“He just took a mug that had your lips on it,” Nathan murmured. “He won’t even go near ours unless he’s sprayed it first.”
“He has gloves on though,” I pointed out, and Micah chuckled.
“The same sentiment applies, darlin’.”
The corners of my lips tugged upward. “That’s sweet.”
“It’s somethin’,” Micah mused, crossing his arms over his chest.
The rest of the day passed quickly. Micah had been checking over the interior of the treehouse, Nathan continued to go to the window and overlook the situation outside, and Calix had cleaned the entire area before going into his room and closing the door behind him.
I had asked all three of them if I could help, but they assured me they had it under control, which left me with my butt parked on the sofa, dozing off every few minutes.
It was unnerving how the commotion of the zombies outside had become a normal background noise not even after a day, but I tried not to dwell on it. Instead, I dwelled on Kovu.
My sweet, perfect horse that I had my entire life.
What happened to him had been horrific, but I knew we did the right thing, even if it made me feel like I wasn’t going to recover. I pressed my palm to the center of my chest and hoped to take the pressure off of the dull throb where my heart was. Losing himhurt.It hurt worse than anything else I’d been through, and I hadn’t even been able to properly put him to rest.
“Hey, darlin’?” Micah’s raspy voice had me whipping around to see him standing next to the sofa with a medium-sized box.
“What’s that?” I tossed the blanket off my lap and walked over to him. The chilly air of the treehouse gave me goosebumps after getting out from underneath the fluffy blanket.
He set it on the floor next to the sofa and opened it up to reveal atonof books. “I’ve had this for a while now. Not sure if you’re much of a reader, but it could give you something to do.”
I gasped and dropped to my knees before running my fingers over the three piles of neatly stacked books within it. “May I?”
“Of course. It’s why I brought it out.”
I dove into it, pulling out the different books and setting them beside me as I looked through them. “I love reading,” I gushed, loving the feel of the books in my hands. “But before the apocalypse, I had just finished transferring my physical library over to my kindle—big mistake, obviously. My kindle died two months into this mess. I’d just tried to save space by transferring to digital books, but I’ve missed falling into stories so much. I have one series still in paperback at the ranch, but I left it. I’ve always been a sucker for cozy romantic mystery stories, though I usually read…some other genres.”
He didn’t say anything, and I glanced up to find his honey brown eyes glistening with tears.
My heart thudded hard in my chest as I put the books down and climbed to my feet. “Micah…”
“I’m fine.” He jerked back before running a hand down his face. “Fucking hell. I don’t know why that affected me so much.”
I glanced between him and the books before it clicked. “They belonged to someone special to you. Didn’t they?”
He nodded, swallowing hard. “Yeah. They did.”
I bit my lip and glanced down at the piles. The books were in great condition, and while the books were stories I’d beinterested in, it felt wrong to read them if it caused such an emotional reaction in him.
“I appreciate you trying to help cure the boredom, but I don’t think I should be reading these,” I decided, crouching down and carefully putting the books back into the box.
I reached for the last book, when his calloused hand curled around my wrist.
“Stop, please,” he rasped, and I froze. “I brought them out because Iwantyou to read them.”
“But, Micah…” I looked up into his eyes and gasped at the determination in them. “I just don’t want to hurt you.”
“You’re not hurtin’ me. You’re helpin’ me heal.” His grip loosened as his gaze dropped down between my legs where I had them spread, showing off my panties. “Sorry.” His gaze shot back up to my face, and he blushed. “Didn’t mean to look.”
“Don’t apologize,” I murmured, heat streaking through me as I closed my legs together. “I just don’t want to upset you with the books.”
He let me go and got up, raking his fingers through his hair with a sigh. “Sit with me?”
I grabbed the last book and put it in the box before I sat down with him on the couch.
