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“I can do it,” he said a rough edge to his voice.

He stood and pulled the material down to his thighs. I didn’t move back soon enough, and his movements shoved his nylon covered hardness in my face. My eyes locked on the growing bulge in front of me, and I felt my head begin to weave. If I moved just an inch forward, I could . . .

A gurgle in his stomach and a groan caught my attention and stopped my movements. Tyler collapsed back onto the bed and rolled to his side, his arms clutching his stomach. With no hesitation, I grabbed a hold of his jeans and pulled them the rest of the way off in case he needed to run to the bathroom. I sat beside him and rubbed his back until the abdominal cramp subsided, glad he didn’t get nauseous again. As he slowly relaxed, I couldn’t stop my need to brush the hair out of his face. He grabbed my hand and brought it to his mouth for a soft kiss. “Thank you,” he whispered. It felt like such a tender moment in which lovers cared for each other. But we weren’t. Once again, reality came crashing in, reminding me that I was only in the moment and not in the future.

I pulled my hand away and reached for the soda I had brought. “Here. You need to drink something. My mom always recommends Ginger Ale for an upset stomach. Sorry, this is all I had. I didn’t know what else to do.”

He slowly sat up and accepted the drink. “She’s right. Let’s hope it stays down. There’s also some electrolyte drinks in the kitchen fridge. I keep them for after my runs. I could use one of those once I can be sure to keep everything down.”

I fidgeted with the hem of my shirt. “I’ll bring one up for you, but in the meantime, I think you should rest. I’ll just check on Aiden and let him know you’ll be fine by morning.” I stood up, but his hand clasped my thigh.

“Jen, thank you.” I nodded and left the room. Once in the hallway, I leaned against the wall and took some deep breaths. Even sick, Tyler still had some kind of hold on me. I had done my best to hide it from him. But one thing became obvious to me tonight- I couldn’t hide it from myself any longer.