“But you’re going back, aren’t you?”
“Never said that,” I answered, shaking my head.
“Hmm.” She took another sip of her tea and closed her eyes again.
“Is this going to last long?”
“What’s that?”
“This meditation, questionnaire, sitting in my living room…”
“Your rental living room,” she countered. “Because you’re not staying.”
“All of it.”
“Almost done,” she answered, taking another swallow. “That’s so much better. The drumming is down to a dull roar.”
“A sane person would eat something greasy and drink coffee.”
“Coffee is bad for you.”
“So is ingesting anything named herbal.”
A soft chuckle left her lips as her cup started to tilt sideways. Fuck, she was falling asleep.
“Alright, that’s enough. Time to go home.”
“Uh-huh,” she murmured, but she was already out.
The cup tilted precariously in her hand and I cursed, shooting across the room to catch it before it spilled all over the damn place. This close, I could hear the softest snore coming from her, and it made me pause, wondering if I should move her.
Of course, I shouldn’t. She wasn’t even supposed to be here. But she was, and I didn’t like the idea of carrying her back to her house. But she looked so damn uncomfortable. Was she cold?
“Fuck, this is ridiculous,” I muttered, carefully lifting her up to lay her on the couch.
She was out like a light, didn’t even budge as I set her down. Her shoulder-length hair was hanging in all weird directions from a night of partying and sleeping awkwardly, yet somehow, she was still gorgeous. I backed up, refusing to examine her anymore. I didn’t pay attention to women unless I planned to bed them, and this was one woman I definitely wouldn’t go near.
Frustrated with myself for even thinking about her like that, I started to walk away, but then I saw her wet socks.
“Not your problem,” I muttered. But even as I walked into my room to get away from her, I found myself going directly to my bag and pulling out a clean pair of socks.
Tugging off her wet ones, I sucked in a breath at how damn cold her feet were, then pulled on the fresh pair. And I took it a step further by rubbing her damn feet.
Only to bring the warmth back into them.
The last thing I needed was to have to take her to the hospital for a foot amputation because she let her feet freeze. I snorted to myself as I pulled a blanket from the back of the couch over her body, tucking her feet in for good measure.
“Way to not get involved,” I muttered to myself, then stormed into my room and got dressed, shoving my feet into my boots. I grabbed my keys and walked out the door, locking it behind me.
Getting in the truck, I jammed my key in the ignition and kicked up slush as I peeled out of the driveway. I should never have opened my door this morning. I could have left well enough alone. Hell, I should have left her in the bar last night. The cook could have dealt with her, or even the sheriff. They were all chummy around here. They wouldn’t have left her to sleep on the bar.
Parking at The Beaver and Boot, I glanced over at the vehicle still in the lot. Delilah. Fuck, I didn’t want to have to deal with her vehicle, but someone was either going to have to drive her here or take her car toward her. Well, it wasn’t going to be me. I’d done my part already. And I didn’t even live in this shitty town.
I strode into the bar, looking for Lizzy. I knew she would be here even though I told her I could cover things for a few days. And like I thought, she walked out of the back, her appearance much more put together than yesterday.
“I knew you’d be in today.”
She froze only for a second, but kept walking as if I hadn’t just scared the shit out of her. “Thank you for taking care of things yesterday. It seems everything went fine.”
