Chapter 21
S hoot.
Indie hadn’t meant to make him feel bad.
All she wanted was to go to sleep and just forget everything for a while. But her head was still thumping and the water she’d just drunk was sitting wrong in her tummy. It felt like it might come back up.
No. Nope.
She was not vomiting with cracked ribs.
“Here you are, Princess,” he said cheerfully as he walked back into the room holding a can of cold soda.
Instead of handing it straight to her, he opened it and put a straw in.
“Still not a princess you know,” she muttered before he held the straw to her mouth. There was a strange look on his face as she took a few sips. As though he was . . . hungry?
Weird.
She guessed it was dinner time. He must be hungry.
Was he leaving soon?
There was a knock on the door and rather than just hand her the can, he set it down on the small table next to her bed and walked over to answer the door.
The smell of food hit her nose, making her stomach rumble.
“You ordered burrito bowls?” she asked, her mouth watering as she saw the containers he was placing on the table by the bed.
For the first time since arriving in hospital she was hungry. Of course, the food that they served here wasn’t exactly appetizing.
“Sure did. Your favorites. Grilled chicken and veggies. No sour cream and cheese since they can be risky for pregnant women with takeout.”
“You remembered how much I love burrito bowls?” she whispered.
“Of course,” he said.
“You don’t, though,” she said.
“That’s okay, I’ll eat them.”
“But why order burrito bowls when you don’t really like them?” she asked, confused.
“Because you do.” He turned the table so it was over her lap. “And I researched it and they’re pretty safe for pregnant women to eat if prepared well. Which I emphasised to the restaurant.”
She stared down at the food and her stomach rumbled again. Loudly.
How embarrassing.
“Oh, good. You’re hungry.” He forked up some food and held it out to her. “Here you are. Or do you want me to feed it to you?”
“No, I don’t want that. I just don’t really eat takeout anymore,” she said.
But there was no reason to restrict herself anymore. Billy wasn’t there telling her what she could and couldn’t eat.
She needed to stop letting him win.
“Actually, yes, I do.” She accepted the fork and ate some beans. A noise that she didn’t think she’d ever made in her life escaped her as the taste hit her tongue.
Oh. God.
Delicious .
She quickly ate some more.
“Hey, Princess. Slow down, you don’t want to be sick,” Spencer said to her.
Oh God. What was she doing? She was making a complete fool of herself.
Suddenly, she couldn’t swallow her mouthful and she started to cough.
“Whoa, Indie! Spit it out!” Spencer held up his hand to her mouth.
Was he nuts?
Pain slashed up her side as she coughed and then inhaled, choking.
“Spit it out!” Spencer commanded.
She managed to spit the food out. She coughed, tears streaming down her face.
Both in reaction to nearly choking and because of the pain in her side and back.
However all of that faded in comparison to the embarrassment she felt.
What an idiot.
“S-sorry,” she said, lying back.
Her head, which had started feeling better, started thumping again with stress.
“Princess, what have I said about apologizing? You don’t have to say sorry to me,” he told her as he got rid of the food she’d spat up.
He grabbed the water and held it up for her to sip from. She wrapped a shaky hand around the glass but he didn’t let go.
Probably a smart idea.
She wasn’t feeling too steady right now.
“I just spat food into your hand. Pretty sure that requires an apology.”
“Well, it doesn’t. I’m happy to have you spit food on me any time.”
There were a few beats of silence before he broke out into a wide grin. “Well, that came out sounding weird, didn’t it? ”
She surprised herself by giggling.
“Let me just clean myself up,” he told her.
Lying back, she grabbed the can of soda and took a few sips. Her stomach was still empty and she really wished she could have eaten some more before she started choking on it like a crazy person. Why had she tried stuffing it into her mouth like that?
Idiot.
“Right, let’s try this again, yeah?” Spencer said as he walked back into the room.
“I’m not hungry anymore.”
Her stomach chose that exact moment to grumble.
Typical.
Spencer waggled a finger at her. “You’re lucky I’m not one of the others or you’d likely be getting your butt spanked for lying.”
Did he really just say that?
Her butt spanked? She could feel herself growing red. “No one is spanking me.”
“Yeah? Good luck with that. Both Slade and Quaid are disciplinarians. Even Rock will spank you if he thinks you’re putting yourself in danger.”
She winced as a stab of jealousy hit her. Why was she jealous at the idea of them spanking someone else? That was ridiculous.
