An impatient growl ripped out of my chest, and I ignored the twinge of pain to lean in, using my body to force him back and my arms to cage him in. “You don’t want to sleep? Fine. Lie here awake. But if you get out of this bed before I say you can, I will drag you back and tie you to the headboard.”
He scoffed.
Narrowing my eyes, I grabbed his chin, forcing his face up so I could shackle him with my gaze. The pills the doc had given me earlier tilted the room, but I kept my gaze steady. “Do not try me, Pip.”
“Does it hurt?” he asked, eyes looking at me like I was suddenly transparent.
I pulled away. “I’ll survive.”But more importantly, so will you.
“That’s not what I asked.”
I was hit with a strong sense of déjà vu, and I stumbled a bit on my way back around the bed. Stupid IV.
Pip made a sound and scrambled to the foot of the bed where he rose to his knees and reached out. His skin was cold compared to mine, and it infuriated me all over again that he’d been on the floor.
Did he have no sense of self-preservation at all?
“I’ll help you,” he said, slipping an arm around my waist.
“I’m not the one who needs help.”
“I’m still in the bed,” he pointed out, rising to his feet to walk along the edge of the mattress while holding on to me.
I snorted, the action sending another burst of pain through me. Because his arm was around me, I knew he felt my indrawn breath.
“Do you want me to get you some more pain meds? Doc left them.”
“No. I want to sleep the rest of them off.” I didn’t like the feeling of being doped up. I wanted to always be in control.
“Lie down.” He tried to persuade me, which was really just a waste of breath.
After positioning the IV close by, I sank into the bed with a heavy sigh.
Rett pulled the covers up to my waist and rolled toward his side of the bed.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?”
“I won’t leave the bed, okay?”
“I know you won’t, because I’m going to make sure of it,”I said, holding out my left arm and curling my finger toward him.
He hesitated, teeth sinking into his lower lip.
“Come here, Pip.”
He crawled forward, the sheets making a barely audible whisking sound. When he was close enough, I pulled him right up against my side, and his cheek pillowed on my chest. Something inside me unclenched.
“This isn’t cuddling.” I informed him.
“I know.”
He knows?“Who have you been cuddling?” I burst out. Let me find out he’d been lounging around on some guy’s naked chest. I’d become the itch he couldn’t scratch.
“W-what?”
“Don’t ask. Answer.”
He was silent a moment, and I was thinking I really was gonna have to become the Itchy and Scratchy show because some asshole had put his arms where theydid notbelong.
