Page 20 of It’s Only Love (Citrus Pines #1)

“Ah see, look how well you know me now, I was definitely going to,” she replied, and he barked out a laugh.

As they reached the front door they lapsed into silence.

She felt a bit awkward. Was she supposed to wait or go straight inside?

He took her hand in his and stepped closer, with his other hand he cupped her cheek, stroking it with his thumb and tilted her head back.

He leaned down and covered her mouth lightly with his.

His lips were soft, gently pressing against hers, she opened her mouth to welcome him in and he tasted like mint.

He pulled back and then placed another quick kiss to her mouth.

She opened her eyes and found him looking down at her, a confused expression on his face.

He blanked his features quickly, but she saw it.

“I’ll be back tomorrow, and you can tell me what you want to do to the house,” he said, brushing her hair behind her ear.

The fluffy curls immediately rebelled and popped back out to fall over her cheek.

He squeezed her hand and then left, waving as he drove off.

She sat in the old wicker chair on the porch, staring after him.

Beau was great. Now that she had gotten to know him better, she knew he was witty, smart and genuinely nice, not boring at all like Taylor thought.

But despite all these amazing qualities, his muscles being right at the top of the list, there was still no spark.

There was no heat in his gaze, no lingering touches, no electricity when they accidentally brushed against each other.

His kiss, although very good, hadn’t left her begging for more like it had with De-, she clenched her teeth, cutting off the thought.

Did she want to sleep with Beau? Not really, she didn’t feel any sexual chemistry between them.

It wouldn’t be right to lead him on and when he came by tomorrow, she would tell him straight away and give him the out, so he didn’t help her out of obligation.

She didn’t want him to think she was using him to fix the house.

Heaving a deep sigh, she got up from the chair and went inside.

Although it was still quite early, Christy was bone tired and she went straight to bed in the guest room, ignoring her father’s bedroom again.

The next day when Beau arrived, Christy was a bag of nerves.

She had never broken up with someone before, they usually left her, so she didn’t know the best way to start the conversation.

She didn’t know how Beau felt and didn’t want to hurt him.

She opened the door to him and as usual he smiled down at her and ducked his head to kiss her cheek, but today she felt like he seemed reserved.

She stepped back to let him inside and as he walked past, she looked him over.

He looked gorgeous, his navy t-shirt stretched tight across his rippling muscles, there was no denying it, hell she had eyes!

But while she appreciated his looks, and his ass in those faded blue jeans, there definitely wasn’t a spark. She decided to just jump straight in.

“Can we talk?” she asked, motioning for him to take a seat on the couch.

He looked a bit apprehensive but sat down.

She paced in front of him, wringing her hands, unsure how to start.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

She stopped in front of him and faced him. She decided as painful as this could be, honesty was definitely the way forward if she wanted to salvage any type of friendship with him. She squeezed her eyes shut and blurted out,

“Idon’tthinkweshouldseeeachotherromanticallyanymore.”

After a moment of silence, she cracked open one eye to peer down at him and saw him smothering a grin.

“What?” she asked defensively.

“Nothing, I’m just…is relieved the right word?” he laughed.

She opened her other eye and her shoulders relaxed. “Relieved?”

“Oh, gosh sorry! No, I didn’t mean it like that, it’s just that after last night, we kissed, and...” he trailed off.

She slumped down next to him. “No spark?” she supplied, and he nodded.

“Yep. I really wanted there to be one. You’re a beautiful woman and I’ve had such a crush on you for so long. When I saw you again after nearly fifteen years, I thought it was fate but then we kissed...”

She laughed. “It wasn’t that bad!” she cried, and at his horrified expression she laughed again. “It’s fine, I know what you mean, it wasn’t right. I’m so glad, I was so worried last night.”

“Same,” he said laughing. He stood up and pulled her to her feet and wrapped her in a big hug.

“I do, however, think we could become very good friends. And that’s always a win,” she said, muffled against his chest.

He chuckled. “Sounds good to me.”

When they pulled apart, he started looking around the room.

“You really don’t have to help me with the house, you know,” she said .

“Can I tell you something if you promise not to be mad?” he asked, looking sheepish.

“I guess?”

“It’s me that’s buying the house.” He bit his lip, looking anxious.

“Oh my God, what? That’s amazing!” She threw herself at him for another hug.

“You don’t mind?”

“Why would I mind? It’s perfect! Do what you want with the place.”

“I was hoping you would say that.”

They headed into the kitchen as she fetched them some drinks from the fridge. She tossed him a Coke, and then something occurred to her.

“I bet Dean is so happy,” she said, feeling herself blush like a teenager as she said his name.

“Well, I haven’t actually told anyone else yet. I wanted to wait until it was all confirmed and the sale closed. Do you mind keeping it to yourself for now?”

“Of course, my lips are sealed.”

They went back through the house and out onto the porch to sit in the wicker chairs in the shade.

The warm breeze tickled Christy’s cheeks, the smell of citrus gliding through the air, there for a fleeting moment and then gone.

She listened as he told her of his plans to turn the house and land into a fitness and rehabilitation retreat.

He wanted to get back to helping people with their quality of life rather than just getting a budding starlet to drop a few pounds.

