Breaking All the Rules (21 page)

NINA OPENED HER
EYES to find sunlight streaming through her bedroom window. It splashed across
the bedspread and cast the room in a golden glow. It was morning. She must have
slept all night.

Feeling cozy and
warm, she slowly stretched before trying to push herself up from the bed.

A pain shot up
her neck and into her head, followed quickly by a throbbing she knew all too
well. A wave of dizziness knocked her back against the pillows. It wasn’t as
bad as yesterday, but enough to tell her she wasn’t completely well yet.

“You’re up.”

The voice was so
unexpected she almost jumped up in the bed. Bobby sat by the window in a chair
he must have pulled in from the kitchen. It was made of wood with no padding
and couldn’t have been comfortable, but he looked completely at ease, his legs
stretched out in front of him. In one hand he held an e-reader or tablet of
some kind.

“What are you
doing here?”

“When you jumped
at me, I figured you were inviting me to spend the night.”

The memory of
the previous day came rushing back to her. “I didn’t jump at you. I passed
out.”

“I know. I just
didn’t think you’d want to admit it so I gave you an out. Guess you didn’t want
to take it.”

She grimaced. He
was right. If she’d thought about it for two seconds, she wouldn’t have
admitted to fainting in his arms. Even with a 102 degree temperature, it seemed
like such a weak—not to mention clichéd—thing to do.

“You stayed the
night?”

“You looked
pretty rough, and I’m not in the habit of abandoning sick women who collapse on
me either.”

“This happen to
you a lot, does it?”

“Glad to see you
haven’t lost your sense of humor,” he said. He rose to his feet, setting the
tablet on the chair. “Now what do you need? Orange juice? Coffee?”

“More like the
bathroom and a shower.” She tossed the covers aside and braced herself to make
another attempt at getting up. “I have to get to work.”

Before she could
even try to move, he’d crossed to the side of the bed and thrown the covers
back over her. “You’re not going to work. Doctor’s orders. You’re sick.”

“I was sick. I’m
better now.”

“You might be
better, but you’re still sick. I saw that look on your face when you tried to
get up.”

“I’ll get over
it. We’re understaffed at the bakeshop. I can't take another day off.”

“When I went to
the shop yesterday, Ashley said was managing to hold down the fort. Your other
cashier—Danielle, I think her name was—agreed to come in a few more hours to
help out. Besides, nobody wants a sick person baking for them or handling their
food. Last time I checked you had a hundred and one degree temperature.”

“What do you
mean, last time you checked?”

“You had a
thermometer right there,” he said, pointing at the bedside table where she’d
left it the last time she’d taken her temperature yesterday. “I had to know
what I was dealing with so I knew if I needed to take you to the hospital. I
popped it in your mouth and stuck it under your tongue.”

“While I just
laid there?”

“Just be glad I
didn’t try to take it the old-fashioned way.”

There was a
lovely thought. She scowled at him. “You can’t keep me here against my will.”

He folded his
arms over his chest and glowered down at her. A fifty-foot wall couldn’t have
looked any more imposing. “Try me.”

She glared at
him for a long moment, then tried once again to get up, only to be struck by
another wave of dizziness. Falling back once more, she had to concede defeat,
especially once another chill raced along her nerve endings.

“Fine,” she
grumbled, but there was no way she could stay in this bed at the moment. She
shoved the covers back again and braced herself for one more attempt.

He was
immediately there blocking her way. “What did I just say?”

“And I said I
needed to use the bathroom. Or are you going to chain me to the bed and hand me
a bedpan?”

He considered
this long enough that she started to suspect he’d actually do it. Then he
stepped aside. “All right. But I want you back in this bed as soon as you’re
done.”

And I want a
nurse with a better bedside manner
, she almost said, except she knew she
wasn’t going anywhere but straight back to bed. Considering how woozy she was
feeling, she’d probably be crawling back on her hands and knees. She vowed that
wouldn’t be the case. Chances were, he’d try to carry her back to bed first.

