Page 99 of Some Kinda Romance

Reaching for the hem of my shirt, I teased it up a few inches, swaying my hips and holding his gaze with my own. He leaned forward, watching me intently, but before I could even take my shirt off, I felt like a fish hook had caught the back of my belly button.

I felt the blood draining from my cheeks as nausea swirled through me in the wake of the yank. Then I spun around, ran to the adjoining bathroom, and slammed the door behind me. Dropping to my knees when I reached the toilet, I barely made it in time before my dinner made a reappearance.

“Serenity,” he called softly through the door. “Are you okay? What’s going on?”

“I think I have food poisoning,” I responded weakly just before another jerk of my stomach left me feeling ice cold.

We hadn’t really had much to drink, so something I’d eaten had to be the culprit. As I heaved again, it dawned on me what this meant. I’d be sick for hours and we only had one night here. I’d been so ready to spend the whole night crawling all over him, and instead, I’d ruined the darn trip.

So mad that it brought tears to my eyes, I settled in for the long haul, sitting down on my butt on the cool tiles and staying within spitting distance of the toilet. Dash came in a few minutes later, carrying a glass of water and some tablets that he said would help. Then he held my hair back all night while I wished I could just die and get it over with.

“I’m so sorry,” I moaned eventually when there was a bit of a break. Resting my head against his shoulder where he sat next to me on the floor, I was mortified that he was seeing me like this. “I know this isn’t exactly the night we had planned.”

He smiled. “I still get to spend the night with you.”

“I feel bad though.”

“It’s not your fault, baby,” he murmured against my temple, his eyes dark with concern when he pulled back to look into mine. “Do you think it was the seafood?”

I shrugged one shoulder. It was the most I could do with the last of the energy I had. “I have no idea, but you must be seriously disappointed.”

“I’m not,” he said firmly. “I’m not mad either, in case you were going to ask that next. In fact, I feel terrible. I took you to that restaurant. The reviews were amazing, but I guess we must’ve gone on a bad night.”

I reached up to place my palms on his face and shook my head. “We don’t know it was that. Don’t blame yourself.”

That was it for the talking for a while, and I was sick for hours until it finally seemed to have run its course. Exhausted, I pushed to my feet and looked around the bathroom for my toothbrush. “Damn it. I haven’t even unpacked yet.”

“I’ll grab your things,” he said, reaching into the shower and turning on the faucet. “There. Hopefully, that’ll make you feel a little better.”

As I finally stripped out of my clothes under decidedly more depressing circumstances than I’d been planning, I caught sight of the clock in the bedroom and realized that he’d taken care of me the entire freaking night. In just a few hours, the sun would be up and he hadn’t complained once.

Happy that he clearly cared about me, I dragged myself through a quick shower, beyond grateful when he handed me my shampoo, bodywash, and toothbrush. Too tired to even put on the pajamas he’d also brought to the bathroom, I barely managed to wrap the towel around myself once I was done.

Dash was there, though. He gave me one look and took over from me, drying me off before he helped me into my pajamas and then he picked me up and carried me to the bed in our suite. I felt like I’d been hit by a truck—twice.

But after he placed a gentle kiss on my forehead and tucked me in, I fell asleep with a smile on my face. Knowing I’d be sleeping next to him and especially after all the thought he’d shown me these past couple days, I was genuinely happy.

I didn’t say anything, but when he climbed into bed with me, I snuggled into his side and almost immediately dozed off. I hadn’t been one hundred percent sure of him before, but I was now. I could really see myself being with him, having seen enough to know that I had a pretty good idea of where this might be going.