Beau's Redemption

by Royal Blue

  “Let me get them inside. You mind staying with the car?”

  “No problem. You need help?”

  “Maybe just to get them out,” I say, pursing my lips.

  I don’t want to wake them. They’re probably worn out from all the running around and horseback riding. Angel climbs out, unfastening Billy and plucking her from the car while I get Mas out.

  When I round the car, Angel places Billy on my free shoulder. I balance the two small bodies in my hold easily. He gives me a sexy grin.

  “Kids look good on you” he says.

  “You think?”

  “Yeah. Attractive, real attractive.”

  Chapter 14

  Small Offerings

  Angel

  “Yo, Angel.”

  I turn to find Billy staring up at me with a frown on her little face. I’m amused that she can tell the difference between Andres and me. Most people are still having a hard time if we’re not in our work areas.

  Right now, I’m in Andres’s area, looking at some charts he asked me to bring to his place after work. It would have been easy for her to mistake me for my brother. This kid intrigues me. “Hey, Billy, what’s up?”

  “Where’s your twin?” she demands.

  “His little girl was sick. He had to stay home with her today,” I reply.

  “He has a kid?”

  “Yup, my niece is about your age.”

  “You got kids?” she asks, tilting her head to the side.

  “Not yet.”

  “Where’s Beau?”

  “Not here yet.”

  “Vamos, hombre,” she says. “Qué diablos?”

  I roll my lips. This kid is a tiny adult, I swear. She’s as direct in Spanish as in English. Obviously, she doesn’t appreciate Beau and Andres not being here.

  “Tú hablas español?”

  “Sí.”

  “Okay, I see you, Billy,” I tease.

  “Yeah, not that many people at Savanna’s House speak Spanish.”

  The scowl she’s been wearing deepens. She looks around the gym as if trying to figure something out. She turns back to me with her lips twisted to the side. “You’re from Brooklyn, right?”

  “Born and raised.” I nod.

  “All right,” she replies thoughtfully. “Mason isn’t here either. He had to do wedding stuff or something.”

  “Wedding stuff?” I ask in confusion.

  “Yeah, the two guys that keep us safe and stuff. They’re getting married. Mas asked me to be a guest, but I don’t know,” she says, placing her hands on her hips.

  “That sounds cool. Why don’t you want to go?”

  “One, I’d need a dress.” She counts off on her fingers, making a face like the idea of a dress is something questionable. “Two, it’s going to be fancy and stuff. Three, that’s a lot of people. Mason will be busy with his family….”

  I fill in the blanks. Not for the first time, I notice Billy has trust issues. It breaks my heart that such a small girl already has so much distrust in the world.

  I squat before her to get eye level. “What if I helped you out with the dress?” I offer. “We can ask my niece, Aryanna, for her help. She loves to shop.”

  “Andres’s daughter?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I don’t have any money,” she says softly.

  “It will be my treat. We’ll get shoes and everything. That’s if you want to be Mason’s guest,” I say.

  She looks at me warily. Again I feel an ache in my chest as I watch her eye me with so much caution. However, it’s her words that nearly tear me in two.

  “What do you want?”

  “Not a thing,” I reassure her softly. “Nothing at all. If you want, you can go with Emma instead. I’ll still pay.”

  She chews on her lip for a minute. Something lights up in her eyes. In this moment I wish I had a little girl of my own to look back at me with such hope.

  “I want you to take me with your niece, but only if I decide to go to the wedding. I don’t want you wasting your money. I have one more request, though. You can buy the dress if I can be your assistant in your classes.”

  “You want to be my assistant in my self-defense classes?”

  “Yeah, I won’t get in the way. I just want to watch,” she says. “I can help out, earn my dress, and watch.”

  She wants to learn. I read between the lines, and that’s what I’m getting. She wants to protect herself. I won’t deny her this.

  “All right, kid, you can be my assistant. We’ll make sure all of this is cool with Beau, first, but you have a deal.”

  “Deal.”

