Page 42 of Breaking All The Rules
“We should all definitely drink more,” Winona chimed in.
He laughed again. “Here.” He pulled out his wallet and threw a fifty on the table. “Have another round on me.”
Bea did an exaggerated eyelid bat. “Why, Officer, are you trying to get us drunk?”
“No, ma’am.” Her smile slipped a little then, and her nostrils flared, and things went from flirty tipsy to jungle steamy in one second flat. Heat surged to Austin’s groin, and his breath was thick in his throat as he swallowed. “It’s just a parting gesture.”
“Parting?” She pouted, the flirt back again. “Where are you going?”
“Sorry, I’ve gotta head out to the ranch to help Dad offload some hay.”
“Oh…”
The flirt slipped again to disappointment, and the fact that she seemed genuinely sad about his imminent departure totally went to Austin’s head. Both of them. “I assume you want to hang here for a bit longer. Or do you want me to walk you back to the apartment before I head out?”
“Oh, no.” She shook off her disappointment and smiled at him. “You go. I’ll be fine here.”
“Yep. Bea’s been telling us all about the stars she’s met at Hollywood fundraisers,” Molly confirmed.
Winona, who didn’t seem anywhere near as boozy as the others, said, “We’ll see she gets home safely, Officer Cutie Patootie.”
Austin groaned. He had a feeling that was going to stick. But he had no doubt that Bea was in safe hands. “Thanks.” He glanced around the group, nodding collectively at the women. “Night, ladies.” Then his gaze zeroed in on the one woman he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about. “Sweet dreams.”
She smiled at him, her eyes soft. “Sweet dreams are made of cheese,” she said, and then she laughed at their little private joke, and Austin wanted to sweep her up in his arms and kiss the living hell out of her.
As soon as humanly possible.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Monday morning, just before lunch, Bea found herself pulling up in the main parking lot at the lake. It was a truly spectacular day. The sky was an endless dome of candy blue with not one cloud marring its perfection. The sun sparkled on the surface of the lake like a galaxy of tiny suns, and the trees that surrounded the lake on every shoreline were thick with new growth.
She grabbed the brown paper bag off the passenger seat and exited the car. The sun was warm on her face now despite the cool start to the day, and she shrugged out of her fleece. It was so quiet—not a soul to be seen—although there was another vehicle in the lot. Bea inhaled deeply, appreciating the pine needles scenting the air with their woodsy fragrance.
No wonder Winona wanted to live out here.
Bea had passed what she assumed was Winona’s place a few minutes ago, if the bare A-framed bones of a house and the caravan to the side of the lot were any indication. She planned on dropping in and seeing her as per her invitation on Saturday on the way back, but for now she wanted to explore what the lake had to offer. Find a nice spot to really appreciate Annie’s Monday morning offerings of peach cobbler and raspberry pie.
Leaving the parking lot, she followed the sign on the tree-lined path that said pier and playground and headed in that direction. Her boots—ankle height in brown leather this time—crunching on the loose gravel echoed in the loud hush of nature. By the time Bea had walked a minute, she swore she could actually hear the low beat of her heart.
She’d never done this in LA—gotten out in nature. Hell, she hadn’t even gone to the beach much. There’d always been an excuse to keep her at her desk both at the office or at home and, with her trusty elliptical, she hadn’t needed to go out to get exercise. But Bea wasn’t doing this for the exercise. She was doing this for the sheer joy of doing nothing.
Which probably wouldn’t make sense to a lot of people, but it did to her.
As she rounded a bend in the path, the trees fell away and the view opened up to the playground and a large, well-kept picnic area. There were several permanent table-and-chair sets scattered around and plenty of trees left standing to provide shade to those who hadn’t been lucky enough to score a bench or who preferred to picnic on the ground. The grassy area gave way to a narrow, pebbly shoreline that curved off into the distance, the lake lapping it faithfully all the way around.
To the left a little, wooden jetty reached out into the lake, about thirty feet long and low across the surface. No handrail. On the end where the boards widened into some kind of large platform, no doubt used by kids and adults alike to launch themselves into the lake, sat a blond woman in a chair. She was facing the lake and appeared to be sitting in front of a…canvas?
Was this who belonged to the other car in the lot?
Curiosity piqued, Bea made her way across the picnic area and onto the beach, pleased for her sunglasses as the glittering water became more intense the closer she drew. There was only a couple of feet of gritty sand before it blended into pebbles and her boots scuffed and crunched. The sound must have carried in the stillness, causing the woman on the pier to turn.
If she was surprised, she didn’t show it, just waved and turned back to her canvas.
Bea ambled to the wooden steps that led to the pier. There were only two and she mounted them unhurriedly, taking in the vista as the man-made lake opened up in front of her, revealing the vastness of the distant shoreline. It was strange not to see mountains nearby, but the woodland that ringed the lake was easy on the eye as well.
The thud of Bea’s boots against the boards echoed around the cauldron of the lake, and the woman turned again as Bea drew closer.
“Hi,” she said with a smile.
