Beautifully Used (The Beaumont Brothers Book 2) (2 page)

Chapter 2

“Excuse me,”
a man mumbled in my direction after his suitcase on wheels collided with mine as he sat on the bench next to me.

I forced a smile. “No problem.”
This same guy had been sitting behind me on the plane, snoring for most of the trip from San Diego to San Francisco. Then, as luck would have it, he got the seat next to me on the connecting flight from San Francisco to Redding. God, I needed some coffee and a pillow. I’d need the caffeine just to make the walk to Lena’s car. Maybe I could snooze on the hour and a half long trip from the airport to their adorable little town, Turtle Lake.

I said a silent prayer that the guy didn’t start snoring again, and was relieved when a few minutes later
, he stood as a woman and a small boy approached him. The little boy jumped into his arms and squealed, “Daddy!”

My smile was
genuine this time as I watched the three walk away. Nice family, I mused, picturing them as my best friend and her soon to be husband.

Where
the hell were Lena and Jackson anyway? The airport baggage claim area was crowded and buzzed with the hum of tired and cranky people. Just like me. Flying the midnight express had its disadvantages, but it was cheaper than the flights during more reasonable hours.

I’d been sitting at the airport for thirty minutes now
. That was after the twenty-five minutes it took to exit the plane and retrieve my luggage. Luggage, by the way, that consisted of one huge suitcase, a medium sized duffle bag and a carry on, all packed to capacity and extremely heavy considering I would be spending two weeks with Lena and Jackson helping them prepare for their wedding. After the struggle of getting the monster pieces off the luggage conveyor, I’d managed to drag, kick and shove them over to the bench right outside the door for curbside pick-up where I plopped my butt down and waited.

I was tickled for
Lena and Jackson. They really deserved each other. Well, Lena deserved someone like Jackson. The guy literally saved her life, or was it she who saved his? The story gets jumbled in my head. Though, when you come right down to it, I think they saved each other in different ways. Jackson saved Lena by allowing her to hide out, so to speak, from that monster she’d been married to and helped her gain the self-esteem and respect for herself that Troy had stolen from her. And Lena had apparently saved Jackson’s life by killing said monster, and stopping him from pounding Jack’s brains into mush. I squeezed my eyes tight and quickly shook that scary vision from my mind. Poor Lena. Such a frightening life she’d had. I should have known, and it was something I was having trouble coming to terms with. Why didn’t I know? I couldn’t imagine what Lena must have gone through—is going through—contending with the idea of killing someone, even if that someone was about to kill someone else. It would have been a very sad day in the world if a guy as wonderful as Jackson had been killed. Too bad his brother, Brodie, didn’t possess the same qualities. I’d learned the hard way what type of guy Brodie Beaumont truly was from the brief three days I’d spent as Lena’s guest in Brodie’s house. His crude seduction tactics earned him a slap to the face after he actually groped my breasts while attempting to kiss me. No, I can’t say I was looking forward to another encounter with Brodie Beaumont.

I glanced at the time on my cell phone,
yet again, and sighed, realizing it had been an hour and a half since my plane had landed. Now I was beginning to worry that something might have happened to them. It wasn’t like Lena to be this late and not even call me. I dialed Lena’s number to find out where she and Jackson were, and my eyes fell upon a large pair of men’s Sanuk Vagabonds facing right toward me. I reluctantly looked up to find Brodie Beaumont in all his yummy glory standing three feet in front of me, frowning. Yeah, I know, I slapped him and declined his not so eloquent proposal, but despite his lack of discretion in the romance department, the guy was hot.

“They sent you?” I said, sounding every bit as dejected as I felt. How could Lena do this to me?
But then, I guess she didn’t really know how much her soon to be brother-in-law despised me. I’d kept the little episode of him groping me like he was a teenager on prom night to myself. He was a philanderer and never tried to hide it. After that night though, he’d kept his distance. I had to give him that much. Besides, it hadn’t really been all that terrible. I’d even been thinking about him that way and wondering what it would be like to have his lips on mine. And he’d smelled so yummy. He’d caught me by surprise the way he moved in so quickly the minute Lena and Jackson had gone to bed. I suppose if I’d known him more than a millisecond, which is what the couple of hours in his presence had felt like, I might have handled it differently. The only thing was, I hadn’t handled it differently, and now he hated me.

