I looked at his chin and then reached out to cup his face, feeling a swirling sense of nausea in my gut. He looked at me with this calm expression, one that expressed his blissful feelings about everything. Nausea tore me up, making me grimace.

He frowned and reached for my face. “Are you alright?

I hiccupped and covered my mouth. “I don't know. I feel kind of funny.”

“Let me make you some—”

In a blur, I was off the ground and in the upstairs bathroom. I bowed over the toilet, praying that my nausea would be over soon or at least that I would be able to throw up. The porcelain was cold under my fingers. A cool breeze waved over the back of my neck. I tried not to look into the toilet or think about the toilet smell that came up to my nostrils. I could smell the hair clogged in the pipe in the shower. I could smell other things as well, things that I didn't want to smell, things that I hadn't in a while ever since I got in control of my wolf side.

Soon, I was spewing up whatever was in my stomach uncontrollably, clinging to the toilet seat while trying to pretend that I wasn't embarrassing myself right now. Through all the hectic stuff, I just hadn't been keeping track of anything,including eating or sleeping. I hadn't been getting a whole lot of rest.

And being forced awake this morning with the racket from downstairs had made me grumpy. The tornado had made me nauseous. The power surge had made me dizzy. Since it had been so long since I had seen Kylie and Fred, I should have been happy to see them downstairs, maybe not in that exact position that they were, but I should have been happy.

Instead, I felt annoyed and sick. I flushed the toilet and washed my hands, reaching for the mouthwash to rinse out my mouth. My stomach flipped again as I considered how I had lost track of other things as well. Like my calendar.

Stress can be so distracting.I sighed.I need sleep.

Once my mouth was clean, I just wanted to get back downstairs and apologize to Hector for running off on him. I grabbed a bathrobe from the hanger and wrapped myself in the plush lavender fluff. About halfway down the stairs I smelled something so delicious that I sprinted to the kitchen like I hadn’t just been nauseatingly considering how much of my calendar I had missed.

I hopped over rubble and fallen pillows to get to the kitchen doorway, where the smell intensified. Oh, that was one of the most delicious ones I'd ever inhaled in my life. I sniffed the air hungrily.

Bacon.

Hector was wearing his boxer-briefs without a shirt, showing off a taut buttocks and incredibly ripped back muscles. He turned slightly from the stove, giving me a huge smile. “Are you okay?”

I didn't even pay attention to the question. I went to the counter and looked at all the bacon sandwiches he had been putting together. There were three of them so far, simple ones made with lettuce and mayonnaise, seasoned with a little bit of salt along with some other spices I didn't quite recognize, but it smelled good paired with the smell of fried bacon. I lifted one of the sandwiches and took a bite, groaning.

If I was being honest, it tasted like there was an orgasm in my mouth. I stepped back and took another bite. Then another, chewing so happily, standing on my toes like it was the best thing in the world. After I noticed Hector staring at me, I realized I was being rude.

Maybe he had made these things for us to eat, but I hadn't asked, and I hadn't even known because he hadn't said anything. I set down the remainder of my sandwich, a small quarter, and whispered shamefully, “I'm so sorry.”

He shook his head and waved the spatula at the remaining sandwiches. “Please, eat as much as you want.”

I checked his expression and his body language. Was he being sarcastic? I lifted a napkin from next to the plate and dabbed my lips, then tentatively reached for the remaining quarter sandwich. I tried to eat it like a normal wolf, not hocking it down like a pig and making a bunch of weird noises at the same time.

But as soon as I started to eat another sandwich, the ecstasy of food overcame me again. I went back to dancing on my toes, heading to the table to take a seat. I hummed as I relaxed into the chair and continued to munch with a grin on my face. He brought a mug of coffee over to me, something I thought I wanted. I took a sip. “Can I have a cup of tea instead?”

He smiled and took the mug. “Same as last time?”

“Please.”

“My pleasure.”

Embarrassment came over me. Did he really mean that? Was he just trying to mock me? Maybe I was being rude by eating so many sandwiches. Yet the more I tried to find evidence of him being disappointed in what I was doing, the more he gave me reassurance.

He cast me plenty of smiles. He finished making another collection of bacon sandwiches and brought them over to the table. He brought some extra biscuits. Butter. Milk. He hummed contentedly as he made me a cup of tea and brought it over. As he sat down across from me, I lifted another sandwich.

“You don't hate me, right?”

He stared at me with his hand extended over the plate of sandwiches. “Why the hell would I hate you, Faye?”

I shrank down behind my sandwich. “The whole fake proposal and the food.”

He shoved the plate aside and reached for my hand. I half-expected him to grab the sandwich from my fingers, but instead, he held my wrist loosely and pushed the food to my mouth. “If you're hungry,eat.”

Goddess, why was that so hot?

He teased my lip with the edge of the sandwich. “I'm gonna make you as much food as you want.”