“I’m not going anywhere.”
“I look horrible.” She pulled her quilt up around her head like a hood so she wouldn’t have to see his handsome face. “Just go away.”
“You look sick, but even sick, you’re pretty. And it’s not like I’m winning any awards in the looks department.”
“Lies,” she whispered. Did he really think he wasn’t handsome? No, he was just trying to make her feel better.
A chill wracked her body, and the glint of humor in his eyes disappeared. “Up and at ’em, Elly,” he said softly, wrapping his arm around her and hefting her up to her feet.
He smelled good. Like salty ocean and fresh air. He held her tight against his muscular side as he led her down the hall. “Um, where are we going?”
“My room.”
Even sick, evendeliriouslyhappily single—heavy on the delirious apparently—her stomach swooped.
“Oh.” She swallowed. “Why?”
He led her to the king-sized bed and helped her sit on the edge of it. “Because you’re sick and your air mattress is garbage. You can sleep in here until you feel better.”
“You don’t have to do that,” she said, but she was already sinking back into the soft-as-a-cloud mattress. It had been weeks since she slept on a real mattress, and she forgot how heavenly it could be. He’d even moved her pillow onto his bed.
Her stomach swooped again. Stop that, she ordered it. Her stomach had enough problems today.
“I want to,” he said. “I didn’t realize your bed was so bad.”
“It’s not that bad.” But enveloped in this bed? Yeah, the air mattress suddenly seemed much worse than she’d realized. “I don’t want to get my germs all over everything.”
“I’m not worried about it.” He leaned across her to grab her pillow and tuck it under her head. She breathed him in again, even as it became harder with him so close.
His concentration seemed to be fully on making sure she was comfortable, and his pulse definitely didn’t seem like it was racing unnaturally fast. He tucked her quilt around her and made sure the water bottle was within reach.
“Try to drink,” he said, with a frown. He sat on the edge of the bed near her legs. “You don’t want to get even more dehydrated.”
“Thank you for letting me take your bed.” She sipped some water.
“Who says you’re taking my bed?” His gaze flicked to the extra space on the other side of the mattress. “There’s room for both of us.”
She choked on the water in her mouth. If her pulse had been racing before, it was winning world records now. Asher laughed, and it wasn’t just his eyes that lit up but his entire face. “Are you okay?”
Wait. He was teasing her. She didn’t realize he had it in him. She liked this side of him. A lot.
She finally caught her breath. “I’ll try not to breathe in your face,” she croaked.
“Such a gem.” He stood. “My bathroom is through that door and there’s a huge tub in there you can use if you want. I plugged your phone in next to the water bottle and put my phone number on a sticky note on the screen, so text me if you need anything.”
He’d thought of everything. “Okay. Are you sure, Asher?” When she’d blackmailed him, she’d never intended that he’d have to take care of her.
“Don’t worry about me. I’ve slept on a lot worse than a couch.”
He left the bedroom, and she thought she’d fall asleep right away. But it took much longer than she wanted to acknowledge for her heart to stop racing. With Asher’s inviting scent in every corner of this bed, and the imprint of his smile behind her eyelids, it felt like he was still in here with her, holding her close.
And it wasn’t a bad feeling at all.
Chapter 15
“Alright,Ihavedeliveryscheduled for tomorrow afternoon. Can I get your payment information?” the voice on the other end of the line asked Asher.
“Sure.” He rattled off his credit card number to the florist, and then hung up and leaned back in his office chair at The Palms Clinic with a yawn. His grandpa’s couch was not made for a man over six feet tall to recline comfortably on.
