Noelle's Rock: A BWWM Holiday Romance (16 page)

Chapter 22

Noelle

Who Says Love is Easy?

I wake up to Beau holding me in his arms. Our legs are intertwined, and our hearts beat rhythmically as one. My finger traces the length of his neatly-cropped moustache and beard as I stare lovingly at his too handsome face.

What will I do if Beau leaves me for another woman? My fingers trail down to the fine hairs on his muscular chest. How will I cope alone after he has made me fall so deeply in love with him?

Tears fill my eyes, and I blink them away. When my eyes finally clear of the unwanted tears, I find Beau is awake and watching me. He is looking into my eyes. His blue gaze feels like lightning striking my soul. I can’t stand the intensity in his gaze. I so want to ask him about the article that I read a few days ago, but I am afraid of the answers. In this moment of uncertainty, I wonder what is best: knowing or not knowing.

“Why do you look so sad, Noelle?” Beau asks as he brings his hand tenderly against my cheek.

“It’s nothing,” I reply and roll over as I attempt to leave the bed.

“No, I’m not letting you off the hook that easy. Something has been bothering you for days. I know I have been MIA, but I am here now, and I want you to tell me what’s bothering you.”

I take in a deep breath, trying to control the rapid beating of my heart, before turning to face him once again.

“Talk to me, babe,” he urges.

I lick my dry lips to moisten them. Beau instantly follows the movement of my tongue. I can see heat flare in his eyes instantly, and his nostrils flare wide. A shudder begins at my spine and spreads through me from the heated, fiery look in his eyes, but I bank down the fire that is building inside of me as strength finally takes the place of fear; I finally say to him what’s bothering me.

“Beau, who is Courtney Nicks to you?” I ask him in a soft voice, barely above a whisper.

I make myself look deep into his eyes so I can decipher whether he tells me the truth or not.

Beau remains quiet for a minute. A surprised look enters his eyes, but he quickly recovers. His eyes never waver from mine as he takes time to formulate his answer.

“How do you know about Courtney?”

I was not expecting him to answer me with a question of his own.

“It doesn’t matter how I found out about Courtney. Why are you taking so long to answer my question?”

Beau exhales loudly and slides up in bed to rest his head against the wooden headboard.

“Courtney and I go way back. We first started to date when she became a newbie in the music industry. We seriously dated for a while until our hectic schedules eventually tore us apart. We drifted apart but remained distant friends. I haven’t heard from her in almost two years. The producers wanted her to grace my album with two duets that we would sing together. That’s it,” Beau says as if it’s just that simple. But I can see something, which I can’t put my finger on, lurking in the depths of his now sapphire-blue eyes.

“Why haven’t you mentioned her in the past? You led me to believe that you were never in a long-term relationship before me. Now I am understanding that you and another woman were in a serious, lengthy relationship. I have bared my soul to you, telling you about my family life back home and how I felt about my breakup with Victor. I read an article about you and Courtney. I had to find out in an article about how much you two loved each other and that you will be rekindling your romance while doing this album together.” My words rush out. Disappointment is evident in my voice.

“Don’t be like that, Noelle. The only woman I have ever had a serious relationship with is you. I can’t help what happened in the past. The main thing is that you are my here and now. You are my future,” he stresses.

“Really, Beau?” I question him with a doubt-tinged voice. “Life and love as we know it aren’t that easy.”

“Noelle…baby, l know that we haven’t known each other for years. It may even seem like we have moved too fast in our relationship, but you can trust my love and commitment to you. Do you trust me, baby?”

“I want to trust you. I really do. Please, don’t do anything to make me not trust you, Beau.”

“I promise I won’t. Come here,” he says, pulling me against his chest. “I love you, Noelle Winters,” he declares, placing a kiss on top of my head. ”Stop finding problems where there aren’t any. The stress can’t be good for you or the baby,” he adds before placing a hand protectively over my stomach.

“I love you too, Beau Barringer,” I return his sentiment of love as I look up into his eyes.

Our lips meet warmly as he thrusts his tongue between my lips to intertwine his tongue with my own. We seal our confession of love for each other with a kiss that warms me through and through.

Beau pulls away from me and looks into my eyes.

“We are having a celebration on Friday night in honor of finishing the album. It’s at a renowned private club called Club Capri, and I want you to go with me. I will arrange a stylist to do your hair and make-up. I will also have someone send you a complete outfit over, including shoes and accessories. I don’t want you to worry about a thing. On second thought, invite Shelby and Erick too. I will arrange the stylist to handle Shelby’s hair and make-up as well,” Beau generously offers.

