Page 11 of Tempting Fire

Chapter Three

Getting rid of Zoe had taken twenty precious minutes when he could have been making food for Chloe.

He took one look at the contents of her fridge and realized he should have packed a bio-hazard suit. Good God, what had she been eating? He kicked himself for not getting the take-out from Zoe’s car. What a dumb-ass.

He looked around, and found that half of the Solo cups had oatmeal residue and plastic spoons. Before he started any kind of food preparation, he went to check on her.

“Chloe, I’m coming in,” he warned her as he pushed open the door.

He saw her dark head, with her eyes at half-mast above a mound of bubbles. She’d taken him at his word. She looked up.

“I’m not hungry.”

“Good, I don’t have food yet, and I can’t find anything but ketchup and oatmeal. I did bring a glass of ice water.”

“I’m not thirsty.” Her hoarse voice belied the statement.

He crouched down beside the tub and handed her the cold glass of water. “Drink it all, then I’m bringing in another glass.”

He watched as she considered arguing, but then she must have realized she was thirsty. As soon as she took the first sip she started gulping.

“Easy,” he cautioned.

She finished the glass and then handed it back to him. He grinned. “Want more?” She nodded, her chin covered in bubbles.

“Food’s going to take a bit longer to rustle up.”

“Ketchup flavored oatmeal doesn’t sound good Zarek.”

He laughed. How in the hell did depressed Chloe managed to make him laugh?

“It’ll be something better than that, I promise. So this is your fifteen minute warning. If you take longer than that to come out, I’m coming in,” he teased.

“You don’t need to do this,” she said softly.

“For God’s sake, you’re my best friend. If I was hurting this badly, what would you do?”

Her head jerked, her eyes stared at him. Bulls-eye.

“Good. You think about that Cupcake. I’ll be back with another glass of water.”

***

Chloe waited until Zarek left the second time before trying to get out of the bathtub. If she had more brains then pride, maybe she would have asked for help, but that wasn’t her M.O. Instead she told him she was fine getting out of the tub.

Trying to push up on her too weak arms, it finally occurred to her to get up on her knees and get out of the tub that way. She needed to get out and covered before Zarek barged in. She needed to prove to him that she was fine. She bit her lip as her legs trembled.

Before grabbing a towel, Chloe closed the bathroom door. She started to dry herself off when she realized how much her foot hurt, what was more, she was avoiding looking in the mirror, even though it was fogged up. Was there anything that was going right in her life?

“Can I come in?”

That answered her question, at least Zarek knocked. Score one for team Avery.

“Hold on.” She wrapped the towel around herself. “Now you can come in.”

“I come bearing gifts.” He held out another glass. She took it from him, and sniffed. It smelled of pineapple.

“I found protein powder and canned fruit. It was the best I could do. I tasted it, it shouldn’t kill you,” he grinned.