of those things from both of you, and sometimes it kills me not to share it all, because then you two would stop all of your nonsense.”
Deep down Karessa knew she was right, and even when she was making her plans, she knew she probably shouldn’t have told True about them. She hadn’t told her all of it, but it still wasn’t a surprise the woman didn’t like it.
“I’m not the only one who is going through nonsense with a member of the Haught family, now am I?”
True had a way of looking at Karessa that made her feel like a wayward child, which was funny since True had been raised by a foster mother that was more like a friend than a mother.
“How did the conversation get switched to me? I’m not the one who called you in full breakdown mode about having to see Beau and rattling off all the horrible things you were going to do to him to pay him back for the way he’s treated you in the past.”
“Okay, maybe I was being a bit melodramatic, but I didn’t know you were going to throw us together like that. I wasn’t ready.” Karessa wanted an answer for that because it seemed rather harsh for her to treat her friends like that.
“I know, but I wanted to level the playing field. You can’t be that mad that you weren’t ready to see him since he wasn’t ready either. If it’s any consolation, I told you I had a surprise for you when you came to town,” True looked like she was very amused with herself. “Surprise.”
Karessa didn’t know what to do with that answer, so she just shook her head and moved on to the next line of business. “How can there be nowhere for me to stay? I thought you had my rooms together long before this. I even talked to Gemmi about it a while ago.”
“It was the craziest thing. You did have a room and then you didn’t. Shit happens. What else can I say?” True came over and sat next to her, and she knew she wanted to be True when she grew up—balls of brass this woman had. Sometimes when Karessa was standing up to her team of funders, she channeled her inner True.
“He doesn’t even want me to stay with him. You are pushing very hard, but we both know where I stand with him. If he wasn’t a few sheets to the wind last night we probably wouldn’t have done what we did.”
“You skank…what did you do?” True looked shocked as she playfully swatted Karessa’s arm, and there was nothing she could do but to smile back at the woman who kept so many people’s secrets, including her own.
“True, you had the scene set to perfection. What did you think we would do?”
“I thought I left some playing cards on the bedside table, you didn’t see them?” True smirked at her, and Karessa couldn’t help but smile.
“So if it had been you and Alec locked in here, you would’ve been playing cards?”
True snorted, but wouldn’t say more. That didn’t even surprise Karessa, because True wasn’t one to share much information about herself. When Alec had become engaged to a pretty little teacher who was new in town True got wasted and spilled all her tea in the form of information. Karessa knew how much Alec meant to her and she knew how hard the man had been running. Honestly, True and Alec were a match made in heaven. Well, if heaven meant two dominant personalities where neither one of them would tell the other what they were really feeling.
“Did you even take any pictures of me yesterday?” Karessa asked, now wondering what the hour of playing with the lights, taking pictures and checking the film was really about.
“Of course I did.”
True frowned like she was insulted. “Any that could be used for the campaign?”
“I’m sure you could use them, but I don’t know if you will.” True stood up and motioned for her to get up too, but she was just so weary. “Come on, let’s go see the other Haught boys. Maryse is supposed to meet us there.”
“But it’s still so early in the morning.”
“There is much to do and not much time. I’ve told everyone to be up and available.” True collected her things as she spoke.
“You think everyone is going to be up and available this early just because you told them to?” Karessa could barely put two words together and the woman in front of her looked like she was ready to run the world. True stopped and looked at Karessa like she had to think about the answer.
“Abso-freakin-lutely. That’s the way it always has been.” True paused at the doorway still looking at Karessa like she’d lost her mind. “How long have you been gone?”
Karessa smiled as True shook her head in disbelief. “Too long.”
True walked back over to where Karessa stood and wrapped her arms around her. “Yeah, well, don’t let it happen again.” The sincere tone touched Karessa who’d never really considered how True felt about her long absences. The woman wasn’t usually touchy so this hug was special, but just like that she was released and True was headed for the door. “Hurry up, buttercup. Times a-wastin.”
Karessa watched her friend make a grand exit and decided right then and there. In the next life she was coming back as True.
***
The Haught Spot would always be a place that held good memories. She’d gotten a job there as a teen because the beautiful boy named Camden had sung her praises to his family and practically demanded they hire her. When she walked in and was introduced to his family, she didn’t even hear all the names of the people she was supposed to remember. The man named Beau had snatched her heart and all her attention as soon as she’d seen him. If he had just been gorgeous she might have been able to let the crush fade, but he went out of his way to feed her almost every time he saw her.
“Are you hungry?” he would ask in a voice so sexy it made her feel things in her body she didn’t have a name for. Later she would know that was arousal, desire, and clit-throbbing lust that the man had inspired in her.
