“You’ve said.”
Bull didn’t want to leave Maddie alone, but he did to let Carl out.
Returning to the bedroom, he found Maddie with her eyes open.
“How long were you awake?”
“I heard a lot,” she said.
“He wants to be your dad.”
“I know, I … it’s strange. My parents died some time ago, and … it makes me a bad person, but part of me was glad about that. They were never good people. Now there’s Beatrice and Carl, and … I don’t know what to think.”
He moved closer to the bed. “How are you feeling?”
“Sick. My stomach hurts. My head hurts. Every single part of me hurts.” She pushed some of her hair off her face. “Have you been here the whole time?”
“Yep.”
She sighed. “You should leave.”
“Not going to happen. I’m not leaving you.”
“You’re going to end up sick yourself, and that’s not going to be good.”
“Will you feel guilty?” he asked, coming toward the bed.
She glared at him, but she looked so exhausted it had stopped being cute.
“Get some sleep. Beatrice will be stopping by later.”
She sighed. “Fine.”
“Do you want me to get rid of her?”
“No, it’s fine.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“I don’t think you should be here.”
“I’m still sticking around.”
She released the cutest little growl he’d ever heard, rolled over, and went back to sleep.
Bull cleaned her apartment and opened up a window to allow fresh air in. Saw Beatrice when she came.
Maddie was conveniently out of it. He couldn’t be sure if it was the sickness or Maddie looking for an excuse not to talk to her real mother. She stayed asleep even after Beatrice left, so he figured she was not feeling her best.
For the next couple of days, all he did was take care of Maddie, and he had no problem with that. Random guys from the club would stop by to give him chance to shower by keeping an eye on her.
Hellen stopped by to apologize and promised everyone had gotten better soon.
By the sixth day, Maddie was awake and feeling moody. “I don’t need you to stick around anymore,” she said, throwing her blankets off. “I didn’t need you to stick around to begin with. I don’t need a babysitter.”
“Anyone ever tell you that you’re kind of a buzzkill?” he asked.
She glared at him, which he did find so cute. “You’re so cute.” He winked at her.
“You’re not fair.” She looked at her body and sighed. “I need to take a shower.”
He didn’t give her a chance to back down. Bull picked her up in his arms and noticed a weighable difference with her, and he didn’t like it.
“You need to stop losing weight,” he said.
“You need to put me down and stop telling me what to do,” she said, offering him another glare.
“No can do. I’m your man, Maddie. You know it, I know it. You’re just being too damn stubborn for your own good.”
“This isn’t going to make me fall for you,” she said.
“I don’t want you to fall for me.”
He felt her still in his arms. “You don’t?”
“Nope. You’ve already fallen for me. What I need is for you to forgive me.”
“Not happening.”
“You will.”
“You do have a mighty big opinion of yourself, don’t you?” she asked.
“I know what I’m good at, and if that means I’ve got a big opinion of myself, then I guess I do.” He lowered her to the toilet.
Bull turned the shower on and then pulled his shirt off over his head, tossing it to the floor.
“What are you doing?”
“Do you think after I’ve seen how exhausted and tired you’ve been, I’m going to let you get into that death trap alone?”
“It’s a shower.”
“It’s got a whole lot of things wrong with it. Lots of hard pointy surfaces for you to bang your head on. Not happening.”
“You’re insufferable.”
“And you’re mine.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because I mean it.” He stripped down to nothing, and when he started to remove her clothes, she gave his hands a slap. “Stop it.”
“Maddie, it’s not like I’ve not seen it all before.”
“Why?” she asked.
“I love you. I love you more every single day, and I will keep telling you this until you’re sick and tired of hearing it. You’re the love of my life.” He gripped the back of her neck and roughly kissed her. “And I will always love you.”
Maddie didn’t fight him as he stripped off her clothes. She stayed perfectly stiff. He lifted her into his arms, and he was only human, so he couldn’t help his arousal.
She didn’t squirm or take any notice of his rock-hard dick. He was finding it hard not to notice. Her body had started to tone up. The roundness of her stomach had reduced, as did her ass. He didn’t like it.
Some men loved a slender, toned body. He wanted his woman to have her curves back.