AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His humor began to slip away. “No.”
“But it’s a husband-y thing to do.”
“I don’t care.”
“That’s not nice.”
“Neither am I.” He pointed at the mug he’d brought me. “Drink that. All of it.” He dipped a hand into the pocket of his slacks and dug out a box of the painkillers I’d been using. “And take more of those when you next need them,” he bossed.
I took the box with a sniffle. “Your bedside manner leaves something to be desired, but I won’t complain.”
“You just did.” With that, he turned and headed for the door.
“Dax?” I waited until he met my gaze before saying, “Thank you.”
He inclined his head.
“You can read to me another time.”
Sighing, he preceded to leave the room. “Let that dream die, Addison, because it won’t happen.”
Alone again, I snickered to myself and then delved back into my book.
Chapter Nineteen
Thanks to my cough, I didn’t have the best night’s sleep. By the time the next morning rolled around, my body ached like hell, I was running a fever, and my nose was leaking like a tap.
Yeah, I wasn’t going to work today.
Flat on my back in bed, I let my head loll to the side. Dax lay squarely in his “spot” on the large mattress, his eyes closed, his breathing even.
Given how much I’d coughed during the night, I was surprised he hadn’t gone to sleep in one of the spare bedrooms at one point. I’d offered to do it so that he could have an interrupted sleep, but he’d glared at me like I’d suggested removing my rings.
“You sleep in this bed. Our bed. No other,” he’d then stated.
Though I’d told him it wouldn’t be a big deal for me to spend one night in another room, he’d insisted I sleep beside him. Personally, I failed to see why he’d be so affected by my not being here. It wasn’t as if my absence would be missed, given we slept on separate sides of the mattress and didn’t cuddle. Though—note to self—I should really burrow into him one time just to freak him out for the fun factor.
A tickle scratched at my throat, and there was no holding back the cough. A wheezy cough that went on and on and on, making my chest and throat burn. I weakly sat upright, nabbed my glass from the nightstand, and took gentle swigs of my water, letting the cold liquid soothe the burn.
“I hope you’re not going to insist on heading into work,” said Dax, his voice thick.
“Not today,” I rasped, the words barely audible.
He let out a gratified grunt. “I can’t take the day off, but I’ll come check on you between meetings.”
Aw, that hit me in the feels. “You don’t have to do that, I’ll be fine.” But considering my voice was a pitiful croak and I had to look like a bag of shit, I wasn’t surprised that he raised a dubious brow my way. “Fingers crossed you don’t catch it.”
“I won’t catch it,” he said with total conviction, like no germ woulddaretry to infect him.
I rubbed at my throat. “Well, I hope you’re right.”
“I’m right.” Again, such conviction.
I merely shrugged. “If you say so.”
Before leaving for work, he set me up in bed with everything I needed—drinks, pills, tissues, healthy snacks, menthol lozenges, and even a soothing throat spray. He went about it in a very methodical and businesslike way as opposed to acting in any way nurturing, but my chest went warm all the same.
Throughout the day, wanting to get at leastsomework done, I handled emails while watching movies and documentaries on the TV mounted on the wall opposite me. For obvious reasons, taking and making calls was a no-no.
