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“Tristan, this is silly. I said I can serve myself—”
In went a strawberry. Tristan sighed as if she were the greatest burden in the world. She had no choice but to chew and swallow. When she finished the fruit, he started on the scrambled eggs.
“Really, Tristan, I’m much better now. I’ll take over from here.” She reached for the fork, but he held it away from her hands.
“And ruin my fun?” His eyes twinkled, laughter in their depths. “Why didn’t I think of this earlier? You can’t argue with your mouth full of food. Brilliant.”
He brought the fork of egg toward her mouth. She tightened her lips and frowned. “Give me the fork, mister.”
He laughed but didn’t budge when she put her hands on the end of the fork and tried to wrest it from him.
“What, so you can stab me to death? I don’t think so. Open up.”
“Tristan, I swear—” In went the egg.
“You must be feeling better if you’re back to swearing.”
Laughter choked her, but she found herself dutifully chewing and swallowing. “Enough.” She held her palm out, effectively blocking his path. “I’m much better now, thank you. Will you please hand over the fork?”
He let out an exaggerated sigh, but he gave her the utensil. “A bossy one, aren’t you?” He flashed a glimmer of a smile, so she’d know he wasn’t serious.
She blinked and took calming breaths. The Grim Reaper had disappeared, and in his place was a charming, attractive male. Lillian could admit it, even if she had no intention of sticking around after their so-called date tomorrow night. She busied herself with the food, trying not to notice the way his dark hair fell across his forehead, contrasting with the sparkle in his navy-blue eyes.
Tristan’s cell phone buzzed, and he excused himself to answer it, strolling to the window overlooking the parking lot. He tugged a hand through his hair. His energy shifted, diminished. Whatever the call was about, it wasn’t good.
She finished her scrambled eggs and took a sip of milk. The light-headed feeling vanished. Being around Tristan, she’d absorbed more of his energy already.
Lillian pushed the table away and pulled back the cover. She wasn’t a patient. She couldn’t risk sleeping in the hospital. And once Hannah improved, she’d need to leave as soon as possible, no matter how much she longed to stay. Time to get up and see for herself how her sister fared.
The movement caught Tristan’s attention, who turned and frowned at her, shaking his head like she was his to order around. Just because he’d agreed to help her with Hannah didn’t mean he could dictate if she stayed resting or not. It was dangerous for her to sleep in the hospital, where anyone could walk in and find her.
She slipped her feet off the side of the chair and headed toward the bathroom. When she came back, he’d finished his call and was prowling the room.
“I have to go visit my mom. Stay here and rest.”
She stopped at the foot of the bed and studied her sister. “I don’t need rest. What I need is to keep an eye on Hannah.”
“Your friend is sleeping. You can’t help her right now. You would do well to catch up on your sleep so youcanhelp when she’s awake again.”
Lillian nodded. What Tristan said made sense, but she’d be better off catching up on sleep at Tristan’s house where at least he had an alarm system. Kinetica could already be spying on her, waiting for an opportunity to get her alone—to drug her and force her to go with them.
He pulled the blanket from the recliner and held it up with a grin. “Hop in, then. I’ll tuck you in.”
She rolled her eyes but couldn’t contain a glimmer of a smile as she returned to the recliner. She had to admit, it felt good to have someone looking out for her, even if she had no intention of staying on the makeshift bed after he left the room.
He tucked the blanket around her and then whipped out his cell phone and snapped her picture before she knew what he was about.
Cold fear tightened her belly. “Why did you do that?” She tried to grab his phone and delete the photo, but he held it out of reach.
He smirked. “I believe that was the first real smile you’ve given me since I met you. I thought I’d better capture it so I don’t forget.”
Fear turned the blood in her veins to ice. “I didn’t say you could take my picture. Delete it.”
He narrowed his gaze and frowned, and Lillian realized her strong reaction to being photographed had made him suspicious.
“Why do I have the feeling the minute my back is turned, you’ll give me the slip? Remember our deal. You promised to be my date for the fundraiser tomorrow evening.” The Grim Reaper had returned.
Lillian took a breath. There was no sense drawing further attention to herself and feeding his suspicions. She wasn’t going anywhere at the moment, and if she stayed calm, perhaps she could convince Tristan to delete the photo later.
