He was slowly but surely dragging her out of the shell she’d crawled into long ago, hiding from the parts of life she found too painful to deal with. Inside that shell, she was safe and protected from things that could hurt her. The thought of a life outside the shell made her shudder in fear of what happened when you loved someone too much and they were ripped from your life suddenly and without warning.

“Are you cold?” Slim asked, turning up the heat.

“Little bit,” she said, rather than confess to the fears that had her shuddering.

Being on the island had helped to crack the shell somewhat. It was impossible to be around the people who lived here and not engage in meaningful relationships and new friendships. They simply wouldn’t allow anyone to wallow by themselves for too long, and now there was a man who wasn’t going to allow her to wallow either. At some point, she’d have to decide how far out of the shell she was willing to venture.

Slim parked the truck at the pharmacy and turned off the engine. “You okay over there? You’re awfully quiet.”

“Just thinking.”

“What I wouldn’t give to know what goes on inside that head of yours.”

Erin laughed at the way he said that. “It’s probably better that you don’t.”

“I don’t know about that. Wait for me.”

At first she didn’t know what he meant, and then he was opening her door and helping her out of the truck. “While I appreciate your manners, I’m perfectly capable of getting out by myself.”

“You get me, you get my manners, too, sweetheart.” He also held the door to the pharmacy for her and ushered her in ahead of him with a hand to her lower back.

As a fully self-sufficient woman, she wanted to argue some more about his need to play the role of protective alpha man. But she enjoyed the courtesy too much to protest. She’d never been with a man who was so consistent about holding doors, and though it would take some getting used to, she decided she could live with his brand of gallantry.

They found a picked-over display of Christmas decorations in the front of the store. There were six boxes of white lights left, and he grabbed all of them.

“Why do we need so many lights?” Erin asked.

“My rule is, until it hurts to look at the tree, you don’t have enough lights. Six boxes ought to do it.”

“That’s ridiculous, but if you insist...”

“I do.” With the lights tucked under one arm, Slim reached for a box of gold ornaments.

Erin stopped him. “I like your beachcombing idea. It’s much more original than generic gold balls.”

“It’ll be cold out there today.”

“I can handle it if you can with your thin Florida blood.”