“Holly, I don’t argue. You are taking tomorrow off. If you need another pill then you can take it, but you will keep your ass in bed if I have to tie you down.”
Fuck, it’s really annoying how hot him ordering me around makes me. Besides, it was his way of being helpful and trying to take care of me. “Okay for tomorrow, but if I feel better at the end of the day, no more cleaners.”
“Sweetheart, I’m not negotiating with your health. You’ll do what I say or I’ll punish you. Remember last time?”
Hell yes, I remember last time. “Fine, bossy asshole.” I mutter as I eat my soup.
“Good girl.” His eyes are already back on his computer.
It’s nice, the two of us just in bed together. He’s working, I’m playing around on the internet on my tablet, reading a few law blogs to feel like I wasn’t an idiot around Ethan.
I’m drooping when he gets up. “Bed time, Holly. Put on your dad’s Marine shirt, it always reminds me of pissing off a Marine.”
I get ready for bed and follow his instructions. Sleep comes easily, with his arms around me.
****
The next morning I manage to sleep through his alarm only to wake as Ethan is dressing. All I can get out is a moan, he’s at my side in an instant. I want to roll over and press my whole body into the soft bed. “Another pill, sweetheart?”
Talking is hard, it only turns into a moan. He’s gone, then back quickly with a slice of buttered bread and bottle of water. Carefully, he turns me over, holding me while I eat. “Just as bad as yesterday?”
“Yeah, I’ve never hurt like this. Before it was some painful stomach cramps that an over-the-counter helped me through. Now I feel like I pissed Muhammad Ali off and he’s taking it out on my lower abdomen. Also, my breast pain is off the charts. Maybe the shot wasn’t the way to go.” I finish the bread, Ethan hands me the pill. I gulp it down along with the last of the water bottle. “I hate to admit, but you’re right. Thank you for calling someone in today, because I barely want to get out of bed to pee.”
He takes me into his arms. “Just rest today. You’re only to get out of bed to use the bathroom and fix yourself something to eat. There’s still more soup, but if you don’t want it, remember, there’s a list of menus from dozens of places that will deliver. I have to go to work. Rest.”
“Yes, lord and master Bishop.” I lay down on his pillow, inhaling the scent of him.
“Good girl.” A last kiss on my forehead and he’s gone. The moment he’s gone, I miss him. I’m even more certain than before that I love him and he feels the same. For the first time since I realized it, I’m optimistic it might not go all to hell.
Chapter Twenty Six
I get to the office and ask Opal to call in a delivery for a breakfast plate from a local diner. I’m relieved to know I left Holly on her way to feeling better. Seeing her in pain has me twisted up in knots. At first, I’d been nearly paralyzed by the helplessness of it all. When she told me she’d already taken pain relievers and they hadn't helped, I’d actually considered rushing her to the emergency room. Until I realized I might be overreacting.
Then she told me she thought I wouldn’t want her in my bed because she couldn’t have sex. I’d wanted to spank her ass, it pissed me off so much. I’ve grown to need her in bed with me, sex or no sex. Hell, we’ve fallen asleep without having sex more than a few times. Although we usually started the day with slow, sleepy sex, or Holly waking me in the best way possible. There were times she managed to get out of my arms, in the middle of the night. She had complained I let off enough heat sometimes she got sweaty. Because of that, I would allow her some space, simply knowing she was within arms distance soothed me enough to get back to sleep.
I’d felt like an asshole, because even with her in pain as she was wrapped around me, I was hard as a rock for her. I’m still trying to ignore the way her in pain affected me. If I didn’t, then I would have to think about other feelings she brought up in me. Like the moment I figured out she had lost weight, and been sure she was doing it for me. The feeling of being gutted at her trying to change for me was immense. No, I didn’t want her to change, to worry about the calories she ate, to turn into a salad-only eater, to become one of those women I had been with before I met her, not for me.
When she finally got me to listen, I saw the truth in her eyes. The relief coursed through me making me weak. Holly wasn’t trying to change to please me, her health wouldn’t be in jeopardy over liquid diets and cleanses. She had lost the weight slowly. It wasn’t a huge change. She liked herself as she was. For me, my new idea of perfection was Holly, just Holly, in whatever form she took. If she lost weight, I would miss her heavy, round breasts, the ripe curve of her ass, and gentle swell of her stomach where my hand always found its place as I held her close at night. Her body had been what I wanted even as she was nothing like my previous partners. It was her curves that kept me up at night, hard for her, yet if she changed, I would adjust because her body was no longer her main attraction. Holly’s appeal was the way she laughed, the way her eyes shone with her thoughts and emotions, the way her skin felt against mine. My new idea of perfection was no longer the shape of a body but the way Holly whispered my name, the taste of her kiss, the way she loved me without saying a word.
***
I work through lunch to catch up on work from yesterday. It isn’t long before I’m back on schedule. Checking the time, I see it’s a little after three and give in to my need to speak to Holly. She sounds drowsy, fuck, I hope I didn’t wake her. “Hey, sweetheart, I wanted to see how you were doing. Did I wake you? I’m sorry.”
“No, you didn’t wake me. I took a really nice, long nap and woke up a half hour ago, I’m just reading a boring book. Thank you for asking that the cleaners not use chemicals. They were nice, they left a little bit ago. One of them was even nice enough to warm up my soup for me. I’m actually getting hungry now, and trying to decide what sounds good. I’m okay, more or less. I’ve been trying not give in and take another pill but I think I will.”
“Sweetheart, don’t tough it out. There’s nothing wrong with taking the pill if you need it. Remember, if you don’t feel like cooking, order out and charge it to the household card. I’m getting out early tonight, so don’t even think about cooking dinner. Text me what you want. I’ll grab it on the way home.”
“Yes, lord and master Bishop.”
“I do love hearing you say that. Rest. Text me with your dinner order around seven so I can call it in.”
“Will do. Bye.”
Amelia comes in and plops down unannounced. “You already run your background check on Richard?”
Normally, after going this long without hearing from her, I would be glad. Now I’m only annoyed. “Yeah, he came back clear. More than a few people called him the dick I already knew him to be. The job he was so proud of is something he doesn’t do a lot of himself, he has two assistants who do it. It was a payback to his father for doing the foundation a solid several years before. He’s been coasting through his whole life, he isn’t likely to change. If that’s what you want then so be it.”
“He isn’t a dick.”