Somehow it was already two-thirty, and she needed to go pick Tommy up from camp. She tried to stand, but her legs felt like they weighed nine hundred pounds… her head not too far behind.
The medicine she took had done absolutely nothing as the boulder in her nasal cavity only seemed to have grown.
While all she wanted to do was crawl to her bed and collapse on the nice warm comforter, she couldn’t. Moms didn’t get days off. They couldn’t call in sick. She needed to pick Tommy up from camp, and once he was home and had dinner, she could start on her to-do list. It would just be another late night, that was all.
She managed to push herself up and grab her keys and purse. The walk to the car felt like she was walking to the ends of the earth. When she finally got there, she used the little energy she had left to pull the door open and slide into the driver’s seat.
The chills that had been wracking her body dissolved to the hot waves of lava moving through her veins.
She ignored the sudden wave of nausea, the raging inferno creeping up her neck and the banging in her head and pulled out of the driveway.
***
Cooper waited with Tommy for Sarah to arrive while Tommy talked with the other kids. Sarah was not one to be late. If anything, she was the type of person who would show up a half hour early.
He was starting to worry and about to call her when he spotted her car pulling into the parking lot. She came to a slow stop a few feet away.
Cooper was sick of avoiding her. Sick of giving her space. Hadn’t it been long enough? If Cooper was going to get anywhere with her he needed to be accessible. This space bullshit wasn’t working, and he was over it.
As he approached the car he was surprised to see Sarah resting her head on the steering wheel.
He tapped gently on the window, and she lifted her head like it weighed way more than it should. She hit the button, and he waited for the window to lower.
“Hi,” she said, her voice scratchy and harsh.
“Are you okay?” he asked, noticing her pale skin with a fresh gleam of perspiration. Her usual beautiful dark brown eyes were sunken and glossy.
She inhaled a deep breath that caused her to cough uncontrollably for a few moments. When she finally stopped, she looked at him obviously trying to be as convincing as possible that she was okay, but failing terribly. “I will be.”
“You don’t look too good.”
“Thanks,” she said with her usual aloofness, but it was weak, exposing a hint of her vulnerability.
He lifted his aviators and winked. “Any time.”
Tommy waved goodbye to the group of kids and ran for the car, arms flailing like the excited seven-year-old he was. He hopped in the car, slamming the door with a loud bang. Sarah winced, reaching for her head and rubbing circles at her temple.
“Hey, sweetie. How was your day?” she asked, and Cooper admired her dedication to her son. Despite how horrible she looked—and must have felt—she still showed him kindness and affection.
“It was great! Cooper taught us about animal tracks and how to know how long it’s been since an animal has been there so when you’re in the woods alone you know if it’s safe or not. Did you know Cooper went to Africa and saw lions and elephants and zebras?” She glanced at Cooper for a second, and he shrugged. Tommy continued, but Cooper could see the struggle in Sarah to focus on what he was saying.
“We should go,” she finally said. It was as if she was in slow motion as she reached for the shifter. He couldn’t let her drive away. Not like this. If something happened to her or Tommy he’d never forgive himself.
He opened the door, and Sarah turned to him, surprise in her dark eyes. “What are you doing?”
“You’re not driving,” he stated.
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“I’m not. You are. Tommy get your seat belt on. I’m driving you guys home. Your mom’s not feeling too good.”
Sarah stared at him with her eyebrows furrowed. “How are you going to get back?”
“I have four siblings in this town, several others by marriage, as well as my parents and grandparents. I think I’ll be able to find a ride.”
“Let me at least wipe the steering wheel down.” She leaned across the console and grabbed for a box of antiseptic wipes, making him laugh. Even sick she still felt the need to make sure everyone else was protected from germs. With a high immune system and the fact that he rarely got sick, he wrapped his arms around her and hoisted her out of the car.
“Cooper!” she cried out. “Are you crazy?”
“Depends who you ask.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re impossible.”
“Lucky for me, you’re too sick to fight back.”
She mumbled a response then rested her head against his chest, letting him carry her to the passenger seat without a single objection. He liked having her in his arms, feeling the curves of her body melding against his.
This woman was the opposite of everything he ever looked for. She was rational and structured. Reserved and proud. But beneath her control he could see a woman who needed to be set free from the restraints she put on herself. A woman who, if he wasn’t careful, he could fall in love with.
And that realization was by far scarier than any flesh hungry animal he’d ever encountered.
Chapter 12
Sarah didn’t remember the car ride home. As soon as Cooper put her in the passenger seat she completely passed out. She didn’t remember getting home or going to bed, and she definitely didn’t remember changing into pajamas.
She looked around her bedroom, completely confused. Light still sprinkled in from outside, so it couldn’t have been too late. Unless it was the next day.
Then that would mean she’d have missed Bex’s call. And what about Tommy? She had to make him dinner and prepare his lunch for tomorrow. She also meant to do laundry because he was on his last pair of clean shorts. She pushed up, but her arms were like Jell-O, and she couldn’t manage to hold her weight, collapsing against the bed in a pathetic state.
