The smell of coffee beckoned her and she pried her eyes open. Early morning light filtered through her blinds. Sean or Meghan must’ve stopped to check on her. She felt like death. She wanted that coffee like she wanted a hair serum that kept its promises.
“Sean?” Her voice was a two-decibel croak. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Sean, can you—?”
Liam walked into the room.
She blinked to clear the delusion. But no, it was still him.
“Morning.” His hair was sleep-tousled, a five o’clock shadow covered his jaw, and he wore a pair of jeans and a wrinkled tee. He had no business being so handsome first thing in the morning.
“Hi.” She ran her tongue across fuzzy teeth, imagined what her hair must look like, and winced. Also, she had no memory of removing her makeup last night. But wait, she hadn’t even put on makeup yesterday.Ugh.
His head cocked sideways as he approached the bed, wariness lining his eyes. “How are you feeling this morning?”
“What are you doing here?” But even before she finished the sentence, a sudden memory flashed in her mind.
He was sitting on the edge of her bed.
She pressed his hand to her face.
Held it to her cheek.
Petted it.
“Chloe? You okay?” His brow furrowed as he pressed the back of said hand to her forehead.
She clenched her fist to keep from accidentally grabbing his hand in some kind of sick replay.
“I gave you Tylenol a few hours ago. Fever’s down.”
When he drew back she hiked the covers to her chin, those vague memories trickling like water into a sinking boat. But maybe they weren’t memories at all. Maybe they were just dreams. Fever-induced nightmares.
She cleared the frog from her throat. “Were you, um, were you here last night?”
“I was. It was quite the night. You had a little reaction to the prescription you were taking. Do you remember anything?”
“A... a reaction?”
“The pills made you a little... loopy. I called your friend Meghan and she got Dr.Angela over here to check you over. You seem to be feeling much better today though.”
Was she? Because she was kind of flipping out actually. Since she hadpettedLiam’s hand. Unless it had only been a dream.Please, please, let it be a dream.
She mustered up the courage to ask. “I didn’t by any chance, uh, play with yourhand,did I?”
His lips twitched. “Um, possibly you did...”
She closed her eyes. “Oh my gosh.” She’d held his hand to her cheek. Petted it. Another memory trickled in.Kissedit. “Oh. My. Gosh.”
He chuckled. “It’s okay. You were a little disoriented, that’s all.”
“Did I say things? What did Isay? No, don’t tell me. I don’t wanna know.”
“You didn’t say much at all.”
“Thank God for small favors.”
“You were just... um, very affectionate with my hand. And there was that little bit about the UFO...”
Afraid to ask, she opened one eye.
