The tub was about halfway filled when he got back downstairs. Gently, he lowered Jess into the water.
Her whole body seized on contact. Groggy eyes flew open and her hands flailed and splashed water over both of them. Formless words spilled out of her.
“Hey, it’s okay. We gotta get this fever down. I know it’s cold but it won’t be long,” he said, his hand stroking cool water over her forehead.
“Ike,” she whimpered, a tear spilling from the corner of her eye. “Wha’s hap’ning?”
“Sshh, don’t you worry. We’re gonna get you feeling better. Okay?” God, he hoped this worked.
“So cold,” she said, her teeth chattering. Goosebumps broke out across her flushed skin.
“I know,” he said, reaching behind him for the towel she’d used earlier. He submerged it into the water and then covered her with it, both to bring the coolness up onto the parts of her skin not yet under water and to give her a little privacy. He scooped handfuls of water onto her shoulders, her throat, her face. He wet her hair. He rubbed her arms when she shuddered so hard he worried she’d hurt herself.
Shit. If this didn’t work, he wasn’t going to have a choice about getting help. But he couldn’t let himself go there yet. He’d cross that bridge if and when he had to.
After about fifteen minutes, Jess was shivering nonstop, but her eyes looked at him with more clarity and awareness. “I’m really cold, Ike,” she said. “I think it worked.”
He pressed his hand to her forehead. Better, but still warmer than normal. “Can you stand it a few more minutes?”
Her shoulders sagged. “Okay.”
“That’s my girl,” he said, his brain not well filtering the words coming out of his mouth. Obviously.
But then Jess smiled at him. Just a little bit. And the fact that he could do something to make her feel even the smallest amount of happiness or pleasure in the midst of her illness chased away whatever regret he might’ve felt.
Jesus, he could be a sap. He gave her shoulder a squeeze. “Let’s get some more Ibuprofen in you and then I’ll get you back to bed.”
She nodded.
“Don’t go anywhere,” he said with a wink.
She smirked and rolled her eyes.
There was his girl, sass still alive and well. Thank God.
He returned quickly with the meds and she downed them with a whole lot of water. He let her nurse as much of it as she wanted. Last thing she needed was to get dehydrated on top of the fever, which seemed like a real possibility given how bad it was.
“Ready?” Ike asked, hitting the lever to drain the tub.
“Yes, please,” she said, her voice weak.
Ike tossed his damp T-shirt onto the bathroom counter and pulled a few towels from the cabinet under the sink.
When he turned back around, Jess blatantly stared at his chest and waggled her eyebrows. It made him chuckle. Even sick, she was still flirting and busting his balls.
He held up a dry towel longways, blocking his view of her. “All right. Kick off the wet towel and I’ll cover you with the dry one.”
Jess chuffed out a small laugh. “You carried me down here, right?”
“Uh huh,” he said, already knowing where she was going with the question.
“So, you’ve already ogled all the goods.”
He’d tried not to, he really had. Besides, for once, sex had been the last thing on his mind when he’d felt how much her fever had spiked. “I kept the ogling to a bare minimum. I promise. Now would you let me switch out the damn towels already?”
She pulled the cloth out of his hands and covered herself, the wet towel balled between her feet in the now-empty tub. “All the naughty bits are covered. Better?”
Ike gave her a droll stare, but he couldn’t deny feeling some major relief that the cool soak had brought back the old Jess. He handed her another towel. “For your hair.”
She squeezed it out as best she could. “I’m so tired,” she said.
“That’s good. Sleep is probably the best thing for you. Ready?” He threw another towel over his shoulder. When she nodded, he gently slipped his arms beneath her knees and around her back and lifted her from the tub. God, she was a little slip of a thing in his arms, even with all her curves, and he fucking loved the feel of the bare skin of her side against his abs.
Even awake and aware, she curled her face against his chest. She pressed a kiss above his heart. “Thanks, Ike. Sorry I’m always such a pain in the ass.”
“Don’t say that,” he said, carrying her back up the stairs. “You’re not a pain in the ass.”
An expression flitted over her face, one that said she didn’t believe him.
He hated that she thought for even a second that he minded taking care of her. “I mean it, Jess. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else than where I am. Right here, with you.”
The good news was that her fever seemed to have broken, but now Jess was absolutely freezing and, no matter how many covers Ike added to the bed, she couldn’t get warm.
“Any better?” Ike asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.