Beautifully Used (The Beaumont Brothers Book 2) (20 page)

Chapter 48

Just as my mother had threatened, the car arrived promptly at seven. When she’d called to remind me about dinner a couple of days ago, I told her I wouldn’t come, that I didn’t want to be subjected to any of her match
-making schemes. I was happy and in love with Brodie, and she’d just have to learn to deal with it. I’d never stood up to my mother until that day last week when she’d unexpectedly showed up at the door. At that point, she’d sighed heavily into the phone and insisted that I bring Brodie to dinner, too. She wanted to meet him.

She’d made reservations at a fancy steak house near the hotel she and my stepfather were staying in. Kurt
was apparently working on location around the area. How convenient. I knew there had to be another reason my mother was in the area. I didn’t think she’d come up north just for my sake.

“The car is here,” Brodie called over his shoulder as he peeked out the window. He turned to me and gave me a sexy grin. “You look beautiful.” I was wearing a simple
, sleeveless black dress stopping mid-thigh, and black three-inch heel sandals. My hair hung down my back the way I knew Brodie liked it, but I’d added a sparkling clasp at the top back, pulling some of the hair away from my face.

I took a step toward him, breaking the distance between us and his lips grazed mine.
I pulled back after the light kiss, admiring the way he looked. He wore a silvery-grey silk jacket that illuminated his tanned skin over a white shirt, leaving the top couple of buttons open, and black slacks. He looked very scintillating and sexy, almost like I’d plucked him right off the cover of GQ magazine “You.” I swallowed. “Look amazing.”

“I know how to clean up.”

“That you do.”

“Are you ready?”

“Yeah.” My hands were on his arms, holding him still from heading out the door. “Listen. If at any time during dinner you want to leave, just let me know.”

“Don’t worry.”

“Brodie, I mean it. She can be very malicious when she doesn’t get her way.”

“Do you trust me?” he asked.

“With my life.”

“Then have a little faith. I’ll be fine.”

“Oh yeah, my mother’s last name is Bradford now. Not Demeres.”

The restaurant was as I
’d expected. The maître d’ led us through a room with soft lights hanging from the ceiling above each table, affording just enough illumination without being overbearing. White linen tablecloths draped over square tables in the center of the large room, with elegant looking booths also donned with the same tablecloths. My mother and stepfather sat in a room off the main dining room. A private room. I rolled my eyes knowing she’d gone out of her way to flaunt her prestigious and affluent lifestyle just for Brodie’s sake. He grabbed my hand, I squeezed his a little, and he shot me the sexiest guileful grin I’d ever seen. I wondered if I should be worried or proud.

My stepfather and mom stood as we entered the small private room. My mom gave me a small hug, while my stepfather
embraced me with all the love and affection any father would have for his daughter. Regardless of all his wealth; my stepfather was the most generous, friendly, likeable man—other than Brodie—on the entire planet and I adored him. I often wondered what he saw in my mother, and why he put up with all her snobby friends, but even with her faults, she was beautiful.

“Mom, this is Brodie.”

“Nice to meet you Mrs. Bradford.” Brodie extended his hand to my mother and she gave him a small, tight-lipped smile, accepting his hand in that gracious way of hers, yet managing to hold on to an undertone that said,
I’m better than you
. My mother pulled off the graceful, patrician act as though she’d been born for it. Maybe she had been.

“Brodie, this is Kurt, my stepfather.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir,” Brodie said, smiling.

“The pleasure’s mine, son. Please call me Kurt.” Kurt beamed that
‘everybody’s-best-friend’ smile, “Let’s sit. Drinks? Honey, would you like a refresher?”

My mom glanced at her still full martini and nodded. “Since that one is probably warm by now, yes.”

Brodie picked up the drink menu and quickly perused the beers. “I’ll have a Black Butte Porter,” he said to the waiter standing by and then looked at me. “Gabrielle, would you like some wine?”

I nodded. “The house cabernet will be fine.” I didn’t know much about which wine would be better anyway, and Brodie
had once told me that most nice restaurants usually served a pretty decent house cab, so when in doubt, go for that. Besides, my nerves rattled and jittered too much to think about wine or any other drink for that matter. I glanced at Brodie looking very much at ease and confident, already engaged in a conversation with Kurt.

Chapter 49

I picked up my beer
and sipped, reveling in the rich body. I licked my lips, noting the hint of coffee and chocolate in the carbonated malt the menu promised. This was a beer I would be ordering for the bar when we got home.

“So, Brodie, what is it you do?” Gabrielle’s mother said.

“I manage our bar. Well, it’s my brother’s bar, but he’s hardly there. We inherited the bar along with the farmhouse from my uncle when he passed away. He left the bar to my brother and the house to me. My brother didn’t want to be at the bar all the time, so I run it.”

“Strange,” Kurt said. “That your uncle would leave your brother the bar and you the house.”

“I think he did it more as a lure to get my brother to move back to Turtle Lake. My uncle understood I’d be the one to run the place. But he also knew that if he hadn’t left the bar to my brother, he never would have moved back to Turtle Lake where my uncle believed he’d been happiest. He also knew that Jackson would do everything in his power to preserve the treasure of what was my uncle’s life. My uncle knew us fairly well. If he’d left the bar to me, Jackson would never have come back. I consider the house half my brother’s, and he considers the bar mostly mine,” I chuckled and managed to get a chuckle from the other three as well, including Gabrielle’s mother.

