Chasing Bunny

He couldn’t make her stay, and he knew that. It wasn’t a joke to him and he wasn’t used to playing this game of chasing the woman he wanted. This was the last thing he wanted to do, but he couldn’t get her out of his head, and there was no way he’d be able to wait until Monday to see her. No matter how close it was, it felt too long.

Bunny’s mouth was open. “You love me?”

“Yes, I love you, more than anything.”

She opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again, and placed her hand on her stomach. She gave him this weird look before her other hand went to her mouth, and she suddenly turned away from him and darted across the room.

Worried, he stepped into her place and closed the door, locking it behind him before going to find her bent over a toilet.

The scent of vomit was heavy in the air but that didn’t bother him. Removing his jacket, he threw it out of the room and quickly rolled up his sleeves. Wrapping her hair around his fist, he didn’t pull or tug on it, simply rubbed her back as she kept on vomiting.

“Go away. This is all my fault,” she said. “I shouldn’t have eaten so much ice cream.”

He placed a hand to her head and felt a slight temperature. Not too much, but one that made him believe this was more than ice cream.

“I don’t want you to see this,” she said.

“What? I can help you in your time of need.”

“This is more than a time of need. This is so unattractive.” She ended that with throwing up.

He kept rubbing her back. He wasn’t disgusted with her throwing up. If anything, he was happy that he was here to help her, to take care of her. This was what a real couple did. They didn’t run away from their responsibility; they took charge and took care of each other. This was exactly what he was doing now.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“It smells.”

“Still don’t care.”

“This is going to ruin the illusion of me being awesome,” she said.

He chuckled. “It’s not going to ruin anything. So you’re not feeling your best. I don’t care. It’s not like I’m going to kiss you with a vomit face.”

“Oh God, I hate this.”

She was sick a couple more times, but after the final one, she stayed over the toilet. After about ten minutes when no more sick was coming, he handed her some tissues to wipe her mouth as he cleaned the toilet.

“You know how to clean?” she asked.

“I can function rather well as a human being.”

“I meant, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you clean.”

“I don’t need to clean anything in the office. I hire cleaners to do that for me. At home, I tend to take care of myself, but I do have a cleaner who comes in once a week to clean the bulk of the apartment.”

She groaned and he stopped talking.

“Why do you have to do this?” she asked.

“Do what?”

“Do this! You know, be the good guy.” She whimpered. “You’re my boss and I don’t want to fall for you. I’m not allowed to fall for you.”

“Why not?”

“Because, that’s not what good PAs do. They’re always there and they get the job done. I always want to be the best at what I do and I can’t be the best if I’m sleeping with you.”

“You can be the best. Tell me, Bunny, us being together, did it really not mean anything?”

“You know it did. This is what makes this so hard.”

“There’s no one stopping us from being together.” He stepped away and started to run her a bath.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“You do stink so I’m running you a bath. When I’m sick I always want a bath to make myself feel refreshed. I’m also going to prove that I can take care of you, and in doing so, that I don’t need you as my PA.”

“You’re firing me?”

“No, I’m going to prove to you that we can make this work.” He wasn’t going to let Bunny get away or give her any reason to push him aside. If he had to keep on chasing her he would, especially as he now knew she wanted him.

She was afraid and to a point he got it, but he wasn’t going to let her push them aside out of fear.

14

A soft noise woke Bunny up and she blinked a few times, realizing she was in bed as she stared at her ceiling.

Last night came rushing back to her in an array of pleasure and embarrassment. On one hand, Brice had told her he loved her, and she’d told him. And on the other hand, the wine and ice cream she’d had before he’d come over had come back up … literally.