Page 47 of Out of the Cold

“I won’t say no to that.”

She pulled out some plastic containers, and they divvied up the dishes.

He pulled on his coat and picked up the containers. “Good night, Lucy.”

“Good night, Gabriel.”

Hildegard rose lazily from her bed and followed him into the mudroom, but Lucy stayed where she was and listened to him leave.

They’d breached a divide tonight, even if he hadn’t told her why he was so unhappy. Now all they needed to do was maintain their equilibrium.

Which was totally possible if they avoided drinking whiskey and watching movies together. In fact, they’d be better off if they only saw each other outside in the cold, wearing many layers of clothing.

That could totally work.

?

Chapter Nine

The wind hit him thesecond he stepped outside. Up above, the stars were cold and bright, the same stars he’d been gazing at since he was a kid. The windows of Lucy’s cabin blazed with light, but the warmth of the evening was already leaving him.

Just as well. He’d been living without it since he came here. It was dangerous to start wanting again. Loneliness was familiar, and he knew how to get through it.

He didn’t regret accepting her invitation, because he’d needed company today. But it had come with her sweetness and compassion, her unconscious sexiness, not to mention her uncanny intuition.

All of which were dangerous as hell.

Sitting on the sofa watching the movie, it was all he could do not to drag her on top of him. He could practically feel her slight weight, the way her slim thighs would have braced against him as she rode him. She was thinking it, too, or something like it. The way she blushed and her eyes got heavy and dark—he could practically read every thought.

But she didn’t want to feel that way any more than he did.

He stashed the generous leftovers in the fridge, stoked the fire, and fell heavily onto his bed.

Once upon a time, he knew how to give women what they wanted. Now he was both too cold and too needy. Too abrupt, too empty.

It was only a little after six, but he was exhausted. The effort to keep his feelings at bay had taken their toll, as had the whiskey. He fell asleep almost immediately.

---