Page 19 of Never Say Yes To A Stranger

“I have an aloe plant on the windowsill,” I tell him.

“I noticed,” he responds dryly.

I treat him to my most sugary smile, then tone it down a few notches to half radiance when I remember he’s not supposed to have sugar. “If you’re so inclined, you can carry on a conversation with it.”

“I’ll take a pass,” he replies.

“You’ll hurt its feelings.”

“Plants don’t have feelings.”

I snort. “I beg to differ.”

“I don’t.”

“Ugh, talk to my crawfish then. It’ll be good.”

He shoots me a very pointed look. “I think I’d rather enjoy the silence.” Hint. Fucking. Hint.

I’m the one who gives him the full-body eye roll this time before saying, “I meant I think it would be good foryou.”

Chapter six

Beau

Irealize two things immediately when I startle awake.

First, I’m trembling.

And second, I’m soaking wet. My sweats, my T-shirt, the sheets—the whole thing.

The first thing I do is check the meter to get a reading on my blood sugar, but it doesn’t feel like I’ve crashed or it’s high. I feel perfectly fine.

Iamperfectly fine. My sugar level is right where it should be.

I lay there for a few seconds, trying to get my bearings. It’s hot, but not soak-the-bed hot. There’s a portable AC unit in the corner, humming away, and this room, unlike the rest of the house, isn’t inferno-level summer hot. Was it a nightmare? Am I sick? Getting sick? Should I get to the hospital immediately?

“Beau?” Ignacia’s sleepy voice saying my name attacks something in my chest that I don’t even understand. She reaches out, and before I can get the hell out of the contact zone, herfingers land lightly on my arm. “Oh my god!” She’s instantly awake when she feels my soaked skin.

She jumps out of the bed and hastily has the light switched on, scalding both our eyes in a hot damn second.

“Ow!” She shields her eyes with a hand over her brow like she just looked at the sun, but she doesn’t turn the lights off.

I blink down at the sheets, seeing dancing white spots. And then, she’s seeing me up close because she rounds the bedthatfast. She slams herself down on the edge of the bed, and I have no choice but to make room by scooting back, or her delectable buns will brush against some part of my body. Fuck me. I don’t know if I’ll recover from a full-on ass brush in the middle of the night when I’m half asleep and strangely discomfited.

Or at any other time.

“You’re soaking wet,” she points out, but I’m not going to sarcastically do the no-shit thing since she sounds like she’s one tone on the shrill shriek range less than frantic. “And trembling.”

Fuck, am I still doing that?

“Jesus. I need to get you to a doctor,” she continues.

“I’m fine. It’s just hot.”

“It’s not that hot. Why are youshakingif it’s hot?” Her hand whips out before I can stop her, and itwhompsmy forehead. “You’re not burning up.”

“Thank you, nurse. I’ve already checked my sugar. I’m fine.”

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