Page 36 of Beau

“Sounds good,” Aurelie said. “I’d like to get a change of clothes. As hip as I am in this outfit, I’ll need some things for the next few days, including conditioner for my hair.”

“Okay,” he said as they walked out of the parking lot to his truck.

After she settled into the passenger seat, she waited for Beau to get in. “Do you mind if I call my father?”

“Not at all.” He started the truck engine and drove out of the parking lot, heading west of New Orleans.

Aurelie called her father and waited as it rang.

He answered on the second ring. “Sweetie, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Dad.” She wondered how much he knew about what had happened the night before. She didn’t want him to get upset.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about the attacks,” her father railed.

Aurelie sighed. So much for him not knowing. “I didn’t want to disturb your fundraising event,” she said. “Who told you about the attacks?”

“I have my sources,” her father said. “The point is that you aren’t safe. You need to move back home.”

Aurelie shook her head. “I don’t need to move back home. I need to make a life of my own.”

“Well then, you need a bodyguard 24/7,” her father said.

“I kind of have one,” Aurelie said. “He might not want to be, but he’s insisting.”

“Is he that guy you were dancing with last night?” her father asked.

“Yes, sir.” As usual, he’d been watching her. Her father would never stop worrying about his only daughter.

“Is he taking care of my little girl?”

Aurelie frowned. “Dad, you have to stop calling me a little girl. I am a grown woman.”

Her father snorted. “You might be a grown woman to everyone else, but to me, you’ll always be my little girl.”

She couldn’t argue with the man and didn’t want to. “All you need to know is that I’m okay. I have someone looking out for me.”

“You tell Beau to take care of my little girl.”

“I’ll do no such thing,” she said. “I love you, Dad.”

“I love you, too,” he said softly. “You’re all I have.”

“Bye, Dad.” She ended the call, frowning. “My father knew about both attacks. The one in the bayou and the one at my house.” She glanced toward Beau. “How the hell did he get information about the one at my house?”

Beau raised both eyebrows and glanced her way. “You should’ve asked him.”

“Yeah,” Aurelie said, “I should have. Sometimes, that man knows more about my business than I do. You’d think he had someone spying on me at all times.”

Beau didn’t respond, his attention on the road in front of him.

Aurelie knew her dad loved her and only wanted the best for her. After losing his wife in an accident and almost losing his daughter, he could be overly cautious. She couldn’t blame him. Her father was her only family. She’d be devastated if something happened to him.

“Have you always worked for your father?” Beau asked.

“No,” Aurelie said. “I lived and worked in Memphis for a year after I graduated from college with a degree in marketing.”

“Why did you leave Memphis?”