“Geez, Nurse Ratched. Take it easy, will you?” he mumbled around the thermometer.
Shelby laughed as she pulled out the éclairs and the cookies she’d thrown in at the last minute. When she opened his refrigerator to put the éclairs away, she gasped. “Seriously, Nick? It’s like a college dorm room fridge. How many different kinds of leftover fast-food containers can we stuff into an oversized Subzero?” She opened a box and gagged at the green fuzzy stuff inside.
She gathered boxes in her arms to throw them away when he barked, “Leave it. I’ll do that later.”
“Fine.” She tossed them all back in.
When the thermometer beeped, she grabbed it before he could. “Holy crap, Nick. It’s a hundred and three! You really are sick.” Poor baby. She regretted being so abrupt with him earlier. “Have you taken anything?”
He shivered as he laid his head back down. “No.”
“We need to get that fever down.” She laid the bowl of soup in front of him and unwrapped the sourdough rolls she’d brought along. Then she measured out the medicine and poured him a glass of water. “Take these first . . . please.”
He obeyed without complaint for a change and then slowly started in on his soup. After a few bites he laid his spoon down. “It’s too hot. Maybe I want something cold?”
“That’s what I figured.” She grabbed one of the strawberry Popsicles she’d brought. “Try this.”
When he placed it into his mouth, he sighed. “That’s good.”
While he ate, she climbed up next to him at the bar. “In my experience, there are two kinds of sick men. A) the ones who tell you to go away because they hate to be coddled and B) the ones who tell you to go away because they hate to be coddled but don’t really mean it. Which are you?”
Nick finished off his Popsicle and frowned. “Somewhere between A and B.”
“Right. No simple A or B for you.” She hopped down and put the leftover soup away, then wiped down the counters. “Want me to stay and watch a movie with you?”
“I guess. But no chick flicks.”
“I think the Romance Channel is running a marathon tonight.” Not really, but it was too perfect a teasing opportunity to pass up.
“Dammit, Shelby!” He moved to the living room and flopped onto the huge leather couch. “I can’t take one of those tonight.”
Dammit Shelby seemed to be his favorite moniker for her. Strangely, it was growing on her.
“Like you could take one of those movies any night? You haven’t got a romantic bone in your body.”
“Proud of it.”
Shaking her head, she grabbed the remote, slipped off her boots and settled in on the matching loveseat. They were big, oversized couches. Man-sized. So big and deep, Shelby’s feet didn’t touch the floor when she sat up, so she tucked them under her and settled back into the butter-soft cushions. As she flipped through the channels, Nick wrapped himself up in his blanket, but it didn’t seem to have any effect on his shivering.
She searched for something they’d both like because she felt sorry for him. He had to be miserable with that high a fever.
When his shaking became more violent, he snapped, “I need your body heat!”
Her finger froze over the remote. “And just how would I provide that particular service, Your Highness?”
“Come over here and lay beside me.”
When she hesitated while trying to decide if that was a guy move to get his hands on her, he said, “I’ve got a fever of a hundred and three. It’s not like I’m going to molest you!”
He had a point. But he didn’t have to yell about it.
She moved to his couch and slipped under the blanket. With her back to his chest she tried to maintain a respectful distance, but he laid his hand on her stomach and pulled her against his big body. It wasn’t a hardship spooning with Nick, he was built. But he wasn’t Greg, so she should probably try not to enjoy it so much.
To distract herself, she flipped through the channels as poor Nick shivered violently behind her. After a few minutes, his shivers quieted and he sighed.
Her head was tucked under his on a pillow that held his yummy scent, and she was all warm and cozy, so when Raiders of The Lost Ark showed up on the guide she asked, “How about—”
“Yup.”
Tossing the remote on his coffee table, she settled in, grinning in anticipation. It was one of her favorite movies.
While the beginning credits rolled, she remembered why she’d called him in the first place. It might even make it easier to ask because he was too sick to tease her—much. “Nick, my outfit tonight screams ‘please sleep with me’ doesn’t it?”