Sweat lined her brow, the temperature in the room rising by a hundred degrees. She tried so hard to fight because, sick or not, she had to show up, but she just couldn’t.
Everything in her body hurt. Muscles she didn’t even know that she had ached. The thought of standing made her stomach twist in protesting knots.
Her eyes blurred as the pain in her head throbbed with unrelenting pulses. She managed to kick the comforter off of her and curl up into a ball. She just needed five more minutes. Then she would try again.
She let her heavy eyes fall shut until the sprinkling of light slipped away, consuming her in darkness.
A touch of cold on her forehead woke her and felt like she managed to escape the fiery depths of hell and float toward heaven. She relished in the coolness that spread through her face and down her neck. She tried to open her eyes, but she didn’t have the energy to manage. Instead she pressed further into the soft cool touch that caressed her and fell back to sleep.
She dreamed of Cooper, stroking her back and assuring her she’d be okay in no time. She wanted to tell him she was fine, that she didn’t get sick, but every time she tried to speak it felt like razor blades slicing across her throat. So instead of arguing with him, she nestled in closer to his soothing strokes, letting this beautiful figment of her imagination take care of her.
Dreams turned to a world of blackness, and even though she wanted to relish in his touch, she couldn’t fight the dark cloud that pushed her into slumber.
Her shirt was soaked through when she awoke again, her forehead a dripping mess. She could feel her hair matted to her cheeks. Feel the heat exit her body, leaving her in a cold sweat that turned to uncontrollable chills that wracked her body mercilessly.
The desire to climb back under the covers and seek warmth was so strong, but the sheets were wet and cold, making her retreat to the other side of the bed in search of a clean, dry place. She found it and collapsed into t
he mattress just as a warm gentle hand came down on her back, rubbing calming strokes.
The comfort of the mattress disappeared, and she was being carried away. She had no idea where she was going, but it didn’t matter, because whatever was holding her was warm and strong.
“Tommy, where does your mom keep the sheets?” she thought she heard, but it was so far away and muffled.
She tried to hold up her hand to point toward the linen closet but only made it a couple inches before her hand fell back against her chest.
The warmth disappeared, and she wanted to cry out and pull it back, but before she could she fell back asleep.
The next time she awoke, she was no longer wet, but the cold seeped into her veins, turning her to a shivering block of ice.
“So cold.”
The bed sunk beside her and arms pulled her tight against that comforting warmth from earlier that she had missed. “Better, baby?”
“Cooper?” she managed.
“Right here. What do you need?”
“You.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“Even in my dreams you’re perfect.”
She heard his sexy laugh, and she wanted to tell him it was her dream and he didn’t get to make fun of her, but he shushed her with a sweet caress against her cheek and sleep consumed her again.
***
Cooper held Sarah in his arms. Her hands were ice cold so he pulled the blankets more firmly around them. He didn’t know what else to do. The only person he knew that had tons of experience at any of this was his own mom who he had called six times since he’d gotten Sarah home.
She told him to keep Sarah hydrated, which was impossible for someone who was basically unconscious. Then she had told him just to let her sleep it off, but when he checked on her and she was burning with fever, her body dripping with sweat, he couldn’t just leave her like that.
Luckily, Tommy was a huge help, knowing exactly where everything was and leading the way like the natural born leader he was. But Cooper was afraid of the poor kid catching whatever plague Sarah had, so after a few phone calls he managed to get in touch with Tommy’s best friend’s mother, Gina, who offered to take him.
Now it was just him and Sarah in her house. He wondered if she would be mad once she came to and realized that he took control of the situation since she was such a control freak. Even when he’d asked Tommy where the sheets were, he felt her arm move to try and point him in a direction, but she’d been too weak. Stubborn even when her body was making it impossible for her to function.
He looked down at her flushed cheeks and the bags beneath her eyes, yet she was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. If only she could believe in him enough to know just how badly he wanted to be a part of her life.
He could still travel and post pictures to his accounts, write about experiences, and keep his fans happy, but in between, instead of seeking out a new location, he could come home for long stretches of time and be with her. Be the man she needed.
In a perfect world, it was the perfect solution. But their world wasn’t perfect. It was much more complicated than that. Sarah needed a man who wasn’t going to leave for long lengths of time, and that wasn’t something he could promise her. She needed someone who would always be there for her and Tommy, who would put them above himself at all times.
Cooper didn’t think he was selfish, but he wasn’t about to pull the plug on a career that had taken him years to build. And maybe that did make him a little selfish, but he’d earned that right, hadn’t he?
His fans, while loyal, were starting to get restless, dying to know where he was going to be off to next. It had been almost a year since he came home, and he had been posting never before seen pictures from his archives but they wanted more. They lived vicariously through him and wanted the adventure to continue. That couldn’t happen if he stayed in Red Maple Falls.
