“No, it’s okay. I would love to stay with you.”
He closed the door of the truck before walking into the mudroom on the side of the garage. I might have done somesnooping when I snuck over here and stole the blanket I was still bundled up in.
Beau didn’t waste any time heading into his bedroom and dropping me on the bed. I bounced a few times before I crawled up to the top and wrapped myself up again. He walked around the room, performing what seemed like a routine.
It was mesmerizing to watch him do whatever it was that he was doing, so I sat back and just enjoyed the show. “Having fun there, Sweets?”
“Uh… yeah. This is great.”
“You look real snug tucked up in my bed with my blanket. A blanket I know for certain was on my couch when I left four days ago.”
My cheeks flamed, and I faked a yawn. “You know, I’m really tired. I should probably try to go back to sleep. Yeah, I think it’s my bedtime.”
“Mhm, I see. Since we both know that you should have been asleep hours ago, how about you answer my question instead? How did the blanket that was on my couch end up wrapped around you at the office?”
“Maybe you forgot that you brought it into the office.”
“No, I don’t think that was it.”
“Finnnneee. I might haveaccidentallyunlocked your front door andaccidentallyfound the blanket lying lonely on the couch. It needed a friend.”
“Accidentally? Is that so?”
“Yep! That’s totally it. An accident, really.”
“Rebekah Leigh! You can’t just break into people's homes.”
“Why not Beauregard?”
“Because you can get into trouble, or worse, get hurt doing something dumb.” There was a pause, like his brain was running on dial-up internet. “Wait, what did you just call me?”
There was no holding back the giggle that bubbled in my chest. I might have brought his mail in while I snuck in to borrow the blanket. I’d noticed that the envelope had Beau’s full name on it, and I couldn’t help but tease him about it.
“Beauregard.”
“You don’t get to call me that, you Little brat.”
“Why not? It’s a great name, really.”
“The only person who calls me that is my mother. The only name you need to worry about calling me is Beau or Daddy. Nothing else.”
“Daddy?”
“If you want. I know we haven’t had a chance to talk about it, but we will, don’t worry about that. But I wanted to throw that out there. It would mean the world to me to hear you say that name.”
I didn’t know what to say. I would love to call him Daddy, but it didn’t feel right to do that without having a conversation about us. I just nodded and pressed my lips together, giving him a small grin.
“No more talk tonight. It’s late, and we both need some sleep. Come on, slip under the covers and get comfortable. I’m going to make sure the house is locked up. I’ll be right back.”
Beau didn’t wait for me to respond before he turned and left the room. I took a moment and stole a shirt from his drawer. After quickly stripping out of my clothes, I dropped them on the chair in the corner before diving under the covers and pulling my stolen blanket up to my nose.
My eyes were drifting shut and sleep was taking over as the door opened and Beau walked back in. I felt him slip under the covers, but I didn’t want to make a move. I let out a sigh when Beau pulled me close, snuggling against me. It didn’t take long before I gave in to the pull and fell asleep.
Rubbingthe sleep from my eyes, I yawned then stretched my arms above my head. It didn’t take but a moment for me to realize where I was lying. His room smelled just like the blanket that I had been cuddling since Tuesday. The smell was a little fainter now on the blanket, but I knew it wouldn’t take long for it to recharge again.
That was, if he let me keep the blanket. It might have been slightly naughty for me to steal it, but who could blame a girl? I was stressed as more time passed and I hadn’t heard from him. I knew that he was okay, at least, because Seth had told me, but that didn’t convince my brain for long. Since learning about his time in the Army, I was even more worried about him being out there. Was it safe for him to do this kind of work with a TBI? Did one just heal from those with no repercussions? Panic was starting to sink in again.
Jumping from the bed, I went to search for the man in question. I needed to see for myself that he was okay. If I didn’t, I would continue to spiral, and that would be a terrible start to the day.
