She tumbled from the bed and landed on the floor with a thud.
The thrashing and moaning continued from the bed, so she crawled on the floor around the foot of it. He’d tossed the blue pills on the nightstand.
She reached up from the floor and plucked the tin from the bedside table. She popped it open and pinched one of the pills between her thumb and forefinger.
She turned her attention to Max, his limbs flailing, frightening, guttural sounds emanating from his lips. The same sounds Simon had been making.
She let out a long breath and hopped onto the bed. “Max. Max, listen to me.”
His head thrashed to the side, and she straddled his body, clutching the pill.
“Max, it’s Ava. I’m going to put this pill beneath your tongue. You’ll be fine in a few minutes.”
Did his dark eyes gleam with understanding from the pain etched across his face?
She slipped her fingers inside his mouth and tucked the pill beneath his tongue, covering his lips with one hand.
He bucked beneath her, his hands cinching her around the waist. Another minute. “C’mon, Max. You can do it. It’s me. It’s reality. You’re coming back.”
His frame lost its rigidity. He pulled in a couple of long breaths. He blinked and swallowed. “Ava.”
Despite the raspy edge, it was the sweetest sound she’d ever heard. Leaning forward, she cupped his jaw with her hand. “That’s right. It’s Ava. I’m here.”
The hands around her waist tightened before they dropped.
His spiky, dark lashes shuttered his eyes, and he dragged the back of his hand across his mouth. “Did I...did I hurt you?”
Her heart pounded. “Absolutely not. I wasn’t in any danger at all.”
He cursed and shifted her off his body. “I could’ve killed you.”
Lying next to him, she didn’t move one muscle. “I don’t believe that, Max.”
He sat up and shook his head, his chest heaving with every breath. “I should’ve taken another pill when we ate. I had no right to push my luck—not with you here.”
“It’s a good thing I was here. I was able to do something for you this time.”
“I haven’t done anything for you except drag you into a mess of epic proportions.”
“You’ve saved me so many times, I’m beginning to lose count, and you didn’t drag me into anything. I walked into this mess with my eyes wide open. I posed as a doctor and worked for a man I already knew to be unethical.”
He rolled out of bed—away from her—and stumbled toward the credenza. He grabbed a bottle of water and chugged the contents.
“Now, I’m going to spend the rest of the night on the floor, and if you had an ounce of sense, you’d sneak out of here while I’m asleep.”
For the first time in a long time, something made perfect sense to her. She whipped back the covers on the bed and patted the mattress. “You need a good night’s sleep now more than ever, and the floor is not going to cut it.”
He hesitated halfway to the bed, folding his arms over the sculpted chest she couldn’t help noticing.
“I mean it, Duvall. Doctor’s orders, even if they’re from a fake doctor. Get back to bed and relax. You have a small dosage of T-101 running through your veins. No chance of another seizure now.”
He snorted. “Is that what you’re calling it?”
But at least he was moving toward the bed—and her.
He crawled in beside her and she let out a pent-up breath. “Feeling better?”
“Anything’s better than what I just went through.” He held his hands in front of him and flexed his fingers. “I could’ve hurt you.”
“You didn’t.”
He turned away from her and shifted to his side.
Did he think he could get rid of her that easily?
She rolled to her side facing his back and stroked the hair away from his forehead. “It’s going to be okay, Max. You’re going to be okay.”
And she would be okay as long as she had this damaged man to protect her. Then she would return the favor—she was going to fix Max Duvall.
* * *
THE WARM SKIN felt smooth beneath her fingertips. Ava moved in closer and rested her cheek against Max’s broad back as she brushed her knuckles across the hard plates of muscle on his chest.