Too Haught

by Leela Lou Dahlin

  “I think he’s with Karessa’s crew,” Beau said and chanced a look over at his brother, but he knew immediately that he shouldn’t have.

  “You gotta do better than that, bro, you look like you want to tear that guy limb from limb, and while I probably wouldn’t stop you, it makes me wonder why. It looks like you know more than just he’s with ‘Karessa’s crew.’” Alec was getting more and more interested based on the look on his face, and Beau wasn’t in the mood to explain.

  “I’ve got to find out what I’m supposed to be doing. I shouldn’t be standing around fully-clothed when there is an opportunity to have my modeling dreams fulfilled.” Beau threw those words over his shoulder as he walked away from his brothers.

  “Nice save. I’ll make sure to revisit that another time, and I still want to know about the guy who’s trying to breathe the same air as True before she’s done with it.”

  “He’s not that close. Plus, he’s from France, they seem to be pretty touchy-feely people,” Beau said as he walked away from his brothers. Camden didn’t add anything to the conversation, but Beau could hear Alec as he walked away.

  “I’ll show him touchy-feely…the American way.”

  “I don’t care what you do, just don’t fuck up Gemmi’s day.” Camden was usually the calm, easy going one. It was a change to hear his voice take on such a serious tone. Beau turned around, shocked, and looked between the two men that he cared so much for. Beau couldn’t help but turn to look at Alec. The fact that his brother had an expression on his face that exactly matched the way he felt inside the rumble of laughter that bubbled up within him was hard to contain, but he did it. He walked back and stood next to Alex in before the ridiculousness of the whole situation over took him and he threw his head back and laughed.

  Alec and Camden looked at him like he’d lost his mind for a few seconds before they both joined in. They elbowed and softly pushed each other through their guffaws. This is what Beau loved—the easy camaraderie, the fierce loyalty, and all for one and one for all-ness of their brotherhood. Did he think things would change once Camden got married? Maybe a little, but their core values would remain the same. Beau would bet on it.

  “Listen to you, protecting your woman and her day. That’s awesome to hear man,” Alec said, clapping Camden on the back. “Whatever happens with me and Frenchie will be between us. I’ll not have anything ruin your bride’s day.”

  “I’m holding you both to that. Karessa pulled a lot of strings to get here with us and the guy you’ve both taken turns frowning at is helping make this happen,” Camden said with a smile on his face.

  Beau turned to Alec, who was looking at him. They all seemed to be able to communicate without words about some things and ‘What the hell ever’ is what he thought he was getting from Alec, or maybe that was what he was thinking.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Beau said, clapping each brother on the shoulder before he walked away. He probably should have sat down and eaten the plate he’d made, but he honestly wanted to get this part of the night over with. He didn’t have any problems walking around in his underwear, because they were just like swimming trunks, and they wore that at the bar for beach week.

  On his way over to the racks of clothing or intimate apparel, he watched Karessa walk quickly toward him with a pair of what looked like cotton boxer briefs in a pink and gray paisley print.

  “These are for you, but first, I want you to meet someone.” Karessa looped her arm through his and pulled him right back to the guy he’d been trying to get away from. He must have been coming down with something, because as they approached the man who was seemingly too close to Karessa, he could feel his blood pressure rising. When they were mere feet away from True and this high-fashion Romeo, Karessa dropped her arm and greeted the man.

  “Ah, mon chéri,” Luc said as he turned away from True, looked Beau up and down, and then kissed Karessa on both sides of her face.

  What the actual fuck? Beau could feel the frown on his face so deep that it hurt, but the man didn’t notice the warning or just didn’t care. When he first thought about Karessa coming back, he wasn’t sure how he was going to feel, but little did he know that she was going to bring about all the feelings known to man.

