Heart-Shaped Hack (8 page)

“You’re really great, you know,” she said.

“Are you just now noticing? I’m hurt, Katie. Really.” But he smiled when he said it, and Kate had to admit that for all Ian’s faults—faults he made no excuses for and that Kate realized he had no intention of ever working on—he was more than willing to compensate in other ways.

She told herself she could do a lot worse.

Ian ordered a pizza for lunch and tried to get Kate to eat some off his plate, but the thought of food repulsed her. “If you’re not going to eat, then you need to drink,” he said. “And don’t get excited, because wine is not one of the options.”

He went into the kitchen and returned with two glasses, one filled with orange juice and one with ice water. He set them down on the coffee table next to an assortment of medicine, a new box of Kleenex, and an ear thermometer.

“You seriously bought an ear thermometer?”

“Yes, and I’ve been dying to try it out. Come closer.”

Kate leaned over and Ian stuck the thermometer in her ear until it beeped.

“Just under a hundred. Could be better, but I’ll take it.”

Kate picked up the orange juice and took a sip. “You play doctor very well.”

“For the record, I play doctor a lot differently than this. If you let me rub Vicks VapoRub on your chest or give you a sponge bath, I could show you what I mean. It would be win-win, Katie.”

“Thanks, but I’ll hold off on both for now.”

“I’ll be sure to ask again later.”

Kate glanced over at his laptop. All she could see were lines of code, which made no sense to her at all. “What are you working on?”

“World domination, obviously.” He looked over at Kate and grinned. “When I’m done with that, maybe I’ll swing by Victoria’s Secret and buy you another pair of pajamas.”

Kate took another drink of her orange juice, set the glass on the coffee table, and curled up next to Ian with the blankets wrapped tightly around her. “I probably wouldn’t hate that.”

They spent the rest of the afternoon and evening that way, with Ian working and Kate not feeling well enough to do much of anything but watch daytime TV. He checked Kate’s temperature around dinnertime and discovered it had risen to one hundred and three. He gave her more Motrin, and she snuggled on the couch next to him while his fingers tapped on the keyboard. He was wearing his glasses, and Kate decided it was definitely a look she preferred. A while later someone knocked on the door.

“I ordered Thai online,” Ian said, setting his laptop on the coffee table. “Do you think you can eat something?”

She shook her head and then burrowed back into the blankets. Around ten, Ian convinced Kate to go to bed. He picked up the box of Kleenex and followed her to the bedroom, setting it down on the nightstand while she crawled underneath the covers. She ached, her head was throbbing, her chest hurt from coughing, and she could hardly hold her eyes open.

“I’ll be right back,” he said.

When he returned, he had Kate’s comforter and he covered her and made sure it was tucked in tight. The last thing she thought of was hoping Ian would turn everything off on his way out.

She slept until almost nine the next morning and awakened feeling a little better than when Ian had put her to bed, which meant she probably wasn’t going to get any worse. He’d left a glass of water and two pills on her nightstand with a note that said “Take these as soon as you wake up.” She swallowed them, aware that the ache in her body was still present but that it had lessened considerably. A hot bath would do wonders for alleviating some of the remaining pain.

In the bathroom, she poured in a generous amount of bubble bath and brushed her teeth while the tub filled.
I don’t look too horrible
, she thought as she pulled her hair into a high ponytail. Her face wasn’t quite as pale, and the hot water would pink up her cheeks a little more.

She undressed and lowered herself into a cloud of bubbles. After she soaped herself, she leaned back and sighed. Ian crept into her thoughts and she smiled. It had been a long time since a man had taken care of her like that. Stuart had hated being sick, so Kate usually quarantined herself in their spare bedroom until she got over the worst of whatever illness she’d come down with. The way Ian had swept into her apartment and taken charge, and the genuine concern he’d shown, made Kate pine for him in a way she knew was dangerous. He wasn’t the kind of man who stayed in one place too long, and she doubted any woman would ever be enough to make him want to settle down.

