Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 122550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 409(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 409(@300wpm)
Huh.
As if that was going to happen. He’d only come to see her in the first place because her mother had asked him to.
Urgh.
She needed to call Mama before she roused her neighbors to come check on her.
Maybe she’d just have a shower first. She was all sweaty and gross. Her pajamas were clinging to her. Hopefully, that meant that the fever had broken.
Pushing back her covers, a cough rattled through her.
Shit.
Jilly was going to have to douse herself up on cold meds to get through her sets tonight. Wait, was it Saturday?
If she’d slept completely through to Sunday . . . well, Santé was going to be pissed.
She looked over at the pile of medication on her nightstand in confusion. Where had all of that come from? She didn’t have that much stuff, did she? Jilly was pretty sure she’d used most of her cold medicine the last time she’d been sick.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have the best immune system. Probably because she’d been stuck in this house most of her childhood and hadn’t been exposed to enough germs to build up her immunity.
Something else to blame on her father.
She pushed herself up so she was standing. Right as the door to her bedroom opened. Letting out a scream, she stumbled back and fell on her butt.
Ouchie!
“Jilly!” Regent rushed forward. To her shock, rather than just offering her a hand, he reached down and picked her up, cradling her against his chest.
Oh wow. This was nice. And he smelled sooo good. Like sandalwood and something a bit sweet . . . vanilla, maybe?
Whatever it was, it was delicious.
Her stomach actually rumbled slightly. Not that she wanted to eat anything when she felt like she had razorblades in her throat.
Then she realized that if she could smell him, he could no doubt smell her.
And she smelled terrible.
“Put me down,” she said.
Urgh. When was the last time she’d brushed her teeth?
Do not aim your breath at the gorgeous, sexy man holding you like you weigh nothing.
“If I put you down, you’ll fall over,” he told her.
“No, I won’t.”
“You just fell over,” he told her, carrying her back to bed and lying her down.
“That’s because you frightened me when you stormed into my bedroom. Why are you in my bedroom?”
And why was he putting the covers back over her when she’d just gotten up? She needed to pee. And shower. And brush her hair and teeth. At least she’d taken out the pins last night. But it was still in tight braids.
Why was she always such a mess in front of this man? Look at him . . . he was always so put together.
Although . . . he seemed a little bit less put together than usual. He wasn’t wearing a suit jacket. His white shirt was partially undone, allowing her a glimpse of that sexy chest.
His hair was messy; it looked like he had been running his fingers through it. And there were dark marks under his eyes.
“Didn’t you sleep?” she asked hoarsely.
“Not much, no.”
“Why not? And why are you here? What time is it?”
“It’s just after eight in the morning. I’m here because I took care of you last night. I slept in the armchair so I could be close to help you if you needed anything.”
Jilly gaped at him. Her mouth opened. It moved. No sound came out. “What?”
“I need to check the list.”
List? What list?
He picked up a piece of paper that she hadn’t noticed before and started reading through it.
“All right. I need to take your temperature and give you more medicine.”
“Wait!” she said, holding a hand up as he reached for the thermometer.
“What is it?”
“I . . . I . . . you’re taking care of me?”
Regent scowled. “Yes. Why?”
“That’s my question.”
“What?”
“Why? Why are you here taking care of me? Why aren’t you at your house, sleeping? Or out conquering the world and ordering lobster?”
“Conquering the world and ordering lobster?” he queried.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I assumed that was what you did when you weren’t sleeping.”
He shook his head as he picked up the thermometer and held it to her mouth. “Open. And you need to stop talking. You’re not doing very well at following doctor’s orders.”
Um. No.
She wasn’t doing what he ordered until she found out what the heck was going on.
Also, she still desperately needed to pee. And shower. And brush her teeth.
So she kept her lips pressed together.
“Jillian,” he said sternly. “While a bit of sass is cute, defying me when it comes to your health is not. Open your mouth.”
He thought she was cute sometimes?
Wait. Defying him? Uh, why did he seem to think that he got to order her about? Just because her mama called and asked him to check up on her didn’t make him her boss.
And she didn’t want him to think she was cute anymore.