Page 107 of Enemies in Paradise

The prickling sensation grows when Bear comes back inside after starting his Jeep. He put another blanket over me before leaving, but nothing warmed me like the heat from his body so close to mine.

He crosses the room and sits on the edge of the bed. My knees are curled into my chest, and I’m buried under two layers of blankets, but I feel his thigh brush my knee.

“You’ve got more color.” Bear reaches toward my face, as if he might touch my cheek again, but he stops.

The moment passes, and he drops his hand to my shoulder, and he rubs my arm vigorously through the blankets. Then he moves to my back and down my legs. My body temperature rises, but I still ache for him to touch my actual skin.

I’m not sure which is making me warmer, his rubbing feeling back into my skin or the thought of his thumb tracing my cheekbone.

“I’ve got coffee—that’ll help too—but I left it in Jenny,” Bear says while rubbing my feet between both of his hands, and I snort at the memory of his Jeep’s name. “I’m driving this time, so don’t even ask,” he adds.

Then he brushes his fingers over the side of my face and tucks my hair behind my ear. And if I weren’t still borderline frozen, my skin would probably catch fire.

“How are you feeling? You’re not shivering as much.” His eyes are so full of concern, I have to look away.

“Not frozen, but still so cold.” As if to prove my point, a shiver runs over my whole body.

“Here.” Bear carefully sits me up. “I brought you my parka. Let’s get that on you, then wrap you back up in the blankets.”

In a motion that feels like a magic trick, he unwraps me from the blankets and has me zipped up in the coat in a matter of seconds. Which, of course, may be my frozen brain playing tricks on me, but either way, I’m wrapped in his clothes again. I bury my nose in the parka’s high neck, letting Bear’s smell consume me.

His second magic trick is to scoop me into his arms like I weigh nothing, pressing me close to his chest when we walk intothe cold, and carrying me all the way to the front seat of his Jeep. I’m okay being the passenger this time. Not just because I’m in no condition to drive, but also because I like Bear taking care of me.

After buckling me into the seat and calling Molly to get in too, Bear goes back inside. Heat blows on my face as I watch the door for him. Seconds later, he re-emerges with Willy in his cat carrier.

Molly barks and sniffs at the carrier when Bear sets it in the backseat while Willy hisses and meow-barks. Molly cocks her head, then lays down with her nose pressed to the door of the carrier. I’d laugh if I weren’t shivering so hard and if Bear wasn’t already sneezing.

He presses the back of his hand to my cheek with the same tenderness my mom used to when I had a fever. Before she left and I stayed with Dad. But there’s nothing motherly about the way he lightly drags his knuckle over my cheek.

“You feel warmer, but I’m calling Doc Brown to see if I should bring you in.” He scrolls through his phone then presses call.

“Doc Brown?” I say over the ringing filling the Jeep. “LikeBack to the Future?”

Bear laughs. “You know that movie?”

I nod. “It’s my dad’s favorite.” My teeth chatter, but it’s easier to talk than it was a few minutes ago.

“Mine too,” he says just before Doc Brown says hello.

Bear pulls out of the alley while telling the doctor what happened and they go through the symptoms I’m still experiencing to determine if I have hypothermia or frostbite.

“She’s alert?” the doctor asks.

“Yeah, but still shivering,” Bear says with a glance at me.

“Get her in a lukewarm tub—not hot. No more than ninety degrees. I can come to you.”

Bear tells him we’re headed to his house and hangs up without giving Doc Brown the address. With my still partially frozen brain, I wonder if I’ve gone back in time to a place where doctors still know their patients and make house calls or if that’s just one more thing to love about Paradise.

When we pull into his driveway, Bear looks from his apartment above the garage to the main house. “I’d take you into Mom and Dad’s, but I worry about upsetting Mom, and my tub is bigger. Is that okay?”

I nod, wishing I could form the words to tell him how much I want to be back in his space.

After dropping Willy in the garage, Bear carries me upstairs and lays me gently on the couch while he starts the bath. And I’m not too frozen to recognize how sexy that is.

By the time he comes back, I feel well enough to walk with his arm around my waist, bearing most of my weight. I need his help to get out of the blankets and his coat. He keeps his head turned as much as possible when I slip off the coat and as he helps me into the tub.

I sink into the warm water, still wearing my bra and panties. My skin burns where the water touches. Bear stands with his back to me, and I want so badly to reach for his hand. To tell him that the thing that will make me better is being in his arms.

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