She was already sitting up, and she held her hands out to take the bowl.
He shook his head, moving her over a little so that he could sit on the bed.
“You really don’t need to do this.”
“I want to do this, and you’re not going to stop me from taking care of you.”
“This wasn’t part of your deal,” she said, reminding him.
“The deal can change anytime I want. I’ve just made that a new rule.”
She chuckled. “You’ll make the rules to suit you?”
“Yes. I’m a lawyer. I know what I’m talking about.”
“How did your case go?” she asked.
He sighed. “I managed to get a deal out of thin air. Believe me, that was no easy feat.”
“I don’t doubt it was, and I also don’t doubt for a second that you got what you wanted out of the deal.”
“That is very true. I always get what I want. Never go against me in the courtroom.” He winked at her, and loved her giggle.
“I have no intention of doing that. Do you love being a lawyer?”
Daniel paused in between serving her spoonsful of soup and thinking about her question. “It pays the bills.”
“That’s not a good answer.”
“It’s a challenge most of the time, and I do enjoy it. Every single day I’m reminded how the world has good and bad people in it all the time. It probably sounds childish, but I think I see the real person when they’re faced in court, and a lot of the time I don’t like what I see.”
“Do you wish you’d studied something else? Taken your life in a different direction.”
“I don’t do regrets. If I hadn’t done what I did, I may not be feeding you this soup, or enjoying our time together, and, Elizabeth, I really do enjoy fucking you.” He watched her cheeks turn a nice shade of red. “And watching you blush. I do love that. Why do you ask?”
“I’m scared of making the wrong choice. I don’t want to get ten years down the road and wish I’d picked the other thing. Teaching or being a psychologist. I don’t know. They’re both things I feel passionate about.”
He’d forgotten to talk to his two friends in those fields. “I will make arrangements for you to see both jobs from a firsthand account.”
“I’m not trying to get you to do that.”
“I know. I intended to do this a couple of days ago, but with everything on my case, I didn’t exactly have time to do it. Now I’m taking care of you, and that soup is all gone. With how pale you’ve gone, I don’t know if you’ll keep it down, but I can get more.” He set the bowl down and tucked her in. “Now I want you to relax. Don’t worry about anything.”
He took the dirty bowl back to the kitchen, cleaning it up and leaving it on the draining board.
Seconds later he heard her running feet, and the sound of her vomiting over the toilet. Daniel rushed to her side, pulling back her hair so she didn’t vomit all over it, and rubbed her back. Once she was done, he helped her clean her teeth, and then he was in the shower with her, washing her body. She held onto him as he ran the soap all over her before washing out her hair.
After he’d done that, he dried and dressed her, brushing her hair before placing her back into the warm sheets.
Ordering more soup for delivery, he lay by her side, and didn’t go anywhere, taking care of her the only way he knew how to do.
Chapter Six
Two days later
“I’m dying,” Daniel said.
Elizabeth put her bag and jacket down on the table, and moved toward Daniel. He’d called her an hour ago, and told her how sick he was. Clearly, when he was taking care of her the sickness had spread to him, and he looked awful. Placing her hand on his forehead, she winced at how hot he was.
“You’re burning up.”
“I feel like I’m dying.”
“How long have you been like this?” she asked. It was a little past two in the afternoon, and she’d cut classes as soon as she got his call.
“When I woke. I wasn’t this bad, so I went in. I figured a few painkillers would ease it all.”
Helping him up, she tried to support him and wished she was a little stronger. “Let’s get you back to bed.”
“You didn’t need to come. I was just letting you know that I couldn’t please you tonight.”
“I’m not a sex-starved woman, Daniel. Besides, you took care of me, and now I get to take care of you. Where’s your bedroom? You’ve got a lot of doors.”
He laughed. “My place makes yours seem like a little box. I say that without any offense at all.”
She smiled. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that my place is very small.”