Full Contact (Worth the Fight #2) - Sidney Halston Page 0,63

to your regular delightful disposition?” Slade teased.

“Screw you, Slade. I am so totally delightful. Jack loves me.”

“You’re lucky. I don’t even have aspirin for the killer headache I’m going to have in the morning,” Jessica said.

“That’s the best part of having an awesome fiancé,” Chrissy said, and yawned. “Jack always takes care of me,” she mumbled, and a moment later she was snoring.

Jessica couldn’t help but look at Slade, who was staring at the road, his grip tight on the steering wheel. Before she too fell asleep all she remembered thinking was, Yes, Chrissy is one lucky woman.

—

Who the hell is shining a spotlight on my face? That’s the first thing Jessica thought when she woke up the next morning. She opened one eye and then shut it again. She really needed to invest in blackout curtains. She also needed a couple of aspirins as soon as possible.

She sat up slowly, trying to recall the previous evening. There’d been alcohol and alcohol and more alcohol involved, of that she was sure. Then there’d been Slade. She remembered getting into his car, and that was about it.

She glanced down and saw that she was in her favorite T-shirt, but she didn’t remember changing into it. She looked around her room and noticed that the clothes she’d worn the night before were neatly folded over the chair in the far corner. Reaching up, she felt the tangles in her hair. She cautiously threw her legs over the side of the bed and attempted to get up, but a surge of dizziness stopped her. Then her bedroom door opened and there stood Slade, clad in only navy blue gym shorts, looking gloriously sexy.

What the hell?

Suddenly her stomach churned, and she hastily threw the covers aside and ran to the bathroom.

As she heaved over the toilet, Jessica felt warm hands reach around the back of her neck and hold her hair back.

“I’ve actually had worse hellos than this,” he teased as he rubbed her back.

At last, spent, she stood up slowly and wobbled over to the sink to brush her teeth.

“Can you hold yourself up for a minute?” he asked. She nodded, and he stepped out.

She hadn’t bothered looking at herself in the mirror before, but now she did. She had raccoon eyes, and last night’s red lipstick was smeared around her mouth. Quickly she washed her face and combed her hair as best she could. Then another wave of nausea hit. She kneeled in front of the toilet, dry heaving. She laid her head on the cold tile.

Slade returned with some water. “That bad, huh?”

“Nah, I’m good,” she said weakly. “Just such pretty tile. I need to be close to it.” She closed her eyes.

Slade laughed and handed her a glass of water and some aspirin. “Drink some water, take this, and get in a cool shower. I’m making you toast. You’ll feel better as soon as you’re out of the shower.”

“Promise?” Right now she felt like hell.

“Promise.” He smiled, and her heart melted.

—

He was back in her good graces. How could he not be? When he’d heard Chrissy talk about how Jack took care of her, something in him felt…off. Jessica looked so alone; he knew he had to take care of her. No, he wanted to. She was his woman. He’d never wanted to do much for anyone before, but something about this woman made him want to do all sorts of things that had nothing to do with sex. Well, sex too, but that wasn’t all. He took Chrissy home first and sent Jack a text telling him to hurry home because it was an ugly-drunk kinda night. Then he went to Jessica’s.

She was blitzed. He’d had those kinds of drunks on many occasions, so he knew how it felt. He stripped her of her clothes (and spent more time than he should have staring at the body he hadn’t had for too long now), and then grabbed her favorite T-shirt and slipped it on. She hadn’t even stirred. He took off the T-shirt he’d been wearing and laid next to her on the bed. Sleeping with her, even though it wasn’t at all sexual, made him sleep better than he had for the last few weeks.

Now she was in the bathroom showering. He wanted to be in there so bad. They’d had a lot of fun in that shower before they’d started playing this ridiculous friends-only game. He was lying on her bed, legs outstretched and crossed at the