“No, no. That would just be silly. Also, it would make me wildly uncomfortable.”
He gave me another look. One I couldn’t begin to read. Such a pain in the ass the way his beard covered half his face. The sharp cheekbones above provided me with no clues at all.
“I’m not being disingenuous, Joe,” I said, trying to explain, searching for the right words. “I’m good at my work and I take pride in it. But that stuff was just play time. I had no real idea what I was doing, okay? It was something I thought we—well, me and Eric or whatever—could have a laugh over. Can we please leave it for now?”
For a long moment we stared at one another. Then he gave me a nod. It wasn’t a happy one.
“Guess I should probably head off now,” he said, brows drawn tight. Clearly reluctant to leave. “Let you grab a bath and then get back to sleep.”
“Yeah…”
“Hmm.”
Neither of us moved.
“Though I really should stay at least until you’re out of the bath. You’re on enough pain meds to put an elephant to sleep.”
Oh God. I shouldn’t do it. For both of our sakes, I should let him go. Except something sick and stupid stuck up its head and begged. Perhaps it was some misbegotten curiosity about the man or maybe the drugs. God, I hoped it was the drugs. At any rate, some overly vocal part of me wanted to keep him around a bit longer.
“Well, I’m kind of awake now,” I blurted out before I could slap a hand over my mouth. Talk about being out of control. Shit.
He just looked at me.
“You know … um.” Shakespeare I was not. Fuck it, I’d said it, I’d put it out there. Now I’d just have to suck it up. “We could watch a movie after I’ve had a bath. If you want. But if you need to be somewhere, I under—”
“No. They’re not really expecting me back at work. That’d be cool.” He perked right up, pulling his cell out of his back jeans pocket and firing off a text. Then he paused, gazing at me from beneath a heavy brow. “You’re sure?”
“Sure.” I did not sound sure. Nor did I feel it.
The man froze.
“I mean … so long as it’s understood I’d rather never again discuss the whole, ‘switched identities, you fooling me, and me feeling like a chump’ thing,” I said. “Okay?”
Slowly, he nodded. “Okay. We can just relax together.”
“Great.” We could try, at least.
*
Kill me now.
Everything was horrible. Truly deeply God-fucking awful. Lethargy dragged at my limbs, making me feel like I was sinking through the bed, down through the floor straight into hell. Yet my mind was drifting, lighter than air and completely confused. All of this with the added benefit of being covered in sweat. I felt like I’d been thrown into Mount Doom.
“Yeah. She took some about six hours ago,” a deep male voice said. “Nothing before that for a good ten or twelve hours, I think.”
Faintly, I could hear another voice responding.
Wearily, I blinked open my eyes. The damp cloth covering my forehead obscured my vision. A table lamp was on, showing Joe standing by my bedside.
“Okay, I’ll get some more into her.” He looked my way, face lined with concern. “She’s awake now.”
Another pause as the person on the other end of the line talked.
“Keep the liquids up. Got it. Thanks, Mom. I’ll call you if she gets any worse.”
“Mom?” I queried in a wavery voice.
“Dr. Google and Mom have got you covered. She’s a nurse.” He put down the mobile and picked up the bottle of aspirin, shaking two tablets out into his hand. “Can you sit up a little?”
I nodded, dislodging the cloth and rising up on one elbow, shaking all the while. “Yeah.”
“We need to bring your temperature down.” He sat beside me on the bed, lifting the glass of water. “Open your mouth.”
In went the pills, followed by the water. Man, nothing had ever tasted so good. Nothing. I downed the whole glassful in a nanosecond.
He refilled the glass from a bottle of water. “Just sip it this time. We don’t want you getting queasy.”
I did as told. “Feel hot. Can we get this blanket off?”
“Sure.”
Together, though mostly it was Joe, we pushed the blanket off onto the other side of the bed. My clothes literally stuck to me. Gross didn’t cover it. And I was still burning up, hot as Hades. It felt like a small sun had taken up residence inside of me. While my feet pushed at my socks, I wrestled with removing the baggy thermal from my upper body. To get comfortable was the only thing that mattered. This man had already stated that he didn’t see me that way, plus he and I had no future, so who cared what he thought of me in my underwear. Also, fuck modesty when I was feeling this sick.
“Want that off too?” Joe carefully freed me from the thermal top while I huffed and puffed. The white tank top underneath was plastered to me with sweat. Never mind. At least I could start to feel cool air on my skin.
“Socks, please,” I whispered.
He got busy liberating my feet from the fluffy menaces. But it was still too much, and only achieving a modicum of comfort mattered. I stuck my thumbs into the top of my leggings and started wriggling about, trying to get them down. Someone had sucked the strength straight out of me. My arms just kind of flopped around. Noodle woman, that was me.
“Those too?” The big guy peeled my leggings off and yes. Oh, fuck yes.
“That’s better.” With a sigh of relief, I flopped back down. Tank top and knickers were plenty of clothing. Every part of me ached. My toes, my teeth, my freaking hair follicles. Everything.
The TV was off, along with every light in the room apart from the table lamp. It made the world look so weird, shadowy. Joe’s cheekbones in particular appeared to have been carved from stone, his dark eyes glowing in the low light. It all felt like a fever dream. Reality was far, far away and sleep had started sneaking up on me once more.
“The movie finished?” I asked.
He smiled. “A while ago. You fell asleep.”
“Oh.”
A nod toward the couch. “Don’t freak out. But I camped out over there. Just in case.”
“Okay.” My eyelids drifted shut. I lacked the energy to keep them open. Or to care. “Thanks.”
The mattress shifted. Soft footsteps and then distantly I heard running water. He returned and placed a new damp cloth on my forehead.
“That’s nice.” I mumbled.
“I’m here if you need me,” he said.
And that was nice too.
CHAPTER FIVE
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