“I didn’t really faint, just got a little light-headed.”
He glowered at her. He definitely looked like a warrior right now. An enraged one. Maybe she ought to be worried about how angry he was, but he hadn’t once raised his voice. Of course, that could be because they were in a hospital and he didn’t want to disturb anyone. But she thought it had more to do with the fact that she’d told him that being yelled at terrified her.
So even mad, he was protecting her.
Your own knight in shining armor.
Whoa. Enough of that. He was here because of his grandmother. Because Penny asked him to watch out for her. He wasn’t her anything.
And this is why you shouldn’t get closer to him. You’re going to get hurt.
Yeah, well, she was starting to wonder if it would be worth it just to experience being his. Just for a little while.
She sighed.
“Gigi. Are you paying attention to me?”
“Yes, Sir.” Whoops, that just dropped out of nowhere. Her cheeks went red even as his eyes warmed.
“Don’t think you can charm me.” He waggled his finger at her. “Hearing you call me Sir is sweet, but it’s not going to get you out of trouble.”
That wasn’t why she’d said it. Was it? Oh, she didn’t know. She was second guessing everything right now. She didn’t know what she wanted.
“I just sort of collapsed. I didn’t mean to.”
“Nobody means to faint, sweet pea.” He sighed and shook his head.
“I was fine when I went for a walk yesterday afternoon through the ward. I just wanted some things from the gift shop. I’m going insane, cooped up in here.”
His gaze narrowed. “You went for a walk yesterday without telling me?”
Um. Whoops. Good one, Gigi. Give him more ammunition for his ‘Gigi is a bad girl chat’.
Okay, did she really just think that?
“Just the once,” she admitted. “And I felt fine!”
He growled. He actually growled. And it was sexy as fuck.
You have got it bad.
“I just don’t know why I’m still here. I feel a lot better. I don’t have a temperature anymore. And my ankle isn’t even swollen.”
“You don’t look it,” he snapped at her.
Charming.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”
He sounded so tired she felt terrible. She’d scared him.
“You need to be here because your blood pressure was so high, they were worried you’d have a stroke. Because you are being monitored to ensure your own body doesn’t attack your kidneys. Because you were dehydrated and exhausted. That’s why. And as for your ankle not being swollen,” he whipped back the covers and gently slid down her compression bandage, “that is no longer the case.”
She winced as she stared down at her larger left foot. Crap. He put the bandage back into place.
“Gigi, no more trips downstairs alone. You know I didn’t want you walking around without me.” He waggled that finger in her direction. It should have made him look silly. Instead, she just found herself kind of melting.
“Sorry,” she told him.