Even the chatter is nauseating. My grandma laughs about something, and my grandpa says the words “upstairs.” Footsteps approach. I pull the blankets over my head. It’s been two days since I’ve had a shower and I’ve given up on brushing my teeth. I’m a mess. There’s no other way to say it.
But Alex needed help bathing and wiping his ass. I suppose this is fair.
“I smell worse than I feel. And I feel like death,” I say when I hear the footsteps stop at my door.
They continue and the bed dips. This is so embarrassing. I want to stay hidden under these covers forever.
“Doctor, if you need anything, a thermometer, water, cold compresses, just let us know,” my grandma calls up from downstairs.
I furrow my brow. Doctor? Inching the covers down like I’m scared of the boogieman, I peek to see the doctor. “Oh my god …” I whisper.
“God, doctor, whatever you need me to be for you,” Flint grins.
I reach out a shaky hand, as if I need to make sure he’s real. He snakes an arm around my back and brings me to sitting. I wrap my arms around him. If I weren’t so dehydrated, there would be some serious tears.
“Are you taking good care of my baby and its mommy?”
I cough out a small sob, hugging him tighter. “No.” It’s the truth. Clearly he can see things are not going well.
“My baby and its mommy.” My heart may explode.
“That’s what I was afraid of.” He pulls back to look at me.
Ugh. The view is not good. I can feel it.
“Why are you here?”
He smiles, pushing my gross, matted hair out of my face. “Elle…” he leans in, pressing a kiss to my forehead as his hand cups the back of my neck “…you know why I’m here.”
“I smell.”
With his lips still pressed to my forehead, he chuckles. “Perhaps.”
“I need a shower, but I’m too weak.”
“That’s why Dr. Hopkins is here.” He stands, shrugging off his suit jacket.
“You’re wearing a suit?”
He loosens his tie. “I had to look the part.”
As crappy as I feel, I can’t help but smile. Dang! My teeth are fuzzy. So gross.
“Give me a sec …” He goes across the hall into the bathroom and starts the water.
I ease my legs over the edge of the bed, grimacing at the mix of nausea and lightheadedness overtaking my body.
“Where do you think you’re going?” He kneels on the floor in front of me and unzips a bag that bears resemblance to an old leather doctor’s bag.
“Not far,” I murmur.
“Open.” He holds out a dropper.
I shake my head.
“Open,” he says with a bit more authority.
“I will vomit it right back up on you.”
“I’ll take my chances. Now open.”
I open with a half cringe.
Yuck! “Nasty!”
He smirks. Screwing the dropper lid back onto the bottle. “Yes. Now drink.” He hands me a bottle of some sort of liquid.
My nose wrinkles again.
He sighs. “Just do what I say, okay?”
I’m not vomiting yet, so I drink the liquid. It’s like a flavored water. Not terrible.
Flint pulls up his shirt sleeve and glances at his watch. “Another dropper full in twenty minutes.” He stands and unbuttons his white shirt.
I stare at his bare torso.
He grins. “See, feeling better already.”
My gaze shoots up to his. He winks. Arrogant ass.
He neatly lays his shirt on the bed and unfastens his pants.
My gaze goes from his to the door. “What are you doing?”
“Stripping. I’m not bathing you while wearing a wool suit.”
“The door is open, what are you—”
“I’m not too worried about the two elderly people downstairs who took fifteen minutes to get to the door, or your father in his physically impaired state. Nice guy, by the way. He already complimented my suit.”
“He wrote nice suit on his whiteboard?”
“No.” He pulls off his briefs too.
Well, damn …
“He said, ‘Nice suit.’ It was a little choppy, but that’s what he said.” Flint grabs the hem to my shirt and pulls it off. “Arms around my neck, baby.”
Baby?
I lean forward and wrap my arms around his neck. He lifts my ass just enough to slide off my pajama bottoms and panties. With one easy motion, he picks me up and carries me to the bathroom, kicking the door shut behind us.
“Toilet?”
I shake my head.
He eases me to standing and gives me a frown. “You’re way too dehydrated.”
I nod.
Flint shuts off the water and steps into the bathtub. Then he helps me in before sitting down and guiding me to sit between his legs with my back to his chest. He wastes no time before washing my hair. His fingers massaging my scalp feel incredible. I’m pretty sure I hum an entire symphony.
After he gently and thoroughly washes me from head to toe, he leans back and folds me in his arms with his right hand splayed over my tummy. It covers my whole abdomen right now. “I want you.” He kisses my head.
I blink my eyes open, but I don’t respond.
“And I want this baby.” He kisses my head again.
I slide my hand over his and interlace our fingers. I don’t know how this will ever work out without huge sacrifices, but I refuse to worry about it in this moment—a moment that feels so perfect until the bathroom door opens.
“Ellen? Oh!” My grandma jumps, her hand covering her heart.
I hope it’s still beating.
“Dr. Hopkins … well, I … I just wanted to see how things were going.”
I cringe, biting my lower lip, but Flint doesn’t even flinch, not one single muscle of his flexes a centimeter.
“We’re just finishing up a round of hydrotherapy. We’ll be out in a few minutes. If you wouldn’t mind, Ellen could use some broth soup if you have any.”
“Hydrotherapy …” She nods slowly. “Broth soup … yes, I can do that.”
“Thank you.”
She eases the door shut.
I let go of his hand and slide my entire body under the water because … Kill. Me. Now. He grabs my arms and pulls me up again, handing me a towel to wipe my face.
“The most embarrassing moment of my life.”
Flint chuckles. “I thought it went quite well.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Flint
“I think brushing your teeth three times is enough.”
Leaned against the doorway to the bathroom, I watch Ellen spit out a wad of foam, gagging a bit each time. Something tells me blowjobs will be out of the picture for a long time. It’s pathetic my mind even goes there, but it does.
“Never underestimate the power of clean teeth.” She sets her toothbrush by the sink and turns toward me. “I’m weak, but I don’t feel like vomiting. That’s good, right?”
I smile, pulling her into my chest. “Never underestimate the power of herbs. But we need to get some food in you. We’ll start with broth.”
She grabs my tie as I start to step into the hallway. I’ve missed her hands on me like this. “Where’s Harrison?”