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“Dr. Kingston,” I breathed, barely. “We never do.”
“No, you don’t.” He huffed out a laugh that did the strangest things to my body. The humor hadn’t lasted on his face. “You’re not going anywhere before you tell me what’s wrong.” His lips straightened in a violent, harsh line. “Anyone’s been bullying you? That’s why you stayed behind?”
Hope blossomed and deflated in me in the span of a second. There was no way Marcus was being protective over me like someone would over his woman. I was his daughter’s best friend. Of course, he had fatherly feelings for me.
That was all there was to it. Right?
“No. No one’s bullying me.”
“Then?” His cologne carried into my nose, soothing the roiling in my belly from before. “What’s going on?”
“Um.” I hugged my chest tighter, embarrassed as hell to talk about that, even though I brushed and sucked on a mint before I came down here. “I threw up.”
I expected him to grimace with disgust. To call me a cab or offer a ride home so I wouldn’t throw up in his bathroom again.
The exact opposite happened. Marcus pressed the back of his palm to my forehead. The chill of the late November evening changed into scorching heat. I choked out a moan at the feel of his skin on mine. My whole face pinched to hide the visceral reaction.
“No fever.” He nodded firmly.
The loss of his touch hit me hard. Too hard.
But his next question hit the hardest. “Are you pregnant?”
I choked on air.
The tension in his voice didn’t bother me. The way he flat out asked that as if he had the right to discuss my ovaries wasn’t it, either.
It was the answer. My answer. I stayed a virgin by choice. No one compared to him. No. One.
I couldn’t say a thing. Worried that any word I said would lead to another.
His eyes clouded at my long silence. “Leighton.”
“Not pregnant.” I bit my lip, taking a step back into the hallway. His hand dropped from the wall, and he matched my step with one of his own. “It’s the dinner we ordered. My salad was bad. I think.”
The relief in his eyes was palpable. No wonder. Last time he’d gotten the news of a surprise pregnancy, it ended with his on again, off again girlfriend’s death.
And he cared about me. I was his daughter’s best friend. The one who hung around his house for days on end.
I had to stop being delusional and imagine there was more to it.
But it was hard when Marcus lifted a hand, careful as he peeled back my hoodie. My insides vibrated at his touch. At his penetrative gaze. No man or boy had ever looked at me as though they tried to catalog every inch of my face.
As though they were dissecting me. Considering whether to eat me or…I didn’t know. I didn’t know, and yet I loved it.
“That doesn’t sound like Rylan, to leave you behind when you’re not well.” He sounded thoughtful. He sounded delicious.
“I made her,” I said slowly, my mouth heavy as I succumbed to Marcus’s heat. “She was all dressed up and ready to go.” I didn’t add how excited she’d been for Milo to give us—and consequently her—a ride. “She didn’t want to leave me behind. She’s the best. Don’t be upset with her.”
“I’m not, I promise,” he calmed me.
It seemed like we both ran out of words. Except Marcus stayed firm in place, not looking like he was going anywhere.
“I guess I’ll be out of your way, then.” Without breaking eye contact, I placed my hands in my jeans pockets and ventured another two painful steps backward.
My back hit the corridor’s wall. Marcus’s lips twitched, and he moved forward. Once again crowding my personal space.
“You’ll do no such thing.” Slipping a hand between my back and the wall, he shifted my body effortlessly so I faced the other way, in the direction of the living room. “I’ll make you tea. I need to make sure you’re okay.”
