His comment on efficiency had her raising a brow high over bright cerulean eyes in amusement. She flickered her gaze back to the young leggy blonde and regarded her for a moment. Raisie could see the appeal realistically. With her current heels on, the blonde would stand at Raisie’s bare-foot height; short enough without shoes that she could be dominated easily, although somehow her legs managed to look impressively lean and long under the restraints of her short, tight dress. The blonde hair was amusingly common, but her face was pretty and young enough that it should have been carded when she approached the bar. Gaze back on the man beside her, she shrugged a shoulder with disinterest. “Getting undressed is half the fun,” she decided rather bluntly. “I don’t think you’ve ever had the right woman strip for you.” Her words were followed by a confident smirk and then by another train of thought. “And not the kind of ‘I’m baring my soul to you’ strip, but the ‘lets do shots out of my naval’ or the ‘I’ve got body chocolate in the cupboard’ kind of strip.” For the most part, the redhead was relatively thankful she was a woman. It wasn’t often she came across a man that wanted something more than sex and if she did, she fled as quickly as she came.
Readjusting herself on the chair, Raisie’s gaze fell to the glass in front of her for a moment as she listened to him talk. There was a brief flicker of concern run through her mind at the thought of falling back into the void of addiction, but it was fleeting enough that it didn’t trickle onto her features. Finishing off the remnants of her glass, the lawyer tapped long nails on the bar absentmindedly. His absolute refusal at the thought of entering a woman’s house was interesting, and she couldn’t help but ponder on the reason. Although she’d entered the bar with the soul purpose of drinking until she couldn’t think logically, the man beside her had managed to peak her interest. “Oh?” She questioned, a smile pulling at the corners of her lips. “Traumatic experience?” Tipping her head slightly with a playful grin, Raisie continued. “Did she still live with her parents?” The lack of a filter she had outside of a professional setting was astounding, but it also wasn’t something she was ready to apologize for. When his eyes burned a trail down her frame, she decided she couldn’t have been too insulting.
With the bartender in front of her and her companion, Raisie ordered herself another drink and moved slightly in her seat. Crossing one leg over the other, she brushed out the tight material that was edging up her mid-thigh, turning enough in her seat that she no longer had to twist her head to look at him while he spoke. He asked why she’d bothered engaging him in conversation and it was a decidedly fair question given his correct assumption that she didn’t often involve herself in small talk. For a brief second, she wondered whether she was lonely. It had been a long time since she’d spoken to anyone outside of work. Her family was considerably non-existent, and while she had used a casual fuck-buddy cop to track down the location of her sisters and parents, she’d done little with the information. Deciding it had little to do with loneliness and more to do with the lack of good-looking men in the small town, she gave an indifferent shrug and a sure smirk. “What can I say, I saw the way you shamelessly checking out the blonde as soon as I walked in and was concerned you might need a little help. I’m not one to stand in the way of a good one-night stand.”
Raising another brow as she downed another few mouthfuls from the fresh glass, Raisie nodded. “Navy Seal, how impressive.” She didn’t let it show across her features, but the redhead couldn’t help the slight twist in her stomach, like the vodka that had pooled there was doing the electric slide. Although she was currently a respectable – for the most part – lawyer, it was hard to ignore her less than favorable past, considering it hadn’t been all that long ago. While she’d worked with a few police officers since, she’d quickly learnt she was safe with them considering their often surprisingly poor perceptional skills, but something told her it wasn’t a problem the man in front of her faced. It was unnerving to say the least, but she was too reckless to consider the implications staying could have. Instead she let her head fall back at the Cosmopolitan comment, silky red tresses tickling her neck as a melodic laughter trickled from her dark plum lips. Anyone that knew Raisie – although that list was strikingly small – understood that she was as far from an average woman as she could muster. From red hair and fierce demeanor to her criminal history and disinterest in relationships, she was as far from normal as could be.
His guess of a military background on her part wasn’t exactly laughable, considering she had undertaken similar training, albeit for a different side. Although it wasn’t something she was about to announce, or something that would be guessable at first glance. Instead she smiled a bright and strong smile, white teeth piercing a dark bottom lip in amusement as her fingers wrapped around her glass. “You almost got there,” she said with a hint of laughter. “I was an EADA in New York. In case it isn’t already glaringly obvious, I haven’t been in this town long.” She finished the last of her drink and sat back for a moment in thought. “I’m so thankful I meet your standards of a gorgeous woman though, it’s a relief, really.” Amused sarcasm laced her words, and she gave the man beside her a grin followed by a wink. “What’s a Navy Seal doing in a town this small?”
