Page 28 of Take 2
“Is there anything else I can get for you?”
He shakes his head, but I go into the bathroom to dampen a washcloth with cold water. When I come out, he’s still sitting up with his face in his hands. “Hey, let me see.” I pull his hands down and press the inside of my wrist to his forehead.
“You’re freezing,” he says.
“No, you’re hot—feverish.”Ugh.“Lie down.” I lay a hand on his bare shoulder to guide him down to the pillow and place the cloth on his forehead. “Are you going to make it weird if I help you take your pants off?”
“Mira, you are always allowed to take my pants off.”
I laugh as I unbutton his jeans. “You’ll regret that at the next Oscars.” The jeans try to take his boxers with them, showing off his Adonis belt. Which I can proudly think of as such after Googling it when a novel had the audacity to refer to the V-shaped ridges on a man’s lower abdomen that way. I remind myself of these things to distract from the fact that I am taking the pants off this man who is too hot for words.
“This was not part of the plan,” he mumbles.
“Me taking your pants off?”
“Oh, that was definitely the plan.” Apparently, he threw up his inhibitions along with the contents of his stomach. Full honesty it is.
I toss the jeans on the floor. “What else did the plan entail?”
“Make you fall in love with me, obviously.”
My lips press together as I pull in a deep breath. “Oh, you are in bad shape. I promise I won’t hold you to any ridiculous things you say while you’re sick.”
“It’s not ridiculous.”
“Of course it is, Preston. I can’t fall in love with you.” Nope. Even on my current track of making incredibly stupid decisions, that would take the cake.
He scoots to the middle of the king-sized bed and grabs my hand. I let him pull me closer. It takes a bit of a jump, but I sit by the pillows.
“This whole episode wouldn’t be the hindrance anyway.” I comb my fingers through his hair, and—What the hell?It is so soft I am about to have aDespicable Me, “it’s so fluffy,” moment. Except it isn’t fluffy, it’s silky. My fingers are ruined now. Next time I go shopping with James, I’m going to say that every fabric feels rough because it’s not as fine as Preston Greene’s hair. “This is actually a romance trope, except it’s usuallyhimtaking care ofherwhen she’s sick. It doesn’t really work as well this way.”
“Why doesn’t the gender-swap work?”
“Because women are expected to be nurturing.”
“Says you.” Preston keeps his eyes closed as we talk.
“I am literally nurturing you right now, so shut up.”
“That sentiment was very nurturing.”
I pinch his neck, then return to stroking his hair. “Also, women can be on the brink of death and still claim to be fine and that we don’t need anything, so accepting care is a bigger deal. The whole man-flu thing of, ‘I have the sniffles, so I’m bedridden and need you to take care of me,’is considerably less romantic.”
“I tried to claim I was fine.”
“I know, just telling you why the trope doesn’t go that way. Furthermore, it’s used to show that the stoic, emotionally unavailable man can, in fact, be tenderwhen it comes to her,hence cracking his grump character type.”
“In this case, you’re the grump, so it works.”
A squeak-gasp escapes me. “I am not a grump. And you are certainly no sunshine.”
“You’re emotionally unavailable.”
“Oh, Preston, that’s not true. I have so many emotions when it comes to you: irritation, hostility, resentment.”
“Jealousy.”
“Only of your hair.”
