Page 19 of It’s Only Love (Citrus Pines #1)

Christy woke up feeling a little out of sorts.

She lay in bed, refusing to move from the cozy domain.

This was where she belonged now. Closing her eyes, she replayed the memory of her kiss with Dean and ran her fingers over her lips as though she could still feel his there.

Their kiss had seared her, her body still hummed with arousal, ready to pick up where they left off.

Christy had been furious with him, humiliated by him once again, and ready to unleash fiery hell on him.

But the longer she was in his presence, backed up against the wall with his heat enveloping her, his hard, muscular chest against hers, the fuzzier her brain had become.

His closeness and teasing scent had awakened urges in her that she hadn’t felt in so long, if ever.

When he caged her in, he seemed on edge and tension had radiated from him.

If he hadn’t kissed her, she certainly would have kissed him.

But why did he? He didn’t even like her.

She knew what he really thought of her, and he’d rejected her the previous night when she threw herself at him.

He also spent most of last night glaring at her when he wasn’t trying to drive a wedge between her and Beau.

Wait, was that what he was trying to do?

Get her to cheat on Beau and destroy his trust?

Yes! That was it, it all made sense now.

Hurt speared through her chest at the thought of Dean doing such a low thing.

He was already trying to split them up, it was obvious he was prepared to play dirty to do that.

But his kiss had been so convincing. Especially as she felt his arousal, had rubbed up against it, needy and desperate.

She had been desperate for him, the kiss had been raw and carnal, like nothing she ever experienced before.

Beau’s kisses hadn’t been like that. They were sweet, not down and dirty.

It made her question her feelings for Beau.

He was kind, caring, and so beautiful but he didn’t make her heart pound.

Didn’t make her lose her breath when he so much as glanced in her direction.

She reminded herself that was fine because she wasn’t looking for anything more than a bit of fun, though at the same time she didn’t want to lead him on.

At least if we call it quits then Dean will be pleased, and he can stop invading my thoughts, dreams and general life .

Or maybe Dean would tell Beau about what happened and Beau would end it with her first. She couldn’t believe Dean would be that mean, the image so at odds with the man who comforted her so readily, not once but twice.

Maybe that was him easing his guilt? Maybe that’s why he paid for the use of the bar too?

To lull her into a false sense of security.

She shook her head not wanting to think about it anymore.

She forced herself to get up, have a shower and get dressed.

She started to go downstairs but stopped outside her father’s bedroom.

She hadn’t been able to go in there since she came back to town.

Before the funeral it had been because she hadn’t wanted to open up her pain and anger again by looking at his things.

But now, she felt some semblance of peace and wasn’t sure if she was ready to upset that just yet by seeing his belongings.

Would she recognize anything in there? Would the familiar scent of his clothes bring forth any memories?

No, she would leave it for now. She knew she had to go in and clear the room at some point, but she wanted to hold onto that newfound peace a little longer.

In the kitchen she began making a much-needed coffee and heard a knock on the door. When she opened it, she saw Beau on the porch, smiling down at her.

“Morning, gorgeous,” he said, ducking his head and kissing her cheek.

“Hey, you,” she said nervously. Crap, did he know? Is that why he was here? To confront her and end things? Judging from his expression, he didn’t seem very mad.

“I was thinking we could go for a late breakfast and then have a little walk,” he said, coming into the house.

“That sounds great,” she replied.

“Cool, I could drive us to the bar so you can grab your car as well? Then I know a great place that does pancakes, if you’re game?”

Definitely doesn’t know what happened if he’s being this nice .

Maybe spending the day with him and having more time one on one would help solidify her feelings one way or another.

Get to know him a bit more before dismissing the fling potential.

Passion wasn’t everything, right? She liked him, so she would love to keep getting to know him, even if it was just platonic.

“Perfect, let me just grab my purse and shoes,” she said over her shoulder, already hurrying off. She stumbled up the stairs . I really need some coffee . Then rummaged for the right pair of shoes in her suitcases. When she came back down, he was staring intently at the door frame.

“Everything okay?” she asked.

“The door sticks a little. I know you’re selling the place, but I would like to fix this if that’s okay? I don’t want you to have any trouble with it while you’re still here?”

