“I made you a sandwich,” she said as she placed a plate in front of him on the table. “I wanted to make you some soup or something, but I didn’t think you’d want to eat it cold.”
Chappy looked up at her with a frown. “Why would I eat it cold?”
“Well, because you don’t have electricity, and if I tried to heat it on the fire, I’d probably burn it, or my hand, and ruin your pan in the process.”
“The stove is gas,” he said softly.
“What?”
“The stove. It runs on propane. I have a small tank under the sink that it’s hooked up to. I can heat water, sauté stuff, make pasta and rice, and anything else you can make with a pan on the stove top.”
Carlise stared at him for a long moment. “Oh,” she finally muttered.
“There’s also an icebox on the side of the porch. I use it in the winter because it’s more economical than plugging in the small fridge I have out in the storage building. I’ve got meat, milk, and cheese out there. Eggs, too, but they’re probably frozen solid. Hell, most likely everything is.”
“Wait, you have a fridge you can plug in? I didn’t think there was any electricity here,” she said.
She hadn’t sat down, was still standing next to the table staring at him. Chappy wanted to reach out and pull her into the other seat, but he also didn’t want to freak her out by touching her without permission. Yes, they’d slept wrapped around each other, and she hadn’t freaked out when he’d put his hand on her thigh earlier, but he didn’t want to push his luck.
“I have a generator outside. When I need to charge my electronics or use the few electrical appliances I have here and there, I can start it up and get some juice for a while. I don’t use it a lot, as the generator is loud, and I like the peace and quiet of the place.” He sighed. “I’m so sorry,” he said, shaking his head.
“For what?”
“For not giving you a tour, for not explaining how stuff around here works before I passed out on you.”
“It’s not like you did it on purpose,” she said with a small shrug. “I should’ve figured out the stove. That was stupid of me.”
Chappy didn’t like hearing her disparage herself. “You aren’t stupid. You managed to keep the fire going. You took care of me. You did what you needed to do in order to survive. Just because you didn’t know about the stove or the generator doesn’t make you stupid.”
She shrugged again.
“Will you sit with me while I eat?” Chappy asked.
She glanced at the sandwich she’d made for him and winced as she reached for the plate. “Let me heat you some soup. You don’t have to eat that.”
Chappy reacted without thought. He grabbed her wrist to prevent her from picking up the plate. “Peanut butter and jelly is one of my favorite foods in the world,” he told her, completely seriously. “Why do you think I have so many jars of the stuff?”
His thumb caressed her wrist as she studied him, probably trying to decide whether to press the issue or not. Her skin was remarkably smooth, and he could feel her pulse hammering in her wrist. He wasn’t sure if it was because she was scared or if it was his touch that made her breathe faster.
It was the uncertainty that made him let go. The last thing he wanted was to make her uncomfortable.
He might not have invited her here, but she was here now, and with the way the storm outside sounded, she wasn’t leaving anytime soon. He didn’t want to make her stay awkward or uncomfortable. Especially after what she’d done for him.
Chappy couldn’t remember the last time someone had taken care of him without any expectations. After he and his friends had been rescued, they’d been taken to a military hospital in Germany, where nurses and doctors had looked after them and done what they could to heal their injuries, but that had been their job. Women had fawned all over him when he’d first returned to the States, but Chappy knew it was because he and his friends were all over the media after everything that had happened. The last thing he wanted was someone dating him out of a desire to be with someone “famous.”
Chappy was pretty sure the woman standing next to his kitchen table, looking adorably mussed, had no idea what had happened to him. She hadn’t made sure he was warm, fed, and hydrated because she’d seen his face on the news. She’d done it out of the goodness of her heart. Yes, she was essentially trapped in the cabin with him because of the storm, but if she truly hadn’t cared about his well-being, she could’ve done the bare minimum.