Ruthless King (New Orleans Malones #4)

Chapter 26

26

J illy had the feeling she was in trouble.

Her bottom cheeks clenched together as Regent placed a bowl of ice cream in front of her.

Regent hadn’t been happy when she’d emerged from the bathroom after drying off her hair.

And still wearing her brown pajamas.

Jilly didn’t know why she’d decided to push him. Perhaps she’d lost any sense of self-preservation she’d had left.

Or maybe you want the spanking.

Nope. Nuh-uh.

Not that.

He was silent as he sat there and watched her eat the ice cream.

“Do you want some?” she asked.

“No.”

“Do you need to go do something?”

“Still trying to get rid of me?” he drawled, pulling out his phone.

She shrugged. Honestly, she wasn’t. It seemed like it was a waste of time, and deep down, she didn’t actually want to be on her own.

Plus, she was starting to feel like rubbish again.

And she still hadn’t gotten to speak to Jose yet.

“Can I see Jose?”

“Why?”

She sighed and set aside the bowl of ice cream with a yawn. It felt like she couldn’t get enough sleep.

Regent frowned at the bowl of ice cream. “You didn’t like it?”

“I do. I’m just tired.”

He nodded as his phone buzzed. “Time for your medicine.”

“You set an alarm for when I should take my medicine?”

“Of course. How else would you know when to take it?”

She shrugged. “I usually just take it when I remember to.”

“But you could overdose doing that.”

“Still alive and kicking, so I guess I’m doing all right.”

“And you think I should leave you to handle your own care?”

Yikes. There was a whole lot of disapproval in that stare. It made her squirm inside.

Because Jilly wasn’t actually a person who liked to displease people. She was kind of the opposite despite the way she’d acted this afternoon.

She didn’t know what had come over her. Confrontation wasn’t her thing. At all.

She found herself staring at his hands as he passed her the cold medicine.

Lord. He had big hands.

Tanned. Wide. His forearms were muscular.

Was there such a thing as forearm porn? Maybe she should look that up.

Although now probably wasn’t the time to do that.

Imagine how much of her ass he could cover with one smack of his hand . . .

“Jilly?”

“Huh?” She moved her gaze from his hand up to his face.

“You were away with the fairies, sweet girl.”

Lord.

Why did she feel like swooning when he called her ‘sweet girl’ in that tone?

She felt like a princess . . . as though she was special.

When she really wasn’t

“Sorry. Did you say something?”

“Take your medicine. You need to sleep. You’ve done far too much today,” he scolded. “How is your throat feeling?”

Scratchy and sore, if she was honest.

After taking the medicine and drinking the water he forced on her, she snuggled down into bed.

He drew the covers up over her. “Sleep.”

Jilly closed her eyes. She could hear him moving around as she was drifting off.

“Regent?” she whispered.

“Yes, baby?”

“Thanks for taking care of me.”