Page 56 of Don't Call Me Sweetheart (Something Borrowed 1)

“Where’s your thermometer?”

“In the pink basket in the kitchen cupboard on the far end.”

He left her in peace for a few minutes, and came back, pressing the tip of the thermometer to her lips. “Hold this under your tongue.”

“I’m not a child.”

“You act like it.”

“And your bedside manner sucks.”

He gave her a dark scowl and she stuck the tip under her tongue, shooting daggers at him as she closed her lips around it. When it beeped, he snatched it from her and his expression darkened.

“Damn. 103.2.” He stood up, and pointed his finger at her. “I’m getting you some medicine, and you’re going to take it. Then, I’m carrying you back to bed to sleep, and I better not hear any arguing.”

“I was trying to sleep when my demon bunny woke me up, and then you knocked on my door and—”

He covered her mouth with his hand. “I don’t want to hear excuses.”

Her eyes arrowed when she saw his mouth twitch, as if he wanted to smile. When he removed his hand, she said, “You’re enjoying having me at your mercy, aren’t you?”

“How can you say that about me? I am selflessly sacrificing my own health to care for you in your time of need. I’m a hero.”

“Ha! You just want me in your debt.”

“Nothing so nefarious. I figured you needed somebody to take care of you.”

Marley closed her eyes again, his words hitting her hard. When she moved to New York, her mom would be across the country, and so would her friends. The people who had known her all of her life. She would truly be alone for the first time.

Maybe it was the fever, but it sounded really lonely now.

Luke sat on the couch next to her. “Okay, I’m gonna need you to sit up and take this.”

Opening her eyes suspiciously, she saw him holding out a handful of pills and a glass of water. “What’s that?”

“Tylenol, just the regular kind, Echinacea, barley green, and elder berry zinc. My mom used to give it to me when I got sick.”

“You want me to take all those pills? There’s like thirteen of them.”

“Don’t be a wuss. I’ve seen you take bigger bites when you eat.”

Well, that was a tad insulting, but she still took the pills from him, tossing two into her mouth at a time and swallowing them down with the water he offered. When she finished, she opened her mouth wide, as if to show him she really swallowed and then snapped it closed. “Happy?”

“Yes.” He set the glass down on the end table behind her and without preamble, lifted her up into his arms. She turned her face away, conscious of the fact that her breath probably smelled atrocious, and laid her head against his solid chest.

“I hate being sick.”

“I don’t know very many people that like it.”

“It makes me feel weak.”

He squeezed her to him. “Which way?”

“My room is past the kitchen. It’s just a one bedroom.”

Before he lay her down on her bed, she mumbled a half-hearted thank-you.

“If you really don’t want me here, I can go,” he said.