CHAPTER279
I wake up to Nora placing a tray of home-made soup on a table beside the bed and realize I fell asleep again, another sign that I have a virus. I move to sit up as Jake’s hands come from beside me, lifting the cushions, helping me to sit. He’s on the bed next to me on top of the covers in sweats and a T-shirt with a mountain of files scattered beside him. I guess while I slept, he’s been keeping me company and working. Jake doing what he does while he lets me relax and just enjoy the peace, it almost feels normal, like before any of this mess came between us. The movie is still playing so I mustn’t have been out for too long.
“Thank you, Nora.” I smile, looking down at the bowl of soup and plate of crusty bread served with a glass of fresh orange juice. She knows how to melt her way into my heart, the woman is a saint.
“How’re you feeling?” Jake smooths back my hair as
I pull the tray toward me. His fingers grazing my cheek
as though checking my temperature and I can feel his eyes on me.
“Too fuzzy from sleeping to know.” I smile at him over my shoulder quickly, halted by how gorgeous he looks. It makes my insides clench, part of me longing for a time before any of this happened, a time when I could turn and curl into him without any of this emotional turmoil inside.
“How long was I out?” I turn my attention back to the bowl, leaning out of bed, and taking a spoonful. The soup tastes amazing, like I’ve been starved for a week.
“About an hour and a half.” He picks up the files on his lap and shuffles them around. “The doctor said she’d be here about two hours after my call. So, eat up. She should be here soon.”
He shifts and chucks a bunch of files onto to the floor from his side of the bed. I hear them scatter as some slide across the floor. I have zero inclination to ask about
work right now. If anything, this separation has highlighted how detached and non-interested in the Carrero Corporation I’ve become, and I know deep down I’ll never go back to that job.
“I don’t think I need to see a doctor you know.” I try to start reasoning with him but the dark look on his face quietens me. He has that no-nonsense verging on yelling kind of scary look that I have no energy to handle right now.
Oh, hello, Boss Carrero; nice to see you still exist.
“Emma, whether you want to see her or not she’s coming.” He watches me eat with his penetrating gaze, causing me to lose my confidence. “You’re looking pale again.” He leans over to feel my cheek and frowns. I don’t feel hot just tired, and hungry, in fact more than hungry. This soup is the best I’ve eaten in my life. Jake sighs and he leans back pulling his warm hands away; a mixed tingling of relief and disappointment runs through me.
Jake is right, less than half an hour later the lovely Doctor Rachael Brown is shown into the room to examine me. I
tell her there’s no point evicting Jake as he’ll only linger, asking questions, at the closed door every two minutes distracting her from her job. He has an air of command oozing from him and he’s in a no-nonsense mood. He’s already hanging at the side of bed with a grim expression on his face, as though he wants to beat someone.
“Doctor.” He nods her way and watches her like a hawk.
She smiles, indulgently, and gives me a sympathetic look. I guess she’s met a few overprotective men in her career and looks like she can handle the Carreros of this world.
“So, now, how can I help here?” She smiles sweetly, her voice as smooth as honey, with one perfectly manicured hand she runs a stray copper hair back into her neat French roll. She looks more like one of Jake’s top executives than a doctor.
“She’s passed out more than once recently, this morning being the latest and she vomited when we were out earlier. Something is just off with her. I can feel it. She never gets sick.” Jake’s husky tone and narrowed gaze is almost impaling her hands. He’s watching intently as she moves a stethoscope toward me.
“You know she’s not going to stab me with it, right?” I giggle at him and watch his facial expression soften slightly. He gives me half a smile and the doctor smirks from the corner of her mouth as she encourages me to pull down the sheets so she can get to my chest and abdomen.
Jake walks over to his wardrobe and comes back with a T-shirt. I’m just wearing underwear right now, so he holds it out to me as the doctor moves behind me to listen to my back and I slide it on over my head awkwardly.
“Do you have any other symptoms or concerns?” She’s gazing at me intensely, checking my throat and glands, generally fluttering around my body while she listens to me. Her hands are surprisingly soft and warm and completely non-intrusive despite being all over me.
“I want to sleep an awful lot, constantly feel exhausted, a little weak I guess, and I’ve noticed I’m hungrier than normal.” I sigh and catch Jake’s eyes narrow even further. I know he’s accusing me of not telling him something important. It’s not like wanting more food and being crazy tired is a symptom of anything but emotional exhaustion and insomnia. So he can take that glare elsewhere! I narrow my eyes back at him and I’m met with that stubborn furrow of his brow.
“Hmm, mmm, hmmm.” The doctor pulls something from her bag, a book, and jots some things down.
“Anything else? Tender anywhere? Unusual behaviors or cravings?” She’s not looking at me but instead rummaging in her bag pulling out some bottles and vials then moving to stand.
“Um … not that I can think of.” I hate being put on
the spot when I haven’t really been paying attention to my own body. “I’ve been distracted with other things lately, so I’ve not really taken much notice of anything like that,”"
