“Actually,” the younger man said, absently gesturing to the hives covering her arms, neck, and face, “we came here to help you. My name is Dr. Aidan Bradford. My brother told me that you had a reaction to a substance that you came in contact with last night.”
“Your brother?” Jodi asked, narrowing her eyes as she looked the younger man over and noted the similarities between him and her tormentor living across the hallway from her.
“Yes, he’s my brother,” Aidan said with a long-suffering sigh that had her biting back a smile and instantly liking the large man. “He’s also the one who told me that you might need some medical attention,” he explained with a charming smile that had her stepping back and gesturing for the men to come in.
With a nod and a smile, the men stepped into her apartment and followed her into the kitchen just as the oven timer chimed. She hurried across the kitchen and grabbed her oven mitts. She managed to shut the timer off and pull the cookies out of the oven before they burned. As she set them on the counter, she caught her unexpected guests’ expressions.
Looking as though they were lost in a dream, they slowly looked around the kitchen, taking in every cookie, brownie, and delicious treat that she’d spent the last seven hours cooking and…
Was that a whimper?
Yup, definitely a whimper, Jodi decided, biting back another smile as she gestured to the food around them. “Are you hungry?”
“Always,” the men said in unison, looking deadly serious as they continued to gaze around them.
“Help yourselves,” she said, gesturing to the food.
“Bless you,” Aidan said, reaching for a brownie only to come up empty handed when the large plate overflowing with brownies suddenly disappeared.
“You should really be looking her over,” the older man said around a large brownie as he backed away, the plate of brownies lovingly cradled in his arms.
“Greedy bastard,” Aidan muttered as he reluctantly turned his attention away from the brownies and looked at her. “Can I see your arm?” he asked even as he couldn’t stop himself from sending the plate in the other man’s arms a wistful glance.
“Oh, God, these are so damn good,” the older man groaned, taking another large bite.
Pleased that he was enjoying the brownie, a recipe she’d created a few years ago, Jodi pulled up her sleeve and tried not to cringe as she showed the incredibly handsome doctor the hive thingies covering her arms. With a frown, he shifted his attention from the brownies to her arm. He gently traced the outer edge of one hive with the tips of his fingers.
“You had prolonged exposure,” Aidan said, sighing heavily as he pulled the backpack off his shoulder and started rummaging through it.
“Is it contagious?” Jodi whispered, throwing the food around them a nervous glance and calling herself all kinds of stupid for not considering that before she offered them any food.
“No,” Aidan said with an unconcerned shake of his head as he searched through his bag. “Tell me, did you take anything after you were exposed?”
“Benadryl,” she answered, looking down at the things on her arm with a frown, wondering if she was going to need to have them surgically removed.
“Are you allergic to anything?” he asked, pulling out a small vial of medicine.
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I just-Ouch!” she nearly shouted when he took her by surprise and jammed a needle in her bicep.
“Sorry about that, but I needed your muscles completely relaxed. The medicine seems to work faster if your muscles aren’t constricted as they would be if…are you okay?” Aidan asked, his words trailing off as he studied her, looking concerned and probably for a good reason, she mused as she felt the full force of the medicine work its way through her system.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Jodi said, nodding to herself as she looked around the kitchen and wondered why she hadn’t baked anything with jelly. God, she loved jelly…
“Help!” came the scream that woke him up. The second scream for help had him throwing his legs over the bed. The third had him muttering a curse and racing to the door as he registered the sound of his little brother screaming for help.
“Danny!” Aidan yelled just as he stumbled to a stop in his living room. “Help us, you bastard!” Aidan demanded as Danny stood there frozen, trying to make sense of the scene before him.
His Uncle Jared was on the floor, his arms wrapped around Tinkerbelle, who was squirming wildly in an attempt to get to the front door, while his brother wrestled with her legs, struggling to get her to stop kicking their uncle. Tinkerbelle didn’t seem all that concerned with having two large men trying to restrain her. In fact, she didn’t really seem to notice them at all.
But she did notice him.
As soon as she spotted him, she stopped struggling, propped her head up on her hands, sighed dramatically and said, “I need to run to the store and get some jelly.”
It was at that moment that he realized that he was in for one hell of a night.
“But-”
“No,” Danny said firmly, rubbing the back of his neck as the small woman sitting across from him continued to glare in his direction.
