Page 17 of It’s Only Love (Citrus Pines #1)

“I can help too,” Beau added.

“Oh, both of you, that’s really sweet but-” she started but Dean interrupted.

“It’s no problem, I want to help you.”

She studied him again, but his features were schooled. What was his angle here?

Beau nodded in agreement with Dean, and she felt like she couldn’t protest without seeming unreasonable.

“That’s very nice of you, thank you,” she said reluctantly.

“No problem, we’re nice guys you know, just give us a chance,” Beau joked, and Christy saw Taylor roll her eyes.

They chatted a bit more about small town life, the bar, the people and the scandals.

Dean made them laugh with stories of the pranks he pulled on Taylor over the years.

Christy listened with rapt attention, being a huge fan of pranks herself.

Every time they all laughed, she met his eyes and felt a connection bouncing between them, deepening.

More drinks came and soon she felt a warm buzz descending and everything was a little bit funnier than it had been earlier.

Until Taylor mentioned that the previous town sheriff died not too long ago, and a replacement would probably be appointed soon.

Christy knew he had been married to Rebelle and realized she hadn’t shown up at the bar the other night as agreed.

She was sad, not only that Rebelle hadn’t come, but that Christy hadn’t noticed either.

She vowed to make more effort to reach out to her, especially if her husband recently passed away, she must be going through such a tough time.

“So, tell me, have you two done it yet?” Taylor asked mischievously.

Beau choked on his drink.

“Done what?” Christy asked.

“You know… it !”

Christy blushed as she realized what she meant. “Taylor!” she scolded, embarrassed to have been asked, especially in front of Dean. Guilt about last night hit her once more.

“What? We’re all friends here!”

“I don’t think we...” Beau started, but Taylor interrupted him.

“Oh, come on, it’s surely just a yes or no kinda answer?”

“It’s not something to discuss in polite conversation,” Beau replied, sounding uncomfortable and putting an arm around Christy’s shoulders protectively.

“Come on, Christy, woman to woman? Is he a dud as I suspect?” Taylor joked.

“That’s enough, Taylor,” Dean said, steel coating his words.

Christy flicked her eyes to him, and his eyes no longer looked alive, they were cold, hard, and unfriendly.

She realized then that Dean would never want her and Beau to be together.

He had an issue with it from the start and now the thought of them getting closer made him angry.

He still thought Beau was too good for her.

Well, fuck him!

Christy put her hand on Beau’s firm thigh. “We’ll just have to see what happens tonight,” she replied, squeezing Beau’s leg. She leveled a hard stare at Dean, challenge accepted . His eyes flashed, burning anew. He opened his mouth to reply, but the waiter turned up with their food.

As they ate the general chit chat from before resumed, Taylor and Beau sniping at each other occasionally. As Dean watched her with his hardened stare, she could tell he was plotting something, his expression was too contemplative.

“Say, Beau,” Dean said. “Someone called Cassandra rang the house for you earlier.” His tone was so calm and conversational that Christy watched him suspiciously. She felt Beau tense beside her.

“Is she one of your girlfriends from the city?” Dean continued. Aaaand there it is .

“As if you still have a house phone,” Taylor mocked.

“What? No, she’s uh, a client,” Beau replied, and Christy knew he was lying.

“So, not one of your many girlfriends from the city then?” Dean asked with a hard glint in his eye.

Beau shook his head. “Nope.”

“Oh, okay. I know you were seeing a few women before, so I wasn't sure,” Dean said with a smug grin.

“I wasn’t seeing that many!” Beau replied hotly.

Dean chuckled. “Come on man, no need to be shy. We all know you’re a ladies’ man. I used to love hearing about all your conquests. Wasn’t there this one time with a set of famous twins... ”

Taylor nudged him. “Dude, shut up!” she hissed theatrically.

It was Christy’s turn to raise an eyebrow at Dean. You wanna try and psych me out by talking about all his girlfriends? Go ahead buddy, we all have a past .

After a moment, the conversation started again with Beau telling stories of ridiculous things his clients did. Taylor was talking about all the new music acts she signed up and said that Justine was singing again next Saturday.

“If you’re sticking around a bit longer, you’ll be able to come?” Taylor asked and the hope in her voice made Christy’s heart squeeze.

“Yeah, sounds great.”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Beau and Dean chorused.

Desserts came and went, and coffees were ordered.

She watched the camaraderie between Dean and Taylor, they were adorable.

As she watched them tease each other she was grateful that Taylor had him, she’d worried about leaving Taylor alone all those years ago.

