White-Hot Hack (Kate and Ian #2)(41)

He looked confused. “Isn’t the answer to that question always yes?”

“This head,” she said, sitting down on the bed and tapping his temple lightly.

“Oh. I thought you meant the other one. I bet I can still get hard.” Two seconds later he had a coughing attack, flopped back onto the pillow, and groaned. “No I can’t. Oh my God, what’s happening?”

“Easy, lover. No need to panic. You’ll be back to normal in a few days.”

“This is why I became a hacker.”

“Avoiding workplace illness is the reason you became a hacker?”

“There were a few other reasons.”

“Okay,” Kate said soothingly. “Let’s just consider your man cold the occasional collateral damage.”

“It’s tuberculosis. I looked it up.”

“It’s not tuberculosis. Trust me on this.” She picked up the ear thermometer and gently inserted it. When it beeped she checked the reading. “One hundred point five. I think you’ll live. Have you taken anything yet?”

“No.”

She shook some cold medicine that would make him drowsy into her hand, put the capsules in his mouth, and held a glass of water to his lips. Then she opened the Vicks and began rubbing his chest. “Remember when I was sick and you took care of me?”

He smiled. “You wouldn’t let me rub Vicks on your chest.”

“That’s because I didn’t know you very well. Did you really think I was going to unbutton my pajama top and let you rub me?”

“I didn’t think so, but I was still hoping.”

She rubbed his chest until his skin had absorbed the Vicks and then slipped his T-shirt back on so the ointment wouldn’t get all over the sheets. “Are you hungry?”

“Not really.”

“You want to just chill for the rest of the day? I can find something for us to watch.”

“Yeah.”

She got under the covers with him, pulled his head onto her chest, and stroked it while they watched a movie.

“That feels good. I like it almost as much as when you stroke the other one.” He sounded drowsy, and Kate didn’t think it would be long before he fell asleep.

“Why don’t you close those gorgeous green eyes of yours and take a nap?” She eased herself out from under him, kissed his forehead, and pulled the sheet up around his shoulders. “Nurse Kate will be back to check on you in a little while.”



The next morning when Kate opened her eyes, the tickle in the back of her sore throat and her aching head told her that whatever illness Ian had come down with had made its way to her. Of course it did, she thought.

Unfortunately, Ian was in no shape to attend to her. He’d been up half the night coughing and hadn’t gotten back to sleep until almost four a.m.

“Will you hand me some more of that cold medicine?” he asked. He was spooning her, and it felt like his body was made of hot, molten lava.

“It’s all gone.” Kate had discovered that when she’d taken the last two capsules around seven. “I might have some Motrin in my purse.”

“Are you sick too?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Truthfully, Kate didn’t really mind that she’d come down with whatever he had. It’s not like it was the first time she’d ever been sick, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. He sounded miserable, and Kate knew the way he felt was a pretty good preview of how she’d likely feel tomorrow when her illness progressed. The second day was always the worst. “I’ll be right back.” She went into the kitchen to get her purse, relieved to find that she did in fact have a half-full bottle of Motrin in it. She filled two tall glasses with ice water and grabbed another box of Kleenex on her way back to their bedroom.

“I love you, sweetness,” Ian said after he took the Motrin and drained his glass.

“I love you too.”

They were lying in bed, wallowing in their individual misery, when Kate heard a series of light taps on the door. “Diane? Is everything okay? Mr. Smith isn’t in his office.”

“Oh thank God, Renee is here,” Ian said.

They’d thrown back the covers and neither of them were wearing clothes, not because they were feeling the slightest bit amorous, but because they were generating a significant amount of body heat.

“Hi, Renee. Will’s in here with me. We seem to have come down with a little something and we could use a few things if it’s not too much trouble.”

“Is it okay if I come in?” she asked.

“We have to get back under the covers,” Kate whispered. “Her job duties do not include seeing us naked.”

“Technically, she’s already seen me naked.”

“Go ahead, Renee. It’s unlocked,” Kate said once they were fully covered. “Don’t come too close. I’d feel horrible if you came down with this.”

“We have tuberculosis,” Ian added. “It’s wildly contagious.”

“We do not have tuberculosis. We have mild upper respiratory infections, and we’re both going to live.”

Ian experienced a rather sudden and violent coughing attack. “Mild?”