True
P.S. There are wings and other goodies in the kitchen.
He was welcome? For fucking what? He walked into the studio, now wanting to blow out the candles before he was in a fire while locked in here.
He’d rounded the corner and entered the door he’d seen open before True left. It was useless to mutter under his breath, but he did it anyway, just because he damn well could. True had all the lights on a remote control he would have to freaking find in a room that was probably as cluttered as she usually had everything. He could just go around blowing out all the candles, but then he’d be in the dark in this big-ass room that had no windows. He’d probably break all kinds of shit just trying to find the bed.
Irritated. That’s what he was.
What kind of payback was this? Anytime True needed something, he would do it with no questions, but when he needed someone to drive with him to the bartender competition last year, they’d had to leave at 4:30 am and they were gone for three days. She didn’t mind the competition, but waking up before five in the morning was something she said no artist should have to do, and then she said he owed her. No problem. It wasn’t like he didn’t do whatever she wanted in the first place. All of the Haught brothers thought the world of her, and if he couldn’t help her, one of the other brothers would have jumped in. He didn’t think she’d have asked him to miss the best part of his brother’s bachelor party for a solitary night in a room created to make a guy think sexy thoughts with a box of his ex-fiancée’s…er…ex-girlfriend’s lingerie.
“True? Have mercy. That took forever. Are you ready now?” The voice came from the center of the room, and it hit him like a physical punch. He hoped it was that Adios Motherfucker he drank, because the voice that he let himself remember as he stroked his cock at night seemed to be filling his ears at this moment. That just wasn’t possible.
He turned his head slowly, wishing with all his heart that what he thought was happening was actually happening, and hoping almost as hard that it wasn’t. Adjusting his eyes in the dim room was difficult, but when his focus sharpened, he could barely recall how to breathe, because sitting on the bed like his very favorite wet dream was the woman who owned him heart and soul. She had on pink boy shorts, and a…was that… his white linen shirt? Damn. Here sat the woman he gave up, so she could globe trot around the world and make her dreams—dreams she was going to give up if he’d have allowed it—come true. The breath he was holding was starting to burn. When he finally exhaled, it was so loud in the quiet room it sounded like dust should have been expelled with it.
“Karessa?” His voice sounded like he’d not talked in ages. This wasn’t how he thought their first meeting would go. He thought he’d be able to see her, say a few things, and then move to a neutral corner of the room away from her. True, Gemmi and Camden had all told him they weren’t sure if she’d be able to come to the wedding, but the women of the bridal party were so excited to get lingerie that Karessa had made exclusively for this event. She’d made it just for Camden and his bride…even named it the Haught Line. Not that Beau had asked, because when it came to this woman he’d never asked any questions. The info he’d received about her was from the media or came unsolicited from friends and family. He didn’t feel like he really deserved any intel, but that didn’t stop him from soaking up every piece of Karessa information that someone spilled.
“Beau?” She turned her head this way and that. Her brow was furrowed like the prospect of it actually being him was impossible. It was then he noticed she was blindfolded. He walked over to the bed to find her hands tied behind her back and attached to the headboard. What the hell was going on?
“Yes, it’s me.”
“One hundred percent,” she said loudly, and the lights of the room came up full blast.
“Let me guess. True has the lights set to voice control now?” Beau looked at Karessa in the full light and held back the groan that felt like it was fighting to get out. “Why are you tied up and blindfolded?”
“True told me she had an idea for the last few pictures. She tied me up and told me to wait right here. It seems like I’ve been here forever.” She giggled. He remembered how she’d always done that when she was really nervous. He’d seen the sleek, confident woman on television for the last few years and almost forgotten she had one of the cutest nervous habits he’d ever witnessed.
“It looks as if True has pulled a fast one on us both. She locked us in here with snacks and said she’d be back tomorrow morning.” Beau just stood there drinking in her beauty and hoping he’d be able to get through this without embarrassing both of them.
She gasped, and his body tightened at that sound. That was the exact same noise she made when he entered her and his cock lengthened and thickened like it hoped what usually followed that noise would happen again and again. She barely had on any clothing, and what she did have on was draped in a way that made him want a strong breeze to flow into the room.
“Could you untie me?” she said in a small voice that reminded him of how much she hated to ask anyone for anything.
He stared at her and wasn’t sure he could touch her and keep his composure. It was slipping fast. Her aroma filled the air, and she smelled as sweet as she always did.
Concentrate on the task at hand.
The way she was bound, there was no way to untie her without wrapping his arms around her. “Fuck.” He really hadn’t meant to say that out loud, but he was just so off-kilter. He wouldn’t have thought the whole damsel-in-distress thing would have him so discombobulated. That was his brother Camden’s deal, before the man had met his fiancée. It had never been Beau’s thing. He liked independent woman who knew what they wanted and took it without abandon.
Karessa looked so beautiful as she sat and waited for him.
“I know. You’ll actually have to touch me.” She sounded slightly offended, and after his outburst, he could see why.
