I drew away so I could suck in the air that seemed to be leaving my body in harsh pants, looking up into those caramel brown eyes. “Goddamn, I never thought. I never hoped…” he muttered, watching my face as he slammed in harder, making my arms wobble as I tried to push back, going deeper, harder.
“Beau!” I yelled, and he captured my mouth again, kissing the shit out of me as my orgasm rolled over my body, chasing away the pain in my thigh, the hundreds of people outside this room. All that was left was pleasure and this man.
He buried his face in my neck and roared his own release, filling me and I bit his shoulder as I came again. Holy shit.
We stayed twined in each other's arms for another moment, panting and catching our breaths. Finally, he pulled back enough that he could kiss me, and it was one of those desperate kisses, like he was trying to tell me something that we couldn’t put into words.
He dragged himself away from my lips, reaching behind me to grab a towel. He pulled out of my body, wiping my thighs and righting my underwear for me, the tender look on his face making my heart do wild shit in my chest.
His eyes traced my face, my hooded eyes and swollen lips, my braid a little wilder than when I walked in here. His gaze moved down my body until they landed on the huge bruise on my thigh. “You need to ice that,” he said softly, tucking himself back into his jeans and moving to the ice bucket, filling up a plastic bag and bringing it back to me. He placed the cold ice on my overheated skin and I sucked in a breath.
He strapped it to my leg, and I gritted my teeth.
“Nugget…” he started, worry in his eyes.
“It’s okay, Beau. I wanted that. Don’t worry that I’m going to go full crazy on your ass and expect you to be my boyfriend.”
His slow smile made the butterflies reemerge in my gut. “Ah, Nugget. You were always so oblivious. I would happily be your man, but someone else loved you first.”
I screwed up my nose. “I told you me and Frankie aren’t together. I never would have done that if Frankie was anything more than a friend.”
Beau raised his eyebrow. “He said he loved you.”
I huffed, and even remembering him say those words made my chest feel funny. “He meant as a friend.”
This time Beau outright laughed at me. “You haven’t changed at all. Still blind to what's in front of your face. It’s one of the things that makes you so special. You just don’t know.”
I frowned. “Know what?”
“How fucking beautiful you are.”
He leaned forward and kissed me again, soft and tender. I was so fucking confused right now. “Beau…”
The door burst open and Frankie was there, the smile on his face wide. He barrelled over a few paces before his steps slowed a little. He looked at my face, inhaled deeply and frowned. He looked between me and Beau, and his jaw tensed. I might have imagined the flash of hurt that passed over his face, because it was gone the next second, replaced with the big smile again.
“You did it. You made the eight. You are all anyone can talk about out there.” He closed the distance between us in seconds, wrapping his arms around me and kissing my temple. “I am so proud of you.”
I smiled wide, the elation coming back to wrap around me. “Thanks, Frankie!”
He looked down at the bruise spreading along my thigh. “He got you good, Querida. At least you are getting the best of care, não?’
Well, that confirmed it. Frankie knew that me and Beau had sex. Something churned in my gut, not guilt exactly, but some other kind of uncomfortable sensation, and I swallowed hard. I didn’t regret what I did with Beau, not even a little bit, but I never, ever wanted to hurt Frankie.
So I did what any sane woman would do, I played dumb and ignored the subcontext. I smiled brightly. “Yep, all strapped up. Just a bit of soft tissue, I should be okay to ride tomorrow.”
He gave a sharp smile to Beau, who just stared him down. “I just bet you are. Let’s get you home, Tessa. Get that leg in the air.”
Subtle Frankie. Real subtle. I let him help me to my feet and grab all my gear. As I walked out the door of the treatment room, I looked back over my shoulder at Beau. He was frowning again, so I gave him a quick smile and a wink.
I didn’t fuck riders, but I never said anything about a medic. This could be the beginning of something beautiful.
Frankie’s shoulders seemed tense, though he nodded and smiled at every person we passed. I just had to hope it wasn’t the ending of something beautiful too.
7
I rested up in the queen bed, several beers and a pizza between us. We watched Grey’s Anatomy reruns in silence. The mood between Frankie and I was off, and that distance wasn’t something I could handle.
“Are you going to say something, or are you going to pout for the rest of the night?”
He looked over at me, his green eyes wide like a kicked puppy. “I don’t know what you are talking about, Tessa.” The way he said my name with his Brazilian accent always made bits of me tingle. Inappropriate bits.
“I’m referring to the fact I fucked Beau and you’ve been pouting about it all afternoon.”
He didn’t say anything, just stared at the screen. I folded my arms over my chest and scowled. “Since when do you give a shit who I sleep with, Frankie?”
He rolled off the bed and stood in the middle of our tiny hotel room. “Why do you think I stay, Tessa? Why do you think I travel to event after event with you? I do not want to be a bullfighter that bad. So why do I keep traveling with you?”
My heart was racing. “I don’t know, Frankie? I thought it was because you love bull riding as much as I do.”
Frankie was shaking his head, running his hand through his dark curls. “No. I hate bull riding. Hate the fear it creates inside me. First with Luiz, then with you.”
“I don’t understand what you are telling me right now.” I shook my head at him and he sighed.
“Yes you do, Tessa.”
I was scared I did. Scared what it would mean. “But you sleep with other women too, Frankie. I’ve seen it. You are like honey and they are some thirsty bee-ches.”
“I haven’t slept with anyone in over a year. Because they were never what I wanted. They were never you. Eu te amo. I love you.”
I reared back like he’d struck me. “You can’t.” I was shaking my head. “We’ve been traveling together for three years, Frankie. Why now?”
He slumped into the only chair in the room, putting his head in his hands. “Because of this. Because I didn’t want to risk losing you for good if you didn’t return my feelings. Because having you in my life but not knowing my feelings was better than not having you at all. It was okay with one night stands, people that you'd never see again. I could fool myself that I was more important to you than they were. They were like gas station attendants, filling a need but it wasn’t personal.” He sighed and stood. “But the way you look at Beau. The way you look at all of them. They are more, and I can see you slipping through my fingers and I don’t think I can stand by and watch my heart get broken, Querida. I just can’t.” He grabbed his hat off the table and put it on his head, wrenching open the door.