Page 58 of Beau

“Please, call me Beau.” He led the horse into the stall and watched as Brenna fed her some oats and gave her water. The horse put her head in the bucket of oats and ignored them.

“At least she’s eating,” Beau said. “She was trying to find grass under the snow, and by the looks of her, she hadn’t had much luck.”

“She’ll be fine now. Thank you.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He looked at Brenna. “I’d better go. The roads were getting worse.”

“You can stay here tonight,” Brenna said.

“Uh…” Beau looked at Brenna then her mother and back to Brenna.

“Yes, you stay with Brenna, Beau. I’d offer you a room, but I have a feeling you’d rather stay with my daughter.” Lisa laughed.

“Mom!”

“What? This is the Beau McCallister you’re seeing right? I mean, how many can there be? You two go inside where it’s warm. I’m going to stay with Flame for a little while, so she knows she’s home and safe. You need to change out of those wet jeans, Beau. You have to be freezing.”

“Yes, ma’am. I keep spare clothes in my truck for reasons just like this.”

“Well, get them and change, then you and Brenna can spend some time together.”

Beau looked at Brenna and shrugged, then he removed a duffle bag from the backseat of his truck. He walked back to Brenna. She took his hand and led him to her apartment. They carefully made their way up the snow-covered stairs and went inside.

Chapter Eight

Brenna and Beau lounged on opposite ends of the couch. Her feet rested comfortably on his lap.

“Feeling warmer now?” she asked.

“Yes, my toes were nearly frozen while trudging through the snow. But I can finally feel them again.”

“I was only outside for a short time and even my feet were cold.”

Beau reached out to touch her foot and when his thumb grazed the sole, she quickly pulled it away. He raised an eyebrow curiously. “Are you ticklish?”

“No,” Brenna replied.

“No? Are you sure?” He playfully ran his finger along the bottom of her foot and when she tried to escape, he grabbed her ankle.

“Beau...” she attempted to sound serious but couldn’t hold back her laughter.

“What? You said you weren’t ticklish.” He grinned.

“I’m not. It’s just that—” She couldn’t finish her sentence as he began tickling her foot. The more she squirmed and squealed with laughter, the more he continued to tease her.

He held onto her ankle tightly as his fingers danced across the sensitive skin of her foot until she kicked him in the face by accident.

“Ouch!” He let go of her foot and rubbed his cheek, shooting her a glare.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” Brenna apologized between giggles.

Beau grunted in pain, still holding his cheek. “I’ll probably have a bruised face tomorrow.”

Feeling guilty, Brenna sat up straight and removed her feet from Beau’s lap.

“I didn’t mean to kick you in the face, Beau. I was just trying to get away. Let me make it better.” She leaned forward and gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek.

“It’s fine,” he reassured her as he pulled her onto his lap and planted a kiss on the top of her head.

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