“Touching you has never been a problem I just…” What could he say? Touching your skin may be more than I can take? Looking at you laying there with your skin flushed pink and your breathing pattern a bit altered is making most of the blood that would normally fill my brain and allow it to function properly, now fill my cock? That information probably wouldn’t make this situation any better, so he decided to keep it to himself.
“Beau?” Her breathy voice made his cock even harder.
He froze and hoped he could get his body to calm down. Beau cleared his throat to give him a minute to get his thoughts and words together. After a few seconds he realized that breathing in her scent and listening to her breathing wasn’t going to get him calm, no matter how long he tried to settle himself. Taking a deep breath, he tried to explain what he was doing. “I was just trying to figure out how to free you without molesting you too much.”
“Don’t worry about what you have to touch to get the job done. I’ll give you a pass. This should be short work for you. You never had any problem setting me free.”
The sadness in her voice weakened the erection he’d thought was going to beat down his zipper, and the elephant that was sitting quietly in the room trampled all over his heart. Beau had to see her eyes. Maybe if she could look at him, she’d see that this was just as hard for him as it was for her. Untying the blindfold from behind her head, he took time to caress the silky strands of the thick, black hair that wrapped around his fingers as he gently pulled the knot from the fabric. When she was released from the darkness, she blinked a few times and peered up at him.
“Hello, beautiful,” he said, and then wanted to recall those words immediately. That’s what he’d always said to her when she woke up. He couldn’t count the times he’d woken up before her or had stayed up after she fell asleep and just watched her slumber. She’d always thought he was such a prize, but little did she know that he was the big winner when it came to them being a couple.
She didn’t smile the way she used to, but he could see she was affected by his words
. Her shallow breaths and wide eyes belied the calm he could see she was trying to display. That shouldn’t make him happy, but damn…it sure did.
He reached behind her from the side, trying to get a grip on the rope that bound her to the bed, but he was barely able to work his hand down into such a tight space. Taking another deep breath, he wrapped his other arm around her and was able to feel the intricately tied knot. What the hell? The silky rope was pulled into one huge, tight ball. Karessa turned her head to the side, and his face rested on her neck while her hair fell across his cheek.
“What?” she asked.
“I didn’t say anything,” he said through gritted teeth.
“No, you didn’t, but you’re growling.” She sounded amused, and he was happy that one of them found this funny, because he was going to need a trip to the ER for both the scrapes on his hands and blue balls.
“This knot is just so tight it’s hard to get it apart. How long did it take for True to do this?” He knew he was speaking through his teeth, but he was getting more and more frustrated as her sexy lavender scent filled his senses.
“Not long. It was partially done when I put my hands into it. She just pulled on one of the ends, and it was done.” She was facing away from him, but every time she said something her jaw would move against his face. That shouldn’t be sexy at all, but even Karessa clipping her fingernails made his body hop to attention.
This knot wasn’t coming apart. He had to get closer and bend down a little more to get a better grip on the fabric. Scraping his hands on the wall and trying to fit them behind the large brass headboard was painful as hell, and he would have thought his cock would at least take notice that this wasn’t time to fuck, but there it throbbed as it waited for something that wasn’t coming. He looked up to see how Karessa was faring, and her mouth formed a perfect circle. She usually did that when…he looked down. He’d been rubbing his cheek against her nipple, a hot spot for her and a favorite spot for him.
He gave up trying to pick the knot apart. Jumping away from the bed, he really scraped the sides of the hands and hurt one of his wrists, but he didn’t know what else to do. At least he’d released her without having done something he should apologize for, but now he needed to find something to cut that fabric while he could still think. It seemed like all the blood had rushed to his cock, and he feared that very-loved part of him may actually explode.
Looking around the room, he saw something shiny on the desk. Scissors and a note.
Here you go, Beau. Don’t blow this.
What the entire hell? He went back taking deep breaths on his short walk back to the beautiful vision he’d missed so much more than he’d ever admit aloud.
“Did you find the scissors?” Karessa said, looking at him expectantly.
“Yes. Did you know she left them for me?”
“I didn’t know they were for you, but she did tell me the scissors were there.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that?”
She looked away, like she could only look at him for short periods of time. He remembered when she would follow him around with her eyes all day, but that was just one more thing he could chalk up to what he’d done to her. “I was shocked to see you. It’s been a few years.”
“Eight,” he said with more bite than he’d intended.
“What?”
“You haven’t seen me in eight years.” That came out better. Matter of fact…no emotion…no theatrics.
She nodded and looked anywhere but at him. He made quick work of slipping the scissors between the fabric and her skin, and then he checked to make sure that none of her skin would be damaged or cut when he closed the sharp metal knives that would set her free. The noise of the scissors sliced through the air, sounding like a guillotine, but at least it was over.
“There you go,” he said, hoping the relief he felt wasn’t in his voice.
“My hero.” She sounded even more snarky and sarcastic. Damn. It was hard to believe how much that turned him on.
