Chagrin filled her. “I do not look intrigued. This is a look of horror. No way you’re sticking anything near my butt.”
He grinned. “Anyone ever tell you you’re a terrible liar, sweetheart?”
Constantly.
She sniffed but moved her head to one side so he could place the thermometer into her ear. There was a beep and he pulled it back, staring down at her.
“103,” he said. “You, young lady, are very ill.”
Yeah, that’s pretty much what she’d figured.
Truthfully, she wasn’t certain she could move if her life depended on it.
He was pulling stuff out of the bag. Her eyes widened as she saw the wide range of cold and flu medicine. “Did you order everything in the store?”
He stared down at the stuff. “Too much?”
It was complete overkill, but there was something almost vulnerable in his voice. Something that said the wrong answer might hurt him.
Of course, she did have a 103-degree temperature, so she could just be imagining stuff
. “It’s great,” she told him gently. She reached over and daringly grabbed hold of his hand. She realized that up until this point she hadn’t shown much gratitude. “Thank you so much for doing this. For helping me. I hope I don’t give you whatever it is I’ve got.”
“You won’t. I very rarely get ill. Good immune system. Although you might not thank me when you realize I’ve never taken care of someone who’s sick.”
“Never?”
He shook his head. “Nope.”
“Well, this beats going home to my apartment alone. And that’s after taking the bus then walking four blocks in the dark.”
He frowned at her fiercely. “You walk alone in the dark?”
Whoops. If she’d been thinking more clearly, she probably wouldn’t have mentioned that titbit.
“Got to get home somehow.”
“Why doesn’t that boyfriend of yours pick you up?”
“We aren’t together anymore.”
“Did you find out about the cheating?”
“What are you talking about?”
He swore under his breath. “I thought you knew.”
Tears filled her eyes. “He was seeing someone else?” Her brain was trying to tell her something was off. There was something she was missing. But all she could think about was Sloan sleeping with someone else. The pain stabbed deep and hard. “I never thought he’d cheat on me.”
He placed his other hand over hers. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. But you’re too good for him anyway.” She didn’t think so. She thought he was way out of her league.
“I wish I wasn’t the one to tell you. But it’s a good thing.”
Good? “You think it’s good we broke up? Why? Because you want me to be miserable?” Was he really that much of a jerk?
“Why the hell would I want that?”
“I just . . . well, I wasn’t certain you liked me all that much.”