Page 39 of Head Over Spurs

“But I can’t hold you to that—because you’re deliriously ill?” he laughed.

“Exactly,” she answered through a yawn.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, darlin’.”

“But… are you sure it’s okay? You being here? I can’t imagine Cooper taking over everything you do.”

“I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be,” he replied, his deep voice quietly serious.

“You owe him, don’t you?”

He grinned. “Oh yeah. But some things are more important.” She could hear the smile in his voice. Even as she closed her eyes, she could picture him looking down at her with that grin. Then she felt the smile as his lips pressed against her temple.

After a moment, she felt the vibration of a phone. “Lou haswhat we need, I’m going to run down real fast. Okay?” he whispered.

“Okay,” she replied, allowing him to slip from the bed and slide a fluffy pillow into his place beneath her. He must have been resting against it, because the pillow smelled like him. She breathed in happily, absorbed by the reminder of his presence. Soon, her fatigue won out.

18

RILEY

The day passed with Jules’s energy waxing and waning. But he had managed to get food down her—that stayed settled—and talked her into more than one nap.

Before he knew it, the sun had set, and she was still intent on being snuggled up to him. Who was he to deny her that? His decision to stay the night had nothing to do with the wayhewas intent on having her snuggled up to him too.

And as he opened his eyes the next morning, he couldn’t deny that he had made the right choice. Lying flat on his back, Jules slept soundly atop him. Her head was on his chest, tucked in under his chin. Her arm was thrown across him haphazardly. And her leg was bent over him, her foot tangled up between his legs.

Reaching down, he dragged his hand along her thigh towards her knee. Looping his hand into the bend, he held her securely to him. It wasn’t the circumstances he preferred, but he finally got to wake up with her after being robbed of this moment in Texas.

She looked content as she slept, hopefully a sign that shewas feeling better. With today being his day off, he wondered if they?—

“Fuck,” Riley hissed under his breath, a realization hitting him like a freight train.

Guilt churned in his core as he withdrew his hand from Jules’s leg and reached for his phone. He had forgotten his plans this morning in the midst of everything. Plans that he never would have imagined forgetting.

Jules stirred as he pulled up the number and hit ‘call’. With the arm around her, he twirled a strand of her hair around his finger.Morning, wild thing, he mouthed.

She smiled back at him, blinking those beautiful blue eyes of hers that carried a sparkle once again.

The ringing stopped, replaced by his sister’s voice. “Hey, are you close?”

“Uncle RyRy!” a second high pitched voice called through the phone as well.

“Hi, sweetie. I’m afraid I have some bad news,” he started.

There was shifting against him. Jules was putting space between them. He studied her face, confused by the quick change in her mood. She had tension in her jaw, a furrow in her brow. Was she mad?

“I’ll give you privacy with your sweetie,” she murmured, trying to rise from the bed.

Sweetie. He had called someone sweetie. Damn, jealous Jules was adorable.

But she could still be unsteady. Leaning across the bed, he snatched her around the waist and pulled her back. With a gentle thud, she sat back on the bed, the dip of her eyebrows deepening.

“Paisley,sweetie. Any chance you’ll forgive me just this once?” he said into the phone. “I’m not going to make it this morning.”

Immediately, Jules’s expression softened with understanding. “You had plans with your niece this morning?” she asked.

He nodded back.

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