Ashlyn nodded slightly as she continued to drink through the straw.
Finally, she pulled away and carefully lay back down.
“Good girl. That tablet’ll make you feel better soon, babe.”
“Was it cyanide? Because right about now, that sounds like it would really make me feel better.”
Slate was torn. He was happy to hear her trying to joke, but wasn’t thrilled it was a joke about dying to make her pain go away.
“No,” he told her.
“I was kidding,” she said on a sigh.
“I know. And you should know I’d never give you anything, or do anything, that would hurt you.”
“I do know. But head’s up, while I’m really glad you’re here right now, tomorrow when I’m better, I’ll probably be embarrassed.”
“No need to be embarrassed about anything. You’d take care of me if I was sick,” Slate said.
“I would,” she agreed.
“Okay then. I promised if you took the pill you could go back to sleep. I’m gonna go hang in the living room so you can do just that.”
“Thanks again for being here.”
“Nowhere I’d rather be,” Slate told her, then he leaned over and, as gently as he could, kissed her temple. “Sleep,” he whispered in a barely there tone.
Ashlyn sighed and visibly relaxed.
Backing away, Slate didn’t take his eyes off her face until he’d reached the door. He closed it behind him silently and took a deep breath. She’d be fine. She was strong. He just hated seeing her so helpless and hurting. He had the thought that he was very glad it happened when he was there, and not while he was deployed. It would tear him up to come home and realize she’d been so sick while he was gone.
But it wasn’t as if that could be helped. Soldiers and sailors missed a lot of important occasions in their families’ lives. Births of babies, sicknesses, first steps, birthdays, holidays, deaths of friends and family. But they’d made oaths to serve their country, and unfortunately, missing things back home was a part of that.
Making a vow to live for the moment even more than he already was, Slate headed back to the kitchen table. It was going to be a long night, but he wasn’t going anywhere.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Ashlyn woke up a few times in the middle of the night, but it wasn’t until the next morning that she felt she could move without extreme pain. She looked over at the nightstand and saw a plastic cup with a straw sticking out of it. She recalled Slate bringing it to her and ordering her to drink and take a pill, but not much else.
Rolling over, she sat up slowly, pleased when her head didn’t immediately begin to throb. Her mouth felt as if she’d been sucking on cotton balls all night, but amazingly, whatever she’d taken had done a good job of soothing the horrible pain.
She still felt a bit foggy headed and knew she wouldn’t be running any marathons later that day, but she felt better than she usually did after one of her headaches. She remembered the last episode, when she couldn’t get out of bed for three days. Yeah, that had been bad, but thank goodness she seemed to be past the worst of this one.
Ashlyn stood, carefully testing her balance. She needed to get her butt to a doctor soon. She might not get the headaches very often, but when she did, they were bad. Really bad. And it wasn’t smart to ignore them any longer.
Shuffling toward the bathroom, Ashlyn grabbed an oversized T-shirt on her way. She peed, then brushed her teeth, deciding a shower would be pushing things a bit too much right now. It didn’t really matter though, it wasn’t as if she was going anywhere today. She planned to hole up in her apartment and regain her equilibrium. She’d call Slate later and thank him for coming over and getting her whatever that pill was.
She also needed to let Lexie know she was good, as well as the others.
Her belly growled as she padded into the living room, heading toward the kitchen—and stopped in her tracks at the sight on her couch.
The very last thing she expected to see was Slate, sound asleep.
He looked uncomfortable as hell. He’d left the night before…hadn’t he? He said he was going to go so she could sleep…didn’t he? She’d assumed that meant he was leaving her apartment, not just her room, but apparently she was wrong.
She must’ve made some kind of noise, because Slate’s eyes popped open and immediately went to her own.
“Ash. You feel better?” he asked as he sat up, rubbing his face.
“Yeah. What are you doing here?”
“You were sick,” Slate said as he stood and stretched. He put a hand on the small of his back and bent backward. He was still wearing the Navy uniform he usually wore to work, and somehow the sight of his bare feet made the moment seem intimate.
“But my couch sucks. And you’re still wearing your uniform,” she protested.
Slate grinned and walked toward her. “It’s okay,” he said with a shrug. “I’ve definitely slept in worse places, and I’m used to sleeping in my clothes. It’s not like I get naked and comfortable while deployed,” he said. “How are you feeling this morning? For real? Does your head hurt? Your forehead isn’t all furrowed with a million wrinkles, so I’m hoping that’s a good sign.”
Ashlyn was having a hard time wrapping her head around the fact that Slate stayed to…what? Watch over her?
“Ash? What’s wrong? Talk to me,” he ordered gently.
“I…you… I can’t believe you stayed.”
“Where the hell was I going to go? Back home? No fucking way. Not while I was worried about you. Babe, I couldn’t even touch you without you flinching. You stripped off all your clothes, I’m guessing because they hurt your skin. Whispering was too loud. And your room was like a cave. You scared the shit out of me. I got up every hour to check on you last night. It took about four or five hours, but finally that pill I gave you seemed to take effect. You seemed more settled, and you’d even crawled under the covers at one point. You need to see a doctor, Ash. I can’t see you go through that again.”
Ashlyn nodded automatically. “I’d already decided this morning to call and see if I could get an appointment.”
“Good. Come on, sit while I find you something to eat.”
“I don’t know that I’m ready to eat all that much,” she warned.
Slate nodded. “I’m not surprised. But you need something. I’m gonna make you a vanilla protein shake, and maybe some applesauce.”
Ashlyn frowned in confusion. “Um, I don’t think I have either of those in my kitchen.”
“You do now. I ordered stuff and had it delivered last night.”
She was floored. “You did?”
“Yup. Along with other stuff I thought you might eat. Now sit and let me take care of you.”
Ashlyn felt as if she’d woken up in another dimension. She’d been on her own for so long, she’d gotten used to taking care of herself. And while she’d used grocery delivery herself a time or two, she wasn’t sure she would’ve thought of using it this morning. She would’ve just found something in her cabinet to tide her over until she could get to the store.