Page 45 of Crazy Little Thing Called Love

She grumbled, sitting up against the backboard. She lifted a hand, but he didn’t trust her in her weakened state. He wasn’t going to risk her dumping soup all over her lap. Grabbing the bowl, he dipped the spoon into the broth and brought it up to her mouth. She rolled her eyes, but opened for him. Once she’d eaten half of the bowl he let her slip back down to her pillow.

He grabbed the thermometer and checked her temperature again, pleased to see it had gone down two degrees. She turned on her side, facing away from him. He gently stroked her hair, still slightly damp from the shower, the soft strands gliding against his fingers. She sighed softly, murmuring something about how nice it felt. He continued stroking her, listening to the soft rhythm of her breathing. It had killed him to see her so sick. He’d panicked, forgetting everything he knew about colds and fevers, just wanting to get her help, get her well. Once again, it hit him how big a place Cassie took up in his life. How much he truly cared for her.

“Delta?”

“Yeah, Cassie?”

“Can…can you stay with me? For just a little while?”

The softly spoken question tugged at his heart, the organ he always thought immune to women and serious relationships. What the hell was happening?

“Yeah, sweetheart. I can stay.” He’d already texted his brothers while making her soup, informing them Cassie was sick and he wouldn’t be in to work tonight. They understood. Kelley could handle Jack’s for the night.

Pulling back the covers, he slipped in behind her. He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her back against him. She snuggled in, wiggling her bottom against his crotch in an innocent manner. Didn’t matter. His dick still received the message that it was party time. He told his unruly member to calm the hell down.

“Del,” she said, her tired voice barely above a whisper.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you for taking care of me.”

Leaning forward, he kissed her temple softly, relieved to feel it cooler than before. “Of course, what are fiancés for?”

“Fake fiancé.”

“Right. Fake.” But damned if he wasn’t having a hard time remembering that.

CHAPTER 14

Cassie woke feeling warm. Not hot like yesterday when she feared her face would melt right off her skull, but a pleasant, comforting warm. Something deep within her felt…safe. How odd. Of course she felt safe. She lived in Kismet, one of the safest places this side of the Front Range.

Why did she have such a sense of contentment?

She shifted, muscles still a bit achy from her sickness. Thank goodness it only seemed to be a twenty-four-hour bug. As the child of two doctors, she’d always hated getting sick. Her parents had been great physicians, but horrible nursemaids. They always reminded her the sniffles and boo-boos she suffered could be far worse. And if she complained too much, they reinforced the point with documented proof of the latest outbreak they were dealing with. Harsh? Perhaps, but she could see their point. They had been saving lives every day, and she was complaining about a tummy ache she got from eating too fast.

She tried to keep any illness in perspective. Didn’t mean she had to enjoy it.

As she stretched, something pressed against her backside, something hard and warm and delicious smelling. Her brain began to fire, memories of yesterday flooding back. She remembered not feeling well when she woke yesterday, thinking it was still the hangover from the previous day, realizing it wasn’t, texting Del to cancel—

Del!

Body tensing, heat flooded her. Not the fever coming back, no, this scorch came from the hot sting of embarrassment. Del came to her house. He saw her all sick and miserable, made her soup, put her in the shower…naked! Ohmygod! Del had seen her naked and not a fun, sexy naked, a sick, whiny, pathetic naked. He held her, he comforted her, took care of her. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had done that. Even her grandmother had stayed away during any teenage illnesses, preferring to call a home nurse to care for her.

She didn’t know whether to feel embarrassed or grateful.

A little bit of both.

“You are thinking way too hard for this early in the morning.”

Startled by the husky sound of his voice breaking the silence, she flinched. “How did you know I was up?”

“I saw the smoke coming out of your ears.”

She reached a hand up to the side of her head, then, realizing he was teasing her, smacked the arm sneaking around her waist instead. “You ass.”

“Mmm, so feisty in the morning. I like it.”

Warm lips pressed against the soft spot just behind her ear, causing a tremble of awareness to shoot straight down to her lady parts.

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