“How is he?” Roberta asked.
“I got him to the couch, but that’s as far as he could make it,” Cavill said. “I think it’s just the flu, but I want to run some additional tests since the fever is so high. Let me set up transport to the hospital.”
He pulled out his cell phone and walked away from the desk to stand by the windows, where he spoke in a low voice Chloe couldn’t hear.
The office door opened and the nurse put her head out, glancing around until she saw Chloe. “Mr. Trainor is asking for you,” she said.
“Me?” Chloe’s fingers stilled on the keyboard.
“He says you make him feel better,” the nurse said. “The fever is making him delirious, so it’s better just to go along with his requests. It will calm him down.”
“Okay.” Chloe stood and smoothed her palms down the front of her thighs as the high-powered executives stared at her. She followed the nurse across Trainor’s office to the big suede couch in the seating area by the window.
Her boss lay with his head on one of the striped pillows, his tie gone and his shirt unbuttoned far enough so that she could see a dusting of brown hair over the muscles of his chest. He shifted uneasily and looked around with an unfocused gaze. “Make it feel better, Chloe,” he muttered. “Make it better, like the report.”
Chloe looked at the nurse. “How?”
“Maybe an ice pack again? You were the first person to use one. He might be remembering that. Don’t move. I’ll get it.”
Trainor rolled over so that one of his arms flopped off the edge of the cushions, making his hand hit the carpeting. Chloe knelt and wrapped her fingers around his wrist to lift it back onto the couch. It was like touching the wax melting off a candle. She’d never known human skin could feel that hot. No wonder he wanted it to feel better.
The nurse returned with the ice pack, and Chloe laid it against his neck as she had that first one. She was rewarded with a slight upward curve of her boss’s lips. He lay still, as though savoring the coolness against his neck. As she held the pack in position, she became aware of the fact that her hand was inside his open shirt, so her forearm grazed the burning skin of his chest whenever he inhaled, and his breath tickled her as he exhaled.
Even worse, her kneeling position put her right at face level with the sick man. She could see the way the texture of his skin changed from his jaw where he shaved, to the smooth skin at his temple. She could trace the wave of his hair back over the curve of his ear. She could count the tiny lines radiating from the corner of his eye. It was like being in bed with him.
She jerked back at the thought, letting the cold pack slip down onto his collarbone. He opened his eyes. Now she could see the striations of dark and light gray in his irises. He was frowning, and she guessed he was once again trying to remember who she was.
She dropped her gaze to focus on resettling the ice pack when the doctor walked over to the couch. “All set,” he announced. Chloe started to stand up, but he gestured for her to stay. Then he picked up Trainor’s wrist to check his pulse, frowning at his wristwatch. He muttered something under his breath before he gently placed her boss’s hand back on the sofa.
Much as she wanted to know how the sick man was doing, she didn’t dare presume to ask. She was just a temp, stepping in to help for a few minutes before she went back to canceling his appointments.
But he looked so ill, she couldn’t help feeling a tug of anxiety. After all, he was only human, despite all his money and power. When he was sick, he felt the aches and pains as much as anyone else did. Without thinking, she reached up to stroke his hair away from his face in a gesture of comfort. Despite all these people milling around him, he seemed oddly alone.
She wondered if Teresa would have taken care of him, had they not had a fight. As she tried to imagine the sophisticated brunette’s bedside manner, three men hauling a stretcher rattled through the doorway.
There was a great flurry of activity, which ceased abruptly when Trainor opened his eyes and saw the stretcher. “No!” he said.
“Nathan, your temperature is dangerously high,” Cavill said, leaning over the couch. For the first time, Chloe saw real concern on the doctor’s face. “You need to go to the hospital for tests.”
“No!” her boss said again. “No hospital.”
The doctor and Trainor locked eyes for a long moment. Cavill stood up. “All right, no hospital. But you’re going home in the ambulance because I’m not going to carry you to your car.”
Trainor closed his eyes. “Can walk.”
Cavill laughed. “Like hell you can.” He gestured the orderlies forward.