Page 47 of The Outsider

“Yeah. I’m not dying of hypothermia.”

Then he shrugged his jacket off his shoulders, and held it out toward her. “Put this on,” he said.

She could only stare at it.

“Won’t you get cold?”

“No. I’m a gentleman, anyway. Mainly, I only bring a coat in case a lady is in need.”

Dimly, she thought she should protest that characterization. Down way deep somewhere at the bottom of her soul she thought maybe she should be offended. But nobody had ever called her a lady. And no one had ever had occasion to behave like a gentleman around her. So she decided that she was going to accept it. She decided that she was going to hold it close to her chest. Relish it.

Because next to the dance, this was one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for her.

So dramatic.Nicer than actually giving you a job? Feeding you? Giving you shelter?

Well. Maybe this felt more personal.

It felt like something. She knew it wasn’t. It could never be. Not with a man like Daughtry. He was just very good.

Yeah. Very good.

So much so that it nearly hurt.

They only stayed for about twenty more minutes, and then he was ready to go, and she... wished theydidn’t have to. But she wasn’t going to suggest they stay. Not after he had been so extra nice to her. They got into the truck and drove quietly back to the house.

“I need a shower. Then I’m going to head to bed. I have an early shift.” He nodded once. “Good night, Bix.”

“Good night, Daughtry.”

She stood there in his living room for a long moment, wearing his coat still. Trying to come to terms with the very strange situation she found herself in. It had been a month, and it still didn’t feel real.

And it wasn’t going to feel real. Because it wasn’t real. It was temporary.

She repeated that to herself as she walked into her bedroom. And stopped there. The nightstand. Her books were on it in a little stack. The bed looked so inviting. Made with matching sheets, and a bedspread over the top of it. Matching pillowcases.

She sat down on the bed and smoothed her hand over the blanket. Then she tightened the coat around her body and smelled it. Woodsmoke, and pine. The earth. The way that he was, just him.

She curled her fingers into fists.

She was going to have to leave.

Chapter Ten

Bix had declined to come to dinner that night, and Daughtry was almost relieved. He needed the reprieve. He always felt like he had to watch her, keep an eye out for her.

You make it sound like she’s a chore. She isn’t, and you know that.

He felt hyperaware of her, though, and it was a strange sensation, and not one that he liked all that much. He sat down in the living room with Denver and Justice after everyone else had cleared out.

He’d love to pretend he didn’t know what it was. Sadly, it was the all-too-familiar ache of being attracted to a beautiful woman. And he couldn’t afford that. Not with her. She was under his care, and he wasn’t that guy.

Worse, though, had been her reaction. The heightened color in her cheeks, the way her breathing had gotten faster.

She’d felt it. The same thing he had.

The pulse of electricity when their hands had touched. And her eyes had gone all bright. Her attraction had been... naked. Like she hadn’t known how to hide it or hadn’t wanted to.

And something about that was appealing to him, even if it shouldn’t be.

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