Malachi sighed and nodded. "I'm not going to shut you out," he said, thinking the only way he could shut her out was to stop being with her physically. He wouldn't do that and it certainly wouldn't help matters if it came to something like that. "I don't know how to shut you out. You'd just break down any wall I try to put up anyway, so what's the point?" he asked with a teasingly voice. Brushing his fingers through her hair one more time affectionately, he moved back to hide behind the easel again.