Her mouth hovered dangerously, easily close to his. Sliding his arm around her waist, hauling her into him suddenly seemed the most natural thing in the world to do. “You’re welcome,” he whispered—and dragged himself from the brink of sure disaster only at the sound of the examining room door sliding into the wall and the nurse stepping into the room.
“Sorry,” the nurse said, clearly amused.
“Not necessary,” Jeth said quickly. He stepped to the door. “How ’bout I go settle up out front while you finish in here?”
He didn’t wait for Allyn’s response before he left.
“Big baby,” Allyn said affectionately for the nurse’s benefit as well as to cover her own confusion. Gee, holy crikey. She’d kissed him again. She’d practically invited him to kiss her. What on earth was going on inside her today? “Can’t stand the sight of needles near his son.”
The nurse grinned. “It’s always the strongest-looking dads who go weak when their kids get sick.”
“Weak is not quite the way I’d describe him,” Allyn managed to mutter before her attention was switched irrevocably to Sasha, who started to scream at the sight of the needle.
It wasn’t the first time Allyn discovered exactly how strong short humans could be—especially short humans who were only half-awake. She’d been so fortunate as to help Becky take her toddlers to the pediatrician on more than one occasion. She hadn’t been crazy about the results then, but this was the first time she’d ever really felt the child’s fear on a personal level. Nails on a blackboard didn’t begin to describe a toddler’s shrieks on the willies-down-the-spine scale.
Maybe it helped if you weren’t their primary caretaker.
Still, she survived, and so did Sasha. As a matter of fact, although he was still sobbing, sniffling and clinging to Allyn for dear life, by the time they left he was also awake enough to accept a red sucker from Jeth who’d managed to find a basketful at the admitting desk. Jeth had a purple sucker tucked into the corner of his mouth. The one he offered Allyn was green. She crooked an incredulous brow at him.
“I don’t believe you,” she said. “You’re supposed to be on the run from everybody in the world, but you stop for a sucker?”
He pulled the lollipop out of his mouth and shrugged. “Got a sweet tooth, what can I say?” He waggled the candy at Sasha. “Whaddya think, huh, kiddo? Good, huh?”
Sasha buried his face in Allyn’s neck and drooled red into the fabric of her shirt. She rolled her eyes at Jeth and gave him an exaggerated, “Thank you sooo much.”
Jeth grinned and swept her a bow. “My pleasure,” he drawled, and it really was. Because for all that Sasha clung to her, it was Jeth who’d found the youngster something he’d eat.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.