Page 34 of Not Part of the Plan
“What the hell are you doing up?” he demanded, flipping the knob to turn off the flame under the pot.
“Walking into an alternate universe, apparently.” The windows down here were open, and the cooling breeze swept through, bringing with it the fresh scent of Blue Moon spring and sweeping out the remnants of stale sickness.
Niko poured the steaming water over a tea bag in one of her favorite mugs. He wiped his hands on his jeans and steered her by the shoulders to the couch.
“Sit down before you fall down.”
She sat and only put up the weakest of fusses when he bundled her up in a blanket. “This has got to be the most humiliating experience of my entire life,” she decided.
“Then you haven’t had nearly enough fun.” He brought her the tea and sat next to her.
“Aren’t you afraid of catching whatever death sentence this is?” she asked.
“Not with Julia’s Miracle Immunity Booster juice that tastes like feet and radishes,” he told her.
“You went to Julia’s?”
“Did you miss all of my texts?” he asked, disappointed. “They were some of my finest work.”
“I don’t think I’ve looked at my phone since… my internal organs started trying to escape my body in the middle of the night. She made a move to get up, but Niko held her in place with one hand. “Not so fast, champ.”
“I’m just getting my phone,” she said, already short of breath from the effort to stand.
“I’ll get it.”
“It’s on my nightstand.” She watched him as he loped up the stairs. “Thank you,” she called after him weakly.
He returned with the phone and her sheets. “Willa said you can’t sleep on these or you’ll risk reinfection. I think she’s slightly crazy, but I’m going to play it safe.”
Emma rested her head on the back of the couch and closed her eyes. “You held my hair while I threw up, scraped me off the bathroom floor, and now you’re doing my laundry.”
“It’s all part of the friendly service.”
“You’d do this for your other friends?” she asked, having only enough energy to open one eye.
“Hell no.”
It brought a faint smile to her lips.
“In this moment, you’re an excellent friend, Niko. And as an excellent friend, I’d like to propose that we never, ever speak of this day again.”
“Whatever you want, Barf Queen.”
He plied her with liquids, put fresh sheets on her bed while she took a shower, and watched four hours of earlyHow I Met Your Motherepisodes with her. She fell asleep on his shoulder, snuggled into his warmth.
He insisted on tucking her into bed before he left, and she was too tired to argue. But as soon as she heard her front door close behind him, she opened her text messages and reread every one he’d sent her documenting his efforts to get to her. Blue Moon was going to have a field day with Dr. Niko. And she wasn’t as upset about it as she should have been.
It was beyond sweet how he’d ridden to her rescue. He cleaned her house, he did her laundry, and he dumped bone broth down her throat. No one-night-stand man in the history of one-night-stand men would have worked this hard for a potential lay.
Emma chalked her thoughts up to vomit-induced exhaustion, pressed her cheek into the cool, clean pillowcase, and fell asleep thinking about how much she really liked Nikolai Vulkov.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Niko planned to ignore the idea of shooting the wedding for another day or two and buried himself in life in Blue Moon. He weeded and planted in the fields with Carter, played creative director with Summer, and even lent a hand in the kitchen occasionally.
The twins seemed to get bigger and more advanced by the day. Niko was convinced that Meadow would be standing on Jonathan’s shoulders to reach the knife block on the kitchen counter in a matter of days.
The physical labor and the simple routine of daily life in Blue Moon soothed his anxious brain of its “what ifs.” And for once, he just let himself be.