I feel better knowing that Shelby will be with me at this affair. I am still not comfortable when Beau changes into his high-profile persona. I know that if I am planning to be with him for the long haul, I must do everything in my power to get use to his lifestyle.

“Thank you, honey. If you want me by your side, then I am here. I will do anything to support my man,” I say, snuggling closer against his chest.

My heart is suddenly feeling lighter from Beau’s assurances. Even if my doubts still plague the back of my mind, I feel I must trust Beau and our love for each other if our relationship is going to survive the test of time.

“Is that a fact?” he asks, looking at me with lust-filled eyes.

“Do I need to prove it to you?” I begin to feel a slickness gathering between my thighs.

“Feel what you do to me,” he replies before taking my hand to feel his lengthy hard on beneath his pajama bottoms.

My mouth waters as I feel the length of his hot steel beneath my hand. My hand itches to feel itself wrapped around his hardness. I slide my hand beneath his pajama bottoms and release his morning erection for my hungry eyes to feast on.

Beau groans when my hands wrap around him and move in an up-and-down motion. I can see pre-cum appear on the tip of his penis. I place my lips against his penis head, and my tongue slips out to lick the drop of pre-cum into my mouth.

I enjoy Beau’s taste, which is a little bit salty in my mouth, before kissing around the head and down his length as I slowly tease him with what’s to come. Beau is moaning from the ministrations of my hands as one hand glides beneath his hard shaft to grasp his balls.

I finally allow my mouth to take several inches of his hardness. My mouth stretches wider the more of him I take in. Beau begins to gyrate as his hand grips my hair and twists it around his wrist.

The up-and-down movements of my head intensify; my hand still grips and squeezes his balls to add extra friction to the pleasure my mouth is giving him. I savor every bit of him as my jaws open and suck around his stiffness.

“I want to taste you,” Beau growls out between clenched teeth. His voice is deep and laced with an unrestrained desire.

He instantly maneuvers me around without me removing my mouth from his hardness. I can hear my panties tearing away from my body before he places the lower half of my body over his mouth. I almost jump out of my skin from the first swipe of his tongue against my protruding clit.

“Mmm…I crave the taste of you all day every day,” he mutters against the slickness of my plump pussy lips. “No one has or ever will make me feel the way I feel for you.”

I moan with unrepentant pleasure as the stiffness of his tongue between my wet, sticky lips brings me to the brink of ecstasy. Beau grasps my ass and forces me completely down onto his mouth. He attacks my love tunnel with even more relish. He acts like he can’t get enough of me, and the feeling is the same for me. I grind my sticky love juices all over his lips and face as an orgasm consumes me like a heavy rainfall.

I can feel Beau throbbing and pulsating, growing bigger in my mouth as he continues to eat me out like a starving man. I relax even more as he slides down further into my throat and releases his hot load. I drink of him and swallow everything he offers me before letting him plop from between my lips.

I am totally satiated and blissfully pleasured by the time Beau turns me around to lie against his muscular, broad chest. We have no words as our heart rates return to normal, and he holds me close in his loving arms.

Chapter 23

Noelle

Tonight’s the Night

Beau has out done himself. He splurged and got Shelby and me a suite of our very own in one of the most expensive hotels in the city. I feel like a princess as I lie on the table getting a massage by the two masseurs that Beau provided for Shelby and me. Although Shelby comes from a rich family and grew up with a silver spoon in her mouth, she is humble and appreciative of Beau’s generosity.

This is what I have always loved about my best friend: she doesn’t have a snobbish bone in her body. Even though I grew up in an upper-middle class home, Shelby has never made me feel any different. Shelby has had nannies and maids all of her life, until she went away to college and moved out of her parents’ home.

“This is so sweet of Beau,” Shelby says, cutting into my thoughts as she lies on the masseur’s table across from me.

“I think so as well.”

“Are you excited about tonight? I know that I am. Club Capri isn’t a club that is easy to get as a patron,” she admits. “Nothing but A-list performers will be there, I am sure,” she adds with a knowing grin plastered to her face.

“I’m sure there will be,” I suddenly become uncomfortable with the thought because I know that Courtney Nicks will be there. I also wonder how Beau will act around her with me present.

“What’s wrong? I don’t like the sound of your voice.”

