“How did you know where I live?” she asked.
How did I know? I searched my addled mind. Had I found her by pure instinct? Or was it something more tangible?
“You have it neatly labeled inside your lunchbox.” And I remembered it. I remembered everything about her.
She spoke again, slowly as if trying to make sense of things. “You broke out of your cage because I didn’t come to kill you, and you thought you needed to come rescue me?”
Okay well now I felt absolutely stupid. My overreaction was of epic proportions.
“I didn’t know where you were,” I said with vehemence. Was I defending my intrusion to her, or my out-of-control reaction to myself?
Yet, her expression softened. As if she was touched by what I’d done. Then her eyes shut as she swayed a little on her feet. In a flash, I was at her side, easing her back onto the couch. I laid my hand on her forehead. Heat radiated into my palm even as she shivered. “You are burning up.”
She was ill. I shouldn’t take such great pleasure in touching her but hell if it wasn’t the most soul-satisfying thing in the world right now to hold her.
“I’ll be better by tomorrow. But I guess I can kill you now since you are here,” she said even as her teeth chattered, trying to get up.
I gently guided her back down.
“No, that’s not why I came.” It pained me to think she believed I may have come here just to make sure she performed her duty to me. Who knew how many more blows it would take to kill me? It could be a hundred, it could take only one more? Either way, it was more important she take care of herself first. If I’d known what was preventing her to come to me, I would have waited.
...probably.
“You need to rest,” I assured her.
Miranda let out a loud sniffle, momentarily giving the impression that she wanted to speak. However, she shook her head ever so slightly, as if rejecting the notion. "You should go. I don't want to get you sick," she said.
Without thinking, I replied, "I can't get sick."
But then it dawned on me, her unspoken consideration. I asked the question tentatively, my heart swelled with hope, almost fearing her response. "Would you like me to stay by your side?"
“No.” She said it so fast, I knew that was exactly what had been rolling around her brain.
Game over, sweetheart.
I stood abruptly, with purpose. “Too bad because I’m not leaving.” Walking to the kitchen, I picked up the steel tea kettle and filled it with water from the sink.”
“Even if you can’t get sick, I can’t…entertain you,” she said.
I raised an eyebrow at her. “What do you mean, entertain me?”
“I’m not up for, you know.” She coupled her incoherence with waving a hand back and forth between us.
“For fucks sake,” I said, horror dawning on me. “I didn’t come here for sex, either.”
I followed the sound of running water to her bathroom. She’d been preparing to run a bath. Noting the water was hot, I stopped up the drain. A variety of bubble bath serums sat around the edge. I instantly grabbed the lavender one and dumped half the bottle in. Fuck, I loved this scent on her skin.
Miranda stood in the doorway; a large blanket wrapped around her shoulders. She frowned at me as if I were a misbehaving child. “What are you doing?”
“You may have a fever, but you are also chilled. We need to get you warmed up.”
“I can take care of my—of my—Achoo.”
“Has anyone told you that you sneeze like a mouse?” The woman suppressed all of her instincts, even her sneezes. It was unexpectedly adorable.
The brows over her eyes furrowed deeper. Her pallor was ashen even as she defied me. “I do not.”
She didn’t shy away when I drew near, but she clung to the blanket even as I tried to remove it from her shoulders.
