by Geri Glenn
I blush. “It was for me too.”
He grins once more and presses a hard kiss against my mouth. After pulling back, he adjusts my body so that I’m leaning against his side, my head on his shoulder, then he restarts the movie. Wrapping his arm around me, he presses me tight against him and kisses the top of my head. Warm and content, I watch another five minutes or so before I fall asleep in the arms of a man that seems to always know exactly what I need.
Chapter Thirteen
BEAU COMING OVER in the evening has become a regular thing the last few nights. We’d graduated from watching movies to Netflix marathons, watching Lost, though most times I found it difficult to watch the show when Beau’s arm was wrapped around me.
Last night, he’d suggested that we do something different today. The weather was supposed to be good, and Beau had a rare day off from the clinic, so we were going to head to the beach for a couple of hours.
I haven’t been to the beach in ages, and I’d never been to the beach with a man who makes my heart race out of control with a simple look, so I make sure to take extra time picking out my swimsuit and getting myself ready. I shave every possible area that needs shaving. I pluck, tweeze, gloss and buff areas that I’ve never done myself before.
Beau is due any minute, and I’m still trying to arrange my hair into the perfect fishtail braid, when there is a knock at the door. “Coming,” I call from the bathroom. Crap. He’s early.
I manage to tie off the end of the braid and tug on a few places to fan it out before hurrying down the hall towards the door. Whipping it open, I look up, expecting to see Beau, and am shocked to see a large group of people standing on my front step with cameras and lighting equipment.
“Hello, Miss Brogan. Where can we set up?”
I stare at the man who’d spoken in shock. “Who are you?”
“We’re the camera crew from Opry Magazine. We have a full day photo shoot scheduled with you.” His eyes travel the length of me, and he raises his brow in disapproval. “Good thing we have a full make-up crew.”
I can practically feel my blood pressure rising while he speaks, but that dig at the end pushes me over the edge. “Get off of my property.”
His brows raise in surprise. “We’ve had this appointment scheduled for weeks, Miss Brogan. We flew all the way out here from New York. Paula Quinn requested my crew specifically.”
“I don’t care who arranged it. I want you to leave.”
The man rolls his eyes and digs his cell phone out of his pocket. After tapping the screen a few times, he puts the phone to his ear and pins his angry gaze on me. “Yeah, Paula. Kristoff here. I’m at Miss Brogan’s house, but she’s decided she wants us to leave.”
I can hear Paula’s high-pitched voice from here, squawking angrily into the phone. “I know,” he concedes. “What do you want us to do?”
I grit my teeth and glare back at him. Who the hell cares what she wants him to do? I told him to leave. Just then, Beau pulls up to the house, looking for a place to park amongst the several vehicles in the driveway. He gets out of the truck and frowns, approaching as Kristoff ends his call.
“This will not do,” he says angrily. “Paula has insisted that you will do the shoot. She will be calling you any minute.”
“What’s going on?” Beau asks, his gaze focused on Kristoff.
“Apparently, my publicist has arranged a photo shoot for me today. I wasn’t ready for this, nor do I want to do it. I just want these people to leave.”
Kristoff opens his mouth to argue, but he never gets the chance to utter a word. Beau takes a step forward and calls out to everyone standing around the yard. “There will be no pictures today. Miss Brogan is not up to it. Everyone needs to get into their vehicles right away, or I will be calling the police to remove you themselves.”
Kristoff curses and shakes his head. “This is bullshit,” he spits at me.
“Go,” Beau growls, stabbing his finger in the direction of the driveway.
With a final curse and narrowed eyes, Kristoff turns and walks down the steps. “Let’s go people. We’ve been asked to leave.”
Within just a couple of minutes, everyone is in the cars and heading down the drive, away from my house. Beau turns and stands in front of me, his hand cupping the side of my face. “You okay?”
I let out a groan and flop my head onto his chest. “I am now. Thank you.”
