Big City Little Rebel

ChapterFourteen

Bobbie

After feeding what Beau referred to as her fan club, they walked home hand in hand. She hadn't known how lonely she'd been until he filled the emptiness. He was so wrong for her in such a right way. Beau was becoming a habit she didn't want to break.

“Do you think Pete will try to sue me?” That would be ironic. She'd sued him and won twenty million; now, he might get it back because she let her temper win over logic.

“He's an asshole, but he isn't stupid. He won't do anything to put the project behind schedule or create negative media attention.”

By the time they reached the apartment building, they were both exhausted. She led them to her place, where they showered together.

“I bought you a toothbrush.” She stood before him, wrapped only in a towel, and pointed at the sink.

“Does that mean I'm a keeper?” He opened the package and pulled out his new blue toothbrush.

“No, it just means I'm not sharing mine.” She liked to push him because he was so much fun when he was riled at her. He looked and acted like an angry grizzly, but he was a Teddy bear.

“You've shared your body, your mind, and your heart. I can live without your toothbrush.” He pulled the towel from her body and growled, letting that inner bear loose and sending shivers from the roots of her hair to her toes. “I can't get enough of you.”

She understood that sentiment. She was drawn to him like a wasp to water. There was no explanation because he wasn't her usual type. She generally went for the hipsters, the long-haired, scruffy guy with no job. They usually had a guitar in their hand and a song in their heart. Maybe all the time she'd spent alone gave her a new perspective. She didn't need pretty words and tunes. She needed someone who could reinforce her. She needed a builder. She needed Beau.

“Meet you in bed, lover.” She twisted from his grip and ran to the bedroom, but he caught her mid-stride. He tossed her over his shoulder like she weighed nothing and delivered her to her bed with a gentle toss.

“I think you're just using me for sex.” He ran his fingertips up her sides and tickled her.

She couldn't contain her laughter. She hadn't been tickled since she was a kid. Back then, she hated it, but tonight, as she laughed, the stress of the last few years broke free. Beau made her feel young and carefree. He brought sunshine to her cloudy days and laughter to her weeping soul. He showed her that even a broken heart could love again.

When she met him, it was like being reunited with the piece of her that had been missing forever. It sounded cliché, but he completed her in ways no one could imagine.

He moved over her naked body and worshipped her with kisses. “Nothing will ever come between us again,” he whispered.

He claimed to be a bad boyfriend, but his heart was always in the right place. “I love you more every day, Bobbie Cruise.” He curled around her and fell to sleep.

Before she dozed off, she pressed her lips against his and whispered, “Please never leave me.”

* * *

Beau

He was falling asleep last night when Bobbie whispered a plea for him never to leave her, and her words wrapped around his heart like a vise. For the last twenty-odd years, his life had been about his mother. He'd battled her demons along with his own and had come out on the other end somewhat whole. Was Bobbie a replacement for the hole that letting go of his mother would create? Or was she a cure for his loneliness? He didn't know, and he didn't care. He couldn't imagine an existence without her.

He unwound his body from hers and left her sleeping. She'd broken all boundaries and afforded him the trust he had asked for but hadn't proved he deserved. No one had ever put that much faith in him, and he vowed never to let her down.

When he was ready for work, he kissed her cheek and left a note on the counter.

Sweetheart,

I didn't want to leave you this morning, so I stayed longer and watched you sleep. Did you know your lower lip puckers when you exhale? That your eyes dance behind your eyelids when you dream? That you smile when I kiss you? I'll be thinking of you all day. See you tonight at the diner.

Love,

Beau

He arrived early at the site to finish looking through the folder Bobbie had given him. She had spent years collecting the data, and in a matter of minutes, she'd given it to him in a show of good faith. He wasn't sure whether she was tired of the fight or tired of fighting with him. Either way, her research was worth looking into. She was so passionate about her convictions, and the one thing he had learned about Bobbie over the time he knew her was she didn't blow smoke up anyone's keister. She didn't pretend to be anyone but who she was and didn't appear to waste her time on frivolous endeavors. So, if she had invested years in researching Pete Schiff, there had to be something worth seeing in this pile of clippings.

Near the end of the folder, he organized his notes and jotted down the most interesting findings. Todd Hundley and Pete Schiff had opened ten different construction companies in five other states. They had five outstanding lawsuits ranging from failure to get proper permits to using substandard materials. The most negligent case involved Paradox Construction. The biggest payout went to Bobbie Cruise, with other litigants receiving slightly less. Midge Sloan was listed in the group, and he wondered whether it was the same Midge from the diner. He didn't run into many Midges, so he figured it had to be her. It hollowed him, knowing she had lost someone, too.

He wished he could get his hands on that project manager. There were tons of painful ways to make someone suffer. It was his negligence that caused so many losses. Bobbie and Midge were good people who lost big for no reason.