Come to think of
it, that was probably what he’d done last night. The thought of him bringing
her back here and taking care of her, waiting by her bedside all night long,
weakened what was left of her irritation. She could picture it, him in that
uncomfortable chair, watching over her. The image filled her with an emotion
she wasn’t sure she wanted to name.

She forced
herself to meet his eyes, somewhat embarrassed by her lack of gratitude. “Thank
you,” she said softly.

“Don’t mention
it,” he said crisply.

“I mean for last
night. Thank you…for staying.”

He glowered down
at her. “Don’t try to butter me up. It won’t work.”

“No. I mean it.”

Her unexpected
gratitude seemed to catch him by surprise, and for good reason. His expression
softened slightly. “You’re welcome.”

She nodded and
ducked her head, uncomfortable with the closeness of the moment. This was the
kind of thing she desperately needed to avoid with him, these quiet, intimate
moments when he made her feel things she didn’t want to examine and made a
mockery of her pledge to keep things simple and easy. These kinds of emotions
had no business there. They couldn’t.

She told herself
he was her friend, and this was nothing more than gratitude toward a friend.
There was nothing wrong with that. It was perfectly normal.

She pushed the
thought away before she could call herself a liar. The urgent alarm being sent
up by her bladder was a welcome distraction.

She scooted to
the edge of the bed and prepared to move to her feet. “Okay, nature’s calling,
and it refuses to leave a message. I’d better get going.”

Bobby offered
his hands to her palms up. “Come on. I’ll help you.”

If her throat
wasn’t already dry, she was sure that would have done it. She stared at his
hands, not sure how wise it was to touch him, still not wanting her weakness to
show.

Her bladder
overruled her hesitation, and she slipped her hands onto the warm, firm
surfaces of his. He closed his fingers around hers. That rush of heat that had
nothing to do with her fever washed over her. She did her best to ignore it.

“Lead on,
doctor. Let’s get this show on the road.”

AN HOUR LATER
Nina had choked down some oatmeal and chugged about a gallon of water, which
was all she seemed to have a taste for. When Bobby took away the tray, she
leaned back against the pillows he’d propped up behind her and murmured a
feeble, “Thank you,” so muffled he barely heard it. He could only shake his
head and grin.

She wasn’t a
very good patient, but he wouldn’t have expected anything else. She was too
strong and liked being in control of her world too much to deal well with her
body failing her like this. It was hard to believe she’d had a sharp tongue
before. That was nothing compared to the cranky, sick version of her.

And yet, he
hadn’t gotten tired of her and bailed to leave her to fend for herself. That
had to be considered a good sign. If he could put up with this Nina, it was a
good bet he could deal with any version of her.

“So what do we
do now?” she said, drawing the covers up tight around her. She was practically
drowning in all the layers she had on her, but still seemed to be freezing.
Another sign she was in no condition to be going back to work.

He set the tray
on top of her dresser out of the way and turned back to her. “Anything you
want. We’ve got the whole day ahead of us.”

“Don’t you have
to be anywhere today?”

“Nope. I’m all
yours.”

“Lucky me,” she
said flippantly, but the words lacked her usual bite. “And lucky you. I guess
you’re getting your second date after all.”

“I have to tell
you, taking care of a sick woman isn’t my idea of a good time.”

“Nobody asked
you to stay.”

“I know. You
probably would have rather keeled over than asked for help. It’s a good thing
for you I have an overdeveloped sense of responsibility.”

“Obviously.”

“At least this
should prove that I’m not only interested in you for sex.”

“Or else you’re
nursing me back to health so you can get some.”

“Trust me, babe.
Looking at you right now, it’s kind of hard to believe I ever found you sexy.”

“Hey!” For a
second, he thought she was going to chuck one of her pillows at him. “I’d like
to know how great you look when you get sick.”

“Stick around
long enough and I’m sure you’ll find out.”

The fire in her
eyes dimmed, and he could almost see her gathering her defenses against him. “I
don’t think so.” She lifted her head, her manner more reserved. “Why did you
come over last night anyway?”

“I hadn’t heard
from you for a few days.”

“Some people
would take the hint.”

“I never was any
good at that.”

