“Must be nice,” Burke muttered. “I was up at five this morning and just made my last delivery an hour ago.”
“Are you a UPS driver or something?” Kimberly asked curiously. She really didn’t know that much about him.
“Nah, I deliver cords of firewood in the cold months and then work with Kieran up at the sawmill in the Spring and Summer.”
“You’re a lumberjack?” Kimberly asked. She’d meant to say it in a snobby way, but the words just came out sounding interested. Huh. The beer must’ve been getting to her.
“Yep, just a lowly lumberjack.”
Kieran rolled his eyes. “Asshole acts like it’s no big deal, but he owns his own business. He even LLCed it last year. Everyone around here knows to go to him for firewood or tree removal.”
“You own a company?” she asked, impressed.
“Don’t get your panties all wet just yet, snob,” he told her. “I make enough to cover bills. No more, no less.”
“Same,” she said primly. “I’m one of you now.”
“One of you?” Kieran asked.
“The impoverished.”
Leslie, Kieran, and Burke all cracked up laughing.
“I’m serious,” Kimberly assured them. “Today I had to look at insurance plans. I can’t even afford dental on my salary.”
“Oh no,” Burke said dramatically. “Who will whiten your teeth?”
“Screw you. My teeth are white.”
“For how long? How long until your teeth yellow with your poorness?”
Okay, she knew he was teasing her, but he was obnoxious. “I’m not a snob. I’m drinking beer tonight.”
“Eat from the food truck down the street, and then I’ll be impressed.”
“What do they serve at this…this…food truck?”
“Bison hash,” Burke answered.
“I don’t have any money to buy fancy bison hash,” she pointed out. It was kind of nice being open and admitting what she could and couldn’t afford with these three. “I have thirteen dollars and sixteen cents in my purse, and that has to last me until payday.”
“Tell you what,” Burke said, a smile curving the corners of his lips. “I’ll buy you an order of bison hash, and if you don’t pull a snobby face, you don’t have to pay me back.”
“I don’t want your charity dinner.”
“I respect that, but I haven’t had dinner. I’m walking down there anyway, and you could come with me and entertain me with your snobbiness. It’s not charity. I like when you make me laugh with that face you make.”
“What face?”
“Like you just sucked on a lemon. Like that one!” he exclaimed as she took another sip of her nasty beer.
“You’re very annoying. Stop looking at me.”
“I want a double order of the hash,” Kieran said, pulling a twenty from his wallet. “And you know my lady will want the same.”
Leslie grinned. “He knows me well.”
“We’ll be back in twenty minutes,” Burke assured them. He plucked her peacoat off the coat rack and held it out for her. “Milady.”
God, he was annoying. But he would make fun of her more if she uttered the complaint that was crawling its way up her throat. It’s cold out there. But she could be tough for twenty minutes to shut him up.
She slipped her arms into the jacket he was holding and followed him outside. He walked straight for his Bronco, and although she was relieved that they were driving, she wanted to jab at him back. “If it’s right up the street, why are we driving?” she asked.
“We aren’t.”
Dammit.
“I got you a present,” he told her.
“A present?” she asked, dumbfounded.
He opened the passenger side of his Bronco and stood to the side. On the seat was a shoe box and a bag from the general store down the street. “What’s this?”
“Just open it. It’s not charity. This is me broadening your horizons, snob.”
Carefully, she opened the shoe box lid and pushed the white tissue paper aside to expose a pair of steel gray UGGs that were calf height with bows on the backs of them.
“I did an internet search of these today,” she whispered, pulling them out in reverence.
“And?” he asked.
“And they are expensive! This is my whole paycheck for a week. I can’t take these.”
“I looked at your shoe size yesterday when you were unloading your boxes into the tiny house. Never bought these for a chick before so I hope they fit.”
“Burke, didn’t you hear me? I can’t take these!”
“Just try them on, snob. This is part of your rehab into the real world.”
“The real world would make me pay for my own, and they would be off-brand!”
“Just…” He sighed a frustrated sound. “I don’t buy shit for people, Kimberly. Just go easy on me this once, okay?”
She searched his eyes, but they were bright gold. “Okay,” she whispered. She popped her wedges off and pulled the UGG on—and, oh God—it…was…heavenly. The wool lining was so warm and the fit so comfortable. “What is happening to my feet right now?” she murmured.
“Right?” he asked, eyes on her face.
“Burke! Oh, my God!” She yanked the other one on and crunched a tight circle in the snow. “They’re so warm!”
“Yes!”
“And so comfortable!”
“Yes!”
“And so ugly!”
“Well, to you, but paired with that stuff”— he pointed to the other bag— “I think you’ll look hot as hell.”
Oh, she knew what was in there before she even opened it up. Leggings and a hoodie. And, yep, there was a pair of black leggings in the right size and a navy hoodie that said Missoula, Montana on it.
“Put them on.”
Kimberly looked around at the empty street on the other side of the parking lot. “What if someone sees me?”
Burke told her, “Leslie and Kieran are making out inside her shop, and no one is driving by. I’ll turn away. Just try them on.”
Feeling wild and rebellious, she said, “Okay! No peeking, though. It’s been a very long time since someone looked at me, and I have emotional scars.” That part was mostly true.
“Yeah, right,” Burke muttered, giving her his back. “You know exactly how pretty you are. Stop acting like your self-esteem is anything but up in the damn Milky Way.”
“Um, no,” she muttered, yanking her jeans and UGGs off in a rush. “Divorce is disastrous for self-esteem. You know how it is.” She was struggling into the leggings, which completely counted as a cardio workout.
“I wasn’t divorced. Just had a bad breakup.”
“Like how bad?” she asked, pulling the spandex over her butt.
“Like I Turned a girl I thought was the one into a lion shifter, and she left me three months later.”
“What?” she yelped, nearly falling over into the snow.
“Yeah,” he said, his voice sounding too growly to be human. “She just wanted the lion. Not me. Something like that is actually worse than divorce for a shifter. Breaking that kind of bond is pretty brutal.”