Page 30 of Fighting Fate

Surely, it was the sickness but something about the way he shut down before she headed to the bathroom made her wonder if she'd upset him.

But, how? Not having to use his shampoo?

No. That's dumb.

She'd left him alone. Had he finally decided he couldn't take care of himself? Could it be he worried she'd left him for good when he needed her?

A lump grew heavy in her gut.

She struggled to put aside her feelings for him when they weren't together but in the same room with him—in his arms—it had been almost impossible. Her heart raced flooding every inch of her body with a wanting she couldn't indulge but wanted to so badly she wondered if maybe… just maybe they could work something out.

Stop it.

Wondering about this was a pointless waste of time. Time she needed to devote to finishing her game.

Shower, breakfast, back to work.

She had a plan. All she had to do was stick to it.

Chapter 18

He'd tried to beat her to it. To have breakfast made before she'd finished her shower so she could get to work without having to take care of him but he'd barely been able to drag his ass to the bathroom, let alone all the way down the stairs.

When she brought him breakfast in bed he wondered how he would ever make all of this up to her. If she'd even let him.

"Am I so out of it I don't remember you asking me what I wanted for breakfast?" He had been pretty out of it. In fact, he wasn't entirely sure the last thing he remembered.

"No. I just figured that would go down easy. The heat might help soothe your sore throat." She eased into the big chair opening her laptop. "Do you not like it?"

"Cinnamon oatmeal with banana slices is my favorite. Are you sure I didn't tell you?"

"Well, you did talk in your sleep quite a bit last night. Maybe you slipped it to me subconsciously while we were sleeping. Or… I found about a dozen boxes of the stuff with your name on them. And who wouldn't love bananas in their oatmeal?"

"Oh. Right." He took a bite. It did feel nice going down. "Well, thank you. It's amazing."

You're amazing.

He wanted to tell her but kept his mouth shut. He'd already gone too far dragging her into bed with him after he woke up feeling her fingers on his cheek. Getting more aroused than anyone as sick as he was had any right to be.

He shouldn't have done it. She'd most likely only put her hand on him to check his temperature but why had she lingered? Why had she let him pull her closer? He'd given her plenty of time to get away before wrapping his arms around her.

Katie's fingers tapped furiously on her keyboard.

He'd kept her from her work long enough. The best way he could pay her back for helping him was to stop letting his feelings for her control his actions. The next time she checked his temperature or smeared vapor rub on his bare chest with her nimble little fingers he'd keep his own hands and dick to himself.

"There's a cherry syrup chaser on the table beside you," Katie said looking up from her screen. "And a couple of ibuprofen by the glass of water."

"You know, I can dosomeof these things for myself."

"Bullshit. I've seen what you taking care of yourself looks like. I'd be charged with negligence if I left you to do this all on your own."

Isaac smiled wanting to let it go but had to tell her, "just don't let taking care of me get in the way of your work."

"Trust me, if I didn't think I could handle it, I wouldn't have offered. Now take your meds and go back to sleep. It's working. You sound a lot better than you did last night."

Her twisted logic never ceased to amaze him. How on God's green earth did taking care of him day and night while he was sick require less time out of her schedule than a couple of hours on a date?

He could have argued. He kind of wanted to. But what good would that have done?

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