I needed to stop feeling so bad, sure, but I had a feeling I was running out of time.
We both were.
CHAPTERTHIRTEEN
I groanedat the feel of something damp touching my forehead.
More than touching it, pressing down on it.
Moaning, I peered up at the frown hovering above me. I must have fallen asleep at some point. The last thing I remembered was gagging after telling him I wasn’t feeling well.
“What are you doing?” I whispered, my voice hoarse as hell. Just when I’d thought I couldn’t possibly feel worse, my body saidcheck this shit out.
And I was checking it out. I was checking it out big-time.
The superbeing rolled his eyes. “Trying to cool you down. What does it look like?”
If I’d been worried he’d been body snatched, I could live at peace now.
“I don’t know. It isn’t every day I wake up to someone in my face.” Honestly though, for one microsecond, I’d thought he was planning on playing tonsil hockey in revenge.
The gorgeous man still hovering over me huffed. “I’m trying to keep you alive.”
When he put it like that, I felt like a jerk. “Thank you.” I winced at how much my swallow burned. “I’m not trying to be ungrateful. I just feel so shitty, and you surprised me.” I sniffled. “You keep surprising me.” That was the understatement of the century.
That perfect face went a little funny.
I tried to smile at him, but my cheeks felt like they’d been pinched to hell. “Thank you,” I repeated, “for trying to help me.”
He blinked. His gaze moved from my eyes to my chin and lingered on my shirt. On the shirt I’d given him, the one with Hello Kitty on it. Then, just as slowly, those purple eyes swept their way back up, and I don’t think I imagined that his voice got a little quieter as he said, totally serious, “I’ve never taken care of anything.”
Oh.
“I’ve never been around anyone this sick,” he admitted just as low.
But here he was.
Moving my hand from where I’d had it on my stomach, I set it between my breasts. The shirt was damp. I was sticky.
“You’re still running a fever.” The Defender kept staring at me with those intense, incredible eyes. “Is this the right thing to do to bring it down?”
“Mm-hmm,” I answered with a wince.
A notch formed between two thick, dark eyebrows. “How do you feel?”
I tried to laugh and automatically regretted it. “Like shit.”
The Defender sighed and got up, walking… normal.
He’d gotten up effortlessly, no huffing, no puffing, no struggling at all. I kept watching as he headed to the sink and turned it on. I was only a little surprised when he turned around, hands cupped together, and made his way back, pausing right beside me. He raised an eyebrow, and somehow, I knew exactly what he wanted.
I opened my mouth, and he poured the small amount of water into it.
I licked my lips, my mouth so damn dry.
He blinked, and I watched his lips go tight before he bent over and…
“What are you doing?” I croaked just as he slipped an arm under my knees and another across my shoulder blades, lifting me effortlessly. “Don’t hurt your back!”
