“Letting me take care of you.” And he didn’t mean just by offering her tissues. He set aside the apple and motioned for her to move. “Shove over.”
“You want to get in bed with me?”
“Thought that was obvious.” She rolled her eyes but, shockingly, she didn’t protest. She shifted onto her side as he settled in and turned his cheek toward hers on the pillow. “There. That’s not too scary, is it?”
“I’m not scared of you.” Her soft scoff contrasted with the wary expression she wore as she worried her lower lip between her teeth. “Much.”
“Finally she tells the truth.” He traced his fingertip over her temple. “I’m almost thirty.”
She smiled, but her eyes remained serious. “Thanks for the update.”
He brushed a stray lock of hair away from her face, driven to keep touching her until he somehow found a way through the stubborn shell guarding her heart. And all the rest of her. “I come with good references.”
“Oh yeah? Who?”
“Not my ex, that’s for sure. But I have a business. I’m financially solvent, responsible, good with birds,” he added when Telly, Sara’s conure, sent out a series of chirps from his cage in the corner of the room. “I’m also excellent with my hands.”
She made a clucking noise and looked at him from under her thick fringe of lashes. “As if you’d say otherwise.”
“I’m a mechanic. Making things hum is my specialty.”
“Right.” She yawned and snuggled into the pillows, still watching him through hazy eyes. “Are you going to come to the fundraiser with me?”
“Depends.”
“On what?”
“On if you admit you really want me to come.” It was a gamble, one he hoped paid off.
She whisked her tongue along her upper lip. “I’m too tired to want anyone to come. Even me.”
“Dr. Carmichael, that sounded suspiciously like flirtation.”
“Cold medicine,” she mumbled, arching as his hand strayed to her back. He circled his palm over her spine, his pulse bumping as she let out a quiet sigh. “That feels good. I’m so achy. It’ll be time for me to take more meds soon.” She groaned. “If I live that long.”
“I have a better idea. How about a massage?”
“Why do I have a feeling there’s only one answer you’ll accept?”
“Because you’re smart as well as sexy.” He kissed the tip of her nose and continued stroking her back, pressing his fingertips into tight muscles. “You’re awfully tense.”
“Hello, I’m in bed with my best friend’s brother.”
He laughed, low and appreciative. At least she hadn’t called him little again. “Here’s a thought. Why don’t you think of me as Brad? Just Brad. Kim’s not in this bed with us.”
“Thank God.”
Brad shifted closer, his palm spanning the small of her back. She was compact and lithe, a powerhouse in a petite package. She wasn’t an overgrown girl incapable of taking care of herself. This was a woman, a competent adult who didn’t play games.
At least, she didn’t play games he wouldn’t enjoy.
“You feel good,” he said quietly, sliding his fingers lower until they rubbed over the swell of her ass. Even when disguised by her decidedly unsexy nightgown, the sensuous curves of her body caused a definite stirring between his legs. His cock didn’t care that she was sick, that was for certain. “You must work out.”
“Nah, my only semi-regular exercise is sex,” she said with a hint of a smile.
&nbs
p; He cupped her ass and stared deep into her eyes, expecting her to put on the brakes sooner rather than later. “You don’t have it here.”