Page 42 of A Beta Protects

He flashes me a grin. “It’s not as bad as it sounds. We have a sofa bed, but I much prefer the outbuilding. I can show you if you like?”

I peer into the forest. It’s just trees around here. No sign of any outbuildings. “Is it far?”

“A couple of minutes.” He gets to his feet and offers me his hand.

Curious about this outbuilding, I let him pull me up.

We don’t have far to walk to reach a red farm style outbuilding. It looks freshly painted, not original, I don’t think. There’s no lock. He pulls it open and we walk right inside.

It’s warmer and drier than I was expecting. Tools hang off hooks on the walls, and a tall ladder rests against an alcove where bits of stray poke over the side.

“I sleep up there.” Dom nods at the alcove.

The first thing I notice is that there is no railing. “Aren’t you worried you’ll roll off in the middle of the night?”

He laughs.

I think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard him laughing. His smile is warm, and his eyes are soft. “That hasn’t happened yet, and it’s unlikely to. I don’t move when I sleep.”

“You don’t move? Ever?”

He nods. “I go to sleep and when I wake up the next morning, I’m in the exact same position. Want to climb up and have a look?”

I’m still marveling at his strange sleeping habits as he leads me to the ladder. “Uh…”

He slows to look at me. “Scared of heights?”

I study the ladder, chewing my lip. “I’m not sure. If I fall?”

“I’ll catch you.”

But that would mean him coming up behind me. In other words, I’m going to have my ass in his face. Maybe coming to see this outbuilding wasn’t a good idea. “Uh…”

His amusement fades. “It’s okay to say no, Kira. I won’t push you to do anything you don’t want to do.”

And that’s what makes up my mind.

Choice. Not force or manipulation.

“Okay.” I nod firmly, sending out a mental plea to anyone listening to not let me fall off this ladder and humiliate myself.

I take my time climbing up, Dom following behind me. I’m so hyper aware of him and wondering what he’s thinking, that I forget all about what I’m climbing up to see until I reach the top of the ladder.

“Oh!”

“What do you think?”

Is his voice a little more hoarse than it was before, or is it just in my head?

“It’s cool.” I climb over the edge, my feet sinking into springy straw. It’s warm, it’s soft, and best of all, there’s a skylight right above. “I didn’t realize outbuildings had skylights.”

“They don’t. We knocked down the old building that was here before and built a new one. It was rotting, so it was only a matter of time before it collapsed anyway. We’d always planned on turning it into a second house one day but never got around to it.”

He keeps his distance, watching me through hooded eyes as I traipse over the straw. Then I have a sudden thought. “You haven’t seen any mice up here, have you?”

I strain to listen for any suspicious squeaks, but it’s hard to hear over my pounding heart.

He shakes his head. “No mice. Just warm straw, a nice view, and a great place to lay my head at night.”

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