  Karessa had the good grace to look a bit baffled by that, and Beau didn’t know why that made him even angrier. Is this the kind of guy she goes for these days? Wow. Next he’d be asking her to pick out a china pattern and finding out how many kids she wanted. He knew what this was, and he knew what had to be done wasn’t about anything more than her slaking the lust of someone who’d done her wrong.

  “Beau, this is Luc Boniface, my manager.”

  Beau didn’t want to take the outstretched hand that he was being offered. He also didn’t want to make a scene. In the spirit of being polite and the look of murder that would surely be on True’s face if he caused a ruckus, he grabbed the hand Luc offered.

  “Pleased to finally meet you,” Luc said with a seemingly genuine smile.

  Beau only nodded his head to acknowledge that he’d heard the man speak. If this is what jealousy felt like, he wanted no parts of it. Too bad it didn’t seem to work that way. The green emotion had settled on him like thick, wet, wool blanket that was heavy and smelled like anger. The man’s gaze moved off Beau to stare just past him, and from the look on his face, Beau knew that his brother Alec had walked up behind him.

  Alec could make most people cringe when he settled his steely gaze on you and his brow burrowed down low on his forehead. That look made the scars on his face stand out and had stopped many near altercations at the bar. No one wanted to mess with Alec except his brothers, who weren’t fazed by the visage or the sometimes aloof manner, and of course True, who gave no fucks about his attitude or anger. When she wanted something she went for it, and Alec would balk or let her take the lead. It was the funniest thing Beau’d ever seen.

  “True, I don’t think I got a formal introduction to your little friend.” Alec was clearly in the mood to mix it up with the dapper Frenchman, and that caused everyone but the man he was talking about to look at each other. Alec was no shit-starter. Would he come in and finish? Yes, but that wasn’t what this was. He’d come in with a subtle slap and the look on the man’s face said he was ready.

  True was the first to speak. “This is Karessa’s agent, Luc—”

  “Nice to meet you, Luc,” Alec said, clapping a hand on the man’s shoulder leading him away. “Let’s walk and get you a beverage.”

  “I was talking to him,” True yelled after them.

  Alec turned to raise an eyebrow at True before he continued on his merry way.

  “What the fuck was that?” True asked no one in particular. Karessa shrugged, and Beau didn’t say a word, because if jealousy was on Alec’s heels the same way it had tackled him, he totally understood.

  “Come on, True, let’s get the pictures done so we can get to the partying and the drinking.” Karessa smiled at both Beau and True, but she was nervous, and he wondered if she was worried about what Alec was going to do with her friend. A fresh bout of anger sprung up like a phoenix, but he snuffed that out as the song his mother always sang came to him.

  Chapter 8

  Karessa

  The best thing Karessa could do was to get this photo shoot done and get Luc away from the Haught boys, because it seemed like two of the three were out for him, and that was something that she couldn’t remember ever happening. They were pretty open and welcoming to people their friends brought to them, but there was definitely some bad blood with Luc. She just couldn’t figure out what it could be. This day was going to hell in a handbasket, and there didn’t seem to be anything she could do except hurry through it and get Luc out of there.

  “Where do you want me?” Beau came back from putting on the boxer briefs she brought out for him and hopped on the bed. The bed where she’d been tied up and then systematically undone by the same man who now lay there with a playful grin. To say that he
worked the hell out of that small piece of stretchable cotton was an understatement. She looked around to see if anyone was looking at this delicious man and hoped this night would go faster. She only had a little time with Beau, and she wanted to spend most of it in bed, or against the wall or anywhere she could allow him entrance into her body, so she could keep the memory for the rest of her life.

  “Right there is perfect,” True said from behind her camera.

  “Let me get out of your way,” Karessa said when she heard the first click of the camera.

  “I have a better idea,” True stopped her, holding her hand up like there was a teacher that was going to pick on her to speak. “You have on that pink boy short and hold ‘em up halter top under your robe, right?”

  “Yes.” Karessa sounded a bit wary of her excited friend, but she hadn’t moved, so she was at least going to hear what the mistress of matchmaking was going to say. “But I’m not getting on that bed.”

