Page 66 of The Jellybean Dilemma

Greg appeared in the doorway, smiling when he saw me awake. “Hey!”

I grinned back. “Look.” I showed him that I could turn my head, and he seemed appropriately impressed. “You cannot imagine how good this feels.”

“I’m so glad you’re starting to feel better.” He set down the bowl of soup and glass of water on the end table.

“You’re moving better, too.”

He grinned. “I am. You rubbing that ointment on me made all the difference.”

Warmth bloomed in my chest. “What day is it?” His frown made me want to laugh. I wasn’t the only one caught in a time warp.

“Monday, I think. You’ve been out for a couple days.”

Wow. “Morning? Afternoon?”

“Two in the afternoon.” He grimaced. “Sorry about the late lunch. That just happens to be when your meds line up.”

What a sweetie, watching out for me like that. “How’s the blizzard?”

He grimaced. “Don’t let the quiet fool you. I have a feeling this might be the eye of the storm. We’ll have to wait and see.” He sighed, looking at the dull sky through the window. “It’ll take a bit to shovel us out. Besides, I want to make sure you’re fully recovered before we even attempt an escape.”

I sighed too, knowing he was right. “Does anyone else know where we are? What if we’re stuck here forever?” I almost kicked myself after I asked it, not wanting to know the answer. Stuck in a remote cabin with Greg forever? Sign me up.

His chuckle rumbled between us. “My family knows about the cabin, and they know I’m smart enough to head this way if things were bad. So, they’d probably check here first. But it’ll be a while before they can even get to us, with the road conditions.”

The word family struck a chord with me. Derek and Avery would be missing me sooner than later since we’d been texting often. I didn’t want them to worry. “There’s really no phone around here?”

He shook his head. “Not unless we go into town.”

Resigned, I reached up to brush a piece of hair off my forehead and instead encountered a greasy clump. Ew. As I touched more of my hair and further assessed myself, I realized I was in desperate need of a bath. “Greg? As good as that soup smells, there’s something that smells more.” I waited a beat. “Me. I’ve never needed a shower more in my life. Or a bath. Or something.” A bath sounded heavenly, provided I could get clean first.

He chuckled at my melodramatics. “Lucky for you, we have one of those. And the water heater is hooked up to the wood burning stove, so you have unlimited hot water at your disposal.”

I pretended to swoon. “You sure know how to sweet talk a girl.” I worked my way to a sitting position. To his credit, he let me feel out how much help I needed, not babying me, but he stayed within reach in case I wanted him. I managed to walk to the bathroom on my own.

He showed me where everything was, made sure I got into the tub okay, then left me to it. I thought sitting was safest. Luckily there was a shower wand, so I brought that down with me. I washed my hair twice then thoroughly scrubbed everything else, rinsed and ran a fresh tub of water. The effort wore me out, but it felt good to have actually done something.

I lay there, relaxing and enjoying the change of scenery, as well as the hot water that eased some of the lingering stiffness in my body.

Greg poked his head in. “Just checking on you. Need anything?”

“Some water to drink would be nice.” I added a please as he disappeared.

When he came back, he had a water bottle in his hand. “Here you go.”

I smiled up, not the least bit bothered that I was naked before him. “Thank you.” I took a sip, staring at his handsome face, thinking of how sweet it was that he’d taken such good care of me. “And thanks for everything, Greg. I’m feeling a lot better. That’s all because of you.”

He couldn’t seem to figure out where to look. His gaze would drift lower down my body and shoot back up to my face. Then he’d shift his weight. “You’re welcome.”

The words had an edge to them, and I watched the anger build in him. I set the water bottle down and asked quietly, “Why do you do that?”

“What?” The edge was harder, sharper.

I tried not to flinch. “You’re mad at me. Why do you always get mad when I don’t have clothes on?”

My words seemed to knock the wind out of him as they hung in the air between us. He sank to his knees next to the tub. “Jellybean, look at me.” The sharpness was gone, replaced with an earnest pleading I couldn’t resist.

I kept my chin tilted down, but I glanced up at him through my eyelashes.

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