Page 14 of No Apologies
When he remained silent her eyes drifted over him in a soft caress and he barely heard her whispered confession, “I like angel, like that it’s just mine.”
“I’m glad.” That ache in his chest grew more pronounced and he forced himself not to reach for her, “You need anything?”
She blinked as if his change in mood confused her, “Uh… water?”
“I’ll get you some.”
“Thanks.”
He retreated from the room as if his ass was on fire and sucked in a gulp of air when he was alone in the kitchen. Air, he needed air that wasn’t scented like her, air that didn’t make him think of her dabbing that perfume on her skin in secret, hidden places. He breathed in and out for a long time, slowly opening the fridge and locating one of those fancy square bottles of water that Skylar seemed to prefer.
She said there was something wrong with the water in their tiny town. There was chemicals in it. Or dirt. He wasn’t entirely sure what all she’d been going on and on about the day she snatched a glass of tap water out of his hand and called him crazy for putting that filth in his mouth. It had made him laugh at the time and he would never forget the soft way she’d looked at him when he explained she probably spent more on bottled water in a month than he could afford in a year.
Once he had himself back under control he grabbed the bottle as well as a damp rag and aspirin and carried it all back to her bedroom. A glance at the clock on her nightstand confirmed that he didn’t have long until he absolutely had to be on the road to make his fight on time. He’d forgotten about it for just a minute there, because Skylar could make him forget his own damn name.
Fighting was good, he told himself. He needed a fight tonight. It would give him something to do with all of this pent up energy that was suddenly flowing in his veins. Skylar put him on edge and since he couldn’t let those sharp parts of himself touch her, he would take his frustrations out on the guy in the cage.
He cleared his throat as he stepped back into the bedroom, not wanting to sneak up on her again. She’d curled up under the blankets while he was gone but he could see her shivering even from a distance. He crossed to her quickly and put the bottle and other stuff down so he could pull the blankets back to look at her face.
“Skylar?”
“I.. I… I’m fine.” Even her smile was shaky.
“The hell you are.” He growled, “We should go to the hospital.”
“No. Please. You promised.”
He swiped a hand through his hair, “Yeah, but you’re shaking now and I don’t know what to do.”
“I just… need to warm up. It’s the fever. It’s fine.”
He scowled at that. She wasn’t fine. She wasn’t anywhere near fine. She was sick and she was scaring the hell out of him. He’d taken care of himself and Cash for years. He’d taken care of their cuts and bruises, even broken bones, but he realized now that he’d never dealt with anything like this. Somebody he cared about was sick, hurting, and he had no idea what to do to help her.
“What can I do, Sky?”
“I don’t…” She paused, bit her lip and her eyes darkened as they met his, “Help warm me up?”
“Okay, I’ll get you some more blankets.”
She shook her head, “No.You. You’ve gotta warm me up with your body heat.”
He stopped breathing as what she was asking sank in. No. No way. He couldn’t do that. Anything but that. He couldn’t crawl into bed with her, couldn’t lay beside her, against her. He didn’t trust either of them in that situation.
“Sky…”
“Just lay with me. Nothing will happen. You’re not that irresistible, Colt.”
“Maybe you are.”
Her eyes widened at that and he realized too late what he’d admitted to. Damn it. He needed to get out of here. He kept saying things that he shouldn’t say. If he stayed he’d keep talking and she might see everything he’d worked so hard to hide, to ignore.
A hard shiver shook her and all of the reasons he should say no abandoned him. She needed him. She was cold. He would warm her up. Hell, right now he was as hot as a blast furnace. If she thought they could lay in bed together and it wouldn’t mean anything then he had to believe her.
She had a boyfriend, the little voice in the back of his mind reminded. It probably didn’t mean anything to her to invite him into her bed, despite what she might have said about him so far tonight. She was sick, out of it. She’d thought she was hallucinating so really, he couldn’t take anything she’d said or done personally.
He toed off his shoes, “Scoot over and I’ll get in.”
“Th… Thanks.”