“I noticed,” she
said pointedly. “We had our date, we had some fun. Unless you want to go back
to the way things were, that’s it.”

“I don’t think
it has to be.”

“It does,” she
said firmly, her voice packing an edge of steel.

“We’ll see.
Anyway, I came to give you this.” He tugged a worn envelope out of his back
pocket and set it on the dresser next to her breakfast tray.

“What is it?”

“A letter. I
wrote it before I left last time. It would have been delivered to you if I
hadn’t made it back.”

She flinched.
“You wrote me a letter in case of your death?”

“I figured you
could use a heads-up that I wasn’t going to make it to our usual get-together
so you weren’t waiting for it.”

“But those
letters are supposed to go to someone close to you, your family—”

“I don’t have
any family. You’re just about the only person I could think of who’d care if I
got killed.”

“I’m sure that’s
not true.”

“You wouldn’t
care?”

“Yes, I’d care.”

She said it
immediately, without hesitation, as though it were obvious. Bobby couldn’t deny
the sense of satisfaction that hit him hearing the words. “Glad to hear it.”

“But I’m sure
I’m not the only one.”

“Maybe not. But
you’re the only one I felt like writing a letter to.”

She gave a tight
shake of her head. “I don’t want it. Take it back. I don’t know why you’re even
giving it to me anyway. Obviously you didn’t die. You’re standing right here
being a pain in my ass.”

“I don’t know
what else to do with it. I wrote it to you. It seems only right that I give it
to you to read.”

“No, thanks.
Keep your death letters to yourself. I don’t even like thinking about it.”

“I’ll leave it
here and you can do what you want with it. Read it, don’t read it. Whatever.
It’s your letter.”

She pointedly
looked away from it, but it wasn’t long before he saw her head slowly turning
in its direction before snapping forward again. He didn’t let his satisfaction
show. She might really not want to read it, but she was too curious to be able
to avoid it forever.

This seemed like
a good time to give her a chance to stew over that for a while. He picked up
the tablet he’d left on the chair and handed it to her. “Here. Find something
to occupy yourself if you’re up to it. I’ll take the tray back, and then we can
figure out what to do with the day.”

“Okay,” she
said, reaching a hand from beneath the blankets toward the device.

He retrieved the
tray and headed out of the room. There was another mirror next to the door, and
just before he moved through it, he saw her staring at the letter propped
against a jewelry box on the dresser.

Hiding a grin,
he strode out of the room.

IT TOOK NINA
ABOUT five seconds to realize she was in no shape to look at the tablet. The
act of trying to focus on the screen was too much of a strain, and she barely
felt strong enough to hold it up. She quickly gave up, letting the device drop
onto the covers.

That was how
Bobby found her when he came back what seemed like an eternity later.

“No luck, huh?”

She gave a small
shake of her head.

“Anything else
you feel up for?”

“I have some
ideas, but I wouldn’t want you to catch what I’ve got.”

It was his turn
to shake his head. “You think you have the energy for that?”

“That sounds a
lot more fun.”

“I’m sure it
would be, but you need to rest. I saw some DVDs on a shelf out in the living
room. You up for watching a movie?”

Staring blankly
at a TV screen seemed like all she was up for today. Of course, the TV was also
in the living room, meaning she was going to have to get up again. “Sure,” she said,
shoving the blankets aside. Every motion of her arms and legs sent a painful
jolt through her body. “Go ahead and pick something. Just give me a minute.”

He was back at
the bedside before half the words left her mouth. “You’re probably going to
give me hell for this, but I’m going to do it anyway.”

Then she was in
his arms. He lifted her right out of the bed as though she weighed nothing. It
wasn’t like this was the first time he’d ever carried her, although usually he
was depositing her into the bed instead of taking her out of it. His arms were
a cradle of strength surrounding her, making her feel completely safe. She
braced a hand against his chest, the gesture automatic. Even when she had a
chance to think about it, she didn’t pull it away. He felt so warm and solid
beneath her fingers. In her weakened state, she couldn’t muster the strength to
fight off the effect of that touch.