One in a Billion Bear ~ Beck: Book 2 (2 page)

Saturday night was slammed. I kept hoping to turn around and see Beck standing along the length of the bar. Not that I really had time to talk. There was a large bachelorette party going on in which every single participant worked hard at getting wasted on fruity cocktails. Then of course three of the girls vomited in
and near
the women’s restroom. Then, of course, I felt morally obligated to make sure none of the sleazy guys circling managed to guide them into their cars. It was just one thing after another.

Finally, around 1 a.m., I had an excuse to go outside and get some fresh air. Cupcakes with penis-shaped candies decorating pink icing were leftover and then subsequently used in a food fight by drunk twenty-one year olds who couldn’t hold their liquor, so I jumped at the chance to clean it up and take the trash out. As soon as I stepped through the back door I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with the slightly chilly night air, and released it slowly, my body relaxing almost immediately.

Then I heard arguing. It was coming from the side of the bar, near the trash bins. I couldn’t discern what they were saying, but it sounded like two men. It was heated. I leaned by ear towards the sound.
Might break out into a fistfight?

I sighed and put the trash bag down before walking over cautiously to hear what was going on. Years ago there had been a shooting in the parking lot of the bar. Couldn’t be too careful.

“Let me make myself clear. You’re not wanted here.”

“I know I should have warned you—”

“Warned me about what? That you’d show up thinking you’d just run things?”

“I’m not trying to
take over
, Brady! You’re so paranoid!”

I was momentarily so caught up hearing Brady’s name that I was truly startled when I heard a growl. Frantically I looked for an animal in the darkness. Without thinking, I rushed around the corner of the building and smacked right into Brady’s wall of a body. While I was mildly dazed on the asphalt, both men leaned over to see who interrupted their argument.

“Crista?” They said almost in unison. Beck quickly reached out to help me up and he looked at me with concern. “What’s wrong?”

I looked back toward the woods behind the bar. “I heard a growl. There’s an animal. We should go inside.”

Beck glared in accusation at Brady, who stood his ground firmly with his fists clenched. It was then I noticed the two men were roughly the same height and they towered over my petite frame. Beck still had an arm around me and, not wanting to appear like some silly damsel in distress, I stepped away toward the front door.

“You two can keep fighting out here if you want, but I’m going inside.”

Brady looked at me and said, a bit coldly, “You
should
go inside. This is none of your business.”

That
really
made me angry. So angry I forgot about the growling and the darkness. “Now you listen to me, Brady. You’re dating my friend and if you don’t watch yourself, Beck’s gonna have to get in line behind me to kick your ass.”

They both looked at me, blinking. Then Beck started laughing, a light and joyful laugh. Brady smirked despite himself, then started laughing, too.

I crossed my arms and turned to go back inside.
To hell with them both!

Beck caught up with me and put his hand on my shoulder.

“Wait, Crista, please. I’m sorry. I’ve just never heard anyone speak to him that way before. It’s refreshing to meet someone as fiery as you.”

I kept walking, chin lifted defiantly. Beck walked along beside me and followed me into the bar.

“I was actually coming to see you, but I ran into Brady in the parking lot.”

I didn’t stop or slow down. I picked up a dishrag and began wiping down tables, picking up glasses, napkins, and red plastic baskets with greasy glops of cheese and broken chips at the bottom. He stood nearby, watching. He seemed uncomfortable.
Good
.

“About that. I thought you were here visiting your family?” I asked.

Beck looked around, then walked up to me so he could say, fairly quietly, “I am.”

I responded loudly, “Then why is Brady afraid you’re gonna take over his drug business?”

He looked around again, but no one was paying attention.

“Crista, please. What’s this about drugs?”

“Look, I don’t care what y’all do, but don’t involve me, and don’t involve Penelope.”

“He’s seeing someone?” Beck sounded incredulous.

“Yeah, I’m surprised too with that charming personality of his.”

He sighed. He seemed exhausted. “Brady is my brother. We haven’t seen each other or talked in years, but I know he’s not selling drugs.”

I stopped as the weight of his words hit me.
Family drama is the worst kind of drama.

“It sounds like you could use a drink,” I said in peace offering.

He smiled wryly. “Your strongest.”

I went behind the bar and poured two shots of bourbon. I lifted my glass.

“To resolved sibling turmoil.”

Beck lifted his glass and we both downed our shots.

“So why did you stay gone so long?” I asked.

Beck was obviously deciding carefully what to say. I could tell by his face.

“I suppose I was trying to outrun my fate.”

“Ah, I see. Personally, I don’t believe in fate.” I hoped he’d be more specific.

“Okay. Outrun myself.”