  “Karessa, you wound me,” Beau said as he fell back on the bed holding his heart.

  “I wasn’t going to suggest that. I’d like to keep the shoot at least PG-13.” True looked between the couple like they were going to deny that, if they got on the bed together, there would be no less than a NC-17 rating.

  “Then what?” Karessa knew that True’s slant for the dramatic was going to drive her crazy. It didn’t help that being next to Beau for any amount of time made her want to be wrapped around him like a cloak during a blizzard.

  “Take off your robe and stand in front of the bed. Beau, you try to entice her to get on the bed with your eyes.”

  “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” Karessa didn’t want this to happen. She could already read his expressive face most of the time, and she knew he’d be saying dirty things that could make her embarrass herself. There were a lot of people in the room, but most people weren’t focused on them.

  “Yeah, that maybe, but I’m the artist, and I know how to get what I want out of people. So, take off the robe and let’s get started.”

  Karessa dropped the robe and stood by the bed. With only a little ‘move a little to your left’ and ‘now move a smidgen to your right,’ she was supposedly in the right place.

  “Open your legs just a bit,” True said quietly behind her.

  Beau’s gaze dropped to her spreading thighs as if he’d never been allowed entrance. Was that a trick? That he could look so hungry for something he not only threw away, but had just tasted in the last few hours. What she did know was her body was responding to the heat in his expression.

  “Wider, baby,” Beau muttered softly.

  Karessa turned to look at True, but she had turned to look over her shoulder at something else and wasn’t paying any attention to them. Opening her stance a little more to fulfill the request Beau had made turned her on. Rarely did she play the passive role in anything. She didn’t follow directions, hell she barely took suggestions, but with this man a whispered request made her jump to do it. She’d think about that shit later, for now she enjoyed watching his nose flaring as if to pick up her scent, and when his eyes found hers, there was an expression that made her catch her breath.

  “Are we ready?” True asked like they hadn’t been in position the whole time.

  “Yes.” Was that quivering voice hers? Karessa was a powerful woman in her field, and she called the shots. Being with Beau was making her regress into another person. The person she enjoyed being and she missed her…to a point.

  Beau slid his gaze over her body, and it felt like a warm caress that she could almost feel. Her nipples perked up, and she grew damp wanting to do more than just stand there and stare at him as he seemed to memorize every dip and curve she had to offer. She sucked in her bottom lip, an act she knew came from nervousness, but the way his eyes fastened on the movement as he moved a bit on the bed had her happy that she wasn’t alone in feeling a bit hot under the collar.

  Click, click, click, clickclickclick. The camera must have been on super speed, and Karessa turned to look at True.

  “Whew!” True said with a huge smile on her face. “I knew that would work, but damn. I didn’t know it would work that well and that fast.”

  “Are you sure you’ve got a good shot?” Karessa knew that True was the best photographer and painter she’d ever known, but it seemed like there should be more to this.

  “Dear heart, I’ve gotten several great shots. If you wanted, you could do the whole men’s line with the pictures I’ve just taken.” True looked over at Beau. “You’re done and you did an awesome job. Ever think about becoming a model? I already know the answer is no, but if you ever tire of the Haught Spot, I think you could be famous. Go relax.”

  Beau eased off the bed, turning his back to Karessa, and it felt like someone turned off the sun. To go from basking in the weight of his stare to looking at his back reminded her too much of the time when she was preparing to leave town and couldn’t find Beau anywhere. Her chest felt heavy with the emotion she didn’t like remembering, but this time was different. She held the reins, she was going to be the one leaving him, and he would be the one who was missing all that they could have had.

  He walked back to the makeshift dressing room, and Karessa followed him. True’s place was huge, and as she followed him, she could hear True calling for the bride and groom. Did she have time for what she had planned? She didn’t know and she didn’t care, this was bigger than even she had led herself to believe. It was important that he felt like she did the last time she was let go like he didn’t care. He turned one corner and then another, and she hoped she’d be able to find him. She didn’t remember the dressing room being this far away.

