The ride from the hotel to my apartment is such a waste of a good limo. By the looks of it, it’s going to take us longer to get out of the parking lot than it is to get to my place. Without a doubt the shortest car ride I’ve ever been on. “That was pretty tame for you, huh?” Turning my gaze away from the limos and town cars lined up trying to get out I find him smiling at me. He really is ridiculously hot. His dark brown hair is longish on top and combed to the side with a bit of a wave. His black suit with the black dress shirt and the tie made to look like red and black flannel is the most masculine thing I’ve ever seen in my life. The moment we got in the car tonight, I couldn’t help myself and had to touch it.

“Tame?”

“Yeah, tame. There were no half-naked girls throwing themselves at you or loud and obnoxious drunken people.” I’m referring to one of the stories Exposé had posted about him just a couple months ago.

“Now don’t go believing everything you read in those magazines, Sugar.” His grin is so Beau. Mischief and heat with way too much bad boy mixed up with a whole lot of country. It should be illegal. That smirk alone will impregnate someone. I’m sure of it.

Shaking off that thought I raise my hands, palms up. “Just callin’ ‘em like I see ‘em.”

“We’ve spent some time together lately…other than my mama, what woman have you seen me with? Talkin’ to?”

“What’s-her-face that I fired.” I look at him pointedly, pissy all over again.

“She doesn’t count, Sugar.” He laughs. I think he likes that I fired her out of what we both know was jealousy.

“The hell she doesn’t, Beau.”

“Okay, fine. Other than her?” His tone is daring.

“We haven’t spent all that much time together, and I don’t know what you’re doing in your free time,” I huff out.

“Not a damn thing other than working the ranch with my brother and dad. Wanna help me fix that, Sug?”

“Oh, now we’re going to nickname a nickname?” I pretend to dislike that he calls me “Sugar” or the now-shortened form of it, but I don’t. I’ve never been called anything other than “Darlin’” by a man friend or other. I won’t be telling Beau that anytime soon, but it’s true.

He shrugs. “You didn’t answer my question.”

There’s a reason. Because the answer is yes. I want to fix that for him. I have myself convinced that the other day when I told him that I didn’t actually dislike him that something changed. Like we’re kind of an us, only not. But kind of. And this is where the whole I-get-too-attached comes in. Groaning inwardly, I school my features.

“The only thing I’m helping with is to keep you out of trouble.”

“I’d rather be getting into trouble with you.” His twang shouldn’t be sexy. I hear it all day. But it is. It’s different. Like his grin, it’s all Beau. And Beau is nothing but trouble. Sexy trouble with a drawl.

Neither one of us even realizes we’ve arrived at my apartment until my door is being opened by the doorman. Before I can react, he’s getting out of the limo and holding out a hand for me to take. I hesitate because I know how his touch makes me feel. Hell, he’s lucky we had an audience out on the dance floor. Every time he ran his fingers up my spine, I wanted to wrap myself around him. Knowing there’s no getting around it, I place my hand in his roughened one and let him pull me gently from the low-slung car. I’m just about to thank him for a nice time and dash into my building and away from him when he entwines our fingers and leads us into the high-rise. Panicked, I blurt, “You are not coming up there with me.” Is that my voice?

“Calm down, Sugar. I’m just walking you in. My mama raised me to be a nice Southern boy, mindful of his manners.” He leans in and whispers against my ear, his breath warm, his mouth brushing the sensitive area, “Unless you want to see how bad I can be?” The words fall from his lips, just dripping in sin.

“I’ve seen how bad you can be,” I chastise as sternly as my breathy voice will allow.

“Oh, you haven’t seen nothin’ yet, Miss Addy Mae. Not a damn thing.” He nods to George, the night security guard who holds the door for us to enter. We make it to the elevators, him like he’s been here a dozen times before and me damn near in a trance. The man has no clue what he does to me. That’s a lie. He knows.

It takes me a second to realize he’s waiting for me since the elevator has no buttons but a key swipe. Fumbling with my pocket book, I take out my key card and swipe, the doors immediately swooshing open. Beau walks forward, guiding me into the mirrored car. I pivot so that I’m facing him. He has one arm extended above him, holding onto the doorframe. The fitted sleeves of his suit bunching and straining against the muscles underneath. I watch as he reaches for me, the scorching warmth of his palm like a brand on my nape, his hazel eyes shot through with green and blue and want and heat as they roam over my face. With a look, he has my heart racing, my breath hitching, and a dampness setting fire to my inner thighs. Slowly, eyes open, pinning me to the spot, he leans into my space. I sway toward his heat and Beau McCrae kisses me…on the cheek. Again. This time not quite as close to my mouth as the first time. I nearly growl in frustration when he straightens and smirks knowingly, taking a step back as the doors slide closed.

“Hot damn,” I murmur to the quiet, sexually charged elevator. “Hot fucking damn.”

* * *

“Scarlet, I don’t know what you’re doing awake, but I can’t talk. I have five minutes to get my behind out of the house.” I spin in a circle looking for my other gym shoe.

“I haven’t talked to you since the other day when you had a hot date with Mister Sexy Singing Cowboy Guy,” she says on a yawn.