“You mean becoming some mountain dwelling redneck like your brother?”

He laughed but then that same haunted look came back to his eyes.

“It’s more complicated than that, but yes.”

“So what did you run off to become?”

He shrugged. “I went to a good college, aligned myself with talented and ambitious people in Silicon Valley, earned a bunch of money, had a house built…” Beck paused. “A big empty house….”

“So you ran off to become one of them rich, vapid people I see on TV all the time.”

He laughed again, more heartily this time, and said, “Not all of us are vapid.” Then his smile shifted slightly in tone. “Everybody gets lonely.” The suggestiveness in his tone and the way he held my gaze were a heady combination.

I shook my head, not really out of disapproval or disagreement, but to snap out of it. I had met my match, but the feeling was too unsettling to accept.

I poured myself another shot and downed it while he watched. “I’m not interested in being anyone’s
entertainment
. Watch a movie.”

I turned away from him to put the bottle away as he said, “I didn’t mean it that way.” His sounded unapologetic, surprisingly. When I faced him again, his eyes looked fiercely bright.

“What do you mean then?” My voice waivered a bit and I hated it.

He leaned on the bar, bringing his face closer to me. “I mean you should come with me when you’re done here.”

I swallowed. “Why would I do that?
I’m
not lonely.”

“What’s happening between us is about more than loneliness.”

I couldn’t argue with that.

The car ride out to his hotel was mostly silent. When I tried to talk to him about Brady, I got the impression he wanted someone to confide in, but couldn’t quite bring himself to say much about his family. He’d ask about my family instead and I’d instantly feel exhausted thinking about them.

Back to silence. It wasn’t strained, though. I enjoyed letting myself be driven on dark roads winding through the forest. I’m not a car person, so I couldn’t just off hand tell what he was driving and I didn’t want to ask. It looked like a fairly new car, shiny and black and in immaculate condition.

As we sped along, I imagined we would just keep driving until morning and end up in an entirely new place, live as new people.
Loving your home doesn’t mean you want to stay there forever. Loving yourself doesn’t mean you want to stay exactly the same.
I could understand him wanting to leave.

But what was he running from exactly?

When I looked from the passenger window to Beck, the dimly lit control panel shone blue light against his handsome face. He turned his head to look at me and I suddenly wished he wasn’t driving.

I looked away and exhaled slowly. I hadn’t noticed I was holding my breath before.

Beck had a room at one of the ultra modern styled hotels that had popped up in the last five years to promote tourism and “mountain adventures.” Everything still looked new and the lobby was brightly lit, even in the wee hours of the morning.

The woman working the counter eyed me skeptically as Beck and I walked toward the elevators. I was too tired to care about her, but I did look down at myself and feel a bit trashy in my bar uniform.
Torn up jeans, tank top, cleavage spilling out.
Good for tips, not great for feeling classy.

When I sighed, Beck looked at me quizzically.

I shrugged. “Just feeling a bit out of place here.”

He looked me up and down, then smiled. “I think you’ll feel better in the suite.”

His wicked smile was contagious. “Do you now? I’m shocked.”

As we walked down a long hallway toward his room, my heart started to pound. My nervousness shocked me, seeing as how I’m
far
from possessing virginal innocence. I tried to keep my face neutral, and when I caught myself coiling a blond lock around my index finger, I quickly shoved both hands in my pockets.

Beck, of course, seemed perfectly calm. As he slid the card key through the lock and pushed the door handle down, he turned to me and said, “I want you to know, there’s a couch in here, and I’d be happy to sleep on it. I want you to be comfortable. Okay?”

I almost laughed, but his earnestness stopped me. “Okay. But trust me, I’ll make myself comfortable.” I walked passed him into the room and nearly gasped aloud at the size and luxuriousness of the room. The furniture, the carpets, the paintings, the light fixtures, and the fireplace all would have been impressive on their own, but definitely adding to the splendor was the floor to ceiling glass windows and doors leading out to a balcony with no doubt an impeccable view. It was too dark to see much, obviously, but I still went straight out onto the balcony.

“Wow, this place must have cost a small fortune!”

Beck followed me out and leaned against the railing beside me. He smiled a bit impishly at me and I had the nagging sensation that I had just unintentionally said something funny or cute.

Perhaps sensing my discomfort, he said in his best cheeseball voice, “If you think this is impressive, you should see the bedroom.”

“Yeah, it’ll be nice having a whole big bed all to myself,” I teased.

“Don’t give up on me yet,” he said more seriously. Again, at the drop of a hat, he just changed the whole tone of the conversation.

I tried to continue to joke, but it was too late. “I might need some incentive.”

