Free Sweet Surrender by Maddie Taylor

vaguely as he turned her toward the exit, oblivious to his sister’s tactics. But Jessie heard the condescension in her tone and knew the use of the incorrect name was on purpose. Giada Trent was pure bitch; with a pedigree, but that didn’t make it less true.
    In the car, Dr. Trent emerged. “Do you get these often?”
    “No, only occasionally, I can usually sleep them off.”
    “Have you seen your doctor about them? Do you have something to take? You should really see a neurologist; have an MRI, at the very least.”
    “Excedrin Migraine does the trick most times. Really, Marc, they’re not incapacitating or anything.” He was worried and she was feeling guilty for her initial fib. As the icepick of pain wedged more sharply into her eye socket and the frontal lobe of her brain, Jessie understood the irony of bad karma. Still, she wished she’d said a stomachache rather than him imagining a brain aneurysm or a tumor. “I’m feeling better already,” she lied.
    Once they arrived at her apartment, he walked her inside and up to her room, insisting she get into bed right away. When she came out of the bathroom in her pajama shorts and a tank, he was closing the blinds to block the sunlight flooding into the room. He turned at the ping her ring made on her nightstand. Only a blind woman would have missed the slow sweep of his eyes over her body. They moved deliberately from the top of her head, over her messy hair that she’d just pulled from its clip and hadn’t bothered to brush, then ran slowly down her body to the berry pink tips of her toes. She didn’t fail to notice how they lingered for a second longer on her breasts and bare legs than anywhere else.
    “Hop into bed now; it’s an early bedtime for you. Where is the Excedrin?”
    Ordinarily, she would have bristled at his bossy ways, but coming from him, his face full of concern, she simply did as she was told. Once she was settled, she swallowed two generic tablets with the water chaser he provided. Leaving the half-empty glass on her nightstand for later, he tucked the comforter around her and leaned down, placing a tender kiss on her forehead.
    “Do you want me to stay until you fall asleep?” His hand reached out and brushed the loose curls off her forehead.
    “I’m good.” She gave him a tremulous smile. He was being so sweet, she felt worse for misleading him. “Thank you for taking care of me. I’ll be okay from here, I promise. I’ll be asleep as soon as my eyes close.” Her hand came out and cupped his cheek, the scruff of his five o’clock shadow rough against her palm.
    “Okay. I’d promise to call to check in but if you’re asleep I wouldn’t want to wake you.” His forehead creased as he thought about that. “Maybe I should stay.”
    “Please don’t. I’ll be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in the morning, you’ll see. They never last past my nap. You should go and get some rest too. You’re on call this week, so you’re gonna need it.”
    He frowned down at her, his eyes searching. At last, he nodded. As he pressed his lips lightly to her forehead, she heard and felt his whispered words brush along her skin. “ Dormi, la mia bella ragazza. ”
    “Italian is so beautiful. What does that mean?”
    “Sleep, my beautiful girl.” He smiled softly once more and was gone.
     
    * * *
     
    As she exited the chart room days later, Marc came up behind her, grabbed her hand, and hauled her down the short hall to one of the dictation alcoves. It was Tuesday and he hadn’t talked to her since he left her in bed with a migraine. He’d called with no answer and sent several text messages. A brief text Sunday evening and another the following night was all he’d gotten in return, the first saying her headache was gone and thanking him for his concern, the second saying nothing other than she was late for class and couldn’t chat.
    “You’re avoiding me, Jessie. What’s going on?”
    “I had class and a paper due in—”
    “Too