LLucy’s Revenge(Divine Creek Ranch 15)(76)

“Well, I can promise you that I certainly was not faking it, sexy.”

Eventually, her breathing returned to normal, but Beck’s arms were still tight around her. She stroked his arm and said, “Beck?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you remember the night I asked you to dance and you turned me down? Then later you explained that you didn’t know how but were too embarrassed to tell me?”

“You have to bring up one of my ‘epic fail’ moments right now?”

She giggled and patted him. “It’s for a good reason. Would you let me teach you how to dance?”

“Now? I can’t walk much less dance.”

“In a few minutes? You’re nice and loose now. It’s a perfect time to learn.”

Beck thought about it for a few seconds and said, “Will you be nekkid while you teach me?”

She tilted her head and smiled up at him and he kissed her. “Of course.”

“Okay, but then you know what I’ll be thinking any time we dance at the Dancing Pony. I’ll be thinking about my sexy nekkid dancing tutor.”

There was never a better slow dancing student than Beck O’Malley. The man might’ve been a bit of an ass in the past, and still liked to tweak her buttons occasionally, but Lucy discovered that night that what he sometimes lacked in people skills he made up for with a perfect sense of rhythm.





Chapter Thirteen




Early May



Beck grinned as he lifted frames from the hive body he was working with. Bees buzzed lazily about him as he used the smoker can and crooned to his girls as he used the edge of the hive tool to separate the frames. They were partial to his Elvis impersonation but also seemed to enjoy his attempt at Trace Adkins.

He lifted his hand to look at the bee tickling his knuckle and watched as it fed on the droplet of nectar spilled on his finger. “You’re oooooonnne hot mama,” he sang softly, smiling when the docile honeybee flitted away on the breeze and he went back to work while singing.

He grinned when Cooter came snuffling along around the hive body and sneezed. “Hey, Cooter-Tooter. What are they laughing and giggling about down there?”

Cooter grinned up at him as he rolled over, shamelessly begging for a belly scratch on his rotund abdomen. The melody of Lucy’s giggling filtered up through the trees lining the creek. To keep the beehives cool and protected, Beck kept his colonies nestled in the protected, shady area along the creek.

He currently had enough active hives to keep him busy full time during the season. He’d started out with two hives and each successive year he’d increased his capacity until he was making a healthy living from his honey and bee products. The summer months were busy but he didn’t mind the work.

During the off months, he did contract work and built beehives to sell to other beekeepers online and was considering breeding queen bees to sell. It was a good life.

Lucy’s robust laughter echoed around him, followed by an outburst from Patrick, and Beck smiled when she squealed. Thoughts of where the three of them were headed had occupied his mind for the last several days. They each had their own lives. Their businesses, homes, and responsibilities. But their lives were now so intermingled, where they stayed at night was merely a question of geography. Lucy liked staying with Patrick because then they were all together, including PJ.

The boy seemed to be thriving, despite the harsh warnings Roberta had given Patrick. The woman really needed to get her own life and stop worrying about her brother’s so much. Business had rebounded for Lucy and Beck a bit by the end of April but Patrick had lost another important contract with a business contact from his former church.

Beck sweated inside his long-sleeved shirt and veil, blowing on the drop of perspiration that clung to his nose, He grinned as he thought of joining Lucy and Patrick down at the creek just as soon as he was finished placing the frames in the empty hive bodies to be taken back to the house and uncapped. From there they’d go into the honey extractors.

The Divine Trade and Craft Fair was coming up the following weekend and he was harvesting honey as fast as he could. Three nights each week he worked creating the beeswax candles and beauty products that so many of his customers favored. It was going to be a good year and he was grateful that his colonies were doing so well and that his savings were growing.

Sliding the last frame into the empty hive body for transport, he set his tools aside and whistled to Cooter as he ambled over to his picnic table and took off the veil that was necessary for working with the bees and stripped his soaking wet denim shirt off.

The breeze on his damp skin was refreshing and he grinned as he looked forward to jumping in the creek for a quick swim. They’d had some rain and the creek had swelled a bit. He was glad that the section of the Divine Creek that his property backed up to was wide enough and deep enough for swimming in. The rain might mean that it was nice and cold, too.