Page 99 of Burning Love
“Talia. Are you okay? Wake up.”
He shook her shoulder and she bolted out of bed and made a dash for the bathroom.
That had him throwing the covers back and racing after her.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
She’d shut the bathroom door but hadn’t clicked it.
He heard retching and pushed it open.
She was on her knees on the floor, her head over the toilet and dry heaving.
He pulled her hair back for her, then found a rubber band on the sink and secured it haphazardly in place for her, then went to the kitchen to get her a bottle of water.
When he returned she was turned and sitting with her knees to her chest, her forehead on top of them.
“Drink this,” he said. “It will help.”
She lifted her head and reached for the bottle. He noticed she hadn’t thrown up, just made some disgusting noises.
She took a tentative sip as if to test it, then another. “I’m not sure what the hell that was.”
“Maybe you’re dehydrated. People get nauseous when they are.”
“Could be. I always drink a lot throughout the day, but with all the traveling I’ve been doing I haven’t drunk as much. I didn’t drink much flying either because I didn’t want to keep getting up to use the bathroom. The flight was bumpy and I was ill too.”
“Did you throw up?”
“No,” she said. “Just nauseous like this. It’s probably what you said. I’m dying of thirst right now.”
She was chugging the water and he took the bottle out of her hand.
“Don’t do that. It will come back up if you’re sick.”
“I don’t feel it now. Just like on the plane, it came and went pretty fast.”
He held his hand out for her to stand up. “Do you feel steady enough to walk back to bed or do you want me to carry you?”
“I’m good. I really am. That was nuts.”
He pulled her up. “It happens. I get that way after a fire when I feel as if all the water in my body is gone.”
“Really?” she asked. “I never thought of that.”
She never talked about this and any thought he had that she might not like it hadn’t been voiced.
They went back to her room, he pulled the covers back and climbed in on her side of the bed, then moved over for her to get in with him.
He was on his side, she climbed in on her side, her back to his chest and he pulled her close.
“Go back to sleep. Neither of us got much of it last night.”
She laughed. “I was so horny. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt like that before.”
He kissed her neck. “I liked it. You wore me out.”
His hand slid under her T-shirt that she’d put on in the middle of the night and rested on her stomach, giving it a few caresses.
