Page 43 of Crazy Little Thing Called Love

“In the bathroom.”

“Come on.”

He started to tug her along, but she whimpered out a protest, sagging a little on her feet. Worry quickly morphing into panic; he scooped her up in his arms, hurrying up the stairs to the bathroom attached to the master bedroom. Setting her on the toilet, he searched her medicine cabinet until he found the thermometer. She had one of those head scanners. Gently, he wiped the sweat off her forehead with a towel and ran the device along her brow. The instrument beeped, and he grimaced at the results.

“One hundred and two. We need to get you to the doctor.” Or a hospital, the ER, hell he’d take a medicine man.

“I’m fine.”

“You are not. You have a high fever.” And he didn’t like the look of her complexion either.

“They aren’t going to see me for a fever. Not one under one-oh-three.”

Placing the thermometer on the sink, he whipped out his phone, hitting the web’s search engine. “Do you have a severe headache? Stiff neck? Shortness of breath?” he read from the list the Internet provided him.

“No, but I have a great big pain in my ass.”

“You do? When did the pain start? Is it—” He cut himself off when he realized she was insulting him. “Really, Sassy?”

She gave him a small smile, and it eased some of his panic.

“Fine, you don’t need a doctor, but you should take some medicine. It will help with any discomfort and might bring the fever down.”

“I already took some an hour ago.” She grimaced, leaning her head against the marble countertop. “I thought it might help, but…”

He hated seeing her in such misery. “We need to get your fever down.” He knew a trick his mother used when he got sick as a boy. It always helped break a fever and made him feel tons better. “Do you think you could handle a cool shower?”

She nodded her head. “Oh God, yes, that sounds amazing.”

Tucking his phone back in his pocket, he moved to her tub. It’d be better to give her a bath, but a shower would be quicker. He cranked the water, adjusting the temperature till the stream ran cool, not cold.

He turned back to Cassie, slumped over the edge of the sink. “Do you need help?”

“No, I’m fine.”

But she didn’t move. Worry surpassing every other thing in his mind at the moment, he crouched in front of her. “Cassandra, do you need me to help you get undressed?”

Her lips turned down in an adorably sad little pout. Nodding, she whimpered. “I don’t feel good, Del.”

“I know, sweetheart. But I promise this will make you feel better.”

Tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes, just about gutting him. Cassie was one of the strongest women he’d ever known. For her to show such a sign of weakness humbled him.

“Come on, let’s get you undressed, and I’ll put you in the shower.”

She shook her head. He wouldn’t force the issue if she wasn’t comfortable with it, but she needed to break that fever, and this was the fastest way he knew how.

“I-I don’t think I can st-stand on my ow-own.” The words hiccupped out of her in choked sobs.

“Then I’ll hold you up.”

Rising to his feet, he quickly stripped off his T-shirt and jeans, leaving his boxer briefs on because as sick as she was, he wasn’t entirely immune to her. Better to have a layer of protection.

After he divested himself of his clothing, he crouched back down, gently removing hers. He tugged the soft sleeper shirt with puppies on it up and over her head, laughing softly at her choice of sleepwear. How like Cassie to wear something so soft and cuddly, a total contradiction to what she showed the world. He knew better. Way down deep the woman had a creamy nougat center.

His laugh caught in his throat as he revealed what she wore beneath the sleep shirt. Nothing but a pair of skimpy black panties. Since he crouched in front of her, her breasts were directly at eye level. The glorious full globes stared him right in the face, taunting him with their perfection. Dusky rose-colored nipples quickly hardened in the cool air of the bathroom. His mouth watered to take one of those tempting buds between his teeth, worship it with his tongue until she cried out his name, begging for more.

“Delta?”

---