Cowboy Casanova - Lorelei James [105]
“Tell me your symptoms.”
“Hot. Cold. Chills. Headache. Body aches. Sore throat.”
“She sneezed a lot last night,” Ben inserted.
“Have you taken meds for any of the symptoms?”
“No.”
“Okay, here’s my on-the-fly diagnosis. She has the flu. Probably the twenty-four-hour variety. Hopefully it already hit its peak.”
“Do I need to take her to the ER?”
“Not unless she gets markedly worse. Right now, she needs to take two Tylenol and in another hour, two Motrin. That should drop her fever. If she’s awake, make her drink lots of water, but don’t wake her to drink. Put cool cloths on her face. That’ll at least give her the impression of coolness until her fever breaks.” A pause. “You are able to stay with her tonight, Ben, or is there someone else she can call?”
He tempered his initial response, No fucking way am I ever leaving her, to a calmer, “I’m staying.” He was freaked the fuck out. He’d never taken care of a sick person before in his life. Sick calves? No problem. Sick person? Not ever.
“This is a pretty quick bug,” the doc said. “But I’ll warn you: it’s highly contagious. You should expect to get sick.”
“I never get sick,” he scoffed at the dial tone.
Ben tried to move her off the bathroom floor. “Come on. Let’s get you into your own bed.”
“It’s too hot in there.”
“It’s cooler. I promise. Let me help you up.” Ben practically carried Ainsley to her room. “Sit on the bed.”
“You’re always so bossy.”
“Part of bein’ a Dom.”
“Well, you’re not my Dom anymore, so let me lay down.”
He resisted the urge to snap, The fuck I’m not your Dom. He breathed slowly and deeply, completely out of his element on so many levels. “First you need to swallow your meds.”
Ainsley screwed up her face.
“They’ll make you feel better.”
Once she’d choked down the pills, she stretched out on the mattress.
“Close your eyes.” He placed a cool washcloth on her forehead.
She sighed. “That’s nice. You’re nice.”
“Thought I was bossy?”
“You are both nice and bossy. I like that about you. Two sides of the same coin.”
He couldn’t help but ask, “Which side do you like better?”
“The nice side. I think you’re afraid of showing that side of yourself to me, more than you are of showing me the Dom side.”
Bullshit. You’re fighting the truth that you like that bossy side of me better.
Ben kicked off his boots and stretched out beside her. He wanted to fix her now. Scoop her up, race to the doctor and demand she be healed. He forced himself to calm down and watch her settle into sleep, reaching for her hand just as he began to drift off.
Ainsley’s restlessness roused him. He glanced at the clock. Only an hour had passed.
She started to push up.
“Easy. Anything you need I’ll get.”
“A drink.”
Ben moved to the edge of the bed and held a glass to her lips. “Here.”
She drank every drop.
“Better?”
“Yeah.”
He switched out the skin-warmed washcloth for a cool one.
Ainsley sighed when he placed it over her forehead. “Thanks, Ben. You don’t have to stay.”
“I want to stay.”
“Why? It’s not like I have any new loan information for you.”
That sounded a little cross. “Thanks for the update.”
“I’m surprised you’d be interested in hanging out with me, especially if we’re not having kinky sex,” she said snarkily.
Ben’s voice was pure Dom. “The lack of kinky sex was your choice. And it’s a damn mystery why I’m obsessed with hanging out with a woman like you who’s beautiful, adventurous, smart and sexy as hell.”
She slid the washcloth down and squinted at him. “You really see me that way?”
He ran his hand down her arm. “Yeah, angel, I do. You know I do. I see you a lot clearer than you see me.”
“Why did you come over tonight?”
To remind you that I’m not some pussy lap dog who will be happy with whatever scraps of friendship you toss at me. “Because I thought you were ditching my calls so I came over to chew your ass.”
“And you probably wanted to spank it too, huh?”
“Like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Ben. That’s not…who we have to be.”
Yes, it is. That’s who we are. And there’s nothing wrong with it. But