Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77730 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77730 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
“Lily?” he barely said, his voice sounding as if he hadn’t spoken a word in years. “What are you doing here?”
He swayed some, and I quickly reached for him.
“Whoa, Maverick, you’re about to fall. Come on, let’s get you to bed.”
He mumbled something under his breath that I couldn’t understand, but he allowed me to help him down the hall and into the bedroom. There wasn’t much in the way of furniture, and everything was very tidy. A king-size bed, a dresser, a TV. In the corner was an oversized chair and ottoman positioned to see the bed and the impressive view out the large sliding-glass doors if you were sitting in it. There was a small deck, but I’d never personally spent time on it.
Maverick all but fell onto the bed. He rolled over and moaned as he pulled, or attempted to pull, the covers over him. I reached down and felt his forehead and gasped.
“You’re burning up.”
“S’okay, Lily. I’m okay.”
Frowning, I shook my head. “Maverick, you have a fever. Do you have something to take your temperature with?”
When he didn’t answer me, I looked around and found a thermometer on the side table next to his bed. Clearly, he’d either taken his temp already or planned to. Grabbing it, I prompted him to open his mouth.
“Here, can you hold this in your mouth for just a few minutes?”
He weakly opened his mouth, and I slipped it under his tongue. It must have been a fast-read one because it wasn’t long before it beeped.
My eyes nearly popped out of my head. “A hundred and three point five. Oh my God.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“You will not be fine, Maverick! You have a fever of almost a hundred and four. We need to get you into a lukewarm bath. I’ll get the bath going, then we’ll need to get you out of these pants.”
His eyes shot open at that, and he stared at me. “Excuse me?”
“You need to soak in a lukewarm bath to get the fever down.”
He shook his head slightly. “No,” he muttered. “Not appropriate.”
Rolling my eyes, I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and called my father.
“Hey, sweetheart, what’s going on?”
“Dad, I’m with Maverick, and he’s really sick.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“Clay said he called in sick, so I rode over to his cabin to check on him. Dad, his fever is almost a hundred and four, but he won’t let me help him get into a bath. I need your help.”
My father cursed. “I’ll be right there. In the meantime, ask if he’s taken anything like Motrin or Tylenol. Then see if you can get him to suck on some ice and drink some water. It’s important he stays hydrated.”
“Okay. Dad, if you’re still at the house, grab the beef bones Mom has in the freezer.”
“Why?”
“Bone broth is really good for you when you’re sick. Just ask Mom for them, please.”
“Okay, give me a few, and I’ll be there.”
Hitting End, I placed my hand back on Maverick’s forehead. He was asleep and breathing steady, which was a good sign. I pulled the covers off him but left the sheet, before I quickly made my way out of the room.
The cabin wasn’t big, by any means, but it was cozy. There was a pretty good-size kitchen with everything you needed to cook a good meal. There wasn’t a table, but the island had four seats, serving as both food prep and a place to dine.
The living room had a large sectional sofa that Maverick must have bought, along with a recliner. Three large picture windows looked out over the back deck and the mountains in the distance. I was surprised to see plants scattered throughout the place. It was hard to picture a man like Maverick with a green thumb.
I stepped into the kitchen and came up short. A bowl was on the floor, broken into pieces.
“That explains the sound of glass breaking,” I said as I searched for the broom. After quickly cleaning that up, I filled two cups with ice and added water to one. I also filled a bowl with ice water before making my way to the only bathroom across the hall from Maverick’s bedroom.
I paused. Had Maverick redone the bathroom? I didn’t remember the large soaker tub or the walk-in shower with a huge showerhead.
An image of a naked Maverick popped into my mind, and I nearly dropped the two cups and bowl. I shook away the visual. “The man is sick, for goodness sake, Lily Shaw. Get it together!”
I set one cup on the counter and opened the medicine cabinet. It felt wrong to be looking through his stuff, but hardly anything was in it. Some Tylenol, Motrin, first-aid items, and a prescription for something. I wasn’t about to look and see what it was. I grabbed the two bottles of pain medicine, then a washcloth, and I rushed back to the bedroom.