as he took my nearly empty bottle of water, strode to the fridge, and brought me back a fresh one, along with another bottle of something that looked familiar.
He screwed the cap off and handed me the mystery container along with a couple of pills that he pulled out of his front pocket. “Breakfast,” he stated in a rough voice.
I wrinkled my nose as I took a good look at the liquid nutritional supplement. I’d tried it before, and it was nasty. Mac had needed them when he’d gotten sick, and he’d loved them so much that I’d taken a tiny swig of his once just to see what he liked about it. “This stuff is horrible,” I said as I made a face. “Even if it is supposedly chocolate flavored, it doesn’t taste very good. I’d much prefer some of that coffee I smell.”
I had no problem with taking the pills he’d given me. He hadn’t risked his own life only to poison me hours later, but I hated the nutritional supplement.
Not only did it not taste good, but it brought back some very bad memories during my last year with Mac.
Hudson leaned his ass on the short, built-in dresser only a foot or two away from the bed, his coffee back in his hand, as he shot me a warning glance. “Drink it, and take the damn pills,” he insisted. “Doctor’s orders. Since you’ve had no solid food for a long time, we’re starting with that.”
I lifted a brow. “I suppose that means the big, medium-rare steak, and the really huge loaded baked potato I’m craving is a no-go?”
He nodded, a small smile on his sensual lips. “For now. But I’ll let you have a very small amount of coffee if you down those. We’ll see how it goes. I know you’re starving, Taylor, but you’ll have to take a raincheck on the steak dinner. I promise that you’ll get it, and anything else you want once you can handle it.”
He was right, of course. My digestive system needed to restart before I fed it an entire pizza, a steak dinner, any of the other things I was madly craving.
“I’m going to hold you to that, and I take my coffee with cream, no sugar,” I said matter-of-factly, and then popped the pills in my mouth, and tipped the container up.
I’d learned that the best way to get something done that I didn’t want to do was to plow right through it. The pills went down awkwardly, and I drank until the liquid was gone, and the container was empty. My throat was still sore, and it wasn’t easy to swallow, but there was no sense in prolonging something unpleasant.
“Here,” I said, holding out the drained container to him. “It’s gone. Where’s the coffee?”
Hudson looked amused as he obligingly took it without a word, and left the room.
He came back moments later and handed me the smallest cup I’d ever seen. It looked even tinier than an expresso mug. Honestly, it was probably more suitable for a doll than a human. “When you said small, you really meant it,” I grumbled right before I caught the aroma of the contents.
I held it up to my nose, closed my eyes, and just took one long breath after another. I felt my eyes water with happy tears that were threatening to fall, but I blinked them back.
A few days ago, I thought I’d never catch a whiff of good, freshly made coffee again.
Now, I savored every damn second that I could relish the scent.
“Are you planning on drinking that, or snorting it?” Hudson asked, sounding entertained by my actions.
I opened my eyes slowly. “I didn’t think I’d ever smell good coffee again,” I informed him. “I’m taking my time.”
“So you demolish the unpleasant stuff in seconds, and take forever when you like something?” he asked, like he was trying to figure me out.
I raised an eyebrow as I lowered the coffee to my mouth. “Life is a whole lot better when you approach it that way, and I’m a coffee lover. What can I say?”
I started to enjoy the tiny amount of coffee as he said, “Do you want to talk about what happened, Taylor?”
I got exactly three sips from the miniature cup before it was gone.
My hand shook just a little as I finished the last drop in the cup, set it on the bedside table, and grabbed the water.