Back to Me (Book Three ✓)

twenty

EMMA

"I know," Beau mumbles, fumbling in the darkness for a light switch. When it flickers on, the room is just barely illuminated, casting an eerie glow around the small apartment. "It's so nice - it's left you speechless." He smirks down at me, tossing his keys from hand to hand.

Aware of his playful but intent gaze on my face, I only turn my nose up at the heaps of fast food delivery trash. This man will eat himself to an early grave.

"Beau," I sigh, scrunching my nose at an old bag of stale French fries, "You need to start eating real food."

"That's what you're worried about right now? My lack of cooking ability?" He raises his dark brows at me, bottom lip pulled between his teeth.

Scanning the rest of the place, I shrug, not getting the big deal. "It's not what you've usually got going on, but... It's cozy."

If I focus on his unkept abode, I don't have to perseverate on who could possibly be sending me anonymous flowers. And why they might want to. Dialing in on the beat up guitar I gifted him resting against the sofa, I feel an easy smile on my lips, almost making me forget the weird situation entirely.

"My shitty apartment aside," Beau murmurs, pressing his body to mine as he steps through the hall and what I'm assuming is the one bedroom, "I'm going to get in touch with my security team. Get someone to stick with you for awhile, keep an eye out for anyone suspicious."

He returns, pulling a black t-shirt over his head and revealing his hard abs, and I gulp, trying to focus on the situation at hand. The situation being ignoring the heat in my belly long enough to form a single sentence.

"Security?" I mutter, eyes following his hands as he pulls the fabric the rest of the way over his happy trail, making my heartbeat race. "Is that necessary?"

Please let it not be necessary. My hand flutters to my belly and I gnaw at the corner of my lip, the panic creeping up on me. It's got to be someone. Gemma maybe, or even Adam. Someone who only wants the best - not someone who could possibly hurt me. Us.

Beau cocks his head to the side, a sexy smirk on his lips. Instead of calling me out for my not so subtle admiration of his physique, he nods instead.

"You said no one knows you're pregnant." He shrugs, stepping close to me again as he makes his way to the living room, his smokey-minty Beau smell following after him in a delicious fog. "It's weird to leave stalker notes like that, whoever it is." His brows furrow and he shakes his head, mumbling more to himself than to me now. "It could be anyone."

My heart starts to pound quicker as I contemplate the possibilities. His fans - many of them incredibly devoted, maybe insanely so, or Rey, who I haven't heard of in awhile but might still be jealous...

"It's probably Gemma or Adam. Maybe they found out somehow." I sit beside him on the sofa, resting my hand atop his thumping fingers. Maybe if I act calm, he'll settle down, too.

"Why would Adam be sending you flowers?" Beau's eyes narrow and I clench my jaw to resist rolling mine.

Not this again.

"Because he's my friend." I say firmly, removing my hand from Beau's leg as my irritation grows. "And a good one, too."

After a couple of seconds, Beau relaxes, jaw unclenching and forehead smoothing, naturally reaching into my lap and intertwining our fingers once more before continuing his train of thought.