this, he tilted his head again. She thought there might be a flicker of something in those dark eyes, but she couldn’t be sure. “I wasn’t told the reasons.”
She shook her head at this. “What happens if I tell you to leave?”
“I will fail in my task.”
Damn, his voice was as soft and low and deep and rich and butter-creamy as his smile. As his eyes. This wasn’t a battle Lilly could readily win; she knew this about herself, at least, and didn’t try to pretend otherwise.
“And if you fail?”
A definite flash that time. “I don’t intend to fail.”
“You drop out of the sky, naked, and come into my house telling me you’re here to be anything I want, what I need, for crying out loud, and I’m supposed to just accept this? How do I know you’re not just some random crazy stalker freak with a degree in theatrical special effects?”
“You can’t know,” Zach said, “but you should have faith.”
She scoffed at that. In the window, her candles had burned out at last. The wind whipped snow against the glass. There’d be no work tomorrow. The governor had already called a state of emergency, and not even Lilly’s boss would expect her to come out in this.
“I should feel weirder about this. Did you have something to do with that? Are you doing some sort of mind freak on me?”
“I am making this as easy for you I can,” Zachariah said, “but in the end, it’s your own heart and mind that must accept.”
“Right,” Lilly said. She clapped her hands together briskly. “Well, on that note, I’m going to bed. Alone,” she added when he seemed about to speak. “And I’m going to lock my door and sleep with my phone under my pillow. And I have a knife, too.”
“Under your pillow?”
“I’ll put it there,” she said, narrowing her eyes, though she could detect no signs he was mocking her. “You can sleep on the couch.”
“If that’s where you want to put me, then that’s where I’ll sleep.”
Lilly made a low, disgruntled noise, the one Danny had always hated. Screw Danny. She eased past the tall, naked man and down the hall toward her bedroom, half-tensed in anticipation that he’d follow her and half-hoping he would. He didn’t, and in another minute or so she opened her door again to toss him a pair of sweatpants too big for her.
“You can wear these.”
He made a shadow in the hallway. It stretched down to touch her, though he made no move at doing so. “Thank you, Lilly.”
“I’m locking this door,” she reminded him. “Don’t you try anything crazy. And if you’re going to steal something, make sure you break a lot of stuff, too, so I can prove the break-in for the insurance.”
“I’m not going to steal anything.”
She made that noise again, and this time thought she heard a soft chuff of laughter. It warmed her as much as his smile and voice had. As much as the look. He was definitely mind-freaking her, what else could it be?
In the morning, Lilly awoke to the smell of something good. Coffee, eggs. Bagels? She swung her feet out of bed, wincing when her toes touched the cold floor.
In the kitchen, Zach stood over the stove. He wore the sweatpants she’d given him but nothing else. He was thinner than she remembered, but more muscular. When he turned to face her, in the snow-bright light of day, she wondered how she could ever have thought his face was ordinary.
“Good morning, Lilly.”
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