He’d had many friends that were girls, and those females were all fashion-model thin and dressed in the latest craze of clothing. Back then she had come to terms with the fact that she would never have the latest and greatest clothes because the money she made was used by her mother for her plethora of bad habits, she wasn’t ever going to be thin, and therefore she wasn’t ever going to be Beau’s type. He was her friend, and what she did to him in her mind had been her business, alone.
“Look who’s here!” Camden, the baby boy of the Haught family and soon-to-be-groom, had her in a big hug as soon as he saw her. His bright smile was full of welcome and familiarity. She missed him and his optimistic ways.
Karessa didn’t know what was going on with her. She wouldn’t consider herself a hugely emotional person, but since she’d stepped off the plane for this visit, she was battling a terminal case of homesickness for the place she thought she’d never miss.
“It’s so good to see you,” she said, hoping he knew how much she appreciated him for all he’d brought into her life. “Are you ready to get married?”
“I wanted to run away to Vegas. We could have been an old married couple by now, but I know she really wanted to have a traditional wedding. So the short answer is yes, I’ve been ready.”
“I’m so happy for you. I’ve talked to Gemmi more than a few times working with True, and although I’ve never met her in person, I love her already.” Karessa was enjoying watching Camden beam as they talked about his intended. This is what every man should look like when he thought about his bride.
“She’s here getting things ready for the little brunch she’s put together for you
and your assistant. I guess you’re trying to make celebrities out of the bridal party, and everyone—well, except for Alec—is thrilled.”
“Leave it to Alec to be the stick in the mud.” She looked at Camden, and he was staring at her. “What?”
“It’s just good to have you back,” he said with a smile. “This place isn’t the same without you.”
“It’s kind of good to be back.”
Karessa knew her way around the place, but there had been so many updates that the Haught Spot looked almost new. She got to the back room that was used for parties and large group events and saw everyone she was supposed to see, but something felt off. There was Maryse, Gemmi, True, and Alec all sitting at the table, with Maryse doing what she normally did when she saw an attractive man…flirting mercilessly. Her thick French accent came across so sultry and rich it almost sounded fake, but she was the real thing.
Alec was the serious Haught. He wasn’t the one you usually saw smiling and laughing, but he was now. Ma must have asked him about the scar the ran from his hairline to his chin, cutting through his left eye, leaving it scarred but usable, and dissected his lips on the left side of his mouth. She was tracing the scar with her finger, and it reminded her of when she asked to do the same thing soon after she met him. She hadn’t been seductive about it when she’d done her examination, it was purely a fact finding mission to quell her curiosity. He wasn’t sensitive about it, but the way his face was scarred made him look mean and most people steered clear of even mentioning it.
Karessa looked around and everything seemed normal, but she wasn’t imagining the tension in the air. She looked over at True, who was talking to Gemmi, and knew that had to be where the bad vibes were coming from. Maryse and True were both very strong personalities, and she wondered how this was going to turn out.
“Hey Alec,” she said, doing her best to break up the private party he and Maryse seemed to have going on.
The large man stood up and walked over to her like he always did when he saw her.
“You’ve been gone too long,” Alec said with his made-for radio-voice, “but it’s good to have you back.”
She found herself in another bear hug, but this one had elevation with it, and damned if she didn’t feel so very loved. Karessa had known only one member of her biological family, but she never felt more cared about than when she was with the Haught family. Thinking of her mother always brought about a pang of anxiety and guilt, even though she had no reason.
Karessa had sent money and resources starting with her very first check, but seeing the woman who would try her best to tear her down wasn’t something she was looking forward to. There was no way she could come into town and not see her mother, but she was putting that off until she had to do it. It was something she was going to have to do alone, and that was going to make it even worse.
He put her back on the floor, and just looking at his bright gray eyes filled with happiness made her try to move the depressing thoughts that tried to overrun her mind to a place where she could think about that later. His grin was devilishly happy, and his scar made him look like a pirate, but he looked more at ease than she’d ever seen him. Had Alec really changed this much since she’d seen him last?
“Are you ready to see your brother hitched?” she asked, wanting to know what this tight-knit family thought about adding another member to their family. She shouldn’t have even thought about it since they’d been adding strays here and there for years. This family seemed haphazardly selective about who they let in but when you were chosen you were protected like blood relatives.
“I couldn’t be happier for him. Gemmi is quite a catch and fits in well here…just like you, Karessa.” Alec gave her a kiss on the cheek, a knowing smile, and walked toward the door. She didn’t know if she’d ever seen him in such a good mood. His dry humor and scarred face kept a lot of people away, but for others, especially women, it was like a lighthouse. They thought he was the broody alpha who only needed the love of a good woman to settle down. Maybe some of that was true, but from what she knew about him, she didn’t think he was going to be easy to reel in. True had been trying to make that happen for as long as Karessa could remember and it didn’t look like it was happening.
