Free Bourne to Love Emma (RED-Stone Operatives Book 1) by MacKenzie K. Paxton Page B

handed me the box and the cup.  Mia was
starting to fuss inside.
                “I’ll be by later to check on both of you.  Carla
said she’d be bringing you lunch, too.  Try to get some rest.  Call me if you
need me – I should be working from home most of the day…”
                I managed to clear my throat enough to say “thank
you” before I took my breakfast back inside. 
                We laid around all morning with the television
playing cartoons.  I was getting worse instead of better, even after taking
medicine.  Mia fell asleep around 11, so I text Carla and asked if we could
have lunch for dinner so I could lie down and take a nap, too.  She said she’d
see us later, no problem.
    The afternoon was hellacious.  Mia
started to feel better – which is great but not so great for me– so she was
ready to play and run around even though her nose was leaking like a faucet and
her cheeks were flushed and chapped.  I was a zombie.  I let her eat an entire
bag of goldfish crackers and the television never turned off or left the
cartoon channel she loved. 
    Around 5pm, there was a knock at the
door.  I was lying on the couch napping in between jerking awake to be sure Mia
wasn’t trying to kill herself.  I couldn’t even force myself to get up and
answer the door.  I was bone tired and just felt horrible.
    The good news was it was Carla at the
door and she had her own key, so I didn’t have to get off the couch.  The bad
news was she had Jason with her.  Carla clucked her tongue at me and our mess
and immediately stuck Mia in her high chair for dinner.  Jason came to the
couch, slid his arms under me and picked me up.  I was appalled that he saw me
like that, but I was too sick to protest.  I leaned my cheek against his
shoulder and soaked up his strength and warmth.  I’ve been so cold.
    He set me down on my bed and rummaged
through my drawers, grabbing clean panties and pajamas.  He squatted down in
front of me and asked if I could manage to get undressed and dressed alone.  I
have no idea what expression was on my face – mortification,
helplessness…horror – but he patted me on my leg and left my room.  He sent
Carla in to help me while he kept an eye on Mia.
    Carla wrapped me in my robe and
walked me down the hall, insisting that I needed to soak in the tub and be
clean before I changed.  I agreed.  She drew my bath and helped me undress and
get in.  She used Mia’s rinse bucket to wash my hair for me and then told me to
relax and soak up the heat. 
    I dozed off and woke up when Carla
came back in to help me out of the tub.  She helped me out and I dried myself
off haphazardly before she helped me get dressed.  Then she grabbed my robe and
guided my arms through.  She picked up my brush and leave-in conditioner off
the counter and guided me back down the hall.
    Mia was yelling at the table and
Jason was trying to entertain her to keep her quiet.  His expression of relief
when he saw Carla was laughable.  All it takes to unsettle a big, bad SEAL is a
little 22 month old girl. 
    Carla sat me down on the couch and
went to help Mia get cleaned up.  Jason went back down the hall and came back
with my blow dryer.  He scooted me over so he could sit against the arm of the
couch and moved me so my back was to him but I could lean against the back of
the couch for support.  And then he brushed my hair.  After working the tangles
out, he turned the hair dryer on low and brushed it dry.  He was gentle and
comforting and I totally fell asleep while he was doing it.  He woke me up to
take medicine and then he carried me back to my bed, helped me pull my arms out
of my robe and tucked me in.  I remember him kissing me on top of my head
before I passed out.
    Thursday morning I woke up to
sunlight streaming in my bedroom windows.  Mia never sleeps that late and I
panicked and jumped out of bed.  When I jerked open my bedroom door, though,