Page 15 of Missiletoe
There was a soft sigh from the bed, and I nearly collapsed from relief when Vix stirred at last.
Forgetting my frustrating conversation with Baz, I hurried over to check on my bunny. I considered it an accomplishment that I only tripped over two things in my haste.
“Hey, how are you feeling?” I asked and was nearly bowled over by the sleepy ocean eyes blinking up at me.
“Paris?” Vix’s soft, dreamy voice had me dropping down to sit on the bed next to him. He raised a tiny hand to touch my cheek. I covered it with mine and closed my eyes briefly.
Baz snorted. He’d come up on the other side of the bed and was sitting down as well. He stole Vix’s hand from me and checked his pulse.
I glared at him. He could have used Vix’s other wrist.
“I’m okay, Baz. You don’t need to fuss.” Vix’s voice was stronger but still had a touch of sleepy confusion in it.
“I need to fuss when you drop again within minutes of waking up. You know that, Vix.” Baz didn’t seem to be alarmed by Vix’s pulse, and his hand drifted to Vix’s forehead. I wanted to bat it away, but I refrained. “No fever. That’s something, at least.”
Vix blinked at me a few times, and the hazy expression on his face cleared. “You’re in my room?” He sounded excited by the prospect, or at least my hopeful heart took his tone that way.
“I recruited him for grunt work, so I didn’t have to kill my back carrying you home,” Baz announced. “But he should probably go now.”
He was right. I should. But Vix’s sleep-soft face was casting a spell on me.
I could stay for one more minute. A minute wouldn’t hurt. Right?
I touched Vix’s forehead as well, wanting to feel what Baz had felt, to see what a normal temperature was like for Vix. It would be good for me to learn how to take care of my bunny too.
His skin was cool and soft to the touch. How was I supposed to get myself to leave?
My phone went off again with the backup alarm I had programmed. I got caught up playing with my friends sometimes and often would ignore my phone’s alarm. For important events, I always made sure to have two.
I pulled out my phone to silence it, and Vix cried out, “Your ringtone is meowing? That’s adorable!”
I flushed and nodded. “It’s an alarm, actually. I have to meet Sylvia soon, so I should probably go now.”
“See? Like I said, Paris needs to go. Say goodbye, Vix,” Baz said merrily and vaulted over the bed so he could try to tug me away from Vix.
“Sylvia?” Vix reached out and tangled his fingers with mine.
“Yep, Sylvia. Don’t want to keep her waiting, do we? Time to go, Paris.”
For the first time since meeting him, I appreciated Baz, because his voice and annoying tugging were distracting me enough to allow me to drag myself out of my fixation with Vix.
“No, I probably shouldn’t. I guess I’ll go now,” I said reluctantly.
I let Baz pull me off the bed, though my fingers trailed away from Vix’s like they’d decided to stay and let me go ahead on my own. I walked to the door with Baz pushing on my back with both hands. I tried not to turn around but failed when Vix spoke.
“Do you…are you…” Vix got this lost baby bunny expression that had me digging in my heels and made Baz crash into my back when my larger mass forced him to a stop. I waited patiently until he finally managed to say, “Are you coming back?”
I turned around, and now Baz was shoving my chest instead of my back, but he was pretty small, so unless I wanted him to succeed, neither of us were going anywhere.
“Yes. I’m coming back.” The second I had Sylvia locked down and in my assistant Melanie’s hands tomorrow morning, I’d be back. I’d even shimmy up a tree and crawl into his bedroom window if Baz tried to block me at the front door. There wasn’t a chance in hell I wouldn’t return ASAP to check on my new bunny.
“Oh…okay then. That’s good. After you see Sylvia?”
“Absolutely.”
My bunny didn’t look happy, but his eyes weren’t glistening with unshed tears, and I needed to leave, so I let Baz succeed at shoving me out the door.
I would be back.