“His name is Beau, and it wasn’t a date.” Spotting the shoe and slipping it on, I snatch my Arrows baseball cap off the hook and settle it on my head over my braided pigtails.

“Whatever, tell me everything.”

“There’s nothing to tell. We went to the dinner, we danced some, and then he dropped me off at home.” I stop next to my coffee pot, pouring a huge travel mug knowing she’s never going to drop this. “And he kissed me. Twice. On the damn cheek.”

Scar lets out a whoop but it’s short-lived. “Say what now?”

“On the cheek. Two times. Once in the limo and once when he walked me to the elevator at the end of the night.”

“Did you wear the black dress I told you too? And the red heels?” She sounds so confused. Poor thing.

“I did. And he liked them both. Told me so a couple times.” After blowing on the hot brew, I take a sip.

“That doesn’t make any sense. That dress screamed ‘fuck me.’ You should have been thrown up against the wall at the end of the night.”

A deep sigh slips out, muffled by the coffee I’m trying to burn my damn mouth off with. “I’m pretty sure I would have let him, Scar. I’m way out of my league with him. He’s fancy.” I giggle just saying that out loud.

“I don’t even know what that means, Addy.”

“It just means that I don’t need to get involved with a…a…super star. I might be best friends with famous people and work with them on a daily basis, but I don’t need to be getting involved with one. He’s kind of a big deal.”

“Why the hell does that matter? You’re a big deal. Now shut up and tell me what happened?”

“I did. He gave me a pep talk in the limo because I was nervous about going into the dinner and he kissed me on the cheek. Then again when he walked me to the elevator. I thought for sure he was going to kiss me. Really kiss me. And then he didn’t. Just kissed me on the cheek, and swoosh, he was gone.” My insides are tingling at the memory of that very brief, very hot, and super frustrating moment.

I’m brought back to the present when I hear Scarlet laughing on the other end of the line. “Oh, he’s good. He’s got you right where he wants you. Better ask your daddy to say a prayer for you. You’re about to do a whole lot of sinning in a big way.”

“You’re not even funny. I’m hanging up. I have to pick up him and his brother before I go to the build site.”

“Ohhhh, a brother? Is he hot?”

She’s impossible. “He is.”

“Beau hot or just normal guy hot? It always seems like one brother is way hotter than the other, like all the hot got used up on one of them and there’s not enough left over for the other. Well, except with Law and Judge. They’re equally hot, just differently,” she prattles on thoughtfully.

Laughing, I interrupt. “Bye, Scar.” I don’t give her a chance to respond. I can’t if I ever want to get out of here. Sliding my earbuds in, I turn on the podcast I had been listening to and toss the phone in my purse. On my way out, I remember to grab the cooler bag I packed the night before with snacks and drinks for me and the McCrae boys. I’ve just made it to the parking garage when my phone starts ringing. Pressing the button on my headphones to answer the call, I sigh in exasperation. “Scarlet, I swear. Yes, okay. Yes, they’re equally hot. I’m spending the day with two ridiculously hot men, but I only want to see one of them naked, so there’s that. Happy now?”

“Only if I’m the one you want to see naked?” Beau’s smooth drawl filters over the line.

Oh. My. God. You have got to be kidding me.

“Sugar? You still there?” He’s not laughing, but I can hear it in his voice.

“Sorry. I thought you were Scarlet,” I say as nonchalantly as I can, my embarrassment hot across my cheeks.

“So, am I the one you want to see naked? Or should I be jealous of my little brother? I can totally kick his ass, you know.”

“How do you know I was even talking about you two? Conceited much, Beau?” I snort out a laugh. Please Lord let him believe me.

“Oh? So you’re spending the day with two other hot guys?”

“Did you need something, Beau?”

This time he doesn’t bother to hide his laughter. “Just checking to make sure you were awake and to see if you were still picking us up, Sug.”

“I’m on my way now.”

“We’ll be up at the main house, see you soon.”

He disconnects and I’m left leaning against my Jeep wanting to just head back upstairs to crawl into my bed and stay there for the next three years. Knowing that I can’t do that, I stow the cooler and hop in. I’m just turning onto the road when my phone chirps again. “Lord have mercy, is the whole world awake?” I mutter as I check the caller ID this time. I’m not making that mistake again. “Hey, Daddy. Everything okay?”

“Mornin’ sweetheart. Everything is fine. Is there any way that you can pick up a load of lumber over at Riley’s on your way out here? He was supposed to have it delivered but his boy is under the weather. It’s not a big load.”

“I won’t be able to get it into my Jeep, but I’m sure we can bring Beau’s truck instead.”

“I don’t want to put you out. I can make some calls—”

“No, it’s okay. Let them know we’ll grab it.”

“That’s my girl. Thank you, Addy Mae. Bye.”

“Bye, Daddy.”

Once I hang up with him, I give up on my marketing podcast and flip on the radio. Beau’s song is playing. There’s no way around it, the man is everywhere. Invading my life without even trying. Admitting defeat, I roll the windows down and turn the volume up. Singing loud enough to wake the cows in the fields along the road.