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CECILIA
Beau Brooks is bathed in shades of amber and saffron as we sit on the patio. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was a nice guy. “Who sent you?”
The glass of iced tea hasn’t even touched his lips. We’ve barely been out here for two minutes since deciding to have a civil conversation and I’m already attacking him. He would call this speaking disrespectfully. “Cecilia,” he starts calmly, “can’t a guy enjoy his drink?”
It takes every bone in my body acting together to help me resist the urge to reach forward and knock the iced tea out of his hand. “You wanted to talk, Beau.”
He keeps on sipping until half the glass of tea is down his gullet. It won’t even have time to perspire at this point. Beau sets it down on the table and tosses me a wolfish grin and says, “You wanted a chance to prove that you were different than the rumors I’d heard on the streets.”
My jaw is ticking, I can feel it. “Who told you the rumors? Maybe we should start there.”
Beau clucks his tongue and shakes his head at me. “I don’t think that’s going to get me anywhere. Why don’t you tell me why you started your OnlyFans? Having that information might help me understand you a little better. Don’t you donate to a children’s hospital or something?”
I hate this man. I hate him with every fiber of my being. I don’t care if he’s handsome and rugged and muscular. I don’t care that what he did to me the other day has given me fantasies every night since. I don’t care that I’ve watched our video a dozen times since. I hate him.
I take a deep breath in and tell myself that once I get him off my back, I’ll never have to see him again. I can move on from this ridiculous relationship that was formed from someone’s desire to see me humiliated and embarrassed. I’ll never see the Channing Tatum jawline of Beau Brooks ever again and it’ll be a good life. “My mom wanted me to get a job to give my life some meaning. She said a nonprofit gives you a sense of fulfillment because you’re giving back or whatever. The more I looked into it though, the more I realized how much of a grind it was to work long hours and not make much for the people you were helping out. What?” I stop in the middle of my sentence. “What’s wrong with your face?”
Beau stifles a laugh and it just makes his lips curl up into a smile. “There’s nothing wrong with my face, Cecilia. That’s just how someone looks when they realize that someone’s a genius.”
“Are you making fun of me?”
He actually rolls his eyes. Beau grabs the glass of tea but only takes a small swallow this time. “No. I see where your story is going though. You realized that instead of working hard to make a measly few pennies for those in need, you could work smart and make thousands of dollars for them instead.”
Nobody’s ever called it smart. Honestly, though, I’ve never told anyone why I did it. I might have put in my bio that part of my proceeds were going to a children’s hospital, but nobody questioned me on it. “You’re not like, upset about it or anything?” I don’t need his approval, but I find myself wanting it.
Beau purses his lips and his eyes travel to the iced tea. Suddenly his gaze seems caught by a brick of ice floating in the glass. For a few quiet moments, he ponders my question. “I think you’re a very resourceful girl, Cecilia. You looked at all your options and you chose the one that had the best outcome. I think you had other options that didn’t have payouts that were quite as large, but that’s neither here nor there. Am I upset? No. Your mother told you to get a job and you did. She told you to pick a nonprofit and technically you are supporting one, so I’ll give you credit.” He looks up from his melting ice cube to meet my gaze. “For all intents and purposes, you met the requirements of her request.”
My heart swells. Despite what I might have felt for him when we initially met, I feel excited now. “My mom doesn’t feel that way, you know. Someone told her about what I was doing and she railed at me to take it down.”
His lips part and his thick, pink tongue comes out to slide across the bottom. A knowing little smile tugs at the corners and I get a prickly little feeling that he’s not telling me something. “Your mom just wants to protect you. With the reputation a website like OnlyFans has, I’m sure she was thinking the worst. But from what I can tell, you aren’t nude or performing any questionable acts. At least not until recently.”
Not until he barged into my room, turned me onto my stomach, and blistered my bottom on camera for all to see. “What’s your story, Beau?”
A frown furrows his brow. “Me? I don’t have one.”
As if. “I looked you up, you know. There’s only one Beau Brooks in town.”
He lets out a cute little chuckle and fingers the condensations on the glass. “I guess there is. What did you figure out then?”
I straighten my back, feeling a little peaked by the criticism in his tone. What did he expect me to do? “I know you went to school with my mother. You were on the honor roll in your freshman year.” I don’t know what happened after that. He was mentioned in the graduating class, but that was all. “I know you got in an accident when you were in your thirties, hit by a drunk driver. I know you run a construction company. What I don’t know is how you got involved with me. I figure your ‘in’ must be my mom since you guys went to school together, but you aren’t her type. She barely talks to the help, let alone guys who get their hands dirty. How did a guy like you go to the most prestigious high school and wind up running a construction company? Better yet,” I pause, “how did you wind up in my bedroom the other day?”
Beau leans back in his chair and stretches. “You’re a regular Sherlock Holmes, you know that?”
I preen from the compliment. “Something like that. Answer my question.”
“And you’re bossy,” he shakes his head at me.
“And you’re avoiding the line of questioning. Who are you, Beau? And how did you wind up in my life?”
Beau purses his lips together. “I don’t know if you can handle this just yet. I figured I was going to tell you after we got to know each other a little better.”
I sit up a little taller. My spine is so straight you could use it for a chiropractic demonstration. “Tell me what?”
“I used to date your mother.”
Okay, now we’re getting somewhere.