She felt herself beginning to soften towards Dean as she thought about all the ways he would have looked out for Taylor and protected her .

No, don’t soften now, his behavior earlier was appalling.

She was so confused, her mind warring with her emotions.

When the check finally came, she leaned over to Beau and whispered, “Don’t even reach for that wallet of yours, you said I could pay for the next one.” Beau started to protest as she reached out to snag the check, but Dean snatched it up first.

“My idea, my treat,” he said, not even glancing at the slip of paper.

She mentally worked out the total in preparation for paying.

She wasn’t by any means a snob, but Dean was the manager of a garage in a small town.

He couldn’t be making enough money that he could cover their total bill on a whim. Beau tried to take it off him.

“Pretty sure this was my idea, buddy,” he said, but Dean held it out of reach.

“No way, I’m going in,” Dean said, getting up and heading inside the restaurant. Beau followed him and they squabbled as they went.

When they disappeared inside, Christy eyed Taylor. “What’s the deal with you and Beau?”

“There’s no deal. I should be asking you that,” Taylor replied, shifting nervously.

“You used to be such good friends and now you can’t stand each other. What happened?” she prodded again.

“Nothing happened. People change and grow apart, it’s no biggie.” Taylor avoided her eyes.

“He’s certainly changed. Are you okay with me seeing him?”

“What? Of course, I’m not jealous !” Taylor scoffed.

“I didn’t say you were. I just meant if you don’t like him, are you okay with me seeing him?”

“Of course, babe! You do you, just don’t expect it to be an exciting affair.”

“Oh my God, he’s so not boring!” Christy cried.

“Well, he certainly ain’t exciting!” Taylor shot back.

“Just because he’s well-groomed, has manners, communicates with words instead of grunts, and doesn’t ride a motorcycle like all your other boyfriends, doesn’t mean he’s not interesting.”

“Eh.” Taylor shrugged, and Christy laughed at her.

The men returned.

“We were thinking we could head back to the bar for a drink or two? It’s still pretty early,” Beau said, helping Christy to her feet.

“Yeah, sounds great, if that’s okay with you, Taylor, as it’s technically your night off. Do you want to go to work for socializing?” Christy asked.

Dean snorted as he helped Taylor up. “Can’t keep her away normally,” he said.

“Yeah, that’s cool with me, it's been at least a day since I whipped your ass at pool,” Taylor teased him. Dean gestured for Christy and Beau to lead the way, Beau took her hand and started walking ahead. She followed Beau but felt heat at her back.

“Will be interesting to see what we’re all like with some more drinks in us,” Dean whispered softly, warm breath fanning her ear and a tremor quivered through her.

She gasped and looked over her shoulder, but Dean was busy talking to Taylor.

She thought she was hearing things but then he looked at her and winked, a sly smile playing across his lips.

She narrowed her eyes at him. He was just trying to get in her head. Well, she wasn’t going to let him.

On the drive back to the bar she noticed Beau kept glancing over at her.

“Everything okay?” she asked when he did it for the fifth time.

“Just, that stuff Dean was saying, it’s not true. I don’t even know why he brought it up. I really don’t do this...go out with loads of women. I don’t have much experience. I mean, I am experienced, just not as much as he made out. God, I’m making this worse,” he groaned, and she laughed.

“It’s fine, it doesn’t bother me.” Why would she be bothered, she didn’t care how many women he’d been with as she wasn’t looking for anything serious. He seemed to relax a bit.

“I just don’t know why he would say that is all.”

I do , she thought. “Maybe he thought he was being funny or just teasing you.”

“Yeah, maybe. He is a funny guy, he’s a great guy actually, never met anyone better than Dean. I tried to pay for dinner, but he wouldn’t let me, he’s too kind sometimes. I can’t complain I guess, that’s paid off for me in the past. I honestly don’t know where I would be without him.”

“What makes you say that?” she asked, puzzled, suddenly desperate to hear the end of that story.

“Ah, we’re here. They beat us back,” he said, ignoring her question.

Inside the bar it was busy again, being a Saturday night, but that was no surprise. There were lots of couples sitting and chatting or dancing to the music blaring from the jukebox. Christy spotted Taylor at the bar and led Beau over.

“Dean went to the bathroom, but he’s ordered you a root beer,” Taylor said to Beau and then turned away sharply, dismissing him.

“I’m gonna go choose some songs, anything you wanna hear?” Beau asked. Christy shook her head.