“Lay on your back, sweetheart.”
I complied like a good soldier as he stayed perpendicular to me. Sighing, I relaxed into the comfortable bed as he draped his arm across my hips. He avoided placing the full weight of it over my stomach but held me in place.
I closed my eyes and draped my forearm over my forehead.
“Would you like to try some more Gatorade? I’m sure you’re dehydrated.”
“No, not yet,” I murmured, dropping my arm.
My head tipped to the right until it made contact with his shoulder. Soft lips found my temple as he released my hip to stroke my head. And when his long fingers began to massage my skull, I was lost in his comfort.
“How did you know I had a headache?”
“I possess mystical powers of observation. And I’ve had food poisoning before. It ain’t pretty.”
I huffed out a quiet laugh, but that hurt. So his long fingers went back to massaging the pressure points on my skull and left me temporarily pain-free.
“You’re good at this.”
I felt him shrug. “Comes with the territory. Being a parent will do that. Prepares you for bathroom combat on all fronts. It’s part of the mission you can’t avoid no matter what.”
“Makes sense.” My replies were all short because words rattled my brain.
John's lips found my head and lingered a little longer. It took everything in me not to curl into him and ask him to hold me again. But as it turned out, I didn’t have to ask. The mind reader himself slipped his right hand between my shoulder and the bed, then pulled me to him until we were chest to chest.
My neck rested on his biceps, immediately slowing my throbbing headache. His lips found my forehead, making a fucking tear slip from my eye. I hadn’t been cared for like this since before my brother got sick. And he was opening old wounds without even knowing it.
“I’ll get in my bed.” I tried to push away, but he refused to let go.
“Stop. Are you uncomfortable?”
“No, but you must be.”
John chuckled lightly. “You’re not getting away from me, so do us both a favor and just relax. I’ve got you, sweetheart. I’ve got you.”
Emotions I had suppressed and didn’t want to feel welled up inside me. Every wall I’d built around my heart was beginning to take on tiny fractures that could eventually leave me in ruins. But no matter how hard I tried, there was something about Commander John Langdon that kept me coming back for more.
The only escape I had was to go back to sleep. And when I was out, if my body clung to him, my head didn’t need to know.
By late afternoon, I felt more like myself. John had spent the entire day asking me to drink something and if I was hungry.
“I can run across the street to the market and get some popsicles if you want.”
I smiled at him even though I felt like total shit. “You missed your calling, Nurse Langdon. You don’t have to do all this. If we’d been at home, I would have slept through it all.”
He sat down on the bed across from me.
Leaning forward, he braced his elbows on his knees and steepled his fingers over his mouth before pointing at me.
“And you honestly think I would have left you alone to deal with all that?”
I squirmed as he stared at me. “I would hope so. I’m a grown-up. I can take care of myself.”
John frowned at me, then sat up. Releasing a humorless laugh, he ran his hand over his dark hair, which was still damp from the shower. The slightest movement caused the scent of his aftershave to fill the space between us. He didn’t even have to touch me to make me want him.
“I guess I’m going to have to remind you what kind of man I am.”
He didn’t have to show me anything. I already knew, and the idea of getting close to him scared the motherfucking shit out of me.
