Page 18 of Outlier

“Baby, are you okay?” The endearment seemed to break through.

She blinked a couple of times and made very brief eye contact before focusing back on my left ear.

I was within touching distance now, but I kept my hands by my sides.

She swallowed, and her hands came down from her ears almost as though she was forcing them to. After a few moments, she held onto the table that was now by her side, and she stopped rocking as if using the solid wood to anchor herself.

“I have to—” she started to say, but her voice broke off. Her eyes closed briefly, and she swallowed before she spoke again. “I have to have warning.” She was whispering now, as if she was telling me something deeply shameful.

I frowned. “Warning? Before I kiss you?”

She cleared her throat. “Beforeanyphysical contact.”

I nodded. “Right, okay. Warning.”

She was shaking very slightly now. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the slight breeze going through the orangery, orwhether she was still scared, but something deep in my psyche seemed to sense what she needed.

“Would it help if I… held you?” I asked, then held my breath for her answer.

“I… yes, but…” she paused for a moment. “It has to be a tight hug.”

I smiled as I closed the distance between us. “Got it. Tight hug.”

Then she was in my arms, her softness pressed tightly to me, my chin resting on top of her head, and my arms enclosing her small body completely.

At first, her body was stiff with tension, and there were small tremors running through her, but after a few moments, she relaxed against me, her hands flattening against my chest, and her face burrowing into my skin.

As I gathered her even closer, I felt like I’d scored a massive victory.

This was significant—that my embrace could comfort her meant something.

I have to have warning.

I can be extremely irritating.

Alotof people are mean to me.

There’s nothing to forgive.

I wasn’t sure what the fuck was going on with this beautiful woman who seemed to think it was okay for people to treat her like shit, who freaked out at a closed-mouth kiss, who’d told me she found meextremely attractive,but at the same time, seemed to be totally terrified of me, but I was sure as fuck going to find out.

Chapter 8

Am I interrupting something?

Vicky

The thoughts whirlingthrough my mind were slowly quieting.

Mike’s huge body enclosing mine was bringing me back to myself. I’d dreamt about being in his arms so many times—how strong he would be, how warm—but the reality was so much better.

Tight hugs were always calming for me. Sometimes, they were the only way to bring me out of a meltdown, the only way to calm the storm that my mind became when I was overwhelmed, but I’d never felt this level of peace before in someone’s arms.

But then, very gradually, reality started to creep in.

The realisation of how I’d lost it when he kissed me. That I was so defective, so totally weird, that I couldn’t even let a man I wanted more than my next breath kiss me spontaneously.

This was not the way to convince Mike Mayweather I was a normal human being.