Kate closed her eyes and allowed herself a daydream in which she and Ian were a couple. He would walk in the door at the end of the day and kiss her senseless. Then he’d undress her right in the kitchen and carry her off to the bedroom for a round of hot, steamy sex. Afterward he’d pour them a drink and they’d eat dinner in front of the fireplace. They would cuddle and have round two on the living room floor. She felt certain Ian would be an excellent lover: Confident but not selfish. Tender but not boring. As she pictured his large, capable hands stroking her breasts, her fingers drifted toward her chest. She was still awfully worn out, but she wondered if she might possibly find the energy to touch herself while pretending it was him pleasuring her.

Ian shattered her reverie when he walked through the door of the bathroom. “Your couch is incredibly comfortable. I was sleeping so deeply I didn’t even hear you run the bath. You took the pills, I see. That’s good. You need to stay one step ahead of the fever.”

Speechless, her mouth hung open.
I am naked, and Ian is in my bathroom
.
I was contemplating touching my own breasts.

“I know you’ve alluded to my boundary issues,” he said, sitting down on the edge of the tub. “And this is probably a shining example, but I wanted to make sure you were okay. Passing out in the bathtub or shower is one of the leading causes of death while bathing. And I can’t see anything because of all the bubbles. Actually, that’s a blatant lie because I can pretty much make out your entire left nipple. The suds are a little disparate in that area.”

Frantically, Kate raked the biggest mound of bubbles—which were down by her feet and doing her no good at all—toward her chest. “Get out! Get out, get out, get out!”

He smiled and said, “I’m going. Now that I know you’re okay, I’ll just start the coffee. Please do carry on with whatever it was you were about to do.”

Once Kate had dried off and dressed in her comfiest sweats, she stomped into the living room and stood in front of Ian, who was sitting on the couch drinking coffee and typing on his laptop.

“Repeat after me: I, Ian.”

“I, Ian.”

“Will never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever walk in on Kate in the bathroom again unless specifically invited to do so.”

“Will never ever, ever—how many evers was that?”

“Ever, infinity.”

“Ever, infinity, walk in on Katie in the bathroom again unless specifically invited to do so.” Ian took a drink of his coffee. “I feel like that last part means the possibility of a future invitation exists, which is encouraging.”

He handed Kate a mug of steaming dark roast, and she sat down beside him.

When he started to speak, she held up her hand. “I have not had enough coffee to deal with you yet.”

Ian turned his attention back to his laptop and waited until Kate took the last drink from her mug.

“You know that saying, ‘Act now, apologize later?’ I’m pretty much the poster boy.”

Kate looked at Ian. “You think?”

“I’m truly sorry. Is there anything I can do to make us even?”

“Well, I’d threaten to walk in on you in the shower, but we both know how that would turn out.” Kate handed her empty mug to Ian, who wisely returned to the kitchen to refill it.

When he came back with her coffee, she said, “I thought you left after you put me to bed.”

“First of all, I can’t lock your door from the outside without a key, and there’s no way I’d let you sleep in an unsecured apartment. Second, what kind of man would leave a woman alone when she was in such rough shape? I was worried. I even checked on you in the middle of the night. You were a hot, snoring, drooling mess, but other than that you seemed okay.”

“I did tell you yesterday that I wasn’t feeling especially pretty.”

“Even when you’re sick, you’re a solid eight point five.”

“How very sweet in a completely sexist way.”

“When you’re not sick you’re an eleven.”

She took a drink of her coffee to hide her smile. Ian walked over to the fireplace, crouched down, and began stacking logs. When the fire crackled to life, Kate wished her nose wasn’t so stuffy because the wood-burning fireplace was one of the things she loved most about her apartment. The fireplace in her and Stuart’s apartment had been gas, but in Kate’s opinion nothing compared to the real thing.

Ian stood up and brushed his hands together. “Who were you thinking about in the bathtub, Katie?” he asked, coming over to stand in front of her.

“How can you be so sure I was thinking of someone?”

“Your left nipple was noticeably erect, the image of which is now burned into my brain. Therefore I deduced there might have been a man on your mind.”

Her body temperature spiked suddenly, and it had nothing to do with a fever. “A girl needs to be able to keep some secrets from you.”

“Well, he’s a lucky man, whoever he is.” He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead.

“I said no kissing!”

