He paused at her room. "I think I might ought to be offended by that. What exactly are you saying about my style?"
She paused, too, then shrugged. "I don't know. You just seem to be the kind of guy to have a man cave, not something this..."
"Refined?"
She shook her head affirmatively.
"Well, that just shows what you know. For your information, I do like some fancy things."
"Like what? Lacy underwear?"
"On my women, yeah." He flashed that grin at her that she was learning to hate. Not for any reason other than the fact that it softened his features and made him terribly irresistible.
"And-?" she asked when he didn't continue.
He scratched at the back of his neck. "Well, opera for one and foreign films for another, especially French ones."
She scoffed. "No, you don't."
"I can show you my Opera Guild membership card if you want to see it. Been a season ticket holder for decades."
Out of all the things about him that took her by surprise, those actually floored her. She just couldn't imagine a man so large and tough wedging himself into an opera seat.
"Heck, I even play violin."
"You mean fiddle."
"Play that, too. But Mozart and Grieg are my favorite pieces that I like to unwind with after a hard night's work."
In the back of her mind was a vague memory of him playing Wagner on her toy piano and then showing her what the keys were. "You taught me 'Chopsticks.'"
"I did."
The thought of a man so huge and ripped handling such a delicate instrument was incongruous and yet ...
Why can't I remember more?
Sundown opened the door for her.
Abigail went to the bed, then paused. Instead of leaving, Sundown pulled a blanket and pillow out of the closet and made a pallet on the floor.
"What are you doing?" she asked, dreading the obvious answer.
"We tore my room up, remember? I don't want to sleep with a big hole over my head. Plaster or something might fall down and scare me enough, I could scream like a woman and humiliate myself. I definitely don't want to do that with Sasha in the house. He'd laugh at me forever, and I'd have to skin him."
She started to protest, but honestly she was glad to have him in here. Just in case. After everything that had happened, her nerves were shot.
You should be running from him or at least trying to kill him.
Perhaps. But if the coyotes were really after her, the last thing she wanted to do was lead them home so that they could kill her adoptive family, too. Hannah and Kurt were all she had left. And while the Apollites were good, she wasn't sure they'd be enough to fight them. Not to mention Choo Co La Tah was right, she was exhausted to a level she'd never known before. She needed rest. At least for a couple of hours.
Then she might be up for an escape attempt.
Kicking off her shoes and pulling the band from her hair to release her ponytail, she climbed into bed. Before she could think better of it, she glanced to where Sundown lay on the floor. One thing she didn't miss was the fact that he had one foot against the door so that if anyone opened it, it would wake him immediately. And the shotgun was on the floor only millimeters from his fingertips.
Weird ... she couldn't remember him picking it up again. Where had it come from?
Man, she must be tired to have missed that.