“What’s with all the meds on your dresser?”
She stilled her kisses and glanced at the dresser before laying her head back down in the crook of his arm.
“I’m sick. Well, I was. I mean, it comes and goes.”
“Sick with what?”
She shrugged. “Doctors don’t know. They’ve run several tests with no answers.”
“What do they think it is? Heart? Kidneys? They have to have an idea.”
She shrugged. “They ran a ton of tests and everything seems normal. They haven’t pinpointed the problem. The meds are just treating my symptoms which come and go. There is no rhyme or reason for them.”
He rolled her over so he was looking down at her. “Have you told your brother?”
“There’s nothing to tell. I don’t have any answers yet, and it would have just worried him. Besides, he would have come here demanding to take over and convince me to return with him. When the symptoms are bad, I have friends that take care of me and check in on me to make sure I’m good and eating and get whatever I need.”
“But it gets bad?”
“Only once. Most other times, it’s manageable.”
“What are your symptoms?”
“I get weak and get pains in my stomach to the point sometimes I can’t hold any food down. Sometimes I get dizzy and have headaches too, but I think that’s more from dehydration or lack of nutrients.”
He kissed her lips, tasting her again before he lay back down and pulled her into his arms again. “When this is over, I want my brother Dexter to look at you if you’ll let him.”
“Ah yes, do the locals still refer to him as Mr. Fix-it?”
“No locals call him that. Only you,” Ashton teased.
“Well, he did fix your arm when you fell out of the tree, and that was before he got his medical degree.”
“He’ll fix you like he fixed me,” Ashton swore, and she knew he meant it.
She nodded. “Okay.”
“Really?” he asked as if shocked.
“Really.” She smiled up at him, realizing that he’d been prepared to argue until she gave in.
“I thought I was going to have to persuade you.” He kissed her again and moved on top of her until his head disappeared beneath the sheets, rewarding her in deliciously devilish ways.
Three more times that night they made love, making up for only a fraction of the times when they’d come close when they were younger.
* * *
The morning had come and, with it, the realization that Ashton was asleep in her bed. She’d woken and slid out of bed quietly and gotten dressed. She left and walked up the sidewalk to the little store nearby, where she bought bacon and pancake mix. It had been a couple of months since she’d had someone other than herself to cook for.
The idea they had a week to play house while she got her gallery in order before flying back home made her giddy at the potential. She just needed to keep her emotions in check. There would be no lowering those walls she’d spent years erecting and falling for him again.
She could keep her emotions at arm’s length, even if she gave in with her body.
Memories of the way he’d made every fantasy come to life kept the smile lodged on her face as she nodded at the local people she knew in passing.
She paid for her items and walked back up the street to find Ashton sitting on her brownstone steps, his lips pressed in a frown. He stood as she approached.
“Five more minutes and I was calling in an APB on you.”
