"Good. You don't have to worry about him anymore," Beau replies, then takes a business card out of his wallet. "Maybe give this guy a call. He might be able to help out with getting your ex-husband to pay."
"Oh, I don't think I can afford the retainer," I mumble, noticing the embossed letters on one side of the card. It looks expensive. These are probably five-hundred-bucks-an-hour lawyers. Way out of my price range, though I'm sure they would efficiently get us the payments delivered sooner rather than later. "But thank you, Beau."
"You don't need to worry about paying them. They bill me on a monthly basis for a variety of services, and I've already informed their paralegal that you'll be in touch," Beau says. "Listen, Stella, you may be fine on your own for the time being, but that man needs to pay what he owes. His children need the financial support, and it is literally the least he could do after the way he did the three of you dirty."
I stare at the card for a long moment. Beau is right. I should be hounding Elijah with everything I've got. He shouldn't be allowed to go on living his life without a care in the world while his children and I struggle. "I'll give them a call."
"Light his ass on fire," Beau replies.
Our eyes meet, and for the love of all that's holy in this world, I lose my breath and wonder what it would be like if we could just go back to his room right now. My blood boils, my skin tingles everywhere. I clench my knees tighter together, fully aware that my short, candy-pink black wool dress and skin-colored tights are showing more of my curves than usual—not that I was expecting him to pop by.
"Why are you helping me?" I ask, unable to pull myself away from his intense focus.
Isaac and Noah rumble through my head. Their hands, their lips, their darkened gazes, their magnificent cocks and the way I unraveled between them. I shouldn't be doing this. I should resist, blink all of this away and keep a reasonable distance, but Beau keeps drawing me in. I'm like a moth flying straight toward the flame.
"Because you need a break, and because you strike me as the kind of woman who has spent one too many years gracing the wrong man with your love," Beau says. "Perhaps it's time for you to just sit back and smell the roses."
"I'm just not used to people being so kind," I admit.
"Well, it's time for you to get used to this," Beau says. "Forget the past and focus on the present. We're not all bad, Stella. And you deserve better than what you've had up to this point."
Lucas sits on a rock, his tiny boots sinking in the snow, carefully watching a beetle lazily work its way up the stem of a hibernating hibiscus bush in front of him. He is downright fascinated, still and nearly breathless as his eyes follow the tiny creature with its extended eyes and brownish, shimmering shell and hairy little legs. I can't help but smile, and Beau exhales sharply.
"You're right," I tell him, slowly turning my head. "I'm not used to having good people in my life. Frankly, I think Lucas and Ava and Theo are the only ones."
"I don't claim to be a good man," he says, gently clasping my chin with his thumb and index finger. The touch is soft, yet it still lights a spark within me. "But I do know that the four of us are determined to take good care of you, Stella. You're a part of the Elizabeth, now, and while we do not extend everyone the same courtesies as we have with you, you will always be looked after here."
"You barely know me," I manage.
"I don't need to know you to know that you're an incredible woman. It's written all over you. It's written all over your children. And in the week you've been here, I can see it from the way you work, as well," Beau replies. "I'd like to know you better, though."
Again, my mind gets jammed like paper in a faulty printer. "What?"
"I'd like to get to know you better," he says, inching closer. "Would you like to have drinks with me one of these evenings? We could hang out here, or I could drive us down the coast. I know a couple of great seafood restaurants in the Hamptons that are open in the winter, too."
My first thought is to say yes. But my inner demons crawl back to the surface as I remember that Isaac and Noah are good and close friends with Beau and Levi. And while the Kendrick twins have assured me that our intimate encounter has no bearing on my position at the bed and breakfast, it doesn't exactly stop them from talking about it with one another. It hits me, now, what this is about.
Anger is quick to grip me by the throat as I pull my head back and inch away from Beau until I can feel the bench's wrought iron armrest against my hip. "I think you're mistaking me for a different kind of woman," I say, my voice trembling slightly.
"What do you mean?" Beau pauses. "Oh, if you're referring to the thing with Isaac and Noah—"
"Oh, my God, they told you!"
"Wait, Stella, don't be mad. Let me explain."
I have a mind to smack him, but he's still my boss. All I can do is sit and simmer as I try to find a more appropriate response. "It was supposed to be private," I mutter between gritting teeth.
It is private," he assures me. "You need to understand something, Stella. Something I don't think either Isaac or Noah managed to convey properly. The four of us, we're not just longtime business partners and best friends. We're extremely close. Our bond is unlike most you might've come across, and we share the most intimate aspects of our lives with one another because we trust each other deeply."
"Yeah, fine, whatever, but what does that have to do with me? I'm not some floozy you all get to bang."
"Nor did I make such a suggestion. Forgive me, Stella, it's not what I meant. I actually like you. And Isaac and Noah's intimate experience with you has only made my desire for you grow even deeper," he says, and dammit, I actually believe him.
The look in his eyes melts my heart. My defenses shatter as he comes closer, refusing to let me flee this strange and tantalizing moment. He cups my cheek, and I should slap his hand away, but I cannot. His cologne invades my lungs, his body beckons mine. Heat gathers between my legs as I lose myself in the shadows of his smoldering gaze.
"I want you, Stella," Beau says. "And you cannot lie to me. I feel you, even now. You want me. I can almost smell it on you…"
"But I—"