I follow his gaze to the covered arch of my front door. Someone’s sitting on the steps.
I jerk to halt, freezing in place.
Is that?
It can’t be. It can’t be.
It’s not him,I tell myself.Don’t let yourself believe it’s him. It’ll only crush you when it’s n—
But then he sees me, and Beau gets to his feet.
“Irris?” Laird presses.
I unfreeze and lift one foot, but my PA/personal trainer/nutritionist/body guard seizes me by the arm.
“Do you know him?”
I open my mouth to say yes, but there’s no air. The knot in my throat makes speech impossible. I nod, frantic, as I watch Beau look from me to Laird’s hand on my arm up to Laird, who towers over me.
The lines of Beau’s face sharpen. He reaches down and picks up a backpack. It hits me that it’s the same one he took hiking when we went to Chicot.
When we kissed for the first time.
Oh my God, he’s here.
My heart dances as poorly as I do, tripping over itself and taking two beats for every one it should execute. I’m breathing like I just finished a sprint, not an easy jog.
“You alrright?” Laird asks, still gripping me.
I swallow hard and manage another nod. But really, my head is spinning. I lean into Laird’s grip as we walk up my front path.
Beau scowls as he hitches his backpack onto his shoulder. His eyes pierce mine. “I see I should have called.”
I have imagined this a thousand times. Dreamed and fantasized about Beau turning up on my doorstep. Every time, I’ve been inside and have opened my arched door to find him smiling down at me.
In none of my fantasies has he opened withI see I should have called.
“Huh?”
In none of my fantasies do I open withHuh?
This is going swimmingly so far.
Beau’s scowl etches deeper, and he jerks his chin toward Laird. “You found someone else,” he says, matter-of-factly. “That was bound to happen. I just didn’t expect it to happen so soon.”
I blink at him. He’s so beautiful. Just so beautiful. And why are we talking about my personal trainer?
“Of course I found someone else. I need motivation and discipline.” I sweep my hand up and down my body. “This isn’t going to take care of itself.”
Beau chokes.
“Erm, Irris?”Laird hoarse whispers.“I dunnaw think—”
“And I like having someone here at night,” I add. “I got used to it in Lafayette.”
Beau’s jaw tightens. His nostrils flare.
“Irris,”Laird hisses.“Purrhaps I shood intrroduce meself.”
