Page 46 of Crazy Little Thing Called Love

“How are you feeling?”

“Much better.” Did her voice squeak? She meant to sound strong, confident. Dang it.

“Good.” He kissed her neck again, and she couldn’t stop the shiver of pleasure from crawling up her spine. “Your fever broke sometime around midnight, so I was pretty confident you’d be feeling more like yourself today.”

“You stayed.”

“Well, yeah.”

“Because I asked you to.” She’d always asked her parents to sit by her sickbed, but they had been too busy, and she never dared ask her grandmother for fear of seeming too needy. But last night, with Del, she laid her cards out, asking for what she wanted, and her bet had paid off. He’d stayed.

She sniffled, gratitude overwhelming her.

“Hey.” Strong, capable fingers touched her chin lightly, turning her head. Del hovered above her, leaning on one arm. His hand cupped her face, thumb stroking her cheek, the rough pad rasping against her soft skin, creating such a dichotomy of sensations. “I wasn’t going to leave you last night. Even if you hadn’t asked me to stay, I would have.”

“Really?”

He gazed at her with wonder. “Of course, Cassandra. You were sick. You needed help, someone to take care of you. I’m not that big of a jackass to leave someone alone when they’re sick and need help.”

“You’re not a jackass at all.” She rolled to her back, staring up at him. “In fact, I think you’re pretty wonderful—holy shit, you’re naked!”

She slapped a hand over her eyes, but it didn’t help. The one, quick glance she’d taken had revealed all of Del in his original glory. And how glorious he was. Last night, she’d been pretty out of it with her fever, but she vaguely remembered him holding her in the shower, his bare chest pressed against her heated skin. But he’d kept his briefs on; it hadn’t been more than she’d seen over the many years they’d been acquainted. Del’s swim trunks didn’t cover much more than his underwear. Of course, until last night she’d never been held against his bare chest. And until this morning she’d never seen…

“You’re naked!”

“Yeah, you already said that.”

She felt the point needed reiterating. “Why are you naked?”

“Because my briefs were wet from the shower and after three hours of trying to sleep in my jeans, I decided that was never going to happen. Do you know how uncomfortable it is to sleep in those things?”

No, because she always slept in soft, comfy, cotton sleep shirts like the one she wore now. The one she didn’t remember putting on…no wait, she did remember. Del put it on her, after the cool shower.

“I did have a sheet wrapped around me, but you stole it during the night.”

“I did not!”

His brow rose, gaze going to her body and the—dang it—sheet wrapped around her blanket.

He winked and said with a chuckle, “If you wanted to get me naked, Sassy, all you had to do was ask.”

Quickly, she ripped the sheet off and tossed it over Del’s lower half with a groan. “Ugh, I think I’m feeling sick again.”

“Hey,” he reached for her, grasping her hand in his. “You know nothing happened right? I’d never do anything without—”

“Duh.” She cut him off. “I know that. I’m just embarrassed by the entire situation.”

“Nothing to be embarrassed about. We all get sick. At least it wasn’t some stomach bug coming out of both ends.”

Leave it to Del to come up with that lovely imagery. Shaking her head, she stared at his hand holding hers, just as he held her last night. Tears clogged her throat, too many emotions fighting their way through her right now to pick them all out. Why had she never seen how kind and caring this man was? Why did he hide this side of himself from everyone? There was more to Delta Jackson than met the eye.

“Thank you for taking care of me and for staying. I appreciate it.” More than he knew.

The teasing smile on his face softened, turning genuine. “You know what’s funny? I actually liked taking care of you last night. I like spending time with you. I like…you, Cassie.”

His smile vanished, replaced with the strained look of a man unused to revealing his true feelings. Breath catching in her lungs, she scooted closer, until she lay directly under him.

“I like you, too.” And the strange thing was, she did. Over the past week she’d come to see Del in a whole new light, a light she discovered was pretty dang endearing.

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