From inside the house, my cell phone lets out a shrill ring. I shake my head. “That’s probably Paula. Let it ring.”
He grins slowly and gives the end of my braid a gentle tug. “Come on, girl. Let’s get you to the beach.”
Chapter Fourteen
THE BEACH IS busy today, but not too crowded. We wander along the sand and find a nice spot with some shade from a nearby tree to lay out our blanket. I can’t be in direct sunlight for too long because of my medication, so it’s perfect.
Beau sets down the cooler and our towels, and takes a seat on the blanket, patting a spot right next to him. I’m still angry from the intrusion at my house, and I can’t stop thinking about how badly I want to smack Paula for not listening to me, or respecting my need to be left alone.
“Want to take a swim?”
I shift my focus to Beau, who sits beside me, a lock of hair blowing in his eyes as he grins over at me. “Absolutely.”
He jumps up and peels of his shirt, and my mouth runs dry. His body with a T-shirt on is enough to make me swoon, but underneath it, he is rock solid, complete with an impressive six pack. He has tattoos spanning across his chest and spilling over his shoulders, all the way down to his elbows in a half sleeve. They are beautiful and detailed, and I can’t take my eyes off them.
“You have a lot of tattoos,” I blurt, instantly wishing I had kept my mouth shut when his eyes fall on me and he smirks.
“I do.” He reaches his hand out and pulls me to a stand. “Come on, woman. Let’s get in the water so I can cool you off.”
Rolling my eyes, I chuckle and peel off my sundress, secretly thinking he might be onto something. It is rather warm all of the sudden. I toss the sundress on the ground and start walking towards the water when I notice that Beau isn’t beside me. Stopping, I turn and see him still standing in the same spot, his heated gaze on me.
I was a little worried that the weight I’d gained from the medication made me look unattractive, but from the way he’s watching me, I’d say I can still rock my little pink bikini just fine. “Looks like I’m not the only one that needs to cool off,” I call.
“Oh, that’s it,” he mutters, and suddenly he’s running straight for me. Before I even get a chance to respond, he’s thrown me over his shoulder like a freaking caveman and is running towards the water.
“No!” I scream, giggling like a fool. “Don’t you dare throw me in, Beau Weston!” As he runs into the shallow end, the water from the lake splashes up and lands on my skin, telling me that without a doubt, it’s cold. “Put me down.”
“Your wish is my command,” he drawls, and I’m airborne. My arms and legs flail as I fly through the air, landing in the refreshing, but cold water. I pop up from under it, pushing my tangled hair from my face.
“You’re dead meat, mister.”
Beau laughs and runs at me, ready to dunk me under again. We carry on like that for almost an hour, splashing and dunking each other, and just having fun. For the first time in a long time, I don’t feel the pressures of life weighing down on me. I’m just a girl with a handsome boy, playing in the lake.
When my movements start to slow, Beau pulls me to him and holds my body up in the water. “Tired?”
“It doesn’t take much lately.”
“Let’s get you dried off.” I rest my head against his shoulder, surprised by how tired I actually am all the sudden. Beau carries me right to the blanket, setting me down and digging out my towel, which he wraps around me. He dries himself off and takes a seat beside me as I start to run a brush through my tangled hair.
I’m just about finished when I hit a snag. I pull the brush through it and feel it come away just a little too easily. My eyes widen as I pull the brush from my hair and bring it down to take a look. There, wrapped around the bristles of my brush, are large clumps of my curly blonde hair.
Frantically, I pull the hairs from the brush and start sliding it through my hair again. After a few strokes, I pull it away and nearly burst into tears when I see the clumps that are in the brush this time. I yank the hair out of the brush and move to run it through a third time, my breaths coming out in gasps, when Beau’s hand lands on mine, stopping me.
“Hey,” he soothes. “Let me see that.”
I hand him the brush, my mind racing. I knew that my hair might fall out from the chemo, but I thought it would be later, or that maybe I’d be lucky. I never expected it to come out in clumps like this. I know when it dries, I will have noticeable patches from where it all came from.
