"He's not," Josie said. "I came back to Alabama on my own to live in my grandma’s old trailer because I didn't have anywhere else to stay. And I got lucky, because I needed a job and Beau's mama needed somebody to help Beau out."
Colin's eyes stayed on Beau. "So you got your mama to do your dirty work?"
"No," Josie said. "He had no idea she hired me. In fact he was mad when he found out she did."
"Really, Jo-Jo? Because Beau don't seem all that broken up about it,” Colin said.
"That's because Jo-Jo and I came to a mutually satisfactory understanding."
"A mutually satisfactory understanding," Colin repeated, his eyes narrowing.
"Yep." Beau drew the word out, letting all sorts of innuendo creep into it.
Colin cut his eyes at Josie. "What kind of understanding?"
"As much as I love talking about my job during my non-working hours, I'd really like to change the subject now," she said.
"Alright,” Beau said. “Let’s talk about Fairgood. What made you come down from Nashville? I ume you’re in town for one of your little concerts.”
Her eyes flew to Colin to see if he was offended. But he stayed cool and collected, at least on the outside.
“Nah, this visit is all about pleasure, Prescott. But next month I’ve got one of my sold-out concerts scheduled at Suns Stadium in Los Angeles. Hey, ain’t that where you used to play?”
Josie’s mouth fell open and she was about to chastise Colin for going there, but Beau just smirked and said, “Someone big is letting you open up for them? Good for you, Fairgood.” Then before Colin could correct him, he slid out of the booth and stood up. “Josie, I need to take care of some business in the men’s room. Do you mind taking me?”
Josie was so stunned he actually asked her for help that it took her a second to respond. “Oh, of course. No problem,” she said.
She took his arm and led him just around the corner to the bar’s single-person bathroom. “Do you want me to go in with you?” she asked. “Show you where the toilet is?”
Beau palmed the wall carefully, as if to make to sure there was one there. “No, we can stay out here.”
“What do mean ‘we’?”
Her back hit the wall and the next thing she knew, Beau was kissing her with a ferocity that both excited and scared her.
“Beau, we can’t,” she said, looking sideways. They were mostly hidden behind the brick wall separating the bathrooms from the main dining and bar area. But if anyone walked around the corner… “Not here.”
She tried to wriggle away, but he caught her hands and pinned them to the wall on either side of her. “The deal was any time, any place I wanted you,” he reminded her, his voice husky in her ear. “And I want you. Right now. Right here.”
She was about to remind him it was her night off, when he pressed his pelvis into the triangle between her legs. It felt so good, she almost forgot where she was for a minute, especially when he let go of one of her hands and slipped two of his fingers into the waist band of her leggings and massaged her .
“Beau…” she half-protested, half-moaned.
“Ssshh, darlin’,” he said. “I’m going to make you come so hard. Just let it happen.”
He moved his fingers further down and suddenly they were invading her tunnel and filling her in a way that was both delicious and terrifying because of where they were.
She tried to do the right thing. “Beau we can’t. We shouldn’t,” she said.
But this only made him press his large body into hers, effectively pinning her against the wall. “Just let it happen,” he said again.
He pressed the ball of his hand into her womanhood and her vibrated with pleasure, causing her formerly protesting body to go limp. She let her head fall against his shoulder, helpless against his sensual attack.
“Beau,” she moaned, a little too loudly.
“Yes, that’s it, darlin’.” He let go of her hands and bent down to kiss her. “Let that bastard know you belong to me,” he said between kisses.
It took a few moments for his words to sink through her sensual fog, but when they did, she went stiff. “Wait, this is about Colin?”
Instead of answering, he leaned forward and tried to capture her mouth again, but she twisted her face away. “Stop,” she said, tugging on the hand inside her pants. “Just stop!”
BEAU HAD FUCKED UP. He knew that without a doubt as soon as she asked if this was about Fairgood.
But he pressed on, caressing her warm mound in his hand. She had been right on the edge. Maybe he could get her back there. “It’s okay,” he whispered.
“No, it’s not okay. I said no. Stop!”
He stopped, raising both hands and taking a step back. “Okay, I’m stopping,” he said.
Her hands hit his chest then, shoving him a few steps backwards. “Seriously? Seriously!?” she asked. “You were just using me to get back at Colin? Again???”
Beau shook his head. “No, it wasn’t about revenge.”
“Then what was it about?” Although he couldn’t see her, he felt pretty sure she was glaring at him with her hands crossed firmly in front of her chest.
“Respect,” he answered. “That skinny er thinks he can come in here and take whatever belongs to me. Just like in high school.”
“I don’t belong to you,” she was almost yelling now. “We’re not in high school anymore, and you can’t just me in public to prove a point.”
“Why not?” he asked, frustration and anger coursing through his blood. “The deal was for any time, any place—oh wait, I forgot, it’s your night off. My bad.”
It was below the belt. He knew it was below the belt, but he couldn’t keep himself from saying it. It was better than the truth: that he was afraid. Afraid Colin Fairgood, the country music star who still had his sight and fame, was here for one reason and one reason only: to steal Josie away from him. And he had been pathetically attempting to mark her as his in the most ancient of ways.
Josie’s voice was soft and fierce when she answered him. “Beau, I’ve put up with a lot from you, mostly because I thought if I tried hard enough I could help you to change, that the good in you would win out over the bad. But I can’t put up with you anymore. You’ve have got to apologize.”
And even though he couldn’t see, he felt his eyes reflexively narrow. “What?”
“You heard me. Apologize for what you just said, for talking to me like that. Right now.”
“Josie…”
“And don’t you tell me Prescotts don’t apologize again. You don’t get to talk like that to me. Not anymore. Apologize right now.”
“The deal was—”
“I know what the deal was, and I’m telling you it’s off if you don’t apologize like a decent human being.”
“Apologize for what?” he yelled at her. “For using you the way you agreed to be used. Then pointing out that was the agreement?”
Her voice had a thread of iron going through it when she said, “Humiliating me was not part of the agreement.”
“That’s bullshit. Humiliating you was the cornerstone of the agreement, and suddenly you’re choosing now to get upset. Not when you made the agreement in the first place. Not last night when I showed up in your room. Now you decide to grow a backbone? Hmm, I wonder what changed.” He pretended to think about it. “Oh, yeah, I know. Another rich guy came along. One who still has his eyesight.”
“No, Beau. This isn’t about Colin. It’s about you. You treating me like crap, just so you can feel better about yourself.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
For the first time since the argument had started, it sounded like she was hesitating, but she eventually answered. “It means you’re pissed off that you can’t see anymore, that you probably won’t ever be able to see again, and you’re taking it out on me when really, you should be working on accepting that you’re football career is over and learning to live without your sight.”
Her voice was soft as she said this. It reminded him of how Loretta used to talk him down from temper tantrums. When he was a child.
“Have you already asked Fairgood to pay you for sleeping with him, or are you just uming he’s going to offer?” he asked, fury vibrating through his entire body.
He actually heard her sharp intake of breath after he said that. But after a long silence she said, “I remember when we were teenagers, back when we were still friends, before all the bullshit. You said your number one fear was turning into your father. Well, I’m sorry to say, that’s exactly who I see when I look at you right now, somebody who cares more about getting his way than all the folks he’s stepping on to get it. He never knew anything about the help, and you know what, even after what we went through this afternoon, neither do you.”