Thank god, her friends are levelheaded about her current condition. Maddie frowns at the text messages coming in. She sighs, “Ari and Riley are both telling me to stay home, but they’ll bring me some pot pie from the Bluejay Cafe.”
“If you won’t listen to me, listen to your friends,” I say.
“I have so much to do, though,” she says. “Emails are piling up on my work account, I just know it.”
“So?”
“So, I have a business to run!”
“You can run it when you’re healed.”
“I’m going to go stir crazy. I can’t lie in bed for days and days. I’m bored out of my mind.”
I don’t reply to that because my dirty mind is conjuring all sorts of boredom-breaking activities we could do together. Which would be so out of line for me to suggest to someone still at risk for a flu relapse. But my god, it’s been too long. And her scent, even when she’s sick as a dog, is homey and familiar and turning me on.
“What are you staring at me like that for?”
I shake my head. “I was just remembering something we did in this kitchen once or twice. Right here at this table. And on that countertop behind you. And in at least three of these chairs…”
Maddie’s jaw drops. “Oh god, are you serious? I’m a sick woman! You can’t be sexually harassing your patient, doctor.”
I detect the laughter in her tone of voice. “Gotcha. So you do admit to still being sick. Sit your ass on the sofa, turn on The Price is Right, and I’ll bring you the food when it gets here.”
Instead, Maddie brushes past me and bounds up the stairs, with Pascal right on her heels, and me right behind Pascal. I’m not letting her out of my sight, just in case.
Then, Maddie does something I’m truly not ready for. As soon as she hits the bedroom doorway, she drops her robe, shucks off her pajama shorts, and tugs off her shirt, leaving a trail of clothing from the hall doorway to the ensuite bathroom.
I get a generous view of side boob. She’s even more gorgeous than I remember. With a few extra pounds on her frame, her breasts are now delicious, perky handfuls.
I catch myself making a straight line to follow her into the bathroom, then pivot the other way.
“Shit, Maddie,” I rasp, backing into the hallway to give her some privacy.
Over the noise of the shower starting, she shouts, “I am odorific after lying in bed for so long. I’m disgusting!”
As I pick up her discarded clothing, she kicks off her underwear and tosses them into the bedroom. I pick those up too, trying desperately not to make eye contact with her naked self. I’m also uncomfortably aware of the scent coming off her panties.
Out of politeness, I close the bathroom door.
Through the door, I hear her tease, “What, you mean I get to be alone in the shower? It’s a miracle.”
“Your wife is sick. Your wife is sick,” I quietly chant to myself. “You’re not here to get naked with her. You’re here to take care of her and help her get healthy. That’s it.”
I toss her clothes into the hamper, then roughly yank the sheets off the bed. “A clean body needs clean sheets. No dirty thoughts about clean sheets, you giant pervert.”
From the corner, Pascal watches me make the bed, and I can feel his doggy eyes judging me for lying through my teeth.
Chapter
Ten
Maddie
Because my friends are here, I have to open the box that I left on the porch.
Inside the cardboard is another box, this one a small velvet ring box.
Ari claps a hand over her mouth.