Beau moves behind me, gently running the brush through the hair I hadn’t brushed yet. “Your hair is beautiful, Kinsley,” he says softly. “But it’s just hair. You’re beautiful with or without it. And it will grow back.”
I bite my lip and nod, feeling silly for being upset about something so superficial as my hair, but I can’t help it. I’ve always been proud of the mass of curls on my head. Now they’re falling out. I hate this. All of it. I’m sick all the time. My hair is falling out, and there’s not even any guarantee that this is getting rid of the cancer entirely.
Beau’s arms wrap around me and he pulls me back against his body. “We’re gonna get you through this, Kins.”
I nod again. God, I hope he’s right.
Chapter Fifteen
IT’S BEEN TWO weeks since that day at the beach, and there’s been a few changes. After a couple more days, I had lost even more hair, so I’d gone ahead and had Beau shave it all off for me. I’d cried over every single lock that fell to the floor that day, but he’d kissed away my tears, and forced me to take a look at myself in the mirror. My blue eyes look big and bright, and with a little make-up, they really pop. I actually look kind of good with a bald head.
The paparazzi has continued to show up outside the hospital after my chemo treatments, so my doctor had rescheduled them for different times under a false name so they never knew when to find me there. The last two treatments had been refreshingly paparazzi free.
Paula wasn’t happy about that, but I was caring less and less about her opinion lately. I’d put a call into a lawyer to see just how much leverage she had over me with the music label contract. I was still waiting to hear back from him, but in the meantime, I have found it easiest to just avoid her calls altogether.
Beau has been spending a lot of time here, and has even forged a bit of a relationship with my father. I feel bad that I haven’t been able to do much lately besides watch movies, but as my chemo treatments have progressed, so have my side effects. I’m still extremely tired, and I’ve bloated right up. But the worst has been the open sores that have started forming inside of my mouth, making it hard to eat or drink anything.
A knock on the door pulls me from my thoughts and I get up to answer it, always on the alert for the paparazzi. I swing it open, and standing on the front step, a flower in his hand, is Beau.
“Hi,” he says, holding out the most beautiful pink rose I’ve ever seen.
I take it and smile in confusion. “Hi.”
“Come with me.”
I sigh. “Beau, I’m not really feeling up to—”
“Trust me,” he says softly, extending his hand. I put my hand in his and follow him outside. I figure he’s going to take me somewhere in the truck, so I’m surprised when his body changes course and we start walking towards the lake.
There, on the dock, is a small table with a white tablecloth and two wooden chairs. I freeze and look at Beau, not sure which question I should ask first. What is this? Has he lost his mind? Or better yet, has he forgotten about my inability to put food in my mouth lately?
“Come on,” he says, tugging me forward.
I follow Beau out onto the dock and allow him to help me into one of the two seats. For the first time, I notice the large cooler sitting behind him, but say nothing as he walks towards it and pulls out two long stem champagne glasses and a large bottle of water.
He sets the glasses on the table, and with the flourish of a fancy waiter, pours them full with the regular spring water. He then goes back to the cooler and pulls out two plates, complete with a silver cover over each one. He places one in front of me, and then one in his spot before he sits down.
“When I was in high school, one of the things I wanted more than anything in the world was to take you on a date,” he begins, and my heart warms. “Now, as adults, I finally have my chance. I know that you haven’t been feeling good lately, and I know that you are going through more than I could ever imagine, but I refuse to waste any of this time that I have with you. I’ve decided that from now on, we are going to date, even if it may be a little … unconventional. So, you can consider this our first official date.”
I stare back at him with wide eyes. “I’m wearing jogging pants,” I say, instantly feeling stupid. Here he is, attempting to be romantic, and I’m worried about my freaking pants.
“You’re fine,” he says with a chuckle. “This date is black tie optional.”
