Page 84 of All I Want For Christmas

She seemed flustered. He wasn’t sure he'd ever seen Savannah flustered. Except for the night outside of the city council meeting when he was standing just a little too close.

“I just…” She looked up at him and swallowed. “I'm a little claustrophobic.”

“The cabin’s too small for you?” He tried to make the words teasing, but he was afraid his voice sounded gentle. And concerned. Savannah being nervous was messing with him.

“No. I mean, I do get claustrophobic that way too. But my anxiety mostly comes on when I feel stuck. Or stranded. When I feel like I can’t leave a place of my own volition. So when you brought me out here and then left, I was trying really hard to ignore the fact that I could not leave until you came back.” She pressed both of her hands against her stomach. “And then it finally just got the best of me. I decided to try going for a walk. I had no idea if it was going to work or not. I don't know the terrain out here. But I thought I should try. At least be outside and scope out the area so I knew what I was dealing with.” She swept one arm out. “I know it’s all bayou on the other side, and even if I can walk in some of it, I don’t want to. There are critters in that water.” She gave a little shudder. “But I was thinking that maybe out this direction, I should find out what was around.” She looked in the direction she’d come from. “Then I saw the path, and I felt so much relief. And then I saw the cabin. Then the truck.” She looked back at Theo. “Obviously, I'm not going to try to drive the truck. I don't even know where I am. But knowing that there's a truck that runs and thatcoulddrive out of here will help me sleep so much better tonight.”

All of that came out in a rambling rush. Theo stared down at her. She was definitely rattled. And it was for a real reason. She was anxious.

He'd made her anxious.

And not in a good, wound-up, hot way.

She'd been scared.

He reached up and cupped her face without thinking. Her startled eyes found his. But she didn't pull away.

“I'm sorry, Savannah. I didn't know you would feel that way. Why didn’t you say something?”

“Because I have to do this. For the project.”

“If you’d told me any of this, I would've told you that I'm in the cabin right next door, that there is a path between the cabins, and that there are other ways to get out of here.”

She took a deep shaky breath. “I guess I didn't want you to think I was weak.”

He couldn't help it, he took an step closer to her. “That's notweak. We all have things that get us worked up.”

She wet her lips. “You just kind of seemed like my…opponent, I guess.”

He understood that. He supposed they were opponents. At least when it came to the building project. But fuck, he couldn't believe how tightly knotted his gut was, thinking about this woman being scared and worried in that cabin just a few yards away. He could've made her feel better. So easily.

“I didn't take the boat either.”

She nodded. “I see that. Not that I could drive the boat out of here.”

His thumb was stroking over her cheek, almost instinctively. He couldn’t deny the desire to comfort her. “Do you need to go back to town?”

Her eyes narrowed with that, and she took a step back. His hand fell to his side.

“No, Theo, I don't need to go back to town. I'm going to stay in that cabin.”

Fuck, he’d messed that up. “You don't have to do that. I didn’t know that it would actually freak you out. I wanted you to see that it’s not cushy and glamorous and spa-like down here. Not even with nice towels and fancy coffee. But I don’t want you to be actually scared.”

Her chin lifted. “I’m not scared. It would've been a long, uncomfortable night. I maybe wouldn't have slept very well. But I would've done it. And now that I know you're here—even though it's you—I’m fine.”

Even though it's you. That jabbed at him a little harder than it should have. Maybe even more than it would have an hour ago. Before he knew about her very real anxiety.

Now he wanted to be the one that made her feel better. He loved to think that him being just next door actually made her feel comforted and would help her sleep better tonight.

He sighed, studying her face. She truly was one of the most beautiful women he'd ever met.

And fuck, this vulnerability in her made her even more beautiful to him. She wasn't just the put-together, classy, wrinkle-free, white-silk-blouse-wearing woman he'd been fantasizing about.

This made her real.

“Come here.” He turned on his heel and walked over to his truck. He opened the door and glanced back to find that Savannah followed him only to the front of the truck but was still standing several feet away. “Get in,” he said simply.

“What?”

---