Yes. Maybe. “No, I just want to sleep.”
The question had been loaded, a narrow path full of landmines waiting to blow up in her face. There would be no right answer.
Kahler hummed low as if her reply had been expected. Keeping her gaze anywhere but on him, she startled when his warm hand covered her stomach.
“You need to eat.”
Decision made no matter what she wanted, he pulled her up from the bed to the table. The sight of the steak made her stomach plummet. Thin saliva pooled in her mouth as he sat her down in her customary chair before taking his own.
“Please don’t make me.” Whisper quiet, the words were a shaky breath as she turned her head to look out of the large windows at the dark woods back lit by the burning red-golds and purples of sunset.
“Eat what you can,” Kahler said, already turning his attention back to the papers spread out before him. “I’ll call the doctor in the morning.”
Dismissed with the promise of a command hidden in his nonchalance, Quinn swallowed hard. Shifting in the chair, she picked up the fork and tried to stab a steamed carrot.
It only took a single hint of the coppery scent of blood wafting up from the plate to send her stomach into outright rebellion.
Scrambling up from the table, Quinn bolted for the bathroom. Knees crashing against cold tile, she bowed over the bowl of the toilet just in time. Stomach long since empty, she retched thin bile as twisting cramps took hold through her middle.
Knowing he was standing there, watching her humiliation, she began to cry between violent heaves. She had managed this far without letting him witness this particular misery and now she had failed even at that.
Apologies lost in a confused mash of abject sounds, she became more upset. It only made things worse. There was nothing left for her to throw up except her own organs, but she clung to the freezing porcelain instead of falling to the floor.
An inferno met her back, enfolding her quaking body in a heavy blanket of heat. One hand holding her steady at the hip, Kahler pulled her hair back as she hung over the toilet again. The rich resonance of his purr echoed through the bathroom, pummeling her from all sides with the comforting sound. Nausea abated, the tight clench of her stomach eased into a muttering grumble.
Humiliated, face burning, Quinn tried to make herself even smaller. Why couldn’t a giant hole open up under her when she needed it to?
Lifting her straight up from the cold tiles, Kahler carried her over to the vanity. Setting her up on the smooth stone, Quinn recoiled at the harsh reminder of how he had first begun her ruin. He shushed her, toothpaste and brush pulled from their spots.
“Please don’t,” Quinn mumbled with a groan, turning away to swallow hard. Saccharine sweet and awful, mint attacked her nose. “It’s bad enough without that.”
Irritation flared in evergreen irises before it was shut away. Kahler gave a grunt of assent, a cup filled with cool water pressed to her slack lips until she took a mouthful to rinse. Taking the glass, she made sure their fingers were in no danger of touching. He lingered over her well after she was satisfied that the acrid taste was gone from her tongue. The purr was quiet, distracted, but present as he watched her with an expression she couldn’t even begin to name.
“I’m sorry. You don’t have to… I’ll go… I’ll sleep.” Stammering like an idiot, Quinn felt her cheeks grow even warmer. Her chest ached, and unsure of the reason, she tried to squirm free. She’d been desperate for his presence all day, and now she couldn’t get far enough away from him. Caught with ease, he held her there so he could inspect the brilliant flush of her skin.
“You still need to eat.”
Quinn gawked. Disbelief skittered across her tongue in a jumble of half formed syllables. It all turned tail and ran back down her throat, clogging it with miserable anxiety at his determined glare. Plucked from the counter as if she weighed nothing, he carried her back to the table.
Instead of dropping her into the chair as she’d expected, he put her on her feet. When she tried to sit, he nudged her hip out of his way and took the chair himself. Before she could comprehend this new lunacy, she was perched in his lap facing the table with his arm low across her hips holding her against him.
“What are you doing?” She hated the reedy quaver of her voice, despised how she proved herself as weak as he thought she was. Stiff in his embrace, she only moved to avoid touching him further when he leaned forward to slide her plate closer.
“Try to eat.” It was a gentle command, couched in soothing tones, but an order, nonetheless.
Quinn whined as she watched her hand move unbidden, grasping the fork she’d abandoned. It wasn’t right, the ability to control another person like this! The worming mass wedged in her chest pulsed, broadening like the first warming rays of the sun. Sending out trickles of heat, pretty poison, that burned like acid as it slipped through her veins.
As she cringed away from her own hand, lips parting to accept the unseen food she’d gathered on the fork, it came. Thunderous and rich, his purr worked through her body in a tumultuous storm. Wrecking her senses, ripping away the last of her defenses, she calmed.
Food passed over her tongue without being tasted, slipping down her throat with the help of the deep resonance shivering through her bones. Unsatisfied to allow his soothing rumble to be all that she took, Kahler moved his hands to her shoulders.
Tension slid down her back like dirty water as he drove his thumbs into the tangled knots. Working away every last trace of strain, his hands moved all over her, concentrating on the tight snarls of her lower back.
Another bite met her tongue, the carrot tender crisp and sweet. Swallowing it down, Quinn would swear she felt it drop into the empty pit of her stomach. Large hands smoothed down her back, his thumbs digging in on either side of her spine. Groaning at the stretch, she waited for the unreliable organ to revolt. When it didn’t, she nibbled another carrot.
Belly rumbling with unabashed greed, she ducked low over the plate. Food was shoveled in without a shred of grace, fork not even pausing for her to savor what was likely a delicious meal. Silverware flashed as she worked her way through one bite after the next.
Through it all, he touched. His purr was the perfect pitch, settling her in a way she hadn’t felt in what seemed like forever.
