Page 8 of Beau

“Beau–”

“I need time to cool down and so do you.” Without waiting for her response, he turned and left the room.

Georgie covered her face with her hands and felt the tears pricking the back of her eyes. Her sisters had warned her about pushing too far.

“Honey, you are still young. Give it time. ” But she wanted this so much, she could taste it. Why couldn’t he understand? It was not just for her; she also wanted it for him. Was she wrong?

She knew of women—of couples who remained childless for years and went to great lengths to get pregnant and then lose the child in the middle of it. There was one woman who had tried everything and when it finally happened, the baby had a heart disease.

What if she was going against God’s will, stepping up his timeline and not waiting for it to happen naturally? What if she forced the issue and something awful happened? Would she be able to forgive herself? Would her husband be able to forgive her?

She had fought the fierce and instantaneous attraction she felt for him, one that had been there from the very moment they laid eyes on each other, and it had only gotten worse.

She wasn’t even looking for romance, having not too long got out of a painful relationship. And then he was there. Handsome, charming and sexy. As well as rich, entitled and used to gettingany woman he wanted. She was not going to play the fool and fall into his arms like a ripe plum.

So, she had fought valiantly. She had insulted him at every turn, but he had persisted. When they made love for the first time, she had been dismayed at her reaction. She had practically begged him to take her. He had spent time using his mouth and those clever fingers to bring her so much pleasure that she had wanted to die.

She could not believe it was the same for him. But surprisingly, it had been. They had both been shaken by the intensity of the passion that swamped them. He had been at a loss for words.

The seducer had become the seduced and he had not known what to do about it. He had left her place without making a commitment to see her again or to even call.

She had not heard from him for a week, until he showed up at her doorstep, looking gaunt and haunted.

“We need to talk,” he said quietly.

“We have nothing to talk about.” She had spent that week, alternatively crying and berating herself.

“Please.”

She had let him in, and he just stood there as if undecided how to proceed. “I am in love with you.” It was as if the words had been torn from his chest. “I cannot live without you. I have tried and it’s too painful. It hurts too much. Marry me.”

She had stared at him in shock and said no initially. He was out of her league. Yes, she had become somewhat of a household name because of her online career. Her love for fashion had given her the idea.

She had been working in a department store as a buyer, when she got disillusioned with her life. There was nowhere else to go and the changes she had suggested had been shelved.

Deciding to quit, she had weighed the pros and cons. The decision had been made and she had carried through with it. She had been on YouTube watching some videos, when the idea struck her.

She had the looks and certainly had the fashion sense. She had a knack of pairing the right clothes with the appropriate accessories. She could build her own social media platform and get stores to endorse her.

As soon as the epiphany had hit her, she had acted. Her sisters: Marla, the eldest, was a grade school teacher, Elaine, was an accountant for a very lucrative company and Sandra was a nurse in the local hospital. All three had been horrified at her plan and tried to talk her out of it.

“You are not thinking.” Marla reasoned. “An influencer? You had a very good job at the store. Why would you up and leave with such an iffy move? It’s not going to work.”

“Then I would have failed trying. But it’s something I must do.”

It had taken her three months to get noticed. She had an online presence, and the cameras loved her. She had invested in quality items and had started going around the stores and trying on different outfits, pairing them with a pair of burnished bangles, an eye-catching pair of earrings.

A cute risqué looking purse, a tie draped around the waist—things like that and her channel had started to get a great number of likes.

Her success had exploded and very soon, stores were offering her insane commission to showcase their products.

She had started to become very popular and recognizable. Romano’s had offered her an outstanding deal, which had set her up for life. She loved what she did and liked the idea of being self-employed. Her sister, Elaine, handled her accounts and she hired an assistant.

Her face had become well-known, and she was invited to parties where she met the cream of society. Her vivacious beauty gained her several admirers, but she was cautious, until she met Kevin who had expressed his interest in her.

She had broken her own steadfast rule of never getting involved with one of the actors she had met during the rounds of functions and had lived to regret it.

After the bad breakup, she had stayed away from men with the intention of concentrating on her career, but then Beau had happened, and she had fallen headlong in love with him. And was still falling.