I plant a hand on the table, leaning in just enough that she has to tilt her head back to keep eye contact.
“Keeping you alive.”
Her breath catches, quick and involuntary, but she recovers just as fast.
“Pretty sure I can feed myself.”
“Not if you’re distracted.”
“By what?”
I hold her gaze. “By whoever’s watching you.”
The silence that follows is heavy, thick with something unspoken. She looks away first, reaching for the fork, taking a bite without another word. She doesn’t comment on the food, but she eats, fast at first, like she didn’t realize how hungry she was until now.
I watch her for a moment longer, then step back, giving her space, not much, just enough.
“You always this intense?” she asks between bites.
“Yeah.”
“Must be exhausting.”
“It’s not.”
She glances up. “No?”
“No.”
“Why?”
I shrug once. “I don’t waste energy on things that don’t matter.”
Her fork pauses halfway to her mouth. “And I matter?”
There it is.
I don’t answer right away. I just watch her, let the silence stretch again until I see the pulse in her throat jump, until she knows I notice it.
“You’re here,” I say finally.
“That’s not an answer.”
“It is.”
Her lips part, then press together again as she goes back to eating, slower this time, thinking.
The cabin settles into quiet after that, filled only with the crackle of the fire and the growing wind outside, and the subtle sounds of her moving through the space like she belongs here more than she should. I don’t like how quickly that thought takes hold, or how right it feels. Plenty of women answered the ad, but a few five-minute phone calls was all it took to rule them out. I was about to delete the ad altogether, but something with Maddie feltdifferent.
She finishes and pushes the plate away. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
She stands, stretching slightly, and my gaze tracks the movement before I can stop it, catching the brief flash of skin where her shirt rides up. Warm. Soft. I look away before it becomes a problem.
“Bathroom’s through there,” I say, nodding toward the hallway.
She follows the gesture, then looks back at me. “You going to stand guard outside the door too?”