“I don’t like it any more than you do,” he quipped. “But
Jack and Lena had to meet a caterer this morning and couldn’t cancel, so you’re stuck with me.” It wasn’t that I didn’t like it. On the contrary, I hadn’t been able to get Brodie Beaumont off my mind since the night he tried to kiss me, no matter how hard I tried. I’m glad I turned him down, especially after Lena filled me in on Brodie’s sexual habits. The way Lena had explained it, it sounded as if he had an addiction to sex or something. I’d considered Brodie a troubled soul back then, but this time, I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Too bad his first words to me now had to be about how much he
didn’t
want to be around me.

I grabbed the handle to my duffle bag and hoisted it on top of the large suitcase, my backpack hanging loosely down my upper arm. He yanked the backpack from me and slung it over his shoulder, grabbed the handle to my luggage and started walking away with them. I opened my mouth to yell at him and tell him I could take them myself,
that I didn’t need him, but that just seemed like a stupid move on my part, especially as I watched how his low-hanging jeans held tight against his fine tush. Wow. To think I could have had a piece of that. I shook my head, knowing if I had, it would have only been once or twice because everybody knew Brodie Beaumont used women like a vampire uses his victims—sucking them dry and discarding them after having his fill. However hot I considered Brodie to be, I didn’t want to be on his list of conquests. I held my chin up and trailed behind him. I would not let him get to me.

We walked for what seemed like a mi
le before getting to his truck.

“Why didn’t you just pull up to the curb?” I asked almost out of breath from trying to keep up with him. His stride was huge, and he made carrying my gigantic duffle bag look like
nothing more than a five-pound sack of potatoes.

He shrugged, even with the weight of the luggage in each hand. “I thought you’d enjoy the morning walk.” When I didn’t say anything, he slowed and turned around toward me. “I couldn’t get in close enough so that you’d see me
, and I knew you’d be looking for Jackson’s or Lena’s car, so I thought I’d better go park and get out of the truck to find you.”

“Oh.” Gosh darn. That made total sense.

When we finally reached the truck, he practically threw my luggage in the back and I prayed my bottle of perfume hadn’t busted. I loved the stuff, but I didn’t want my clothes drenched in jasmine to the point of asphyxiation. I opened my mouth to protest, but shut it considering it was too late. I didn’t need to make the ride to Turtle Lake any more unpleasant than it was sure to be already.

Brodie yanked the passenger door open
and stood waiting for me to climb up to the seat. It was a hard climb up, and the sundress I had on was a bit on the short side. I’d worn it because it was comfortable and stretchy. Now I was regretting that decision. I bunched up my little lightweight jacket I held in my hands and placed it behind me, hoping it might help hide my exposed thighs as I climbed. An item I was glad I’d brought. Airplanes get so chilly when you’re just sitting there for a long stretch of time. As I took my first step up, Brodie walked away and headed toward the driver’s side. I let out a sigh of relief that he didn’t stick around to ogle my bare thighs.

He slid in and started the engine,
not even glancing in my direction. Okay, then. I got the message. He didn’t want anything to do with me now.

“You were late.” I said, buckling up and instantly regretting the harshness
of my tone.

He afforded me a sideways glance. “I was busy.” I guess I deserved that rude three-word response to my equally rude three-word statement.
“I brought you some coffee,” he added.

I glanced down at the center console
and noted the two tall cups from Starbuck’s. He’d brought me coffee?

“The one on the right is yours. It’s a Caramel
Snickerdoodle Macchiato, double shot.”

“My favorite, well, not the double shot, but thanks for that. I can use it this morning.”

“Figured.”

