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Chapter Six

The next day was a little nerve racking because of how I had reacted to Wulfric's demand. Last night, I played it over and over in my head, going back and forth between thinking that he was a nice, concerned guy to he was a crazy that acted weirdly familiar toward me. I never settled on one, but I did decide he was overstepping his bounds with how he was acting. Touching my face, the staring, and the "safety" demand was all too much for a guy I had spoken maybe four or five sentences to.

Lizzie had texted me to make sure I was okay because I left without saying goodbye, but I covered by telling her that I was pooped and that I asked Wulfric to say goodbye for me. I figured he would agree to that if she brought it up because I doubted he was going to tell her that about our conversation. I didn't really want to talk to Lizzie about it yet. But I will if it gets any weirder.

I pulled on my cardigan before jumping down from my Jeep to walk up to the large house that I worked in. My head was held high and my steps were sure, but inside I wanted to tuck tail and run. It's almost made my steps a little more aggressive. Who was this guy to take away the joy I got from this job? And why the hell was I giving him the power to ruin the haven Lizzie, Lucy, and this house had become?

I also might have become a little more confident because Lizzie's car was the only one in the drive when I pulled up.

I did two quick taps on the door before opening it and stepping into the foyer. I quickly stowed my school bag away in the hall closet and headed into the living room. Lucy was bundled up, fast asleep in the swing with the baby monitor pointed at her. I moved past her toward the kitchen where I heard Lizzie rummaging in the kitchen.

"Hey, so sorry about yesterday. I just really had to get-" I stopped mid sentence because the head the popped up from behind the fridge door was not Lizzie's, but Wulfric's. My eyebrows furrowed. "What are you doing here?" I immediately stopped moving, and crossed my arms over my chest.

His eyebrows jumped up, and he straightened while closing the fridge. "I do live here." His smile might have been teasing, but I was trying to focus on getting my courage back up that had quickly fled.

"I mean, I figured you were at work because your truck isn't here. And I guess I got used to Lizzie being the only one here to greet me in the mornings." I explained.

"Ahh," he nodded his really inconveniently good looking head, "Yeah, Lizzie had to go to work early because some kind of emergency popped up." He moved to the  island where an egg sandwich was sitting, and he uncapped the ketchup he had apparently grabbed from the fridge. I tried not to wrinkle my nose at it because my dad always ate them, and I absolutely hated them. "And she asked to borrow my truck."

"Oh," I uncrossed my arms in an attempt to appear a little less standoffish. He was acting a lot more normal today, almost like the very first time we met at Emma's, but I hadn't totally cleared him yet. "Okay." I scratched at my forehead, "Well, I'm going to go sit with Lucy." I informed him as I started to turn away.

"Wait." I turned back to him as he reassembled his sandwich. "Do you want something to eat?" When I started to shake my head with an obviously cautious look on my face, he said. "What about a cup of coffee then?" He sat his breakfast on the white porcelain plate that he had just picked it up from and braced his large hands on the marble countertops, while he looked up at me from his hunches. "Look, I just want the chance to talk to you and apologize about yesterday."

I looked into his burnt honey eyes, and found myself nodding my head and saying, "A cup of coffee would be nice," despite myself.

He pushed off the counter with a grin and clapped his hands together before rubbing them briskly together. "Great, grab a seat." He nodded to the island stools, and then turned toward the coffee machine.

I moved further into the kitchen. "You don't have to. I can get it."

"I got it. You, sit." I'm starting to think that half of what Wulfric says is just commands, but I grabbed one of the stools nevertheless.

He quickly poured two cups and placed one in front of me along with dishes of sugar and creamer. It was silent as I started to doctor my coffee and I looked up to find Wulfric watching my process closely, as if my coffee recipe was of great import to him.

I cleared my throat as I finished and took a sip, pointedly looking up at him from my seat across from where he stood on the other side of the island.

He took a quick sip of his black coffee.  "I'm sorry for how strongly I came off yesterday," he looked vaguely unhappy about saying those words. "It's not a very good excuse, but, growing up in a small town, I'm around a lot of people that I've known for a very long time and sometimes I forget that formalities come before familiarity." He cupped the back of his neck for a minute, making his bicep and forearm flex in a way too appealing way, before continuing. "I will try not to be so," he spread his hands in front of him, palms up, obviously looking for the right words, "casual with you."

I nodded my head and looked at him to continue. He looked back at me a minute with a blank look, as though he didn't realize I was also waiting to address the whole "safety" issue.

"There's something else I need to apologize for?" He said incredulously.

"You don't NEED to apologize for anything," I looked down at the counter and traced a finger through the ring of water that was left from my mug, "but I also would appreciate you not commanding things, like that I need to lock my doors, even if you feel I need to." I looked up. "If you feel like you would like to suggest something, I'm pretty open about listening, or if you're worried about your niece's safety, I'm of course all ears, but I don't always deal well with commands." I tried to explain, as diplomatically as I could.

"You don't deal well with commands?" He had his muscular arms crossed over his broad, white tee shirt covered chest and his bare feet braced apart.

"Not the way you gave them last night."

"And how did I give them last night?" He asked.

It was my turn to cross my arms. "Like I should listen to you without question or pause on something that doesn't pertain to my work."

He nodded his head, and I was about to relax until he said. "This does have to do with your work."

I looked at him disbelieving. "And how does that have to do with my work?"

He uncrossed his arms and planted his hands on the island in front of him and me, and then he leaned in really closely. I held my breath. "If anything happens to you, then I would have to become involved because as long as you work in this house, you are under my protection. That means I will be concerned with your safety. And, by your definition, I have a right to be."

And then he stood up straight, grabbed his plate and placed it in the sink, before walking out of the kitchen doorway. And I think I would have sat there with the same stupid look on my face until Lizzie came home, if it wasn't for Lu's fussing coming through the monitor on the counter.