Page 16 of Rascal

Meg smiled at the fact she hadn’t even had time to reply to Bear or War’s texts before the others were coming in. Her heart was full with how this family took care of one of their own. Even before she’d seen Rascal ink her name on his skin, she’d known that he was all in. She was too. She not only wanted to spend time with him, she wanted to make life easier for him. She wanted to see his eyes crinkle behind his glasses when he smiled. She needed to make each day a little brighter for him.

She’d never imagined she’d find a man she adored and wanted to spend the rest of her life staring at a beautiful sunset, knowing he was hers and she was his.

Last night, which probably contributed to his back hurting, was perfection. He’d lit candles in the front room and put on Thomas Rhett’s Die A Happy Man, pulling her into his arms to dance. As they’d swayed, he’d sung the words to her, bringing tears to her eyes. When the song had finished, he’d leaned her back and kissed her. Each sweep of his tongue and touch of his lips had reinforced how much he loved her.

He'd held her hand, blowing out the candles, and then led her to the bedroom. He’d reverently swept her clothes away and then proceeded to kiss and caress every inch as it was unveiled. He’d worshipped her body. When they’d finally come together, they’d both had tears in their eyes. As he slid inside her, he’d whispered the words Together, Forever. Rascal was that one-in-a-million man who had the tough exterior that he used to protect his family, but inside, he was the softy who showed her how a real man treated his woman.

She’d asked him last night if Rascal was his real name. He said it wasn’t the name on his birth certificate, but it was who he was. He hadn’t been called Thomas since before he went in the service. They’d talked for a while before falling asleep. She could see how he came by his name in the military. He had that mischievous quality that peeped out at her at different times.

Warm arms slipped around her as she sipped her coffee.

“You feel good in my arms.”

She smelled the clean, fresh scent of him that she loved as much as she adored the earthy, working man smell he had after being outside during the day.

“So, we have some options.” She turned the phone to him so he could read all the texts.

He read them, then adjusted his glasses. “Guess the cat’s out of the bag that you got yourself an old man.”

She set her coffee cup on the counter, took the phone, and placed it beside the cup. She turned until her arms were wrapped around his waist, and she could look at him in his eyes.

“I love you whether your knees creak when you get out of bed, or you need to put some heat on your back when you first wake up. We’re neither one, young nor perfect, but we’re perfect for each other. You don’t need to hide your age any more than you let me hide mine with the wrinkles on my body.”

Rascal swallowed and nodded his head.

“Now, what are we telling them? Postpone for a while or until tomorrow.”

“It’s much better, so I’ll use the heat pack and drive the truck. We can leave in an hour. I’ll use the muscle relaxers once we get home tonight.”

Meg chuckled at the exasperated look on his face. “Now, was that so hard to share with me?”

“It stuck in my throat, having to admit it, but you’re right. We share everything. Go ahead and text them, please, while I go put the heat pack on.”

Rascal glanced around the house. They’d made the trip quickly and had parked the truck and trailer in Meg’s driveway. Although Meg originally didn’t want to take everything because she liked a lot of his stuff better, Remi convinced her they had room, and they could use it to help someone else.

The kitchen and bathroom items were packed and in the truck along with all the large furniture in the house which had gone in first. Rascal had wanted to keep the front door locked to ensure Meg was safe. Remi and War had agreed, so they had backed the trailer in and were loading into the trailer from her back door and the backyard.

Beth had disappeared wearing some disguise and said she’d be back in an hour. Although he wanted to go with Meg to the bank, Scoop and Sarah were going, so he’d stayed at the house to oversee the loading. He could pack but he wasn’t lifting anything.

They were stopping by the police department first to file a report of the fraudulent bank account. Once they had a report, Scoop would quickly file online with the FTC. Then they were going to the bank to notify them that she wasn’t the person on the account and that it had been set up by fraudulent means. Scoop and Sarah estimated it would take around two hours, and Meg had been gone an hour and a half.

So far, no one had even come by the house from the college. Rascal was on guard for it. He really wanted to teach her former boss a lesson. He decided to walk back through the house and check where they were at.

He walked into her guest bedroom that she didn’t use much. Of the three bedrooms, this one had housed two dressers she didn’t really use and a daybed from her parents’ estate. A couple pictures had been on the wall, but she said she would be donating all the items in the room.

The college held a thousand-dollar damage deposit on the house to fix any issues and Rascal didn’t want Meg to not get it back. He flipped on the light to see if they needed to touch up any of the paint before they left. Where the daybed had been, he noticed a discoloration on the wall. This room was a light gray and the other bedroom was a darker gray. There was an area that looked as if it had been repainted the wrong color of gray. Meg would have never seen it behind the daybed.

“Hey Bear, can you come look at this?”

Bear joined him in the room. “What?”

He didn’t want to taint Bear’s perusal of the room, but he needed to give him a reason for calling him in.

“Can you doublecheck the room for damage? My old eyes aren’t quite as good as yours.”

Bear started on one side of the room, checking the walls, the closet, and the floors. When he got to the place Rascal had noticed the different color paint, he paused and bent down, pulling a small flashlight out of his pocket. He shone it around the edges of where the darker paint was, then ran his fingers over the area.

“It looks like someone cut a hole here and then tried to patch it but used the wrong paint color. Has Meg done any repairs in here?”

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