“Oh, relax. I’m going home to shower and pick up some food. Don’t get off this couch.” He jingled his car keys, threw on his coat, and said, “Back soon.”

He returned an hour later, hair damp, wearing sweatpants and a long-sleeve T-shirt, which made him look especially cuddly to Kate. He was holding two large carryout bags. The sky had darkened even though it was only half past noon, and large white flakes were swirling through the air.

“First snowfall,” Kate said. “We’re supposed to get six inches.”

“I heard,” he said. “It’s getting slick already. I have
got
to get the Shelby into storage.” He set the bags on the kitchen counter. “Hungry?”

It had been over twenty-four hours since she’d eaten anything, and her stomach had started to rumble, which she took as a positive sign. “Yes.”

Ian threw another log on the fire and gave it a poke before disappearing back into the kitchen. The clinking of silverware and dishes followed, and he returned with two plates on which sat a grilled cheese sandwich and a cup of chicken noodle soup.

“This is perfect,” Kate said, taking one of the plates from him. “It’s actually the only thing that sounds good to me.”

“I thought it might. There’s plenty more to heat up for dinner later. I brought a few other things too, in case you want something different. And just so you know, it’s not exactly what I’d envisioned, but I’m still going to consider this our third date.” He ducked back into the kitchen for a glass of orange juice for Kate and a Coke for himself.

“What did you have planned for us?” she asked.

“I’d made three reservations: seafood, steakhouse, Mexican. When I went to the food pantry yesterday morning, I was going to ask what you preferred. Then after dinner we were going to see a movie—one of those romantic comedies you like so much. On our way home we’d stop for drinks or dessert—your choice. Naturally you’d choose drinks, and I’d ply you with chardonnay in a halfhearted attempt to convince you to change your mind about what might happen at the end of our third date.”

“I wouldn’t have changed my mind, but that sounds like a great date. I’m sad it didn’t happen.”

“That’s okay. We’ll go as soon as you’re feeling better.”

The gently falling snow and the fire’s glow made the room feel extra cozy. Kate sighed with pleasure. When they were done eating, she looked over at Ian and smiled. “You really are a superhero,” she said. “I feel much better.”

He pressed the back of his hand to her forehead. “I don’t need that fancy ear thermometer to know your fever’s gone, at least for now.” He took their plates into the kitchen. When he returned, he had a phone in his hand.

“I brought you something.”

Confused, Kate took the phone from Ian’s outstretched hand. “I already have a cell.”

“I only want you to call me from this one. My number is already programmed in.”

“Will this ping the Batcave?” She kept her tone light, but she knew this signified a turning point in their relationship.

He smiled. “It will ping me, and I will always answer you.”

Kate examined the phone. It looked like a smartphone, but it was stripped-down and very basic with no noticeable bells and whistles.

“It’s got data and a halfway-decent camera,” Ian said. “I can track it and wipe it remotely if you lose it or it gets stolen.”

“It’s disposable, isn’t it?”

His smile faded and his expression turned serious. “Only because I’m overly cautious.”

“It’s okay.”

“It’s just that if you’re sick or you need anything, I want you to be able to get ahold of me.”

Kate nodded. “Ian, I understand.” She had come to the realization that being with Ian meant accepting him on his terms, and for now she was willing to do that. She was starting to suspect there might come a day when she’d have to reevaluate and make a choice.

“You were right. If I wanted to reach you, I could have called. Next time I will.”

She slid the phone into the pocket of her sweatpants and motioned toward the window. “Looks like it’s really coming down out there. You should stay here again tonight. I’d hate for you to be out driving in this. The kissing ban is still firmly in place though.”

“You don’t know how much I’m looking forward to that being lifted.”

“Me too, Ian. Me too.”

Kate’s fever came back that night, shortly after they finished eating dinner. She’d started shivering and her head throbbed. Ian watched as she reached for the bottle of Motrin on the coffee table, and as soon as she swallowed the pills, he pulled her toward him and stuck the thermometer in her ear.

“One hundred and two,” he said. “At least it’s not as high as yesterday.” After wrapping her in a blanket, he pulled her head into his lap, stroking it the way he had the day before. His large, warm palm skimmed softly across her temple and she sighed.