“What are you
r plans for the future?” her mother asked with a surely-you-couldn’t-possibly-plan-on-managing-a-bar-for-the-rest-of-your-life look.

“I plan on marrying your daughter for starters, then I plan on buying a bar in southern California. I want to be close
r to the beach.” Gabrielle glanced at me, surprise exploding from her beautiful brown eyes, but she kept her cool and didn’t say anything, simply acted like she had known all along that I was going to say that.

“Gabrielle, is that what you want for your life? To run a bar?” her mother
asked, derision dripping from her tone.

“You know perfectly well what I want
, and what I want has nothing to do with what Brodie wants. I can write anywhere.”

I grabbed Gabrielle’s hand under the table. I hadn’t planned on pulling out the marriage card. I hadn’t even asked Gabrielle yet, but I didn’t like the way her mother had asked the question about my plans, as though I would never be capable of making any plans let alone institut
ing them.

“That’s quite an expensive area to try
and start a business,” Kurt said.

“I know, but I’ve saved over the years
, and with my brother’s backing from the bar and my house, maybe a small business loan if needed. I’m confident we could pull it off and find an owner who might want to sell. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for some time. And I know Gabrielle loves the beach. My brother needs to keep the bar for another few years, but I can sell the house whenever I want.”

“Yes, an already existing establishment would make it easier,” Kurt agreed.

The rest of the evening went pretty much the same. Gabrielle’s mother made a couple more attempts to disparage me, but I didn’t let her. Finally, Kurt took his wife’s hand and told her to give me a break; that he admired my courageous spirit, and thought Gabrielle and I would make a great life together. By the end of the evening, I had them both eating out of my hand. To my surprise, Kurt gave me a hug when we were leaving, and though Gabrielle’s mom didn’t tell me to call her by her first name or anything, I think I made progress when her mom hugged me and whispered, “You better not hurt my daughter or ever leave her in a position of need.”

“I don’t think you need to worry. Gabrielle will always be safe with me. I promise.”

The limo ride home started out very quiet. Soft music piped in through Bose speakers and permeated the air with a calming, romantic sound. It just registered with me that the area of the limo we rode in was secluded from the driver’s section, affording us all the privacy we could possibly want or need. I pulled Gabrielle close to me and kissed her, snaking my hand up her dress to the treasure I knew was there at the top of her thighs. “Gabrielle.” I stopped kissing her, the shocked look on my face making her giggle. “Where are your panties?”

“In my purse.”

I grinned. “Nice touch.” I still hadn’t officially asked her to marry me yet, and she never mentioned the brief, yet shocking conversation about it at dinner. “God, you’re driving me crazy.” I glanced at the dark window separating us from the driver. “Do you know how sexy that is? How sexy you are?”

“No. Maybe you should tell me.”

“You are so very sexy. I don’t think I’m going to be able to wait until we get home.”

“I don’t think you’ll need to,” she said as she unzipped the fly of my pants and wrapped her hands around me.

“I think I love you,” I said.

“Only think?” she giggled at my attempt to mimic her.

“No.” I nuzzled the spot on her neck just under her ear. “I know I do. I love you so much.” I straightened a bit, pulled her hand out from inside my pants, and zippered my fly back up.

“Why are you stopping me?”

“Because I don’t want you to be doing that while I ask you to marry me.”

She gaped at me like it was some big surprise. God, I loved this woman. “Marry you?”

“Gabrielle, what I said at dinner. I meant it, all of it. I love you. I want to marry you. Will you marry me?”

“Yes.” She threw her arms around me and my lips took hers, kissing her hard, demanding, possessive, and I wanted her to know she was mine.

I didn’t stop her from resuming what she’d been doing earlier, as she unzipped my pants again and slipped her hand back inside my pants. I growled with lust, love, and excitement. I pushed her dress up and took in the sweetness of her ambrosia. Tantalizing her with my tongue, pleasuring her until she couldn’t stand it anymore and moaned with ecstasy. I loved the way she looked when she came, and her relief exploded with a loud cry. I thought the limo driver might pull over to make us stop, but he didn’t. I shimmied down my pants and entered her, slowly until I was all the way inside. Lovely, beautiful Gabrielle. The soft sensation of sliding into her had almost made me come undone. I pulled out slowly, needing to slow it down. I entered again and kept it easy for as long as I could. Doing it in the back of a limo was a first for me. That erotic thought alone made me almost climax. Gabrielle pulled me tight and grasped my behind in her hands, yanking me to her, rocking her hips hard, groaning, and shivering beneath me. I groaned as my orgasm exploded into her.

We lay satiated in the back of the limo. My pants down around my ankles, her dress up around her waist. It was a beautiful sight. One we would remember for a very long time.

“Gabrielle, I want to look back and remember this moment with you as we sit on a porch overlooking the ocean, rocking in old wooden chairs, our hair grey with many years behind us.”

She grinned and snuggled against my chest. “We will.”

Gabrielle would be my wife, but in my eyes, this beautifully used creature already owned my heart and soul, and would forever be the love of my life.