I stare down at the silver tray in front of me and swallow thickly. “This is really sweet Beau, but I can’t eat that.” He should know this. “The only thing I can get into my mouth without too much pain is mashed potatoes, and lukewarm water.”
Beau grins and leans forward, pulling the cover off of my plate. There, on a fancy serving platter, is a giant plate of mashed potatoes. “Your potatoes, my lady,” he says with a little bravado. “And your lukewarm water has already been poured.
I stare across the table at him with tear-filled eyes. He really had thought of everything. “I really do like you, Beau Weston,” I say, my voice filled with emotion.
“I like you too, Kinsley Brogan,” he says with a smile.
Chapter Sixteen
MY CHEMO TREATMENTS are almost finished, and I can’t wait to get them over with. I want my body back to some semblance of normal so that I can enjoy life again. Beau has been an incredible support, and has tried so hard to make me feel like a beautiful, desirable woman, and though he’s succeeded, I want to be able to love him as a healthy woman, not a sick one.
Last night, I’d gotten a phone call from Paula, telling me that she would be here this afternoon for a visit. The thought of seeing that woman sets me on edge immediately, but the time has come to sort things out with her once and for all. I’d heard back from my lawyer, and he’d assured me that after going over my contract, he had found no mentions of it being mandatory to do what my publicist said. Her role is simply that of an advisor.
I’ve just finished applying my eye make-up when there’s a knock on the door. I hate the fact that I have to handle her on my own. I’m not one for confrontation, but with my father at work, and Beau away at a convention, I don’t have a choice.
Pasting on a fake smile, I pull open the door, ready to greet Paula, but instead, I find myself yanked forward into a hard body and a set of lips on mine. I barely register the sound of cameras going off and the chatter of people on my yard as I push at the strange chest, trying to get away.
Hands clamp down on either side of my face, and a tongue stabs at my lips, trying to force them apart. I struggle and find that it’s useless, so pulling up my foot, I bring it down hard on the person’s toes, causing him to cry out and let go.
Cash Easton stands in front of me, looking hurt that I’d stomped on his precious feet, but I am too angry to care. “What the hell, Cash? What are you even doing here? And what makes you think you can kiss me like that?”
His heavy brow knits into a confused frown. “Paula said you’d asked for me. She said you wanted me here.”
I look over h
is shoulder and pierce Paula with my eyes. “Well, she lied.” I swing my gaze to Cash. “And even if I did, you don’t just lay one on me like that!”
He just smirks and shakes his head. “Whatever. It was just a kiss.”
Anger causes my blood to heat as I stare into his cocky eyes. “I’m seeing someone. I doubt he would think that it was just a kiss.”
Cash rolls his eyes and turns to Paula. “Okay, I kissed her. I don’t have the patience for this shit right now. I’m going to the hotel to rest.”
Paula nods her head, glaring at me from over his shoulder. “Okay, love. You go. I will deal with Kinsley. We’ll do the photo shoot in the morning.”
I gape at her in disbelief as Cash gets into a limousine, and it pulls out of my tiny driveway. Three photographers and their assistants all move away, packing up their equipment as Paula makes her way up my front steps.
“This is getting ridiculous, Kinsley.”
I fold my arms over my chest and clench my fists, trying to contain my anger. “You got that right. What the hell were you thinking?”
“I’m doing my job, young lady. And if you have any chance in hell of being a star, you would shut up, listen, and do your job too.” She flings her arm back at the driveway. “The publicity that would come from a relationship between you and Cash would rocket both of your records to the top of the charts.”
“Paula, did you ever think of asking me what I might want? Or at least telling me what you’re doing so that I can tell you my opinion?”
Paula snorts and rolls her eyes.
My chest tight with rage, I take a step forward and get right in her face. “You need to leave. I will be talking to Neal about this. I’m dealing with so much right now, and all you care about is exploiting me any way you can to make money. I’m done.”
“I can’t be—”