Page 61 of Anything for You
When I’d moved in with Nan and she’d doted on me when I got a bad virus just in time for my eighteenth birthday, I’d almost been confused. I’d gotten so used to being alone when I was sick, I hardly knew how to let someone help me. But she did.
And now, Dorian had taken the job.
Next to me, Bear’s collar clinked. Apparently, I’d asked for him in my most fever-delirious state, and Dorian had brought him to me. What if he’d needed him?
What did it say that not only the man did what I asked, but also that I asked him in the first place? I trusted him, yes, but asking him for things? I’d been doing it since practically the day I moved in here, but it still astounded me.
“How are you today?” Dorian asked as he stepped inside the front door with hands full of reusable grocery bags and a small bouquet of fall flowers.
“I’m doing better than I have in a few days. My head is clear, I think, and my body aches are gone.” What a relief. I still didn’t have energy, based on how exhausted I felt after just a few hours interacting with people, but I didn’t feel the need to instantly pass out either.
“Good. Do you need anything?” He settled the bags on the counter and came to sit in the big chair next to where I’d made my place on the couch.
Or rather, where he’d helped me do so. Sometime yesterday, I’d gotten tired of being alone in my bedroom and asked if it was okay if I moved to the living room so I’d have the TV and be near the kitchen and, frankly, nearer to him. Apparently, the novelty of having him here had a grip on me and I wanted to soak up every second.
He’d simply looked at me with those soulful eyes and said, “Anything you want, Dove.”
“I’m okay, thank you. Jo and Liz refilled my drinks and fed me lunch. It was great, by the way.” No surprise, Dorian’s food was delicious.
Oh, and Elise had texted about ten times, but she was in the throes of excitement over the recent engagement and fulfilling some huge donut order, so she couldn’t make it. Jess was the same—tons of texts, but I refused to let her feel bad. She should stay far away from me so Baby Will didn’t get whatever this was I had.
“Glad you liked it.”
He had that lightly pleased look he got whenever I mentioned how good his cooking was, though it’d gotten more and more subtle the last few days as my ability to actually eat had all but disappeared. My appetite had finally reemerged late last night, and I was relieved to find it still in full force today as evidenced by the two bowls of soup and three slices of fresh bread I’d eagerly downed.
The real surprise had been when my friends had come knocking right as he’d been leaving earlier. He’d mentioned having errands to run, and apparently he hadn’t wanted to leave me alone, so he’d roped my friends into looking after me while he was away. They’d agreed to risk it and help me out, the dears.
I’d already suspected it, but Dorian Forrester was looking more and more like a mother hen.
“Errands go okay?” I asked, curious to see if he’d say… anything.
Face suddenly curiously impassive, he said, “All good. Let me get the groceries put up.”
And then, he got up and scuttled into the kitchen as though he really thought my nan hadn’t texted me.
“Are you really not going to tell me what you did?” I pressed.
He froze for a heartbeat. I wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t been looking directly at him, trying to read his body language.Got him!
He removed items from bags and shrugged one shoulder. “Grocery, stopped into Bloom, swung by Saint. A few other things.”
“Like?” I was pushing it, but seriously? Was he really not going to say anything?
His gaze swung to mine, eyes narrowed. “Things.”
I huffed and shoved off the couch in one swift,too-fast movement. “Are you really not going to admit you went to see Nan?”
But before I reached him, I wobbled, a wave of dizzy, world-tilting vertigo sending me sideways. As though in slow motion, my head swam, and I pitched backward instead of continuing toward him. Somehow, he reached me and steadied me with an arm around my back and one warm palm pressed into mine.
“Whoa there, killer. You’re going to need to move a little slower.”
I could hear a smile in his voice though I had my eyes crushed closed against the nausea.
I groaned, and my head dropped against his shoulder. We stayed like that, him supporting me, until the world shifted again, and I was in his arms. A brutally short few seconds later, he settled me back on the couch, then scooted back to give me space and sat on the coffee table across from where he’d laid me, one hand pressed to my shin like it might help ground me.
“Ugh, that was so dumb and so dramatic,” I moaned, gingerly opening my eyes to test whether the dizziness had faded. When my vision no longer swam and Dorian materialized, his handsome face etched with concern, I let them open all the way.
“Maybe not your best move.”