My friend knows me so well. If something is bothering me, it doesn’t take her long to pick up on it. It’s the same way with me. I can always tell when something is eating away at my friend. I know I can talk to Shelby about anything, and she never judges me.

“Are you feeling well?” she questions me again with concern etched on her face.

The masseurs finish up, which I am glad for. I don’t want to have this conversation with an audience around. We thank them for a job well done. When Shelby and I try to give them a tip, they assure us that Mr. Barringer has taken care of everything. Shelby escorts them to the door as they gather their supplies and leave.

Our manicures and pedicures are already done. The stylists will be up in an hour to do Shelby’s and my hair and make-up.

“We are alone now, so spill it. Tell me what’s bothering you so we can fix it. I don’t want anything putting a damper on tonight for you. This is a happy occasion celebrating your man’s success.”

“You’re right, Shelby. I should feel excited about tonight,” I say, walking over to the snack table the hotel has provided.

There are little cute sandwiches, vegetable sticks and dip, as well as a bottle of champagne for Shelby. Beau is so sweet; he was sure to include a bottle of sparkling apple cider for me. I pick up a miniature sandwich and take a bite before taking a seat in one of the comfortable chairs.

Shelby pours herself a glass of the expensive champagne before taking a seat across from me. “Tick…tick,” Shelby says with a teasing grin.

“I am feeling fine…it’s just that…” I let my voice trail off so I can formulate my words to try and not sound like an insecure shrew.

“What is it? You know that you can always tell me anything. Now isn’t any different,” she says in a gentle tone.

Maybe if I admit my fears aloud to her and get them out in the open, they won’t seem so big after all. Maybe Shelby can convince me that I am overreacting, and I can lay my doubts to rest once and for all. I take a deep breath and let my words spill forth.

“Beau has an ex-girlfriend who is in town, and he didn’t tell me about it. I had to find out through Victor.”

“Wait, why are you still talking to Victor? I thought we agreed the best thing for you to do is to cut that slimeball out of your life?”

“Well, you might have to get use to that slimeball being around because he wants to be a father to his baby, but that’s another story that I will have to tell you about later.”

“I’m going to hold you to that because I don’t like Victor being back in your life, not one bit,” she says, taking a sip from her champagne glass. “Now, back to Beau’s ex-girlfriend. What does she have to do with you and Beau?”

“Beau led me to believe that he has never been as serious about anyone as he has been with me. But the article online tells a different tale.” I reach for my cell phone and pull up the article that I had bookmarked earlier.

Shelby reaches for my cell phone and reads the article. I give her time to take in what the article is implying.

“Hmm, looks like he was very serious about this Courtney Nicks. I see she is famous in her own right.”

“That’s what I don’t understand. If he was so in love with this woman, why didn’t he tell me? I have told him everything about me. He didn’t even tell me that they will be performing two duets in his upcoming album. They are love songs at that,” I add.

“I know Beau loves you, Noelle. Magazines always try to make things sound worse than they really are. You can’t believe everything you read,” she says laying my cell on the table in front of her.

“You really think I have nothing to worry about?”

“I am positive that you don’t,” she says, picking up a newspaper that the hotel provided.

She looks at the front page and then suddenly closes it in a hurry. She looks at me quickly and then looks away as she stuffs the newspaper down inside her chair. She then drains the contents in her champagne glass.

“Let’s see what’s on television,” she says in a nervous voice. “We have about twenty minutes to waste before the stylists arrive for our hair and make-up.”

“Shelby, what is wrong with you all of a sudden? Don’t think I didn’t see you trying to hide that newspaper. Give it here,” I extend my hand.

Shelby shakes her head no. Her hair falls loosely, covering the worried look in her eyes.

“Okay,” I say. “Have it your way.”

Then I catch her by surprise and lunge for the newspaper. I snatch it up from between her seat where she wedged it.

“Noelle!” she shouts.

“Shelby!” I shout back with a laugh. “Now let me see what you don’t want me to see.”

My laughter dies a quick and sudden death as I look at the black and white images before my eyes.

“Now remember what I said earlier, Noelle. Newspapers lie just as much as magazines do,” she says in a pleading voice.

“Shelby, how the hell is a picture going to lie? It is true what they say: a picture is really worth a thousand words,” I say in a trembling voice.

Tears slide down my cheeks as my eyes drink up the image of Beau’s lips plastered against Courtney Nicks’. They are clinging together in a lover’s embrace. The headline reads, “Lovers reunited after almost two years apart.”

