Page 75 of Beau & Autumn

She moves back to her chair, wiping her eyes subtly before she sits down. I made her cry? But they were tears of happiness, not sadness, so that’s a good thing, right?

“For the record, you can buy me flowers any time you like, or tear them out of someone’s garden. I love them. And you can hold a door open for me, I think those little gestures are so sweet.”

Noted. I’ll dial all of that up a notch, as subtle as possible. “I’m gonna go and game for a while, but I usually watch Supernatural at ten every Friday; pathetic I know, but you’re welcome to join. Just don’t feel like you have to…”

She smiles, her eyes glassy as she clutches the small press to her chest. “Sounds good, Beauster. And thank you for the Dr. Pepper.”

I find myself smiling back, happy that she’s happy. “You’re welcome.”

We stand at the same time and she offers to take my plate. “I can do those.” I take her plate instead.

“Gee, thanks, you really are pulling out all the stops. The perfect husband.”

I shake my head. “Just doing what I can, baby girl.” Her lips part and I realize she’s still hanging onto the plate. “You good?”

Her eyes flick down. “Oh, yeah. Sorry. I’ve had a long day.” She thumbs behind her. “A soak will help.”

I give her a chin lift as she turns and heads toward the shared bathroom. So far, she’s only got a billion girlie products lined up in there, neatly across the counter and in the spare drawers I cleaned out. Everything from hair spray to fake tan to hot irons. I fucking dig it. She even asked me if I had enough room. I don’t take much grooming, and own maybe six products, so the rest of the space is hers.

I smile to myself as I stack the small dishwasher, cleaning up after dinner has never felt so peaceful. I whistle as I work and head off to my gaming room a little bit later.

I do not expect to hear a scream as I head away from her end of the house, but I freeze in my tracks, then I hear, “Beau!”

Shit! I run toward the bathroom, skidding in my socks on the tile floor. I grab the closest thing I can find to a weapon; a metal spatula, and run with it.

“Help, Beau! Quick!” She yells.

Holy fucking crap! I’m there in seconds, gripping the door handle, I run into the bathroom. Autumn is half in and half out of the tub. She’s wrapping a towel around her but it’s not quite secure, so she inadvertently flashes me her full frontal as I try to look anywhere but at her gorgeous body.

“What’s wrong?” I stare at her, looking around for an attacker. When I see nobody, I bring my eyes back to hers. “Autumn?”

“Over there!” She points with one hand behind me, the other securing her towel in place.

“What?” I do a full 360. I don’t see anything.

“There's a spider!”

I look again, squinting and I see a tiny little thing running across the mirror. “That?” I wave the spatula at it. “You’re kidding?”

“Yes! Do something, get rid of it!”

I bite my lip to save myself from laughing. “Autumn, it’s tiny, it’s probably?—”

“If you say ‘it’s probably more scared of us then we are of it’, I swear I will smack you.”

I laugh. “Okay, I’ll squish it.” I walk toward the mirror. It’s no bigger than a dime, for heaven’s sakes. While we do occasionally get big spiders around here, I haven’t seen anything that I’d scream the house down over.

“No!” she squeals. “You can’t kill it!”

I turn back to her. Fuck, her legs are so long. The white, fluffy towel — courtesy of my mom last Christmas — looks heavenly against her olive skin. Her hair is piled on top of her head in a messy bun and fuck me if she isn’t a sight for sore eyes. Plus, I saw everything when she flashed me. Her long, lean body. Small but perky breasts. Her flat stomach but wider hips. I even got a flash of her bare pussy. Jesus, I’m gonna strangle my dick tonight a hundred percent. Bubbles from the bath also drip off her skin onto the floor. She’s never looked more adorable.

“What do you want me to do with it?”

“I don’t know! Get a glass and take it outside or something.”

“But it’s made a home here, where it’s warm and dry, now I have to go put it out into the cold.” I roll my lips once more, knowing she won’t like that idea.

She narrows her eyes. “I don’t care if it’s started its own little motel and has a million friends, I can’t successfully bathe here with that insect crawling around.”

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