Page 337 of John + Siena: The Complete Duet

TWO

Siena was dying.

She was sure of it.

Okay, maybe that was a little dramatic, but the thing was, she never got sick. Ever. Colds and flus were practically nonexistent to her. She’d always been too busy to get sick—not that being busy stopped her from catching anything, but she never did.

Until now.

She regularly got her shots and took vitamins every morning to help give her immune system an added boost. Whether or not those things actually helped to keep her from getting sick, she didn’t know.

Apparently, it didn’t help this time around when a morning cough and a stuffy nose turned into a full-blown chest cold that no over-the-counter medication would help. Only, the chest cold lingered which gave her a throat infection like nothing else. She swore every time she swallowed, it felt like she was swallowing knives.

God.

For the last week and a half, Siena’s bed had become her best friend. Work was out of the question when she couldn’t focus on the computer screen in front of her for long enough to get anything done without her head starting to pound and feel as though it would explode from the pressure building in her sinuses.

Instead, she stayed at home. That killed her a little bit too, if only because she knew that meant work would be constantly piling up for her until she finally got back to it. Then, who even knew if she would be able to get through it all?

Jesus.

Willing the lamp on the bedside table to shut off without her needing to reach over to do it—she didn’t even have the energy for that—as she started coughing again, Siena pulled the blanket tighter around her head. At least then, she could block out the light.

Mostly.

“Still not feeling any better?” came a soft question from the other side of the room.

The very fact Johnathan had returned home without Siena even realizing he was there told her a lot of things. For one, an entire day had passed her by without her even realizing it had happened. A part of her still thought it was far too early in the morning and that’s why the room felt as hot as hell because the morning sun did that to their master bedroom. No wonder she was exhausted—had she even slept, or did she just lay in bed open-mouth breathing and staring at the wall while the time passed?

“Hey,” she heard murmured.

John had crossed the bedroom. Now, he hovered above their bed looking down at her. She could see the concern in his gaze when she didn’t smile or greet him the way she usually would. But frankly, she didn’t even have the damn energy for that.

“I feel like I’m dying,” she croaked.

His brow dipped. “Are you hot?”

“Yes and no.”

“What?”

“It comes and it goes.”

Sometimes, it seemed like she was never going to stop sweating. Other times, she had the chills so bad she could shake the damn bed.

Kneeling at the side of the bed, John pushed the blanket away from Siena a bit so that he could get a better look at her. She wished she could wipe away the worry in his gaze, but even that would take energy she just didn’t have. His palm found her forehead with a soft touch before he stilled, frowning.

Usually, when John came home, it was Siena’s favorite part of the day. The two of them could shut the rest of the world out and pretend like it was just them and nothing else. She needed that time as much as he did. Lately, they hadn’t even been able to have that. While he didn’t say anything about it one way or another, she knew it had to be bothering him.

Hell.

It bothered her.

“Have you checked your temp?”

A rattling cough left Siena. “No. The last time I got out of bed was to pee, and even that took me a half hour. I wasn’t going all the way downstairs just for a thermometer to tell me I am sick and have a fever, John.”

“Babe, you’re really hot.”