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That didn’t need to be said. “That wasn’t hard to miss, Red.”
“Sorry.”
“No reason to be sorry.”
He heard her inhale. “I minded at first... being naked. Then one day I just... stopped caring.”
Christ! She only gave him glimpses of what happened to her during her time on that mountain and every tiny piece she gave him pissed him the fuck off.
But that reveal gave him another opening. “Why didn’t they give you any clothes?”
“They were afraid I’d do something with them.”
“Like what? Wear ‘em?” he half-joked, not that her situation had been any kind of funny.
“Like kill myself.”
All air fled his lungs as he stared at her. “Would you have?” he whispered, an ache growing deep within his chest.
“Yes,” she whispered back into the dark.
He quickly hooked his thumbs in his jeans and shoved them down his legs, stepping out of them and leaving them where they landed. He headed to his dresser and dug around in the dark until he found a pair of old boxers and tugged them on. Then he headed to the far side of the bed and climbed in.
Fuck, he had missed his mattress. It was like a cloud compared to that fucking couch.
He pulled the sheet over them both and turned to his side to avoid putting weight on his back. Since he had a king bed, he could leave a good-sized gap between them.
With a cute little grunt, she flopped to her back and then rolled to her other side so she was facing him, her belly only about two inches away.
He was once again tempted to touch it.
“You smell like alcohol.”
“Yeah.”
“And pot.”
“Yep. Want me to shower?”
“No. It smells like you.”
Fucking great.
“Are you still drunk?”
“Not like earlier,” he answered honestly. Because he had to have been stupid drunk to do what he fucking did.
“When you left the party in a rush.”
“Yeah. Sorry ‘bout that.”
“No reason to be sorry,” she echoed him from earlier.
“Stella make sure you got back up here okay?”
“Shady.”
It should have been Sig making sure she got upstairs okay. Not the prospect. Goddamn it.
“He’s really nice.”
“Wouldn’t know, he hardly says a fuckin’ word.”
“He does to me.”
What?
She continued, “He’s quiet, but he’s smart. He’s got a lot going on.”
Was he fucking chatting her up? What was his angle? “What d’you mean?”
“In his head. Like me.” Her fingers brushed over his cheek and along his beard. “Like you.”
“Red, need to talk to me.” Not Shady.
She said nothing, but her fingers kept stroking his beard, like she was petting a cat or something. Or like Judge petted Jury. But, fuck, that felt good. Now he knew why the dog fell asleep with her head in the man’s lap while he was stroking her ears.
“If not to me, then Stella. If not her, then,” fuck it, “Shady. Somebody, Red.”
She still said nothing, and her fingertips traced lightly over his lips.
“Red...”
“Did you find what you need elsewhere?”
His heart began to pound. “What’re you talkin’ about?”
“What you wanted from that woman you were talking to downstairs.”
Should he play dumb? No, that wasn’t going to fucking work. Red was far from stupid. Unlike him. And he’d done it right in The Barn where she could see him doing it. “Billie.”
“Is that her name?”
“Yeah.”
“Yes, then Billie. Did you find elsewhere what you didn’t get from Billie?”
Holy fuck. He should have left her upstairs and not brought her to the party. Another stupid move on his part.
He stilled her hand by capturing it in his, pulling it away from his beard and into his chest. “Go to sleep, Red.”
“I was worried about you.”
“Why?”
“You looked upset.”
“Wasn’t upset.” He was a whole bunch of shit but upset wasn’t one of them.
“Angry, then. When that other man came over and stopped you from talking to Billie.” She paused but before he could respond, she asked, “Did you want to have sex with her?”
He was suddenly finding it hard to breathe. “Red,” he forced out.
“There’s nothing wrong with that, Sig. It’s normal. Most people enjoy it. And as long as both parties agree—”
“Red... Autumn, fuckin’ stop it.” For fuck’s sake, she was good at digging without even trying. Maybe he was wrong and she really was a master manipulator. He had no fucking clue as to what she was really like.
“Why?”
“Didn’t just want sex with her.” Christ, did he just admit that out loud? To Red of all people? For fuck’s sake!
They needed to talk about her, not him.
“I didn’t think so.”
“What?” he choked out.
“I’m not deaf. I can hear conversations that are happening in front of me, Sig. Or even right outside your front door. And I’m also not stupid.”
“Seriously, Red. Need to stop.”
“You wanted me to talk to you.”
“Not about that.”
“Then let’s change the subject,” she suggested.
“How ‘bout you just go to sleep.” He released her hand but she didn’t pull it away, instead she planted her palm on his chest. Her fingers were long and warm against his skin.