I feel sick to my stomach. I’m feeling sicker than I have during my whole pregnancy. I have been one of the lucky ones; I haven’t even experienced one bout of morning sickness so far. But looking at this image has me throwing the newspaper down and fleeing to the restroom as if my life depends on it.

Shelby’s concerned voice calls out to me, but I can’t answer her as bitter bile rises in my throat. I barely make it to the stall before everything I’ve eaten that day empties from my stomach. Shelby comes and kneels beside me as she holds my hair back. I feel a cool cloth on my forehead that she must have stopped and got along the way.

“Breathe, sweetheart,” she says in a soothing, gentle voice. “Just breathe through it.”

“He lied to me,” I say as tears, mixed with my snot, run down my face.

“Here,” says Shelby, giving me a toothbrush with a minty toothpaste already spread across the top of it.

I brush my teeth and rinse my mouth out with the mouthwash Shelby has already waiting for me. She remains quiet and goes over to the large shower to adjust the water to a comfortable temperature before she urges me to take off my robe. She insists a refreshing shower will make me feel better.

“Everything will be alright. I promise you,” she says before walking out of the bathroom to give me the privacy I need.

I let my tears mix with the water from the shower as the water rinses them away. Beau has now hurt me a thousand times worse than Victor ever could. I let the shower wet my hair as my heart continues to break. I can’t get the image of Beau kissing another woman out of my head. The same lips that kiss me so intimately are on another woman’s lips.

I am so full of sorrow and anger at the same time. I know I need to get my act together because I have more than me to think about. I have an innocent baby who I am carrying that I must think of first and foremost.

“The stylists are here,” Shelby calls from behind the bathroom door.

I shut off the shower and dry off with a big, fluffy towel. I take a hand towel to wrap around my wet hair, slide back into my robe, and step out into the room where Shelby and the stylists are waiting.

“I’m not going, Shelby, but I want you to go on when the car arrives to pick us up. I want you to go and enjoy yourself because Erick will be there already waiting for you. Please don’t let what is going on with me stop you from having a good time tonight.”

“No! I won’t go without you. What will Beau say when I arrive alone? He will be livid with me. I know what you saw in the newspaper looks bad, and I totally understand you being angry with Beau. But don’t give away your man that easily, Noelle. Fight for what’s yours.”

“Shelby, I can’t compete with Courtney Nicks. I look towards the stylists as they pretend to get their supplies together, but I know they can hear every word.

Shelby sees the direction that I am looking and walks over to speak quietly with them. They walk out of the room and promise to give us at least ten minutes alone but remind us that time is ticking.

“Come over here and sit down for a minute, Noelle.”

I comply with Shelby’s request, but she isn’t going to change my mind.

“I am your friend…and your sister. I am not going to steer you wrong. If you really love Beau, be by his side. I have never dated anyone famous, but I know there will be women that will flock to him like bees to honey. You better thicken your skin because these skanks aren’t loyal to anybody. All they see are dollar signs, and they are waiting in the wings to take your place.”

“Shelby, Courtney Nicks isn’t a skank. She is someone that Beau has had feelings for. They have a past. I am sure that when she looks at him, she doesn’t see dollar signs. She’s already famous and has her own money. They are two of a kind, and he and I are as different as night and day.”

Shelby frowns at me and shakes her head in disappointment.

“I never would have thought that I would see the day when my strong best friend would give up and walk away with her tail tucked between her legs.”

I can feel myself getting angry. The anger that I am feeling towards Beau’s betrayal is being redirected towards Shelby.

“I am the one who is hurting! You are supposed to be on my side, Shelby. Why are you defending Beau and his actions?” I ask her as tears threaten to fall once again.

“I want you to fight for Beau, if it comes down to it. I feel he loves you and will never do anything to hurt you. I see the way he looks at you when you aren’t looking. His looks haven’t given me any indication that he’s leaving you. Confront him about the picture after the party tonight, but don’t just not show up for him when he’s expecting you to be by his side,” she says, wiping a salty tear away from my cheek.

“Girl, if I didn’t love you like a sister, I wouldn’t take your advice. I will go, and I pray I will be able to hold my peace until I get Beau alone later,” I relent.

“Okay, girl,” Shelby gives me a dazzling smile. “But whatever you do, you must remain calm. I am sure photographers will be there getting pictures, and I don’t want your picture on one of those rags,” she giggles before crossing the room to allow our stylists back in to do their magic and make us presentable for tonight.