Stripped by Abby Niles

usually did every day, she’d caught him scrunching his nose over one of those fifty-cent Styrofoam soup in a cup deals twice this week and he’d had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich today.
    She’d invited him to dinner each night and he’d accepted, but last night he’d been adamant about cooking. Having gone into his office earlier in the day to grab something off his desk, she’d found his computer open to ‘100 Ways to Cook Dinner for $5 or Less’. The gesture   had almost made her heart expand out of her chest and she’d gushed her thanks. He’d seemed pleased with her reaction.
    The Sloppy Joes with a side of Tater tots had been the best dinner ever.
    Smiling to herself, Madison slung her purse over her shoulder. The man was a billionaire. And he’d fretted over that meal as if he’d been making a five-course dinner.
    She stepped out of her cubicle and looked up. Jaxon was pacing his office, scrubbing the back of his head with his hand. From the way his blonde hair was pointing in multiple directions, he’d been doing it for a while.
    Frowning, she leaned against the doorframe and crossed her arms. “Is everything okay?”
    Every muscle in his back stiffened, then he spun to face her. “Madison. Uh. Yeah. Hey.” A flush crept up his neck and into his cheeks.
    Interesting. She cocked her head to the side. “Are you sure?” she asked slowly.
    There went that scrubbing again. What in the world was on his mind?
    “Um. I have a problem.” His cheeks went from a pinkish flush to an all-out crimson. Good Lord, the man was embarrassed.
    “Okay.” She had never, ever seen Jaxon Sutherland so out of sorts. “What is it?”
    He worked his jaw for what felt like forever, his gaze jumping around the room, never really meeting hers. Whatever was bothering him was something he didn’t want to voice. Concerned, she pushed off the doorframe and stepped toward him.
    “I’m out of money…and I’m out of gas.” His gaze stopped jumping and he blatantly avoided eye contact by staring at the adjacent wall, his jaw tight as steel.
    She froze mid-step as everything in her being, her soul, heart, softened. She knew exactly how he felt right now. The overwhelming panic of being penniless and having no gas and having to battle that prideful part of yourself while asking for help. It was a sucky feeling. But there was a huge difference here.
    He didn’t have to ever feel like this. There was no real reason for this moment.
    He could’ve easily dipped into his account to add a ten or twenty to his budget and she would’ve never been the wiser. So for Jaxon to not think about doing something like that and instead keep to the terms of their deal and put himself in such a vulnerable spot said a lot about the kind of man she was coming to believe he was: good, decent, giving.
    As much as she wanted to continue having him as her neighbor, it was time to let him off the hook.
    “Jaxon. Listen, you have nothing more to prove to me. My opinion of you changed by the end of the first day. I was wrong, and I don’t easily admit when I’m wrong. So let’s forget this entire thing, okay?”
    His gaze shot back to hers. “No. I agreed to a week. I’m going to finish the week.”
    “Now, you’re being bullheaded.”
    “I like to finish what I start.”
    “Okay, then.” She pulled out her wallet.
    Backing away, he cringed and shook his hands. “God, no. I can’t do that. Can we carpool? I’ll give you gas money Friday when the challenge is over.”
    If that made him feel better…
    “That works for me. Do you have enough gas to get home?”
    His grimace answered her question, but he said, “I was on fumes getting here. I was panicked I was going to stall out before I pulled into the parking lot.”
    The perplexed look on his face was so endearing she couldn’t stop herself, she walked over to him and placed a kiss on his cheek. His eyebrows went up. “What was that for?”
    She didn’t really know herself. It