Nodding, I lift one of my hands and wrap my fingers around the side of his neck, then slide them around until my fingers are twisted in the hair at the back of his head.
“You wanna give it a cut?” he asks.
Tugging gently, I shake my head, rising to my toes. My lips are so close to his that I could touch them with very little effort. He doesn’t wait for me to kiss him, he closes the short distance and touches his lips to mine in a soft kiss.
“Never,” I breathe. “I love it like this, it’s more you than some fashionable cut.”
“Thank fuck.” He chuckles. “Love feeling your fingers gripping it. Love the way you run your nails through my beard. Love everything about you, Hutton. Love you,” he mutters against my lips.
My breath hitches at his declaration. I blink, looking up at him, my lips trembling. “I love you, too,” I state.
He laughs softly. “I know, Hutton. Always known, darlin’. It’s why I left. I knew you loved me and I wasn’t in the place to give that to you. I was young, hung up on Chelle’s treatment of me, on my mother’s abandonment, of their betrayal. I was lost.”
“God.” I smile. “You’re so damn cocky.”
He smiles down at me, lowering his head and running his nose alongside mine. “Nothin’ wrong with knowing my girl loves me. Doesn’t mean you need to stop showing me.”
Touching my lips to his, I keep him from speaking. Sliding my tongue inside his mouth, he takes over the kiss almost immediately, controlling and owning me like he always has. Slowly, we break apart, he nips my bottom lip before I take a step back.
“I didn’t love you back then, you know?”
Beaumont tilts his head to the side looking confused and maybe a little hurt. “I thought that I did, but I couldn’t have.”
“Why’s that?” he asks when I don’t elaborate completely.
Smiling, I sink my teeth into my bottom lip. “Because I didn’t know all of you, Beaumont. I only knew what you showed me and I really liked that, but it was all surface. I see you now, the man that you’ve become. The heart that you have and the way you love the people you truly care for.”
“What do you think of me now, then?”
Smiling, I place my hand on his chest, feeling his heart thump beneath my fingertips. “I think that I love you more than I could have ever thought possible. I think that you’ve healed parts of me that I didn’t even know needed mending.”
“Fuck, darlin’ girl.”
Laughing softly, I reach for the bouquet of flowers that are still dangling from his fingertips. Holding them in my hand, I’m not surprised by the weight of them, but maybe a bit by the way he was just nonchalantly holding them to his side.
“Get to work. I’m comin’ by as soon as I get my shit handled. Tonight, you’re comin’ over to my place and you’re never leaving.”
“Never?” I breathe.
He grins. “Never. You’re giving notice and moving in with me. I’m not fuckin’ around. I got you where I want you. You love me and I love you. Not much else to discuss except moving forward.”
“Okay, Beaumont.”
He chuckles, lifting his hand and running his fingers through his hair. “Yeah, see you later.”
Without another word, I watch him walk away from me. His ass encased in tight jeans make me practically swoon in my spot.
Turning around, I make my way inside my shop and open up for the day. I search for a vase in the shop. I don’t have one anywhere, but I do uncover a plastic water pitcher so I fill that up and set the roses inside deciding to display them on the small desk in the front.
“Well, someone apologized.” Laurie chuckles. “What happened?”
I freeze, lifting my gaze to her. When she sees my face, she must realize that it’s much more complicated than she thought. All humor completely disappears.
“Hutton?”
Pinching my eyes closed, I shake my head. “It doesn’t matter. Beaumont and Louis took care of it and today Beaumont is finishing up. He asked me to move in with him,” I whisper.
“Wait. Is he here?”
I nod. She doesn’t reply immediately. Instead, she whips out her phone and I know that she’s looking him up on her celebrity gossip sites. I hear her gasp, but I don’t ask her what’s wrong. I’m not sure that I want to know. He already told me that he fired Brian and his manager. I’m sure the gossip sites are having a field day with that.
“Andi Anderson, she was seen at the Austin airport last night...” She pauses, then lifts her eyes to mine. “Wait, you were supposed to stay at Beaumont’s last night. Was she there?” she hisses.
Shaking my head, I walk over to my salon chair and sink down. “Yeah, I left. She and I got into an argument.”
“About what?” Laurie screeches.
I snort. “About the fact that she was naked in Beaumont’s bed and she’s the one who took pictures and video of us together in California. She threatened to send them to the media. I didn’t want to deal with her, so I went to my PawPaw’s.”
“Shiiiiiit,” she sighs. “Jesus, you call your best friend when stuff like that goes down. What’s wrong with you?”
I can’t help it, I burst out in a giggle. “Sorry, I was a bit pre-occupied.”
“How’d she look naked?”
Rolling my eyes, I open my mouth to tell her when my first client of the day walks in. I mouth to Laurie that I’ll tell her later, then I go about working for the day. Once again, my entire day is full of questions about Beaumont. Except, today, I find that I don’t mind talking about him or us.
This is all real, this life is about us and our future, which seems like it’s going forward—on fast forward.
BEAUMONT
“Well, you don’t fuck around.” Louis points out as I make my way toward the sheriff building’s steps. He’s standing with his back resting against the side of the wall. He’s got a shit-eating smirk on his face and his eyes are dancing.
Shaking my head, I shrug one of my shoulders. “What’s the point in fucking around?” I ask.
“Media is buzzin’ over her being in the Austin airport. Who leaked that?” he asks with a wry look.
“No clue,” I lie.
He chuckles, his green eyes searching mine. “Smart move. Court of public opinion is a lot less lenient than the justice system.”
“It’s the God’s honest truth.”
Together, we walk into the sheriff’s office where my attorney has come all the way from Austin to file the temporary restraining order with the county.
The process doesn’t take long, just a few moments to fill out and file the paperwork with a promise for a hearing soon with a judge. Another reason why I’ll be staying in town for a while.
“You need me for anything else?” my local Austin attorney asks as we make our way outside.
Clearing my throat, I think about the pre-nup that my attorney in Los Angeles suggests I have drawn up, then I shake my head.
I could ask Hutton for one, but she fell for me when I was nothing. She has her own shit going on, I’m not worried about her asking for anything and honest to God, if this shit doesn’t work out in twenty years, she can have half of everything.