Laughter wheezes out of my chest and it takes a moment before it clicks and Cara’s brow relaxes.
She rises from her seat and lets go of my hand, moving to the tray table at the end of my bed for the jug of water kept there.
So, she loves me.
Her quick glances at me betray her hope that I hadn’t heard her confession but those sweet words weave a warm path through my mind and send my heart into a flutter highlighted on the heart monitor. Every beep betraying my own excitement at hearing such a thing.
Cara likely thinks it’s just stress given her next words.
“You have to take it easy,” she instructs, approaching my side again with a cup of water and straw in hand. My brow dips immediately.
“I don’t need a straw,” I croak and Cara rolls her eyes, removing the offensive tube and settling on the edge of the bed to help me drink.
Everything about her screams the warmth I sorely lack and as my head thumps painfully and my throat scratches, I can’t take my eyes off her. Her soft skin, the waves of dark hair that frame her body as she leans forward to guide the cup to my lips, and when her fingertips touch my jaw, heat explodes over my cool skin.
Is that what love is? How has she managed to find that with someone like me?
She tips the cup and I drink, closing my eyes as the blissful soothing sweeps down my throat, and for a moment I can forget that I’m in the hospital, that I nearly died. When I open my eyes again, Cara is closer to me and the scent of her honeysuckle perfume tickles my nose.
“Love,” I mutter, “youloveme.” It’s easier to tease when my mouth is free from sand.
She darts backward and her cheeks flame up.
Cute.
“You… you heard that?” she whispers and there’s something incredibly adorable about how the blush sweeps down her neck and disappears into her collar, like the secrets of my own touch.
“Every word. Brought me right out of my sleep… or whatever that was,” I smirk, digging my hands into the shitty mattress to gain enough leverage to pull myself up the pillows.
“Oh,” she whispers and the blush darkens across her cheeks.
“What brought on such a confession?” I ask and my heart thumps painfully. “What happened to me?”
“You… you were poisoned, Killian,” Cara admits after a beat of wariness. She sets the cup down on the table next to the bed and her hands wring together.
Poisoned? Me?
“What? How?”
“Something exotic. I can’t remember the name but it was something from coral or seafood. The doctor said you must have ingested it somehow, through food or drink so—,” she clears her throat and her gaze falls away from mine. “So I think Dante and the others suspect this was me because I’ve been cooking for you. But I swear—” Her eyes dart back up. “— I didn’t. I would never!”
“Hush,” I murmur without a second thought and I seek out the warmth of her free hand once more. “I don’t think for a second that you would be capable of something like this.”
The relief washes over her face in an instant and tears fill her eyes as she clutches at my hand. This wasn’t her. She wouldn’t have waited around to see my condition if it were.
Poison. A coward's weapon. Who would dare?
“Is my brother still here?”
She nods.
“I can’t lay here too long, I need to get back out there. Talk to him, plan our next step and find out who fucking dared to do this.” Duty ignites the fire in my heart but it fails to tell the rest of my body. As I push myself up further, weakness invades my limbs and Cara rises to press me back down onto the bed.
“No, Killian. You’ve been administered the antidote but you still need to rest,” she instructs and sharpness bleeds into her tone as she wipes away her tears. “You will stay right here until you are good and well enough. Onlythencan you get to work.”
Her firmness is surprising and unexpectedly, a pulse of heat burrows through my body at her leaning over me, pinning me down. Her hands rest on my shoulders, the only time she’s ever been able to physically overpower me and I smirk.
“So, are you to be my sexy nurse then?” I wink up at her and Cara’s face melts into a smile. I don’t want to lie here but the weakness in my limbs is clear. I’m not making it out of bed, never mind back to my brother’s side, not right now.