“Nu-uh. I’m freezing.”
Landon frowns. “I’m sure you feel that way, but your fever seems high. When was the last time you took something?”
Parker blinks up at him. “Uh, dunno? This morning?”
“Well, we’ve gotta change that,” I say, placing the medicine on the table. I’d been so enamored with watching the two of them that I hadn’t evenrealized I was still holding all the stuff. A quick glance around shows me that Landon dropped everything he was holding by the door. Smart.
I sit down beside Parker, and as soon as I do, they damn near crawl into my lap. I hold my hands in the air, surprised.
They press their head against my chest, wiggling until their hands are tucked between my body and theirs. Landon is right. They’re burning the fuck up. I can feel the heat radiating off their body through my shirt.
“Do you have a thermometer?” I ask, placing a hand on Parker’s back and rubbing it up and down.
“No.” The word is muffled against my chest.
Landon turns, walking toward the door. “I picked one up.”
Well, hell, that was smart. I didn’t even think about it.
“This okay, Park?” I ask, drumming my fingers on their back so they know I mean the touch.
They wiggle. “Yeah, keep doing it.”
Landon makes his way over to us, opening the packaging on his way, then sits down on the coffee table. “Here, Lovebug, let me check.”
Parker makes a whiny sound but sits up and opens their mouth. Holy shit. This might be the moment I fall in love. Between Parker crawling into my lap and Landon being… this, I’m fighting a losing battle.
Landon doesn’t even hesitate, just slides the end of the thermometer under Parker’s tongue, then murmurs, “Close your lips for me.” When Parker does, he tacks on, “That’s good.”
A shiver runs down my spine. Fuck me. This shouldn’t be turning me on, right? I think it might be, though. Caretaker Landon is fucking hot.
We sit in silence while we wait. I watch the numbers, my concern growing as they do. Parker’s eyes start to fall closed, but when the thermometer beeps, they jerk awake.
Landon pulls it from their mouth, then looks at it with a grimace. “One hundred two point five.”
“Shit.” I glance at Parker, who’s working on trying to crawl into my skin. I hook an arm around their back, hauling them closer to make it easier. “That’s high, right?”
Landon does a so-so motion. “Yeah, but it’s not dangerous. Let’s get some meds into them and check again in an hour.”
Landon opens the bottle of pills, then gets two out and grabs the glass of water Parker has sitting on the table. “Here, let’s take these, okay? And then you can sleep.”
Parker nods, opening their eyes just long enough to take the pills from Landon’s outstretched hand and pop them in their mouth, then swallow them with a drink from the glass Landon hands them after.
When Landon takes the cup back, he looks at the two of us with a smile on his face. “I’m glad we came.”
“Me too,” Parker mumbles.
My heart constricts. Dammit.
Within seconds, Parker’s breathing has evened out, and they’re asleep against my chest.
I look up at Landon with what I’m sure are wide, disbelieving eyes, but he’s staring at Parker.
“You’re really good at this.”
Avoiding my gaze, he shrugs. “My mom had cancer when I was young. My dad was never around, so it was just the two of us. I took care of her a lot.”
Oh. “I’m so sorry.”
