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Instead of firing back with a grin, he looked serious. “The size of your ass?”
Crap. She shouldn’t have said that. Or what came next. “Yep, it needs a sign saying ‘wide load’ so people can get out of the way.”
“Is that what you think about your ass?” he asked in a low voice.
Uh-oh. Warning. Stop.
But she couldn’t exactly deny thinking it. She was trying so hard not to lie. At least not about anything trivial. The big things in her life . . . those things she couldn’t tell anyone about, so yeah, she had to lie about them.
However, this wasn’t one of those things.
“I don’t like that.”
She stared at him in surprise.
He gave her a stern look. “Don’t do it.”
“Tease you about your ego?”
“Refer to your bottom as a wide load.”
Why would he care what she said about her ass? It was her bottom.
“Do you understand me?” he pressed.
“You’re right. You do get cranky when you’re tired.”
“I didn’t say cranky, Rainbow. I said, grouchy. And I’m upset that you’re saying bad things about yourself.”
Why would that upset him? She still didn’t understand.
“Christ,” he muttered. “You’re killing me here.”
“What did I do?”
“You’re looking at me like you have no clue why I’m saying this.”
Because she didn’t. Then again, she wasn’t exactly thinking with a fully functioning brain. It was still muddled from her fever. Her tummy chose that moment to rumble as she slumped back on the sofa.
“Okay, this isn’t the time for this sort of conversation. You need to eat and go back to bed.”
She couldn’t believe he was still here. That he hadn’t run the moment she’d woken up. There was no way that he actually wanted to be here with her. Especially not when she was sick.
“I’ll reheat the soup,” he said.
“No, it’s fine.”
He frowned at her. “You can’t eat cold soup, Aston.”
She shrugged. “Eh, I’ve eaten worse.”
He stared at her for a long moment. It was just the truth.
“You should have stayed away from me.”
“What?” His head reared back. “What do you mean?”
“I might be contagious. What if I gave you my flu?” The flu that she was certain had come from looking after the kids next door.
When was she going to learn to say no?
But she was trying to be a better person. She had things she needed to atone for. So perhaps being sick was just part of that atonement.
That sounded kind of stupid to her, though.
Lord, she didn’t know. She really just wanted to have some soup and go back to bed. She hadn’t slept this much in a long time. Maybe her body was trying to play catch up.
“I don’t care if you make me sick, Rainbow,” he said tiredly. “I just want you to be okay.”
His words warmed her, even as she told herself not to let them fill her with crazy thoughts.
She sucked in a breath. “You know what?”
“What?”
“You don’t suck.”
He grinned at her. “I don’t?”
“Nope.”
“That’s high praise indeed.”
“I’d tell you not to let it go to your head . . . but I already feel like you have.”
He let out a low chuckle. And she was glad she’d broken the moment. If this was all she’d ever have with this man . . . well, it would be enough.
It had to be.
10
Maxim longed to take her into his arms.
To tell her that she wasn’t a bother, that it was his privilege to take care of her.
But that would be too intense.
So he was grateful that she’d managed to break the strange mood between them since she’d woken up.
“I’m going to reheat your soup and you’ll eat it.”
“Aye-aye, Captain.” She gave him a sassy salute. A bit more co-ordinated than she had been last night.
Fuck, was it only just over twenty-four hours ago that he’d been carrying her to bed?
It had been a long twenty-four hours, filled with him worrying over her. While he’d waited for the doctor to arrive, he’d sat in her bedroom and watched over her, concerned that she might vomit and choke on it.
He wasn’t used to taking care of someone else. And that kind of shamed him. All his life, he’d been taken care of. Even when he was older, someone else had always taken responsibility. Usually Regent.
While Maxim had worried over his younger sister and would have done anything for her, he hadn’t really looked after her. But she’d always seemed to prefer Regent anyway.
And why wouldn’t she? Regent was the biggest caretaker of them all. Just really overprotective with it. To the point where Maxim knew if he hadn’t moved out, they would have had issues. He could appreciate his brother, but he was his own man and didn’t need to be smothered.
However, last night, Aston had needed him. Really needed him. Just him. And yeah, it was a boost to his ego. Maybe she believed his ego didn’t need it. But he couldn’t deny it had made him feel a hundred feet tall.
