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“It comes out in everything you do.” She stared at where her finger touched him. “Although you have this big bad aura that warns not to mess wit
h you, you’ve got a big heart.”
“Don’t fool yourself into thinking that I haven’t done bad things,” he warned, not liking her assessment. She was making him out to be a hero when he was anything but. He wasn’t good. “I’ve done things that would make you not like me very much.”
He’d done things that made him not like himself very much… but he’d still done them because they’d been necessary to get the job done. He’d still be doing the government’s bidding had he not gotten injured.
Flattening her fingers against his heart, she studied him. Bodie’s heart pounded against his ribcage, against her hand.
“I believe you’ve always acted for what you felt was the greater good.”
She was making him out to be heroic. He wasn’t, and he didn’t want her thinking he was.
“Greater good is oftentimes a matter of perspective.”
“I trust you.”
“You shouldn’t.” After all, in a way, he was deceiving her by being there without telling her the reason why. He’d come to thank her and instead had gone to work for her.
“I don’t believe you’d ever hurt me,” she continued, staring up at him with her big brown eyes filled with exactly what she claimed—trust.
“Not intentionally.” He wouldn’t. He’d do everything in his power to leave her as bright-eyed as he’d found her.
“But unintentionally you might?”
“It’s possible.” Feeling more and more uncomfortable with their conversation, he straightened his shoulders, pulling himself back just enough that Sarah’s finger fell away. “Let’s decorate the tree.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Do we have to?”
“After all the work to get that tree? You better believe we have to decorate it.”
Taking a deep breath, Sarah nodded, but within minutes, when faced with the packed boxes, she looked doubtful again.
He didn’t fully understand her hesitation. She lived in her aunt’s house, amongst her aunt’s things. What was so special about the ornaments that unpacking them played such havoc on Sarah?
Walking over, he put his hand over hers. “You’ve got this.”
A small sound escaped her lips, she inhaled, then nodded. “You’re right. I do.”
Half the tree was decorated and already it was looking amazing. Sarah inspected the ornaments Bodie held, trying to decide if she was going to use them. Her dread had significantly eased at Bodie’s constant jokes and teasing.
“Hey, Sarah?” Bodie lifted the lid off a box of glass ornaments that had belonged to Aunt Jean’s in-laws.
Knowing another joke was on its way, Sarah shifted her gaze to Bodie.
“What do you call an obnoxious reindeer?” he asked, giving her an expectant look.
“I don’t know, Bodie. What do you call an obnoxious reindeer?”
“RUDE-olph.”
Giggling a little, she rolled her eyes. He was intentionally keeping her focused on him, and she appreciated his effort. She appreciated most everything about Bodie.
“How is it that you know so many Christmas jokes when you profess not to like Christmas?”
“It wasn’t by choice,” he assured. “Lou has a new one written on a dry-erase board each morning.”
“And you committed them all to memory? Saving them up for moments like these?”
