With one quick move, I have Hush’s sweatshirt over my head, and I hold it out for him.
He pauses with his eyes slit. “What are you doing?”
“Unless that piece of paper is going to keep you warm, take your sweatshirt back.”
He eyes my sweater, draping off my shoulder and then the sheet. With a slight nod, he pulls his sweatshirt over him, after having set his cut down nicely on the back of the couch. They all do that. Handle their club leather with such care.
With not much else to do, I pull my knees up to my chest with the blanket wrapped tightly around me and nestle into thecomfortable ass sofa. Hush keeps a good enough space between us but takes his thin sheet and wraps it around himself. My heart breaks into tiny pieces at the sight.
I don’t think about how he might react before asking, “May I?” He stares deadpan at me and the blanket I’m holding out between us. “I know you’re all,I’m used to the cold and all that, but evenyouhave a breaking point.” I smile.
He seems to react to my words, his eyes growing lifeless and I wince at that.
When his features switch back to life, he finally says, “I’m good.”
I roll my eyes. “I fear the only way we won’t die of hypothermia is if we stay close to one another.”
Hush’s one eye makes a quick twitch and his fingers flex without closing completely. “I…” Hesitation forms around his words. “I don’t do this kind of thing.”
I tilt my head. “What? Cuddle up next to an almost stranger during a power outage in the dead of winter. Yeah, me either. First time, too.”
His eyes lighten with a tad amusement. But he finally caves, scooting in closer to me however, it’s still not enough to get the blanket around both of us. Holding out the thick cotton material I’m now noticing it looks like a bedspread. Fromhisbed. No wonder it smells good.
“You’re gonna have to get closer than that. I promise I don’t bite.” Oddly enough, the idea of being arm and arm with him doesn’t scare me.Hedoesn’t scare me.
With a suppressing sigh, nothing of annoyance but instead, apprehension, Hush finishes the distance. The second his body touches mine; I go still. Not from fear, but something else entirely. It’s like fire melting ice.
“I’m sorry I make you uncomfortable,” I tell him, fully aware of how stiff his body is next to mine.
The hardness in his shoulders loosens. “It’s not you, it’s…” He stops himself and I’m hoping he’ll finish the sentence, but he doesn’t.
The bedspread grows taut when he does pull it over himself, letting it cover both of us. I will say, it’s a hell of a lot warmer like this.
His shoulder practically swallows the front of my chest, his scent lingering around us.
“You’re warm,” I whisper to him, feeling his hair skim across my temple as he turns to look down at me.
“You asked me to tell you something about myself.”
I swallow, not expecting that. “Yes.”
He nods, taking a short and shaky breath. “My mother died when I was a teenager.”
My breath catches, unsure if I should respond or let him keep going.Ifhe keeps going.
“And my father… I don’t know where my father is.”
His words tug at my heart strings. “I’m so sorry.” I grew up with both my parents so I can’t imagine how hard that would have been. “I bet your mom was beautiful.” The words leave my mouth before I can think them through. I suppose given how Hush looks, I’d assume his mother was stunning.
“She was. Yes.”
“May I ask… was your mother American or your father? I don’t mean for that to offend you, I just…”
His features are strong, hard, and handsome.
“You didn’t offend me. My father is or was American.” He winces. “My mother was from Thailand.”
I smile. “I heard the country is stunning.”