“Anytime,” he said as he buttoned up her—his—shirt. He drew out every slip of the button through the hole, because he didn’t want this quiet moment to end, and he didn’t want to move away from her. The weight of her gaze was so heavy he swore he could actually feel it, so he looked up to see if he should back off. She was studying him, but she’d gotten better at hiding what she was feeling. The young woman he remembered had every emotion displayed on her face like a movie projector. He missed how easily he could read her. Fastening up the next to last button he took a breath, knowing there was no reason to stay this close to her. “I heard that there is food in the kitchen. Let’s grab a bite and talk.”
“Talk? Now you want to talk? After all this time?” When he only blinked back at her, Karessa rolled her eyes. “You never once looked me up, came to see me when I visited home or returned any of my letters.”
He wasn’t even sure he had the words for this. He’d done it for her. If he’d told her then what he was doing, she wouldn’t have allowed it. And she would have grown to resent him…eventually. So he’d taken the hard route and made her hate him, so she could get the life she’d always wanted. He wouldn’t be sorry, because she’d done it…she made it, and he was so damned proud of her.
He turned toward the kitchen and noticed then that the flickering flames weren’t candles, but little lights that looked like candles. “Let’s just eat, and if you don’t want to talk to me, then I can just look at you.” Beau knew his words were going to cause a problem as soon as they left his mouth. He wanted to laugh, because he’d always thought he was pretty good at flirting and conversation, but apparently when he was talking to this particular woman, things came out sounding like lines from a cheesy porn movie.
“Don’t try to sweet talk me, Mr. I’m-Such-a-Sexy-Playboy.”
“Karessa, I’m not trying to sweet talk you. I just want to feed you.” He walked to the kitchen knowing the woman she was would have followed him. He had to believe that person was still in there.
“I’m not the poor little girl you have to look out for anymore, the one you had to make sure had something to eat because her mother was too drunk to care. You gave up that gig years ago, and I take care of myself…but thanks.” He could tell she’d not moved from the spot where he’d left her, but he continued walking to the kitchen.
Beau set about getting them fed. At least if they were eating, he wouldn’t have room to put his foot in his mouth. There was enough food for at least six people. He got out some water for Karessa and a beer for himself. True would have made sure both of them had their favorite food and drink. She could be flighty sometimes, but when it came to knowing what her friends liked, she knew every detail. He fixed a plate for himself and for Karessa, then he leaned against the sink while waiting for her to come in.
She made him wait much longer than she usually did.
He didn’t call out to her because he knew she was angry. She had every right to be. A few minutes later, she walked in wearing his buttoned-up shirt and panties, looking as regal as she had when she accepted the Parisian Pleasures award this year for the best and most elegant undergarments of the year…for the second time in three years.
She sat down where he’d set her plate and appeared to be confused. “Thank you for making me a plate.”
“You’re welcome.”
She took a few deep breaths, and he could almost see her trying to pull herself together. “I apologize. I don’t know what I’m all worked up about. What we had was over a long time ago..” She didn’t look at him, so he couldn’t really tell what was going on in her mind, but he figured he’d just play along until he knew what she was about.
“That’s understandable,” he said sitting down across from her, trying to stay quiet but wanting her to know that he was involved in the conversation.
“I was young when I was last with you. I’m sure I’d blown up our attraction and sexual chemistry way out of proportion. Now that I’ve seen you, I know we
can get through this wedding and get back to ignoring each other.”
Like a red flag before a bull, her words seemed to wave and taunt. “What do you mean by that?”
“Nothing. I was just saying that we should be fine now that we’ve greeted each other and the first shock is over. We can enjoy the wedding like civilized people.”
He should be happy with that. They weren’t going to dredge up the past. She was going to continue to run her wildly successful, huge-fish-in-a-big-pond company while he poured drinks in his little swamp of the world. He should be happy, but he wasn’t.
The flavorful wings had just the right amount of spice and heat. They should be, since this was his recipe. True always got a kick out of him liking his wings better than any others.
“You make great wings, Beau.” She licked her fingers clean of the barbeque sauce, and Beau tried to keep himself focused on what she was saying instead of her pink tongue drawing her fingers into her mouth, one by one, and sucking them clean.
“How did you know they were mine?” He cleared his throat and followed up with a deep swig of his beer.
“I know True. She would have both of our favorites on hand, and I know how much you love the flavor you created. It won in the Wild Wing Off a while ago.” She looked pretty smug about knowing that, and he’d give her points for the surprise, because that genuinely shocked him.
“How did you know about that?”
She shrugged. “Sometimes I ask questions.”
He started to open his mouth.
“Don’t bother. I already know you don’t ask about me…you don’t mention me. I’m surprised you remember me at all.” The sadness filled her eyes again just as a self-deprecating giggle left her lips, and his heart felt like it cramped up just a little.
Haught & Bothered: Haught Brothers Book 3 Page 18