One Kiss Later

27

Beau was my biggest fan and supporter.

He always helped me with my new organization. For every baseball game, he wore a purple rubber bracelet that said love shouldn't hurt. He always reposted infographics and encouraged people to come aware.

I would never be able to thank him enough.

I was so excited to be spending the next week with him.

We were starting the drive to Texas on Friday afternoon to Phoenix. We planned to get to Texas by Sunday night and fly to Destin, Florida with his entire family on Wednesday.

Yeah, Fabian and Kate decided to renew their vows on the beach. I couldn't blame them. I loved the beach.

Beau decided to rent a car so that we could fly back. I didn't know if I could do that twenty-one-hour drive twice.

"Are you ready to go to Phoenix?" Beau asked me as he put my bag in his car.

I nodded. "Me and my boot."

He looked down at my boot. "How much longer do you have left?"

"Two weeks." I responded. "Why did you rent a fucking Tahoe?"

"Tell me, Nat, how many kids do you want?" Beau questioned me.

I held up three fingers. "Three. Ideally, two girls and one boy, but I'll take what I can get."

He pressed the button to close the trunk. "I'm practicing for our three kids."

I forgot one small detail, on Valentine's Day, Beau and I officially started dating. He wasn't officially my boyfriend, I wasn't his girlfriend, but we both knew that we wanted to pursue something higher together.

Ever since then, he'd been a lot more flirty and touchy with me.

I loved it.

"Oh really?" I looked at him.

He nodded his head. "Gotta have a big car to keep them comfortable."

I just smiled at him before I got into the car.

"How many hours is it to Phoenix again?" I asked him as he started up the car.

I watched as the navigation popped up on the screen. "Five hours and fifty minutes."

"Hopefully we can make it before eight with this damn traffic." he started to pull out of the parking lot of our apartment complex.

"Is the hotel going to be like the movies? Only one bed?" I questioned him.

He nodded his head. "You know that I like to cuddle."

"I do know that." I grinned.

"But when you're my girlfriend, I'll always get a hotel room with two beds. One for rest, one for play." Beau added.

This man.

"We'll see about that." I avoided eye contact with him.

I knew he had a smug look on his face. That smug look always did something to me, and I didn't want to give him that satisfaction.

Our drive started pretty peacefully. We thought there would be a lot of traffic, but once we made it out of Los Angeles, it was pretty smooth sailing. He had a chill playlist made, we had good snacks, the vibes were good.

"Natalie." he spoke up.

"Hmm?" I turned my head to him.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to come by." Beau began to speak. "But I'll never be able to thank you enough for not giving up on me. I don't know what it is that you saw in me, but I'm happy that you did. You never giving up on me means more to me than you'll ever know."