Chapter Two

 

Beau

Voices, like annoying little birds chirping and twittering right outside my door, wake me from the best dream. One where Addy was riding my face like my brother rides bulls. Okay, maybe not like that. Damn it. Now I’m awake, and no longer hot and bothered. At least that thought helped with the morning hard-on. With a groan, I roll over and throw the covers off the bed.

Scrubbing a hand down my face, I pick up my phone to see what the hell time it is. Seven. It’s seven in the morning, and we’ve already got company? I mean, I know that this is a ranch and we are early to rise, but damn.

“Might as well get this over with,” I mumble to my empty room, as I make my way to the shower. After washing the sleep and the smell of sex off of me, I dress quickly in a pair of jeans and a black shirt. My “ranch uniform,” as Addy likes to call it.

“Mornin’ ladies,” I drawl, as I walk into the living room.

“Good morning, Beau,” the girls croon in a sing song cadence. Addy stands and comes around the couch to greet me. Even this early, she looks stunning. Hazel eyes flashing, long legs bared by the shorts she might as well not be wearing. Her long hair is pulled up in a ponytail, leaving her neck and shoulders exposed.

“Did we wake you?” she asks sheepishly.

“Kind of early for girls’ night, isn’t it?” I joke, as I dip my head to place a kiss on the side of her neck.

“We were just sending her in there to wake you up anyway,” Addy’s friend Scarlet says, her arm draped over the back of the leather couch. The woman is gorgeous, a former model covered in tattoos; her short hair is a soft pink this week. She’s a striking contrast to the other two beautiful women in the room. All vastly different.

“Oh? Was she gonna wake me up in a special type of way, or just with a little shake?” Scarlet is ‘bold as you please,’ and I always look forward to what she might say or do. She’s been known to make me blush a time or two.

“Well now, if she listened to me, she would have woken you up with your dic—”

“Okay now. Good to see you again, Beau,” Willow, Scarlet’s sister-in-law, and Addy’s oldest friend, interrupts.

“Mornin’, Willow.” I can’t help but smile. Engaged to Stone Lockhart, notorious bad boy and one of the greatest rock stars of all time—and also Scarlet’s brother—you would think that nothing would phase her, and yet her sister-in-law gets her all aflutter every time they’re together. I think Scar does it on purpose. No; I know she must, when she winks at me.

“Sorry if we woke you. We tried to be quiet. We’ve just come for your girl,” Willow says sweetly, her eyes narrowed at her sister-in-law.

“Come for Addy?” I look at her, confused.

“I told you on the phone the other day that we had an appointment at the spa in Austin today,” Addy reminds me, tucking herself into my side.

“That’s right. Okay then, ya’ll have fun and I’ll see you tonight.”

“You didn’t tell him the rest, did you?” Willow accuses.

“Tell me what?” Addy looks guilty as hell.

Scarlet laughs. “You’re such a pussy, Addy Mae.” Her crass language doesn’t even phase me; I’ve come to expect it.

“Am not!”

“Are too.”

Eyes fixed on Addy, I wait for them to stop bickering, just in case it starts a cat fight. Hey, a man could dream.

“You getting cold feet and running away?” I laugh, knowing that isn’t the case.

“God, no!” She rushes to reassure me. “Apparently, we have to spend the night before the wedding apart,” Addy says hesitantly.

My brows creased in confusion, I blurt, “Why the hell would we do that?”

“Calm down, Cowboy. You’ll get her back tomorrow. Until death do you part,” Scarlet chides.

I glance at the two girls on the couch to see if they’re messing with me. They’re not. Well, damn.

“Don’t worry, Beau. We’ll take good care of her, I promise,” Willow vows. From her, I believe it. Not that I think these ladies are gonna do anything that might get them arrested or anything. Then again…

“Am I supposed to be doing anything for tomorrow?” Surely, there’s shit to do. We’re getting married. Weren’t brides supposed to turn into God-awful lunatics? Addy Mae is relaxed and hasn’t gone into a fit once since she started planning.

“No, sir. Just be sure to show up at the church tomorrow, ready to marry me.” Raising on tiptoes, she presses her tits into my arm, and a kiss to my stubbled cheek. “And don’t you even think about shaving,” she whispers against my lips before she kisses me goodbye.

My feet are rooted to the floor and now my dick is hard. “Well, fuck,” I grumble, as I watch them file out the door.

* * *

“Mama!” Careful not to let the screen door slam behind me, I come through the mudroom into the kitchen.

“Hey, baby. Welcome home,” she says, drying her hands and offering me a cheek.

With a smile, I press a kiss to that offered cheek. “Good to be home. It felt like much longer than three days, that’s for sure. I must be getting old.” Slipping into the chair at the counter, I take the cup of coffee she hands me.

“You bite your tongue. If you’re old, then that makes me older.” She tsks. “That’s what having a good woman at home waiting on you will do. Your daddy never does like to leave home for more than a day or two. Says he can’t stand to be away.” My mama looks pleased over that, her face tinted a pretty pink.

“Smart man.”

“That he is. But you didn’t come here to talk about me and your daddy.”

“Just wanted to make sure there was nothing I needed to be doing for the wedding. Addy Mae says everything is under control, and all she needs is for me to show up. Seems too easy,” I tell her, shrugging.

“Since when don’t you like easy?” comes a voice from the mudroom. My brother Sealy comes into the kitchen, hanging his straw cowboy hat on the peg by the door. Mama hands him a cup of coffee with a reproachful look.

“Now, Sealy. Leave your brother alone. Tomorrow is a big day. He’s just nervous, is all.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He sits next to me, jostling me with his elbow, nearly making me spill my coffee.

“I’m not nervous. I thought I would be, but I’m ready. Been ready, truth be told. Feel like I’ve been waiting forever to change her name.”

“It’s only been a few months,” my little brother says in confusion.

“Boy, when you spend half your life running from all the wrong relationships and finally fall into the right one…seems like a damn eternity.”

“Language,” my mama scolds.

“I’m about to be a married man, surely I can cuss a little.”

“Not in my house, you can’t.” Her tone is firm, making my brother and I laugh. Never did I meet a woman as stubborn as Jolynn McCrae. She raised us to be good, God-fearing men, though I feared Mama more than anyone else.

“You boys have your suits?” she asks, leaning on the counter in front of us. We nod, and she smiles happily. “My boy’s getting married. I can’t believe it.”

The tears are sure to be coming soon. Before they do, I slap my brother on his back, making him spill his coffee this time. “I’m going to make sure everything is good in the barn then. I saw them bringing the tables down on my way here.”

Sealy scrambles to follow—don’t nobody wanna see Mama cry. “I’ll come with. You could probably use some help on your vows anyways,” he calls over his shoulder, as he beats me out the door.

“Like hell, you little shit!” I holler after him.

“Language, Beau!”

Even on the verge of tears, the woman is relentless.