“How’d you know that anyway?”

“Know what?”

Oh God, this was going to be a very painful journey if his sentences remained three word
s or less. “About the Caramel Snickerdoodle Macchiato.”

He shrugged. “Lucky guess.”

I decided not to worry about how he knew. Besides, everybody loved the Caramel Snickerdoodle Macchiato, so I sipped the bit of heaven now warming my hands and closed my eyes as the taste of caramel, cinnamon and vanilla coated my throat. I couldn’t contain the “Mmmm” that escaped from deep inside me. “Thanks.”

We rode in silence for a while
until we hit some morning commuter traffic and Brodie swore under his breath and changed lanes, heading off the freeway onto some side road that I hoped he knew. I wasn’t in the mood to get lost, not with Brodie.

I snuck a glance in his direction. The frown on his face showed his irritation and I wondered if it was the traffic or the fact that he had to pick me up from the airport so early in the morning that caused it. I secretly hoped it was the traffic
, though I had my doubts.

I finished the coffee, but I was still exhausted.
The extra caffeine boost hardly scratched the surface of my brain. Normally, a double shot would have had me doing the jig and wiggle in the seat, but even the two shots of caffeine were no match for the loss of an entire night’s sleep. All I wanted to do was close my eyes. I rested my head against the window when all of a sudden a small pillow was shoved at me. “Here,” Brodie’s deep voice mumbled. “You didn’t sleep at all on that flight did you?”

I shook my head and moaned something
about snoring that I’m sure was incoherent as I wedged the pillow between my head and the window. I let the hum of the engine and the tires on the interstate lull me to sleep. Such a pleasure not to have that guy sawing logs in my ear.

I woke up when
our speed decreased and we turned onto the driveway leading up to the house Brodie owned and shared with his brother. Red and pink carpet roses graced each side of the lane, cheering up the eighth of a mile long gravel driveway. The old farmhouse sat on the largest piece of property I’d ever had the opportunity to stay on. Growing up in Southern California beach towns meant smaller yards, but great beach access, though lately, apartment living was more to my norm. There were no cars in the driveway, which meant Lena and Jackson were not there. Great. That meant more alone time with Brodie. How lucky for me.

Brodie
grabbed his empty coffee container before he got out, prompting me to pick up mine too so I could throw it away. I was stunned silent when he opened my door, and thankful once again that he didn’t stick around to watch me try to climb down in this dress. Trucks were murder on girls with short dresses. As he hoisted my bags from the back of the vehicle, a car came barreling up the driveway and stopped right behind the truck. Lena jumped out of the passenger side and came running at me. I was glad to see she had dyed her hair back to her beautiful natural color. Like me, she wore a cute little sundress, only hers was a pretty shade of lime green with tiny red-orange rose buds that matched perfectly with her auburn curls. Her hair seemed to have grown about six inches since I last saw her and hung down way past her shoulders.

“Yay, you’re here
,” she squealed embracing me in a huge hug. Then Jackson gave me a hug as Lena stepped back and eyed the empty Starbucks cup in my hand. “Good, Brodie remembered the coffee. Did he get you the Caramel Snickerdoodle Macchiato like I told him to?”

I
eyed Brodie suspiciously. He gave me a snide shrug and walked away. “Uh, yeah. Thanks,” I mumbled, disappointment coating my words as I realized he’d only pretended to know what I liked. I should have known.

I smiled as I
walked up the four wooden steps leading to the wrap-around porch and the two chairs with comfy looking green, blue, and yellow striped cushions covering the seats. Instantly, I had visions of Lena and me sitting out here sipping wine spritzers and making last minute wedding plans. I startled at the bark that came from the far end of the porch as Rufus jumped off of the large swing, causing it to sway and creek by itself. “Hey, Rufus,” I said, kneeling down and letting the huge hound dog lick my chin as I stroked his back. This place reminded me of the home I’d always wished we’d had. Not so much for its location or size, but because of the charm and the inviting way it made me feel at home.