He wanted to help people who had injuries and the elderly, offering physical therapy. His passion as he spoke was infectious.

The more they talked the more he really began to open up and he told her the reason he wanted to move back home.

He loved L.A. but he also saw how detrimental the lifestyle was.

He had been seeing a woman, Tracy, for almost a year, she started out as a client and they began dating.

She became obsessive about her looks, her weight, and demanded he help her lose more and more weight.

He could see what she was doing and refused to help her become unhealthy.

Unfortunately, she had taken it to mean he was no longer interested in her and thought he was seeing someone else behind her back.

She began following him, accusing him of cheating on her constantly with other clients, even the woman who served him coffee every morning.

It became too much, and he decided to end it.

But she must have known what he was planning because when he tried to end it, she attempted to kill herself.

Christy felt sick. “That’s horrific,” she said, putting a hand on his arm.

“Yeah, she locked herself in the bathroom and swallowed a bunch of pills. At first, I thought she was just having a tantrum and locked herself in, but after a while I realized her silence wasn’t right.

” He dropped his head. “I should’ve known what she was doing.

By the time I figured it out and busted down the door, she was unconscious.

I called for an ambulance and managed to bring her around, sticking my fingers down her throat to get her to throw the pills up. ”

Christy began rubbing his arm, trying to comfort him. She could tell from his voice he was still shaken by the incident.

Beau shook his head, frustrated. “I should’ve known. I took too long to figure it out.”

“It wasn’t your fault, she clearly needed help and that isn’t something that you could have provided. At least you managed to bring her around and she’s alive because of you. ”

“But she nearly wasn’t and that was because of me too!”

“No, it was because of her,” Christy replied vehemently. “You’re not responsible for other people’s actions, remember that.”

“She’s tried to contact me a few times since, she wanted to talk but after the incident, I fell out of love with L.A.

and wanted to get away from the toxicity of it.

That’s why I’m moving home. I want to help people.

I’ll always be grateful for the work I did before, it got me the knowledge and the financial stability to be able to do this.

I still want to help people, but in the right way.

” He nodded as if driving his point home.

“That’s also why I want to keep it quiet about the house. I'm worried Tracy will follow me here and I want to get away without her finding out.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep it to myself,” she reassured him.

They fell into comfortable silence and watched the trees blowing in the breeze. After a while he stood up and held out a hand to help her up.

“Wanna show me what you want doing to the house?” he asked.

“Well, what do you want to do? It’s going to be yours soon.”

“I think we’ll just focus on fixing and redecorating for now. I don’t want to do any massive renovations to the house itself, it’s more the land I want to develop.”

She took him around the house and pointed out various areas that needed improvement in every room. He followed her, making notes on his phone. As they went upstairs, they stopped outside her father’s old room. Her heart thudded in her chest as Beau reached for the door handle .

“Wait!” she yelled, and he let go of the handle like it was radioactive. He stared at her.

“I can’t go in there yet. Can we leave that one for now?”

She watched as understanding dawned on him. “Sure thing, have you been in there at all since you came back?”

She shook her head.

“Okay then, it’s off limits,” he said easily, and moved to the room opposite. He rested his hand on the doorknob and paused, looking at her for permission. She nodded and he opened the door and immediately started laughing.

“I guess you were a big fan of the color pink and boybands?” he asked, his tone teasing.

She went into her childhood bedroom and looked around, nostalgia washing over her.

She waited for the sting of pain that usually accompanied the feeling, but this time it wasn’t nearly as sharp as it used to be.

She walked around, looking at her things.

The room was exactly as she left it. Double bed with flower duvet, pink butterfly throw that she had since she was a kid.

Stuffed toys lined up along the bed. Pink curtains, pink rug, and pink wallpaper.

Posters of various boybands lined the walls, the epitome of a teenage girl’s room.

Beau whistled low as he looked about the room. “Man, I’m finally in Christy Lee’s bedroom, the dream of most of the guys at school.”

Christy choked, “What? You’re crazy!”

“Come on, Christy. The boys at school always had such a thing for you,” he said.

She didn’t believe him, no one had ever approached her. She wasn’t one of the slim, beautiful, popular girls. Which was fine because she was herself and there was no one else she would rather be .

“Well, not everyone,” she muttered, Dean’s face flashing through her mind.

Beau faced her and folded his arms over his impressive chest, raising an eyebrow at her. “Anyone in particular you’re thinking of?”

She turned away before he saw the blush creeping over her cheeks. She shook her head and started to leave the room.

“Remember Christy, boys are stupid and just because they’re mean, that doesn’t mean they don’t like you,” he said, as though he knew where her mind had wandered as she replayed that scene. He walked past her and went off down the hall, leaving her staring after him.

They finished inside and went outside to look at the land around the house. It didn’t need quite as much doing to it. Just a lot of weeding; the trees and bushes needed pruning, and the grass definitely needed to be cut.

Once they finished, she realized it was actually getting quite late.

She was due to spend the evening with Taylor and Justine, and Beau was off to meet Dean for dinner.

They said goodbye with Beau promising to come back the next day to start work on the house.

As he left, he kissed her on the cheek in an affectionate brotherly way, and she felt lighter than she had in a while.