Page 16 of Tempting Fire

“Make the knocking stop,” she pleaded.

When Zarek made a move to get up off the couch she grabbed his arm. “Be careful.”

“Are you scared?”

She shook her head.

“It’s just the people delivering the food. But I’ll make sure it’s them. I won’t open the door until I check, okay?”

She gripped his forearm, the muscle was like steel. He could protect her. Couldn’t he? Slowly she nodded her head. He brushed a kiss across her hair.

She watched every step he took and shuddered in relief when he looked through the peephole. He looked over his shoulder and gave her a thumbs-up. Even better, he didn’t let the man into the room, Zarek just signed something and took the tray from him, then closed and locked the door. Chloe knew the door was locked, because she watched him do it.

“Honey, I cooked!” he said in a sing-song voice. Zarek walked over and kneed the ottoman over in front of her so he could set down the tray of food.

Zarek saw Chloe staring at it.

“You liked the pineapple smoothie. You’ll like this too,” Zarek smiled.

She felt overwhelmed at the sight of all the food. He was asking too much of her.

“You need to eat.”

“I’m really not that hungry,” Chloe told him as she looked at the food then back at Zarek who was now sitting ctoss-legged on the other side of the ottoman.

“I was afraid you would say that, so I provided incentive. They didn’t have any cupcakes, but they did have chocolate cake. I got ice cream to go with it. You can start with dessert. At this point I don’t care what you eat, just as long as you eat something.” He gave her that Zarek charming smile, but it wasn’t working. Even looking at food that should be appealing, wasn’t.

“Chloe,” his voice was deeper. “You’ve lost weight, you had trouble walking up the stairs to get here. You have the strength of a baby bird. Is that the woman you want to be?”

He picked up a fork and grasped her hand and wrapped it around the utensil. “Are you going to eat, or do you want me to feed you?”

She went to cut off a piece of cake and saw her hand tremble. She tried to stop it, but she couldn’t. He was right, she was weak.

“Let me help you,” he said gently.

“I can do it myself,” she snapped.

Dammit, where had that come from? She didn’t want to let him get under her skin. That meant that she was feeling something. Feeling something was bad. She took a deep breath. “I mean, I’m fine, just give me a moment.”

He eyed her, then nodded. She took a bite of the cake, then grimaced. It was too rich. She continued to chew then swallowed. Oh God, was she going to throw up? Then it was like Zarek read her mind, because he handed her a frosty glass.

“It’s Seven-Up. It’ll settle your stomach.”

She took a big gulp. Then set down the glass and covered her mouth. She let out a belch, and she felt her face get red.

“Chloe, you can’t be embarrassed, that was the most ladylike burp in the history of mankind.” She turned away to look at the back of the couch. It wasn’t the burp, it was the fact that she was upset that she was weak, and now she was embarrassed. Zarek was making her feel. She wasn’t supposed do feel. She closed her eyes, and saw black, but tried to imagine the white of the sheet.

“Chloe, talk to me.”

Her stomach growled.

“You’re hungry, that’s good. Please eat something, if not for yourself, then for my peace of mind. You’re killing me.”

White, she needed to find the numbness of white.

“Chloe, you need to eat.” He was no longer cajoling or tempting. Now he sounded like a man used to being obeyed. All of it was grating on her last nerve. She tried to tune him out.

“Cupcake―”