“A picnic breakfast? I’ve never had one of those.”
Satisfaction filled him. “Good. I like that I’ll be your first.”
She attempted to smile, then winced, holding her hand gingerly against her cheek. “Ouch. Don’t make me laugh.”
He wasn’t sure how he’d made her laugh when he hadn’t said anything funny, but that wasn’t the point anyway.
“What is sore? Is it one of your teeth?”
He watched her closely and noticed that she couldn’t meet his gaze as she spoke.
“No, my teeth are fine.”
Hmm.
How to handle this?
His first instinct was to scold her. But why was she lying? Why not tell the truth?
“I need to take your temperature,” he told her.
She gave him a surprised look. Obviously, she’d expected something else from him.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine. You’re in pain. And you are definitely running a fever, I just want to check how bad that fever is.”
She gripped the table, but didn’t protest as he moved into the bathroom and grabbed a thermometer. Walking back, he showed it to her.
“See? Just a normal thermometer. No need to worry. I’m not going to hurt you.”
Surprise filled her face. “I didn’t think you would.”
“That’s good. We’re building trust already.”
“I wouldn’t go that far.”
“It will happen. You will trust me.”
And then you will be mine.
Thankfully, he stopped himself from saying that part out loud. He was really quite surprised by his ability to hold back.
“I will, will I?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Okay then. I’ll get straight onto that.”
“It’s good you understand.”
She glanced up at him and grimaced.
“What’s wrong? Are you in more pain?”
“Just tried to smile. It didn’t go well.”
“Then don’t smile.”