Karessa would’ve chuckled at the fanciful story she was making up about Alec if she didn’t think the people in the room would wonder about her sanity. Back to watching Alec, she noticed that he slowed down when he got behind True’s chair and squeezed her shoulder lightly on his way out. Alec wasn’t one for PDA with True. What was all that about? Did she really need something else to occupy her mind, when she could barely get her thoughts straightened out when she was around the middle Haught brother? Digging through other people’s garbage might be a way she could free her mind from her issues, but more than that, True was her friend. She’d been away for a while, and she’d forgotten how strong and practically palpable their unresolved attraction was. It had also slipped her mind how much frustration that man caused her friend. She would make time to find out more about those two.
Gemmi stood up and called her over. “Come on, Karessa, let’s go over how we’re working the events tonight, so True can get you all settled at Beau’s.”
Karessa didn’t miss the look of shock on Maryse’s face and knew she was going to be grilled later. Damn the woman and her sweet, sparkling drinks that packed more power than they appeared. The information she’d shared with Maryse wouldn’t have come out without a moderate amount of alcohol libation, but she couldn’t un-ring the bell. Every word she’d shared with her friend had been true, and on those nights when she missed Beau Haught so damn bad she wished she could see him and tell him how much he’d hurt her, she was glad that she had someone to share with. Karessa couldn’t even be worried about what her friend knew or didn’t know, because she was struggling with the fact that she was going to be spending time with a man who didn’t really want her in his house even though he totally owned her heart. It was making her sick inside, because in all her dreams of coming back and seeing him again, this wasn’t how it was supposed to work out.
Walking over to the table to join her friends, who were now co-workers, she knew she should be happy this was happening. She still wanted him to want her passionately so that when she left he would get to see how it felt to be on the receiving end of the treatment that practically destroyed her. On the other hand, she wondered if she had enough time or if she had overestimated their past relationship. Yes, they’d had sex, but the rumor mill said that didn’t mean much to a man who had women falling for him like sand in an hourglass. She had thought she had this all planned out: return to France, have her big grand opening, and with Beau in her rearview mirror, she would be open to all the men who wanted to date her. That dream needed a conclusion, because she was getting older, and it was time to have a life beyond her work.
“Let’s get started,” Karessa said as she sat down with a renewed purpose.
Chapter 5
Beau
The house was clean and snacks were bought. Beau even had a bottle of Karessa’s favorite wine that he’d put in the refrigerator to chill. It sucked that Karessa thought he didn’t want her in his house—he had read that all over her face—and he was going to do his best to make her feel welcome. It was astounding that she’d been as quiet as she was. The woman he remembered would have wanted revenge about something. His beautiful little cutthroat didn’t leave many things she thought were slights go by without her notice, but age can change people.
When the phone rang, he sent up a silent prayer that True didn’t change her mind and find another place for Karessa. There were tense moments in the room before he left to get his place ready, but he didn’t have the words to console Karessa while he was talking himself down from his own ledge.
“Hello?” Beau answered and was greeted with deep, rich laughter.
“What the hell did you do, bro?”
“Alec?”
Beau knew both of his b
rothers very well, and he knew that Alec had a great sense of humor. It was a bit dryer and more cerebral than your average joe, so the full guffaw that he was being subjected to was weird.
“Karessa is staying with you? True set that up, didn’t she?” Alec waited for an answer, but Beau could tell he was still amused by the way things were going.
“She said they couldn’t find a security detail for the hotel.”
Alec cleared his throat a little, and Beau was glad that at least the laughter had settled down a bit. He was starting to worry that his older brother was having a breakdown.
“Well then, I’m glad you’re there for her.” Alec pulled himself together quickly. “I’m calling to tell you that the meeting is over, and you should be expecting your guest shortly.”
“All right,” Beau said, because even though he had his house and food supplies ready, he was sure he wasn’t.
“Honestly, how are you doing? I may not talk the most, but I am very observant.”
This was the Alec that Beau knew…serious, assessing, and ready to give fairly accurate advice, but he couldn’t let him get away with the observant statement too easily. “Really? Because sometimes it doesn’t seem like it. Ask True.”
“I know all about True, believe me, but there are times it’s better for all parties involved to act like they don’t know what’s going on. Every closed eye ain’t asleep, and every opened eye can’t see. At least, that’s what I grew up hearing.”
It seemed like so many of his grandfather’s phrases were being thrown about lately. Should he take it as a sign? Maybe it was just that people were thinking of him since he’d raised them alone after their grandmother passed away, and he was sorely missed.
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