  She turned into a darkened hallway and started thinking that this may not have been a good idea since she wasn’t a big fan of the dark, but when a hand went around her throat and she was backed up against a wall, she almost sighed with relief.

  “Are you looking for me?” Beau’s voice in her ear sounded menacing and arousing.

  “All items have to be returned to their proper rack. I was just making sure you weren’t trying to sneak away with any of my garments.”

  He chuckled, and his warm breath tickled her ear and traveled along her nerves causing her already hard nipples to become harder as the sensation moved down to her clit. Arousal this delicious didn’t happen to her every day. From the decreased visual sensory, to the increase in all her other senses, plus his large hand around her throat, she hoped she’d be able to wait until he got his cock out and inside her before she shattered. If that is where he was going. The Beau she remembered was always very creative with sex and kept her guessing about what he was up to. Well, she knew that he’d not let either one of them be unsatisfied, but she never knew what tricks he had up his sleeve to get them there. She shuddered in anticipation.

  “You wonder what’s next don’t you, ‘Ressa? Standing out there in front of me with your legs spread with this…whatever the hell this tight shirt is…on.” He tugged the camisole down so that one of her breasts were exposed while his thumb stroked the right side of her neck. Beau wasn’t exerting any pressure, but she wanted him to. She brought her hand up to his to bring it in tighter, but the small smile on his face told her that the silent request made him change the game.

  She always loved how he read her. How he took the time to figure out what she wanted or needed and brought it to her in the best of ways. This wasn’t the time to get sentimental, though. She was a changed woman.

  “Are you going to just grope me in the dark, or are you going to take care of the hard-on I noticed you trying to hide?”

  “It’s hard to hide in skin-tight pink and gray underwear,” he said jovially, but she didn’t feel like joking. She felt like fucking.

  Pushing him away from her didn’t take much, because he wasn’t really using his strength on her, but he watched her in the dim light. Backing him up to the table that was in the middle of the room, she hoped True had her whole plac
e wired like she did the front rooms. “Lights on eighty percent.”

  Karessa was overjoyed the lights came on, and she could take a good look at Beau in his underwear that now looked distorted with the thickness of his cock pointing up and at an odd angle under the soft cotton. She pulled off her pink boy short panties and laid herself on the table. She was practically hyperventilating and was so close to telling him to come on. This is how her usual sexual encounters went, with her giving suggestions and telling people what to do. She’d dwell on that disappointment later, but now she just wanted to relieve the tension that felt like it was going to consume her. He stood by the end of the table and stared at her so long she began to get uncomfortable.

  “Is that how it works for you now?”

  “I don’t want to play I just want—”

  “You always want to play. It’s your thing. Your eyes light up when I change things up. It’s one of the only times you look like the girl I remember.” His hand had fallen on her thigh, and he stroked softly as he spoke. “You think you get to whip off your panties, lay on the table and get what you think you want?” He cocked one eyebrow up like he was really expecting an answer to that.

  Was he right about her? Yes, he was, damn him, but she didn’t have to admit to that. “Yes, that’s how I like it.”

  “Liar,” he whispered. “Pull down your top and let me see those hard nipples that screamed my name as I was getting my picture taken. It was practically torture.”

  “You just have a dirty mind. If you heard anything, that’s what it was.” She brought her feet up to the flat surface so that her knees almost blocked the awesome body that Beau was tempting her with.

  “It’s possible you’re right, because with you around, it’s filthy,” he answered. Reaching down to cover her breasts with his large hands, he let his gaze roam around her body like he had all the time in the world.

  She loved the way he looked at her like he couldn’t get enough, and at times like these, she wished that it was true, but it wasn’t. He was a playboy, and his game was strong. That was all.