  She holds her small hand out, and I wrap it in mine. If I didn’t think it would freak her out, I’d hug her. I vow to make it my business to find out more about Billy. She may not know it, but she just earned a new protector.

  “All right, kid. I’ll talk to Beau as soon as he gets in.”

  “Okay,” she says.

  She turns and looks around the gym again. She goes to stand by the boxing ring to watch a couple of fighters spar. I’m done for the day, but instead of heading to Andres’s for a bit like I planned, I stick around to wait for Beau. We’re supposed to catch that movie tonight.

  I head over to the bleachers and have a seat to observe the fight in the ring. It doesn’t take long before Billy quickly finds her way over and sits in the bleacher just below me. I grin as I see I’ve gained a new friend.

  I’m lost in thought when Beau walks in dressed in a three-piece suit. The navy-colored suit fits him to a T, making his long body look like a piece of art. His hair is blown out, keeping it out of his face. The pompadour style suits him perfectly.

  He looks like he should be in a boardroom or on a magazine cover. Images of peeling him out of that suit fill my head. He looks around the gym, his eyes landing on me.

  “Yo, you going to talk to him now?” Billy says.

  I turn and give her a smile. “Yeah, I’ll talk to him now.”

  “Good, let’s go.”

  I snort and shake my head as she heads down the bleachers in Beau’s direction. She doesn’t even look back to see if I follow. Beau meets us at the bottom of the bleaches, a curious look on his face. I roll my lips to hide my amusement. This should be interesting.

  “Hey, darlin’,” Beau says to Billy.

  “Hey, we need to ask you something,” she says.

  “O… kay.”

  “Billy here wants to be my assistant. We made an agreement. She needs a dress in case she decides to be Mason’s guest for the wedding. I’m going to treat her to it, and in exchange she’s going to help me out and watch the classes.” I make sure to shift my tone for Beau to catch when I say the last part. His eyes light with understanding. He turns to Billy, his gaze sharp.

  “You good with that, Beau? I mean. I’m not sure I’m going to the wedding or anything. Mason invited me, but I don’t know those people, so I might not go anyway, but….”

  “It’s fine, Billy. I’ll be at the wedding. Maybe Angel can come too. You can be my guests, and I’ll make sure you guys can sit together with the family,” Beau says.

  I lift my brows at him. I wasn’t expecting that. I’m not sure how to react. I’m with Billy’s earlier statement. That’s a lot of people. I don’t know what kind of venue it is.

  “I’ll go if he goes,” Billy says, pulling me from my spiraling thoughts.

  Her words are filled with the trust she’s showing me. I’m honored and thrown at the same time. This is the same kid who ignores people if she doesn’t trust them. I’ve watched her do it all the time. Andres has been her person since I’ve started working here. For whatever reason, she’s now extending the courtesy to me.

  Looking down into her expectant, hopeful eyes, I want like hell to go. I don’t know if I’ll handle it well, but I already know I’m going for her. I’ll just figure it out. “When’s the wedding?” I ask.

  “We have two and a half weeks,” Beau says and rolls his eyes. The
n says in explanation, “Our sisters are driving us crazy.”

  “Yeah, I got lucky when my sister got married. I was out of the country until the week of the wedding,” I say.

  “So you’ll go?” Billy asks.

  “Looks like we’ll be going shopping, kid,” I reply.

  “Thanks,” she says with a sage nod.

  “No problem. I hope you’re ready to work. I’ll see you in the next class.”

  “I’ll be here. Don’t worry,” she says. “Emma’s here. Time to go. You’ll take care of getting permission for me to go shopping, right?”

  “I got you covered,” Beau says. “I’ll take care of it.”

  “Thanks, guys.”

  With that she darts off, looking the happiest I’ve seen since I’ve been working here. My heart warms knowing I had something to do with that. I turn to Beau when he clears his throat.

  “Looks like you’ve made a friend,” he says.

  “I think so. I wish I knew more about her life, I have to admit.”

