Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 126589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
This was not what she wanted from him.
“It must have felt like you were losing her all over again.”
“I-I have to get back to work now.” Her voice was high.
Panicked.
“Lizzy.”
“Thank you again for offering to fix the gutter.”
“Li—”
“I’m sure you can see yourself out. I have to…I need to…” She couldn’t complete the sentence. Instead she turned away in a blind panic and left the kitchen. Retreating to the bathroom and locking the door behind her.
She stood with her back plastered to the door, head turned, listening for the smallest sound that would indicate what he was doing.
She heard the heavy tread of his feet on the wooden floor and then slight creak of the floorboard just outside the bathroom door as his weight settled there.
“Beth…” He had called her that once before, she remembered, outside a different bathroom door. Also at a time of extreme distress for her.
He must have thought the same thing because he said, “We really should stop meeting like this, Lizzy-bit”
His voice was achingly gentle.
She scrubbed at her cheeks with her palms and gathered herself.
“Yeah, well don’t expect any of what happened last time, mister,” she managed to say in a tight voice.
“How about just a hug?” The suggestion floated to her on a whisper and stalled Beth’s breathing.
A hug? Nobody had hugged her after Spock’s death. Not even Cat, who had been run off her feet because of Cam’s birthday. The offer was thoughtful and oh-so-tempting.
He took her silence the wrong way and she heard him sigh.
“I’m sorry if I upset you, Scrappy. It’s none of my damned business. I’ll get your gutter fixed. Apologies in advance for any noise.”
She twisted her upper body and pressed her palm against the wood next to her face.
“Thank you. I’m sorry.” She didn’t know why she had added the apology, only that it seemed like the thing to do since she had abandoned him in her own home.
God, why was she always so damned terrible at social interactions? This was a new low even for her awkward ass.
Another heavy sigh from him. “I’ll see you around, Lizzy.”
She heard him take a step away from the door and chastised herself for being such a coward. Heroes faced their nemeses without fear. They stood up for themselves. Beth was a piss poor hero. And definitely not the badass villain in Gideon’s story.
She flung open the door.
“Gideon, wait.”
He froze and turned to face her, eyes questioning.
Beth stepped toward him. “I think I’ll take that hug now.”
His face softened and he nodded.
He didn’t say a word, merely closed the distance between them and opened his arms, leaving it up to her to take that final step. She didn’t hesitate and walked straight into his embrace.
His arms closed around her tightly and he held her while she wrapped her arms around his waist and gratefully clung to his warmth. Beth had never felt safer, more comforted, or more understood than in that moment.
He allowed her as much time as she needed and when she finally moved out of his embrace, she felt a keen sense of loss.
“Thank you,” she whispered, and he smiled.
“My pleasure, sweetheart.”
He swiveled on his bootheel and left without another word.
Chapter Six
Gideon reflected on his exchange with Lizzy as he assembled the tools to repair her gutter. He didn’t know what misguided sense of chivalry had prompted him to offer to fix the problem in the first place. But for some reason he’d been unable to stop himself from ringing her doorbell and then had a hard time not grinning like an idiot after she had cracked open the door to peer at him distrustfully.
But, like all of their previous encounters, it hadn’t ended well. He should’ve kept his damned mouth shut about the fucking bird. About her grandmother. That’s what he got for poking around in shit he had no clue about.
He was glad that she’d taken him up on his offer for a hug though. He hadn’t ever seen anyone in more desperate need of a cuddle.
Her front door remained firmly shut after he crossed the road and set up the ladder beneath her gutter. He had to place it in front of her office window, and he wondered if she was watching him do his handyman bit right now. She probably was. He then wondered if she’d be able to remain uninvolved in the process. He was willing to bet she’d be out here offering her unsolicited advice in under ten minutes.
Well…on a normal day she would be. Despite the hug, he wasn’t sure how she was after he’d opened his massive gob about the bird earlier. It had just been so obvious to him that the loss of her bird had probably severed her last physical tie to her grandmother. Cat had been weirdly preoccupied the last few times Gideon had hung out with her and Cam, he wasn’t certain if the connection had even occurred to her.