Page 81 of The Baby-whisperer and the Brute
The worst part was having Angelina so near all the time. Her gentle touch when she helped me shift positions, the delicious smell of her hair and skin, the sweet sound of her voice as she inquired about my comfort and whether I needed anything.
Though she must have had her hands full with the girls and I knew she was only here out of “saintly” obligation, she came any time I called. Nothing was too much to ask. She was as kind and caring as a literal angel—and just as untouchable.
But that didn’t stop me from wanting to. I craved her. I wanted her warmth and sweetness close by all the time.
All the mental effort I’d put into trying to break my addiction to her had been useless. I was right back where I’d been the night before I left—yearning, lovesick… pathetic.
The power she had over me was fucking terrifying, frankly, and I was growing more and more desperate to break the spell.
It would have helped if she rose to the bait of my rudeness and snapped back at me, but it seemed the more cantankerous and demanding I was, the more irritatingly patient she became.
“It’s time for your pain meds.” Angelina shook two pills into her hand and offered them to me with a cold bottle of water.
I snatched the bottle with a resentful scowl, the rough movement causing a fresh burst of pain in my side.
“Careful. You’re going to re-injure your ribs,” she warned.
“Andyou’regoing to turn me into a junkie.”
Angelina rewarded my snarling tone with a sweet smile. “I’m giving you exactly what your doctor prescribed at the exact intervals he prescribed. If you don’t take them, you won’t be able to sleep, and you need sleep to heal.”
Grumbling, I washed down the pills with a swallow of water. Angelina nodded in satisfaction and turned to go.
Wait—she was leaving already? A sudden tide of stifling heat rose from my chest to my neck. Before she reached the bedroom door, I said, “Wait.”
Angelina turned back to face me. “Yes? Is there something you need?”
“More water.”
She gave me a quizzical glance. “The bottle I gave you is still half-full.”
Frowning, I looked at it. “It’s too warm.”
“I took it out of the refrigerator just before coming up.”
“Well, something’s wrong with the refrigerator then,” I replied in a testy tone. “Have it checked.”
“I’ll be sure to do that. And I’ll be right back with some ice.”
She left the room and returned within a few minutes, a glass full of ice in hand along with a fresh bottle of thoroughly chilled water. Opening the bottle, she poured it over the ice and offered me the glass.
Though I wasn’t thirsty, I took a sip.
“Cold enough for you?”
“It’ll do,” I muttered.
Angelina gave me a beatific smile, almost visibly biting her tongue. “Anything else I can do?”
I looked around the room, searching, then lifted a hand to point at the dark drapes that blocked the natural light from the floor-to-ceiling ocean-facing windows. Even that slight movement made my ribs ache and my head dizzy with pain.
“There’s a crack in the curtains. I can’t sleep with all that light coming in.”
She gave the curtains a confused look. “They’re completely closed.”
“They must not be. There’s a ray of light coming in, and it’s right in my eyes.”
Out of sheer goodness, Angelina crossed the room to the windows and tugged the already closed panels more tightly together, causing them to overlap.