“I disagree.” Beau stated as he threw the drink back. Slowly but surely the amber liquid was beginning to have a greater effect on him. His dull eyes were replaced with an alcohol-induced glitter and his chiseled features were aglow with the relaxation the drink brought him. “Undressing is far more intimate than people like to believe. That’s the moment when the trust presents itself. The quicker that part is over, the better.” He explained. “Besides, the faster I get her clothes off, the longer we can take and the better chance she has at achieving an orgasm or two. It’s a benefit to you women, really.” Though Beau was by no means a boaster, sex was one of two things he knew he had a talent for. Whether it was because he held a certain competitiveness when it came to genuinely wanting a woman climax— the action itself serving to stroke his ego— or because he found her to be sexiest when she moaned his name, Beau made an effort to make the sex enjoyable for both parties. And he wasn’t ashamed to admit it. He raised an eyebrow as a grin spread across his features. “Seems like we’ve found ourselves a freak.” He mused.
Beau let out a laugh as she spoke. He wished it had been that easy. “Actually, it’s a little more pathetic than that— on my part, in reality.” He admitted. “My first mistake was letting her convince me to go home with her. My second was staying over.” He downed the rest of his drink. “Long story short, I ended up in a six month long relationship with a woman because of a picture she had on her nightstand of her six year old self. Every time I wanted to break up with her, I thought of that little girl and I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t crush that innocence.” Beau added with a hint of disgust. Here he was— a 6′2″ Navy SEAL with an ego liken to Ares— and he hadn’t had the decency or courage to break up with a girl over some two decade old picture. It was pathetic. He let out a small sigh and shot her a grin. “Don’t worry, though.” He assured her. “I managed to get her to break up with me and learned a few valuables lesson because of it.”
He snorted down a scoff. “I’m sure I could’ve managed just fine without your help.” As the words left his lips, an idea lodged itself into his mind and the soldier leaned closer. “Actually,” He began slowly. “You know what I think?” He paused for a moment as he tilted his head, looking directly into her brightly colored eyes. “I think you saw me and couldn’t help yourself. Flattering, really. In fact, if you didn’t give off an air of ‘not interested’ I might even try my hand.” Beau moved away. He was teasing her— for the most part— but that didn’t stop him from surveying her body once more, making no attempt to hide his observations. “Shame.” Though Beau enjoyed pushing someone’s limits ever so slightly, he knew better than to push beyond that. At the moment, he was merely having fun, curious to see what witty remark she’d throw back at him for it.
“So they say.” He returned proudly. Beau’s military service was something he was immensely proud of— even more so than his looks. It was the one thing he had accomplished all on his own with no one else to do it for him. It was Beau who spent hours and hours performing exhausting workouts that affected him mentally just as much as they did physically. It was he who was sent to Afghanistan and felt what it was like to graze death. And it was he who had attended the Arlington funerals of many a friend— men whose deaths he’d watched with his own eyes just as he watched their graves being lowered into the ground. Therefore, Beau felt entitled to his pride. Much like he’d earned his medals and position, he had earned the ability to recognize his own accomplishments as well.
“A woman of the law.” He mused. “And from New York of all places.” Looking at her, her career made sense. She carried herself with the control and confidence of a woman who knew her worth like the back of her hand and could recite it if prompted. “Believe me, you’ve your entry to the town clear.” As he watched her finish off the drink, Beau vaguely realized just how many she’d had and how quickly she emptied them. Distracted by her next statement, though, he failed to register it long enough to make a comment. Instead, he offered her an amused expression. “My pleasure.” He returned, unaffected by her tone. Her question that proceeded was one he found himself pondering often. City-born, it was a wonder how Beau had found himself in Northpoint and decided to stay there. “It’s the change of pace you need when you come back from war.” He shrugged finally. “In a town like Northpoint, there’s less things to trigger you and after experiencing so much chaos in a relatively short amount of time, a slower speed is welcomed.” Beau threw her a nod. “And you? How’d you find yourself in a place like Northpoint?”