  “Trust me,” he says as a dark look comes over his face. “Not something you want to know. We all read the kids’ intake files to stay in the loop. I’ll just say hers caused me to destroy two heavy bags in one night.”

  “That bad?” I ask, my brows furrowed.

  “Of all of the kids, I want her to find a great permanent home the most. Although I don’t think she’ll trust anyone to take her. Kyle has been adamant that no child leaves unless they want to.” He takes a pause and frowns. “That one’s not leaving. I know it in my gut.”

  “You guys make her feel safe.”

  “That’s the goal.”

  A thoughtful look crosses his face. The orphanage kids that come here mean a lot to him. I’ve picked up on that before.

  It says a lot about him. It’s one of the things I like about him most. Beau has a big heart.

  “You seem to be pretty dressed up for our movie,” I say.

  He groans and runs his hand down his beard. “Shit, our date.”

  “We can go another night,” I offer.

  “No, no. I just came from a meeting. I planned to go home and change. Things ran over, and I needed to pick something up from my office. What time is the movie again?”

  “Not until seven. You have plenty of time,” I reply.

  “Perfect,” he says, reaching to squeeze my forearm. “We can leave for the movie from my place.”

  With a smile he turns and heads for his office. He doesn’t have a clue that his simple touch has left me standing here with my heart racing. I shake my head and grin. He just called this a date.

  Chapter 15

  Undeniable

  Beau

  “Hey,” I call, drawing Angel from his thoughts.

  I don’t know what made me bring him back to my place. I just drove. Our movie turned out to be more eventful than we were hoping for, and not in a good way. Now we’re sitting in the parking garage of my building. The tension rolling off Angel fills the entire car.

  “I tried, right,” he says.

  I reach to cup his face. I hate seeing him like this. I brush my thumb across his stubble-roughened cheek.

  “You did more than try. You’re amazing. I thought you were going to call it quits as soon as you started to feel uncomfortable—”

  “Uncomfortable.” He snorts. “You mean as soon as I started to lose my shit.”

  “However you put it. You braved your way through the movie. That shit took heart and so much more. I have the hand you squeezed the shit out of to prove it.” I grin.

  “Sorry about that,” he says and gives a small laugh.

  “Never be sorry for needing me,” I say before thinking better of it.

  Something changes in his eyes. They darken as they search mine. Slowly I drag my finger across his lips. His tongue peeks out on the second pass.

  “I want to thank you for doing this with me. For being there for me,” he says huskily.

  “You’re welcome. Anytime.”

  “I should probably head home,” he says.

  “You could or… you could stay.”

  “Is that what you want? Be sure. I’m not a casual kind of guy. Because I wanted you, I was willing to make that one exception. Now I want more. I’m not going to lie. It can’t be one night,” he says.

  “You coming up or not?” I say with a grin.

  “Nah, that line ain’t gonna cut it tonight, Beau. I respect you. You’ve done a lot for me. Your friendship means too much to me to step all over it for just one night. Are you ready for more than just a date?”

  I lean in and take his lips in response. It’s a demanding kiss that stakes a claim. I show him who he belongs to. After spending two hours in a theater watching him brave his demons, I can’t find a single excuse for why I shouldn’t take this leap.

  However, I back off and break the kiss because I don’t want to finish this here. I nip his lower lip in promise. The fire in his eyes mirrors what I feel on the inside.

  “I think we’ve been past that a long time ago, don’t you? Just in case I wasn’t clear just now, I want more. Not just one night. Not just one date. Stay,” I say against his lips.

  “I’ll stay, but do you mind if we chill on the rooftop for a bit? I’m still pulling it together.”

  “Anything you need. I actually could use a swim to cool off.”

  He leans in to nip my lip, this time taking as I give. When we groan in unison, we both break away.

  “Yup, that swim sounds about right.” Angel smiles.

