Read Online Beatrice and Douglas by Kelly Lucille - Free Book Online

“Fighting
with you is safer than this.”
    “Yeah,” he said, smiling into her hair, his hands rubbing up
and down her back and shoulders, “but not nearly as much fun.”
    Yeah, it’s all fun and games until someone loses their
heart.  Beatrice sighed, but didn’t let go.  It felt too right to
be where she was.
    ***
    The walk to the restaurant was nearly over the water and you
could watch the seagulls soar over the sails of ships as they drifted on the
waves.  The day was overcast as it was wont to be in the Pacific
Northwest.  The air smelled of brine and stung the cheeks red with
cold. 
    Beatrice marveled at the strangeness of walking hand-in-hand
with Douglas Bruce.  He was furnace hot all along her side and he smiled
easily and with frequency, even while she was still dealing with the
strangeness of it all and frowning out over the water.  Even she knew what
a ridiculous thing to do when being escorted beside the ocean by a beautiful
man who wanted to feed her and then take her to bed.
    “I’m a flake,” she muttered. 
    “What?”
    She turned to see his smile still in place.  “I said,
‘I’m a flake’.”
    “How do you figure?”
    She breathed deep and then shook her head at her own convoluted
thinking.  “I don’t think this is a good idea, what we have going here,
even if I could figure out what that is, and still, here I am.  Going to
breakfast with you, because . . .” she sighed.  “See, I can’t even say why
I’m doing this.  Totally a flake.”
    “You aren’t a flake.”
    “I so am.”  She stopped since they had arrived at a
weathered wood restaurant that looked from the outside as if it had been there
as long as the sea.  She waited so he could hold the door of the
restaurant open for her, talking the whole while.  “I’m becoming like one
of those ditzy heroines who can’t find her ass with two hands.”  Her voice
went high and girly.  “‘I want you.’  ‘No, don’t touch me.  I
know you slept with my sister.’  ‘I don’t care what you’ve done; just take
me to your bed.’”  Her voice dropped back to normal.  “It’s actually
embarrassing to be me.”
    Douglas chuckled, and then nodded when a woman from the back
called for them to sit anywhere.  The place was set up to resemble the
inside of a fishing boat, with fishing paraphernalia decorating the same
weathered wood walls as the ones outside.  There were windows all the way
around with most sporting a view of the boardwalk, the harbor, and the rolling
waves.  It was also nearly full.  He chose one of two free booths
with the scratched leather seats and a view of the town.  If you squinted
and concentrated, you could see a sliver of the marina in the corner.  You
probably had to get here early to get the good ocean views.
    “I’m Alice.  Start you off with something warm?” 
A server with a towering head of frizzy and obviously dyed red curls stood
beside the table with a wide smile and writing pad.  Her outfit was casual
denim and flannel, much like what both Beatrice and Douglas were wearing, only
her jeans were painted on, and her too small top was opened at the boobs to
show a huge amount of cleavage over straining flannel and red lace.  It
was quite an arresting sight so early in the morning and it had Beatrice trying
to find a safe place to rest her gaze.  The brassy woman had clearly long
since hit the midlife spread phase at the hips and waist, but strongly
supported boobs distracted you from noticing that.
    “Yes, fine, thank you.”  Beatrice cleared her
throat.  “Coffee with cream please.”
    “And you handsome?” the woman asked with a flirty lip curl,
her voice a perfect blend of sandpaper and smoke. 
    Douglas, who had been paying too much attention to Beatrice
and not enough to the server, looked up at the question and was dumbstruck as
his eyes adjusted to the sight before him.  Beatrice bit her lip to keep
from laughing out loud, as Douglas blinked.