“It was sweet of you to offer to help out last night, but you really don’t need to.”

“No, I don’t mind. I told you I would help out and I meant it. I want to do it. I love that kind of stuff. I’ll come back tomorrow and fix this and look at the rest of the place if you like?”

“I’ll feel bad, you spending all this time helping me,” she whined.

“Don’t be silly, guys love this stuff. Working with their hands, helping out a beautiful woman, you’ll be doing me a favor, trust me,” he said.

After a moment she caved. “That would be amazing, thank you.”

They left the house and Beau drove them to the bar.

“Did you speak to Dean last night at all?” she asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.

Beau turned to her, smiling quizzically. “Yeah? You were there for most of it,” he laughed.

“Oh yeah, I meant afterwards. You know, back at his place? Did you guys sit up all night in your PJs talking about girls?” she teased.

“Pretty much. He’s been telling me about the women he’s been seeing and I, uh, talked about you. ”

“But nothing else?” she pushed, and he stared at her again.

“Did I talk about anything else but you? Not really.”

Relief flooded her, followed by guilt. “I’m sorry, that was rude.”

He shrugged. “Want to know what I said?”

“Sure.”

“That I’m a huge idiot for not asking you out when we were younger.”

She sucked in a breath as her mind flashed back to that afternoon in the school hallway all those years ago. Would he bring up the elephant in the car? No, of course he wouldn’t, it’s not like he would come out and say, yeah, I was into you, but Dean thought you were a boner killer sooo …

Beau continued. “I was young and immature. I was overweight, had zero confidence, and you were so gorgeous there was no way you would have gone out with me.” He rushed out the last part.

And last night, she had kissed his best friend. Even though she and Beau weren’t official it was still a shitty thing to do, she felt like a snake.

“Well, you seem pretty confident now, and much, much older,” she joked. He gave her a mock glare. “And I liked you too,” she finished.

“You did? Well, shit,” he chuckled.

They sat in comfortable silence for the rest of the journey and when they arrived at the bar, he pulled up next to her car. She unbuckled her seatbelt but before she got out, he said, “Oh, and Dean told me about last night by the way, if that’s what you were wondering about.”

Her stomach dropped and she stared at him. “What?”

“Yeah, he said he had too much to drink and that he laid one on you, but you pushed him away.”

“He…he told you about that? ”

“Yep. I chewed him out about it, but we’re cool. It’s not like me and you are official, but he still shouldn’t have done it.”

“Oh, okay,” she mumbled, still in shock, her mind trying to process the information. It was technically true, but she had kissed him back, should she tell Beau that?

“So, I’ll meet you back at yours and we can go for breakfast, I’m starving,” he said, changing the subject.

She nodded and grabbed her purse, getting out of the car.

She got in hers; it took a moment to start up as she hadn’t driven it since before the funeral.

She set off with Beau right behind her and all the way back to the house, her mind was racing.

Dean had told Beau about the kiss. She had expected that, but not that he would take the blame on himself and leave her out of it.

That was the opposite of what she’d thought he would do, and she didn’t understand why.

What kind of game was he playing? It made no sense, and she didn’t trust it.

When she arrived back at the house, she put the incident with Dean out of her mind. She wanted to focus solely on her and Beau today, to see if she could make sense of how she felt about him. She left her car and got back into Beau’s.

“Ready for breakfast, although now it’s probably brunch?” she asked brightly.

“Definitely,” he replied, pulling away from the curb. “You know your exhaust looks like it’s hanging a little low under your car, maybe you should get Dean to take a look?”

She waved a hand dismissively. “I’m sure it’s fine, it’s an old car so that’s probably why it looks so low.”

They spent the day together, talking and laughing through brunchfast and then went for a walk by the lake. They talked and got to know each other better, had a bit of light flirting, and when he dropped her home later that evening, he walked her to the door.

“I’ve had a really nice time with you today,” he said.

She nudged his shoulder as they walked. “Yeah, I did too. Thanks for letting me pay,” she teased.

He snorted. “Are you kidding? I thought you were going to rip my hand off when I reached for my wallet.”