  Angel

  I lean back on my palms and look up at the stars as my legs move lazily in the water of the rooftop pool. The night air is just what I need to get my head right. Twenty minutes into the movie, my back was soaked with sweat, and I had the chills. I couldn’t keep my leg from bouncing, and I had a death grip on Beau’s hand.

  None of that had anything to do with the rom-com we watched. Still, Beau had stayed. I owed it to myself. I made a promise to me that I would push through, but he didn’t have to. Oh God, he didn’t stay for that whack-ass movie on the screen. Beau even had to admit it was terrible, and he is a self-proclaimed rom-com lover.

  “Need another beer?” Beau moves to stand beside my legs as he ends a lap in the pool.

  I lower my head to look at him. His hair is wet, and his chiseled upper body is on full display. I reach to retrace the path of a bead of water on his pec.

  “Nah, I’m good. Come here.”

  He shifts to stand between my legs, our eyes locking as I cup his jaw. My hand slides to the back of his neck, and I lean in. Our lips connect, and we ignite the rooftop with the connection that unleashes between us. I groan into the kiss, coaxing his mouth open with my tongue. We start that battle of tongues, teeth, and lips that I’m beginning to learn will be our thing.

  I like knowing that. It calls to something in me. I want to bend him to my will as much as I want to give in to his. I’ve never felt like that with anyone else. It excites and frustrates me because I don’t know which I want more.

  I growl into his mouth when his arms go around my back, and he lifts me from the poolside onto his waist. It’s as if he’s making the decision for me. My back hits the pool wall, but we don’t stop the dance of our mouths.

  Beau begins to grind while I claw down his back, pulling a shiver from him. Looking into his eyes, I bite his lip and pull. He hisses, and I release my hold to give the flesh a soothing lick.

  “I want you so bad,” he says huskily.

  “You better take what you want before I do,” I taunt.

  “I’m a patient man, remember. You can’t rush the best parts of life.”

  I lower my legs and flip our positions, his back to the pool wall, while I press into him. After hooking my fingers in his boxer briefs, I push them down.

  I make sure to make eye contact when I lift Beau to sit on the side of the pool. His face tightens with lust. I know the feeling. Weeks of pent-up sexual tension begins to spill over
.

  Wrapping a hand around his length, I lick my lips. I plan to finish what I started last time. Holding his gaze, I grab his thighs and bring him closer to the edge. When I lower my head and flick out my tongue, his hips lift.

  “Easy, Papi. I haven’t even started.”

  I take in the crown and swirl my tongue. The loud groan that comes from the back of his throat is so deep and delicious, I start to salivate for more of him. When his fingers lock into my hair, what little restraint I had been using goes out of the window.

  “Fuck,” he hisses.

  I pump him with my hand as my head rolls and bobs. My mouth has made him nice and slick for my hand to pass over his silky skin, but that’s not good enough for me. Lifting my head all the way off to spit on him, I do it a second time before stroking him from root to tip.

  “You like that? Tell me how you like that dick sucked,” I say, looking into his half-hooded eyes.

  “Swallow it whole, baby. I want your ass choking on it,” he says in a tone that has me so hard, I think am going to bust right through my boxer briefs.

  He has no idea what he just asked for. I deep-throat him and hollow my cheeks on the way back up. Yeah, I’m cocky as fuck about my head game, but I back that shit up. The look on Beau’s face says it all.

  That’s right. I own this dick now.

  He releases my hair from its band and fists a handful. I continue to suck the soul from his body, becoming his puppet master before his very own eyes. When he pops from my mouth, his mouth opens as if he’s going to call me back to sucking, but I silence that noise. I lick his balls and suck them into my mouth while pumping him. His head drops back, and he curses in that heavy-ass drawl.

  His country ass is sexy as fuck. The way his muscles cord, the flush in his cheeks, it’s all turning me on more.

  “Fuck, I’m coming,” he groans as he grips the side of the pool.

  His hips lift, pumping into my face. I love that he still smells like his body wash, mixed in with his natural scent even after swimming. His grip tightens on my hair, and that first hot rope of his seed coats the back of my throat.