"Why? Am I in danger?"
Fuck. Why was everything I said being misinterpreted? "Of getting lice, probably. Of getting mugged, possibly." Then it occurred to me that her resistance might be because she’d changed her mind. "Have you changed your mind about our deal? Because even if you have, I can't in good conscience let you stay here another night longer. I'll get you into a new place."
Her brow furrowed. "On Christmas?"
"I'll put you in a hotel. Those things never close. The point is you can't stay here. If you still agree to marry me, you can bring your stuff and move into my place tonight. If you’ve changed your mind, I’ll take you somewhere I know you'll be safe."
Her shoulders relaxed, telling me I'd been right in that she'd been concerned that something was wrong. "I haven't changed my mind, although admittedly, I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out why I said yes."
"I spent a lot of time trying to figure out why I’d asked." Then, worried that my words might offend her, I added, "Not that you're not worth marrying, it's just that..."
She laughed, and I felt it in my chest. "No, I understand. This is crazy." She smiled, and it was a cross between excited and mischievous. "I've never done anything this crazy. I'm beginning to realize I've never really lived. At least not my life. This could go so disastrously wrong."
I shoved my hands in my pockets and gave her a goofy grin. "It most definitely will.”
"And yet, I'm really excited about it. That's crazy too, right?"
This weird well of emotion filled my chest and along with it a desire to give her a world of experiences. How did a woman get to her mid-twenties and not feel like she'd ever done anything that made her feel alive? Did that include sex? Was she a virgin, or had she just been with men who didn't know what they were doing?
I shook my head to rid it of those thoughts. "I like your attitude. We'll have to do what we can to make this fun and interesting."
She nodded.
"Start by grabbing your stuff, and then we’ll go have Christmas with Amelia and the family, and then I'll show you where you can stay at my place."
She laughed nervously. "Okay." She hurried around the tiny apartment while I watched. She was dressed in dark jeans and a red sweater. Her jeans were tucked into black boots. The dress was casual, yet she looked like a million bucks.
When she bent over to pick up something off the floor, giving me a stellar view of her heart-shaped ass, I shifted and inwardly told my dick to knock it off. I wasn't going to walk into a Christmas party with family and babies with my slacks tenting from a hard-on.
"Can I help?" I asked.
She tossed a few other things in her bag. "No. This is it." She turned to me, putting the strap of her bag over her shoulder.
That was it? This was everything she had in the world?
"Unless you want me to pack the food. There's not that much, and it's mostly dehydrated noodles."
Jesus fucking Christ. "You’ve been living like this for the last month?"
Her eyes narrowed as if she didn't like my reaction. "I've been surviving just fine, thank you."
I waved my hand. "I'm not judging you. But it bothers me that somebody who works for me has to live in a flea-infested efficiency eating freeze-dried noodles."
"It was only temporary. I told you that I planned to get a new place. But to do that, I had to save my pennies by living as frugally as possible."
"Well, your frugal days are gone."
She stared at me for a moment, but I couldn’t decipher what it meant. All I knew was that it made me uncomfortable. Like she was seeing a part of me that I didn’t want her to see.
I went to her and took her bag. Then I held my arm out in front of me, directing her to precede me. "Shall we go?"
"Okay."
I followed her to the door.
"We'll come back later and get my car, right?"
Considering how she lived, I wondered what she was driving. Maybe tomorrow, before we got married, I’d get her new car. "Where's your car?"