He needed to go somewhere exotic that elicited that strong feeling of wanderlust, making people cling to his every photo and description as if they were experiencing it themselves. He owed that to them because without them, he was no one. They gave him the chance to follow his dreams and design a career around his passion. How could he walk away from them?
Sarah stirred in his arms, and he loosened his hold on her to give her the freedom to move as she needed. Her hand curled into his shirt, and she pulled herself closer to him, molding her body to his. He swallowed down the desire having her curves pressed flush against him did to his insides and rested his hand back on her lower back.
“You’re so warm,” she mumbled in her sleep, and he smiled at the adorableness of it.
“Go back to sleep,” he said, brushing her hair off of her face. “You need your rest.”
“What if you’re gone when I wake up?”
“I already told you that I’m not going anywhere.”
“But you will leave eventually.”
He realized she wasn’t talking about just now or in the next few weeks. She was talking about the future. She had the same thoughts even in her sick rattled mind that he himself was wrestling with.
He rubbed small circles with his thumb against her arm. “Yeah,” he said, his voice heavy with unease.
“That’s why I can’t fall in love with you.”
Even though she probably had no idea what the hell she was saying, hearing those words fall from her pretty lips were a direct hit to his heart.
It made sense—why she pushed him away and continued to push him away even when he’d tried to apologize. How she got mad every time they bumped into each other because she was probably trying so hard to avoid him.
But all her attempts at keeping him at arms-length failed because the distance made him see what he would have been too blind to have noticed if it was right in front of him. For the first time in his life, he was falling, and he was falling hard.
He smiled down at her, her eyes shut, long lashes brushing against her skin, fingers still curled around the fabric of his shirt and let the realization sink in. “I think I already have.”
Chapter 13
The next morning, Sarah woke still feeling like she was hit by a bus but able to open her eyes and pull herself up to lean against the headboard. She looked down, confused at the thin black tank top and matching pajama shorts.
Everything from the moment she pulled into the parking lot to pick up Tommy was a blur. She pressed a hand to her forehead, trying to remember the last twenty-four hours. Bits in pieces flashed into her mind, but she couldn’t decipher what was real and what was a dream.
It would have to wait; she needed to check on Tommy. The boy was self-sufficient, she had made sure of that, but he had been practically unsupervised all day and all night. She wouldn’t be surprised if she found him watching TV in his underwear surrounded by empty containers of junk food.
She went to stand, but she had given herself too much credit. As soon as she got up, the room tilted on its axis, and she stumbled back onto the bed. The boulder that had implanted itself in her sinus cavity was still there and obviously throwing off her equilibrium.
With a deep breath, she stood again, determined to get to the living room. She moved, ignoring the uncomfortable fog in her brain, and reached out for the footboard.
“Look who decided to join the living again.” Cooper’s voice floated into the room, and Sarah froze.
He was here? Oh shit. Did that mean everything she thought was a dream actually wasn’t?
She went to answer him when her legs wobbled beneath her. Before she could move or say anything, she was in Cooper’s arms. He carried her back to bed and eased her down against the mattress.
“You need to take it easy.”
“No, I need to check on Tommy and make him breakfast. And I need to get back to work. I’m so behind now. Oh my god, Bex Shepard was supposed to call me back yesterday. Did I miss her call?”
She went to sit up to search for her phone when Cooper’s hand came down on he
r shoulder and held her in place.
“I’m taking care of everything. You just need to get better.”
“What do you mean you’re taking care of everything? Where is my son?”
“I didn’t want him to get sick too so I sent him to Gina’s. I hope that’s okay.”
The panic that began to build faded. “Yeah, of course. I would have done the same thing if I could have.” She pushed her hair off her face. “What about you? Aren’t you scared of getting sick?”
He shrugged. “I wasn’t leaving you alone.”
“I would’ve been fine.”
He laughed loud, his tone mocking. “Can you ever just admit that you need help?”
“I didn’t.”
“Baby, you couldn’t even hold yourself up. Besides, how do you think you got into those clothes?”
She looked down at the black tank and matching shorts again. “You put these on me?”
“I changed you twice. The first time into something comfortable and the second time because you sweated right through the others. And don’t look at me like that. If you’ve forgotten, I’ve seen every inch of your naked body up close and personal.”
She swallowed at his words, forgetting how bad her throat hurt and causing a disgusting coughing fit.
Cooper turned to her nightstand, grabbed a bottle of water, and handed it to her. “Drink this.” She took the bottle from his hand and took a big sip, letting the cool liquid soothe the rawness in her throat. “I’ll pick up some cough drops when I go to the store later.”
She shook her head. “No, you’ve done enough. You should go.”
He ran a frustrated hand through his hair, causing the veins in his arms to bulge. “You were such a better patient when you were unconscious.”
“I wasn’t unconscious. I was just sleeping.”
“Either way, you were much easier to deal with when you couldn’t argue with me.”
Catching Cooper (Red Maple Falls, #4) Page 12
