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Even though he did.

“You don’t need Zander. You have me.”

Lord, she wished she did have him. Every moment that she spent with him, she grew more attracted, and more attached. It was a dangerous feeling.

“What you need in your life is some sort of purpose, some hope, something to keep you going.”

Someone like him.

Oh, crap. She hoped she hadn’t said that out loud. But he didn’t show any reaction, so she guessed she hadn’t.

“I guess so,” she said. “I just need to figure out what I’m going to do with the rest of my life, right? It’s on my to-do list.”

“What else is on your to-do list?”

“Fixing up the house to sell it. Figuring out what I want to do. Where I want to live. And making that happen. Paying you back, fixing your truck. Oh, speaking of that, I have some money for you.”

She drew the envelope out that she’d gotten from the pawn shop.

“That’s the reason you snuck out of the house and came here? To get this money for me?”

“I didn’t sneak out of the house.”

He just eyed her. “You didn’t tell me where you were going.”

“It’s not sneaking.”

It kind of was, though.

“You didn’t tell me that you needed to come here,” he said.

“Because you wouldn’t have let me,” she exclaimed.

“Right, because I expected you to rest. How did you even get here? Please do not tell me you hitchhiked.”

“Of course I didn’t hitchhike.” She wasn’t stupid. “I took the bus.”

“The bus? The freaking bus? The bus isn’t safe.”

What the heck? What was he talking about?

“Of course the bus is safe. Why wouldn’t the bus be safe?”

“It’s public transport. Anyone could be on it. People are the public. People aren’t safe.”

He really was losing his mind. Did he really think that everyone was a threat to her?

“Most people are good,” she told him. “They’re safe and they’re honest.”

He looked at her like he couldn’t believe she was so naive. “No, they’re really not. Most people are assholes. You could have been hurt. You don’t know the bus driver that drove you here. What if he was drunk or on drugs or distracted? What if he was text messaging while he was driving? No, no. Not acceptable. No more buses.”

“You really are insane, you realize that, right? Have you ever been tested?”

“You think I’m insane because I want to keep you safe?” he asked.

“Yes, I do. Because there’s a line where things are reasonable. Then you go over that line to unreasonable.” She held her hand at stomach-level. “Then you go to nutty.” She moved her hand closer to chin-level. “And then there’s you. Right here at insanity.” Her hand went up over her head.

“No more sneaking off. No more keeping things from me. No more going on buses. No arguments.”