Page 90 of Fostering Chemistry
He took a hesitant step forward. “Are you… is it your period?”
That woke me up. “Not every health issue a woman has involves her periods.” My voice somehow sounded both spaced out and angry.
Aaron was disgusted. “Get the fuck out of here, Raymond.”
Raymond backed away without another word and disappeared down the hall.
“Sorry,” Aaron apologized. “That guy just bugs me sometimes.”
Me too, I wanted to say. But the room drifted and faded to black.
25
MIA
Ow.When I woke up the next morning, my leg was throbbing, and my back hurt from sleeping flat all night. Normally, I was a side-sleeper.
Hobbling to the bathroom was hard. I leaned first on the desk, then the dresser to get there. But once I’d washed up and changed into clean clothes, I felt a little better.
There was a knock at my door when I returned to the room. “Come in,” I called, rather than walk to the door. It was Diego.
He entered, carrying a tray loaded with breakfast food. “Morning. How are you feeling?”
“Leg’s still bad. Head’s far less fuzzy.”
“That’s a start.” He looked around, still holding the tray. “Do you want this at the desk or breakfast in bed?”
I considered. Breakfast in bed sounded decadent, but the doctor had ordered bedrest. From what I remembered.
“In bed.”
Diego put the tray temporarily on the dresser and helped me get back into bed and settled. It felt strange, him touching me, but since he’d carried me yesterday, it probably shouldn’t.
He adjusted the pillows under my leg and then pulled the covers back, while I leaned against the headboard. “Good to see you’re keeping the leg elevated.”
He put the tray next to me and hovered nearby. It made me think of Aaron referring to him as a den mother the night of my welcome meeting.
But no den mother looked that damn good. While I’d seen in the mirror that I still looked pale and worn out, he was the picture of good health. Dark eyes bright and alert. Flawless tan skin. Biceps that stretched the arms of his blue t-shirt. And tight jeans that fit him well. Really, really well.
“Thanks,” I said after taking a bite of the breakfast sandwich he brought. “Is there anything else I’m supposed to do besides keep it elevated? And bedrest. Those are the only two things I remember.”
He caught me up to speed on the antibiotics schedule and when to change the bandage. “Basically, just take it easy for a few days, and you should be fine.”
“Thank you for taking me yesterday.”
He waved that away. All in a day’s work for an RA, I supposed.
“I’m just happy you’re doing better.”
I thought about asking him just how out of it I’d been yesterday, but I didn’t really want to know.
He left me to eat in peace, but I could barely finish half of it before I got sleepy. When I woke again, the tray was on the desk chair where I’d left it, but there was a big bouquet of flowers on the desk. They were beautiful, a mix of blues, yellows, and whites surrounded by lush green leaves.
I longed to find out how good they smelled, but getting out of bed at the moment seemed too hard.
There was a knock at the door, and it was Aaron again.
My head spun a little as I sat up, but not as much as last night. “Hi. Come in.”
