Page 25 of Beau & Autumn

“You got him on a good day,” I mutter.

“Nope. Cats can sense these things. I’m a kitty guy, what can I say?”

Holy crap, I’m so going to Hell.

“You know what they say? Men who like cats are apparently willing to put the work in…” What the hell is wrong with me?

He cocks a brow. “Put the work into what?”

I clear my throat. This is Beau. The same old Beau you’ve known and adored for years. SNAP OUT OF IT! “Relationships. Friendships. Cats make us work for their trust, love and affection more than dogs do.” Great save, weirdo.

He keeps tickling my cat as I move past them toward the garage entry from the other side of the kitchen. “I would agree with that. Cats also have that sixth sense, so if I wasn’t a good guy, I bet Bruiser would scratch my eyes out and leave me for dust while he protected your honor.”

I laugh. “He did chase the delivery guy a couple of times, the poor man was terrified.”

I switch the garage light on and see the toolbox on the shelf inside the empty space.

Beau whistles low between his teeth. I turn to look at him. “What?”

“I’ve never seen a garage before with just a car parked inside.”

I roll my eyes. “Sure you have.”

“I’m serious. Usually everyone has their old junk up to the ceiling. You have a dusty shelf with a solitary toolbox and some engine oil.”

“I’m kinda minimal.”

“I’m just realizing that about you.”

He takes over, opening the toolbox — all while still holding my cat — and then pulls the wrench out. “Got it.”

“What’s the wrench for?”

“I need to try and get a gutter loose.”

“What? Why?”

He passes Bruiser to me.“Don’t panic, your gutters are full of leaves. Cleaning them out will only help the water draining and it’ll be less pressure on the roof.”

“Makes sense.”

“I’m not just a pretty face.” He waggles his eyebrows. “Anyway, I’d better get back to it before Hudson blows a gasket.”

I nod, following him back out. I plop Bruiser down on the lounge and continue to make the coffee. As I head out with everything on a tray, including some of Verne’s lemon bars I picked up from the bakery on the way home, Brook, Hudson and Beau are all on the roof. It makes me nervous but they seem to know what they’re doing.

Then all of a sudden, Brook is doubled over laughing his ass off as Beau gets doused in a whole load of mud and leaves from the end of the gutter.

“Shit!” Beau yells. “Brook! You’re not supposed to tip the crap all over me.”

“I didn’t mean to!” Brook defends, holding his palms up. “There were leaves stuck in the middle, must’ve been a build up of sludge…” That Beau’s now wearing.

Oh, no. I feel terrible he just got covered in mud, but he does look kinda funny and I have to work to hide my smile.

To his credit, they finish cleaning the gutter and Brook wastes no time in hooking it back onto the side of the roof, all the while Hudson is hammering nails into some shingles he found on the farm. These dear boys. I’ll never be so grateful.

Beau climbs down the ladder, his tank completely soaked and mud all over his arms and even some on his face.

I wipe my hand over his chin, trying to get some of the mud off but he doesn’t seem fazed about it.

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