Page 53 of Outlier

He chuckled. “Come on, you. I’ll walk you in.”

He jumped out of the van and jogged around to my side to open my door for me.

I was noticing this about Mike. He might think he was rough, but as far as actions were concerned, he struck me as more of a gentleman than most of the men in the upper classes I knew.

It was little things like opening doors, keeping me on the inside of the pavement, pulling out my chair, putting his hand on the small of my back to guide me through crowded places.

The hand on the back thing was my favourite. I wasn’t sure that Mike was always fully aware he was doing it, as usually he was very careful to ask consent before he touched me—but the hand on the back seemed to be instinctual. It made me feel safe.

I didn’t always feel safe in strange environments, but with the heat of Mike’s large hand on the small of my back, I simply knew that everything was going to be okay. I knew that he wouldn’t let anything hurt me. I mean, it’s totally illogical—a grown woman does not need guiding through any space, and I usually disliked illogical scenarios like this.

But, however illogical, that hand on my back made me feel safer and more valued than I had ever felt before.

Mike stopped dead in the hallway when confronted by the coffee table he’d made, which was still in the same position he’d left it.

“Why’s it still here?” he asked.

I shrugged. “Ollie was here after…” I trailed off. I did not want Mike to know what happened after that delivery. “After you brought it round. And he offered to move it, but I wanted to keep it there.

“Slap, bang in the way?” he asked in confusion.

“It was a reminder.”

“A reminder of what?”

I sighed. “A reminder to leave you alone. I’d come home, see the coffee table, and I’d remember what happened. It was to stop me slipping into hyperfocus mode again when it came to you.”

His head tilted to the side as he looked at me. There was an intensity in his eyes now, like some sort of storm was brewing.

“Vicky, Ollie said something earlier about you. He mentioned that something happened with you two weeks before the gala. I…well, I know that was when I delivered the table; you told me it was a stressful interaction for you, and I just…”

“I had a meltdown,” I said.

There was no point lying. Mike needed to know exactly what he was getting into, even if admitting to my level of dysfunction caused heat to rise up my face, and my stomach to twist.

“Ollie and Lottie found me under the table. It wasn’t like the gala. No screaming and such. But they had to let themselves into the house, because I went missing, and I wouldn’t speak or move when they found me. Ollie had to drag me out and hug me until I calmed down.”

“Was it…?” he looked to the side, then swallowed before he met my eyes and spoke again. “Was it because of what I said? Because of how ugly I was to you?”

My chest felt tight as I shifted and looked away from his piercing gaze. I very much wished in that moment that I was able to lie successfully.

“You have to understand,” I told him. “I was very focused on you, and I reallyreallywanted to make a good impression. I even found a pair of jeans I could wear—but to be honest, that was a mistake. No jeans are soft enough for me to tolerate. So, yes, I reacted badly.”

He groaned and moved to me. His hands came up to frame my face, but before they made contact, he whispered, “Is this okay?”

I nodded, and his fingers slid from my jawline into my hair as he looked down at me, his eyes burning with intensity.

“Vicky, I know I’ve said it before, but you’ll never understand how sorry I am for what I said to you that day. Please tell me you know now that it was all bollocks, right?”

“You don’t have to apologise to me again,” I said in a small voice. “Honestly, anyone normal would have…”

“Stop saying that. Don’t you dare put yourself down like that,” he said in a firm voice with just a hint of growl to it.

I snapped my mouth shut.

“God,” he muttered as he pulled me into him for a hug. “I’m a lucky shit that you’re giving me a chance.”

I snorted into his soft shirt, loving the feel of his firm body against mine. “I’m thelucky shitin this scenario.”