“Fair enough. I think I can offer some.” He moved closer to me as his eyes traveled down from my eyes to my lips.

It made me feel breathless, choking out any diverting joke I could make to sublimate the heat between us. I knew this was probably going to happen when I agreed to come with him, yet it still somehow seemed unbelievable. I wanted to get a hold of myself. I wanted to give in completely.

In the next moment his lips were on me, surprisingly tentative. It wasn’t a kiss so much as it was a gentle grazing of his lips along my mine. They were soft and the gesture was tantalizing. I’m used to men kissing like they’re trying to eat my face.

Fumbling and impatient hands
. Beck’s hands gracefully slid up the length of my bare arms, over my shoulders, and held my face as he intensified the kiss. His tongue entered my mouth and massaged mine with bold, sensual strokes. I moaned softly into his mouth and wrapped my arms around him to press us closer together. His hands trailed down over my breasts as we kissed and he roughly grabbed them both at once. The unexpected firmness of his embrace after so much delicate touching sent shockwaves of desire through me.

I shivered, partially from the chilly night air and partially from his touch. He pulled away to lead me by the hand into the living room of his suite. The couch was directly across from the fireplace and, after letting go of my hand, he went to start a fire. I sat on the couch and, once I realized it wasn’t a real fireplace, I laughed. He looked at me, smirking.

“Hush, woman. I make fire for you.”

“If you’re looking for the remote for the fireplace, I think it’s over here next to the TV remote.”

He grinned sheepishly and looked at the small table beside the couch.

“I like a woman who knows where to find remotes.”

We both laughed loudly, delirious with a combination of sleepiness and lust. He turned on the fireplace and sat down beside me on the couch, still smiling.

I yawned. “Sorry, my shift was really exhausting.”

“It
is
really early in the morning,” he said, looking at his watch.

I hadn’t noticed it before. Like everything else he owned, it looked expensive. I considered asking something imprudent, like,
“Just how filthy rich are you exactly?”

Then he yawned, saying, “Look what you started.”

“You started quite a bit yourself,” I said, trying not to smile too much.

He smiled unrestrained, showing his perfectly straight white teeth, and slightly protruding canines, and leaned over, kissing me softly on the mouth.

“I’m far from finished.” His voice was heavy and seductive, and had a slight growl undertone. “But I think sleep would be good right now. Do you have anywhere you need to be tomorrow?”

“Nope. Jake closes the bar on Sundays.”

“Perfect,” he said, still smiling.

We walked into the bedroom, which, just like the other part of the suite, had huge windows and a fireplace. The bed looked like it could comfortably sleep five people and it was covered in fluffy, cloud-like pillows and blankets.

Beck rummaged through a drawer and pulled a t-shirt out for me. He appeared to be looking for something else when I slid out of my jeans and pulled my tank top off over my head. My body is not mainstream, women’s magazines beautiful, but I’ve never been ashamed of it. My body is strong, curvaceous, and healthy. If he doesn’t like it, he might as well figure that out now.

He turned around with a pair of sweatpants in his hand and stopped, apparently not expecting to find me standing there naked except for his grey t-shirt and my pink polka dot panties. “Oh, I won’t be needing those,” I said sweetly, innocently, then smiled and walked past him into the bathroom.

He liked. He liked a lot.
I smiled at my reflection in the mirror.

After I was done preparing for bed, I heard him on the phone with someone in the living room. I didn’t want to snoop, but he had to be talking to Brady at this hour, and I needed to know what was going on with that man. Besides, my new best buddy was dating him, and I just wanted to make sure she would be taken care of.

“You didn’t need to call. I just texted to let you know my plans tomorrow, since you apparently hate surprises,” growled Beck.

“I’ll be available in the evening. We should really talk.” I heard Brady’s voice booming through the speaker of the phone.

“I’m not interested in fighting with you right now,” Beck said in an even deeper tone. “It’s almost 3 a.m., Brady. I’m here with Crista, and you better fucking watch your mouth.”

“You don’t know anything about me, and that’s the whole point.”

“I’m not talking about this now,” Beck said, lowering his voice again.

Sensing the conversation was over, I tiptoed back to the bed and pulled the covers aside. Right on time, Beck walked into the bedroom and looked at me with a slightly pained expression.

“Are you okay?” I suddenly felt genuinely concerned for him.

He sighed heavily. He was so agitated, I could tell.

“It’s nothing a little sleep won’t cure.” He forced a little smile.

He went to the bathroom, came to bed, snuggled with me just like I thought he might, yet there was something stiff about his actions now. He was deeply uncomfortable and distracted about
something
.
Should I ask? No. If he wanted to tell me now, he would.