“Hey, are you all right? Are you in pain?” he asked. “I don’t know why that nurse can’t give you more meds. I’m going to see about moving you to a private hospital. I don’t like the level of care in this one.”
“Wait. What? I don’t need a private hospital,” she said. “Not only that but I can’t exactly afford a private hospital.”
He shot her a look. “You aren’t paying for it.”
“And I don’t need it,” she said firmly. “I think I’ll be released soon.”
Which meant making some decisions that she wasn’t quite ready for.
Should she go to Escana with Maggie? It would be safe. Reverse harem relationships were actually the norm rather than the exception. Maybe she’d find herself a few Escanaian men.
Her stomach rolled nauseously.
Or maybe she’d just stay away from men altogether.
What would she do for a job, though? She wouldn’t know anyone but Maggie and she didn’t want to be a burden to her friend.
“Hey, you look like you’re thinking too hard. All right, no private hospital unless you need to stay longer. Then we’ll discuss it.” His voice was almost stern.
“You’ve changed.”
His face turned guarded. “Is that a bad thing?”
“No. Of course not. Everyone changes.” She just wasn’t used to him being so serious. So dominant.
It was kind of sexy.
“Right. You need to eat. If you don’t want the burrito bowls, what would you like? I’ll order it.”
She blinked at him. “You don’t need to order me anything. The orderly will bring something soon.”
“Yeah, no. You’re not eating hospital crap. You need food that tastes like something and hasn’t been boiled to within an inch of its life. What would you like? Pasta? You love pasta.”
“I did.” She hadn’t had pasta in so long. “I’m fine with this, though.”
She’d force herself to eat a few bites.
A few slow, small bites so she didn’t make an idiot of herself again.
Once a night was enough, thank you very much.
“I don’t know. I don’t want you choking again.”
“I’ll be fine,” she told him. “I was just eating too fast. That’s all.”
He held up a forkful of food to her mouth.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Feeding you.”
“Spencer,” she said. “You’re not feeding me.”
“I am. You need to eat, Princess.” His face grew serious. “You are so light, I could barely feel the weight of you in my arms. And I could feel your ribs. Please.”
“I know I’m not looking my best right now. But I’ve been doing the best I can.” Tears filled her eyes. Great. Now she was getting all emotional.
“Hey, hey, look at me. You are as beautiful as ever. I’m sorry if I made you think that you aren’t.
And I know you’ve been doing the best you can.
It must have been so hard, working while you weren’t feeling well.
Worrying about whether Billy would find you.
You should have been treated like the princess you are. ”
She shook her head then rubbed her hand over her face. When was this headache going to disappear?
“And all princesses should be fed by their humble but handsome minions,” he added.
She had to smile. Humble but handsome?
“I don’t think you’ve ever been humble in your life.”
“Oh, but I am handsome? Good to know.” He winked as she rolled her eyes. “Now, do you need me to do a choo-choo train?”
“No!” she told him even though she knew he was joking.
Well, she thought he was. Sometimes with Spencer it was difficult to tell.
“No? That’s disappointing. Ah, well, I tried to do it to Rock when he was sick, but he smacked me in the face.”
“You didn’t!” she said with a grin.
As if he’d dare try to feed Rock with a choo-choo train.
“I sure did! Had a black eye for weeks. The man doesn’t pull his punches. He has no sense of whimsy or humor.”
She rolled her eyes. “You are totally full of it.”
Spencer only wished he was making that up.
Rock had a punch that could crack concrete. He hadn’t been able to see out of that eye for a few days.
But that didn’t matter because now he had someone that he could feed and fuss over. And she needed it more than that grumpy, ungrateful asshole did.
See if Spencer made him chicken noodle soup with toast cut into stars next time he was sick.
His distraction was working though, as his girl ate the food he fed her without protest. Although the noises she was making were nearly killing him.
He shifted slightly to try and ease the ache in his cock and she paused in her chewing. He’d been feeding her small bites slowly. When she’d started coughing and choking he’d nearly had a heart attack.
Some caregiver he was.
She’d said she’d been having bad morning sickness. Was it getting better?
“Shouldn’t the morning sickness be easing off by this stage?” he asked, trying to remember his sisters’ pregnancies. He had three sisters who were all older than he was. But he couldn’t remember much about what they’d gone through.
Only that they’d complained about being tired, having sore feet, and that when they’d start complaining their husbands would run in the other direction.
He wouldn’t do that with Indie.
Nope. He’d be there to make sure she sat down and put her feet up so he could rub them. He’d ensure that she got plenty of rest and wasn’t stressed about anything.