to avoid causing problems, but the fact that he would put aside his own happiness to do so made her sad...and perhaps a bit angry if she was being honest.
She retrieved her e-reader from her bag and eased into bed beside him. Frowning, she came to the realization that this may be the only time she’d share a bed with Landon. Her chest ached, longing for all of the future mornings she’d wake up without him beside her. Pointless to torture yourself over this.
She couldn’t make him love her any more than she could make him feel any less responsible for Nyssa’s time on the run. Sighing, Krista powered on the reader. Maybe a happily ever after romance would soothe her. Not .
Chapter Five
S tartling awake, Krista glanced at the clock on the bedside table. Three in the morning. Then the furnace blast of heat hit her. She turned to Landon and found him drenched in sweat. Even his short, dark hair was plastered to his head. After placing her hand on his forehead, she gasped. His skin was on fire.
“This can’t be normal,” she muttered to herself as she got out of bed.
Hurrying to the bathroom, she got a hand towel, wash cloth, and the ice bucket. After rushing outside, she filled the bucket halfway with ice from the machine that was located a few feet to the left of their door, returned to the room, and added water.
She sat next to Landon and dropped both cloths in the cold water. After letting them sit for a minute in the icy bath, she wrung the hand towel out and draped it over his forehead. Then she took the washcloth and began wiping the sweat from his skin.
“Landon, can you hear me?”
When he moaned in response but didn’t open his eyes, her concern kicked up a notch. She needed to get him cooled down faster. Hurrying to the bathroom, she turned the shower on cold.
Returning to Landon, she shook him by the shoulders. “You have to get up.” When he swiped at her hands, she shook him harder. “Open your eyes and look at me, damn it!”
“Krista?” He squinted at her.
“Sit up, Landon.” She tugged at him until he complied. “Get up.”
“Too tired. Need to sleep,” his words slurred.
When he tried to lie back down, she pulled at him harder. “No. I need you.”
He frowned. “Something wrong, sugar?”
“Yes.” If this was how she had to motivate him, so be it. “I need your help with something. Please come with me.” He struggled to get up, and she led him to the shower. When she shoved him under the cold spray, he was not happy.
He tried to push past her, but she blocked his way. When he came at her again, she knew she’d have to use extreme measures. She stood on tiptoe, kissed him, and pushed him back at the same time. When the water hit her, she barely kept from screeching. She hated being cold, but soon, she realized it wasn’t so bad when she was pressed up against Landon’s heat, kissing him.
“Sorry, but you have to stay in here for a few minutes.” She snuggled against his chest and held them both under the spray.
Ten minutes later, uncontrollable shivers racked her body, and Landon felt considerably cooler. She turned the tap off and got them both a towel.
“What the hell is going on?” he whispered.
“Your fever almost boiled your brain.”
He followed her out of the bathroom, and she began yanking off her wet clothes while her teeth clattered. Once she was naked and wrapped in the towel, she realized the room was deathly silent...and that she’d just stripped naked in front of Landon.
Her mind had been too occupied with getting warm, and the logic that should have warned her not to undress in front of him had been absent...until now. She turned to find him watching her from across the room, pinning her with his dark stare.
Too late for regret and false modesty now. Swallowing past the lump in her throat and ignoring the rush of heat through her veins, she went to him.
“You need to get out of your clothes,” she said. “Are you feeling