Sighing with relief, and hoping that she could talk whoever it was at the door into running to the pharmacy and buy her some calamine lotion, she quickly headed to the door and opened it, only to frown in confusion when she met the curious gazes of two incredibly handsome men. The youngest one looked down at her, looking a little lost while the older man, an incredibly handsome older man that looked vaguely familiar, grinned hugely down at her.
“Tinkerbelle?” the younger man said, sounding unsure as she turned to glare up at him.
She opened her mouth to give him a piece of her mind when both men tilted their heads, sniffed the air and, she was pretty sure, groaned in ecstasy.
“God, something smells good,” the younger man said with a wistful smile that may have distracted her from his Tinkerbelle comment.
“Are we interrupting something?” the older man asked, sharing a look with the younger man that she couldn’t quite interpret.
“No,” she said, shaking her head as she crossed her arms in a desperate attempt to keep from scratching. “I just felt like cooking.”
“I see,” the older man said, his expression suddenly smug. “You enjoy cooking?”
“Yes,” she said, eying the two men standing in front of her. “Umm, can I help you?”
“Actually,” the younger man said, gesturing to the things covering her arms, neck and face, “we came here to help you. My name is Dr. Aidan Bradford. My brother told me that you had a reaction to a substance that you came in contact with last night.”
“Your brother?” she asked, eyes narrowing as she looked the younger man over and noted the similarities between him and her tormentor living across the hallway from her.
“Yes, he’s my brother,” Aidan said with a long-suffering sigh that had her biting back a smile and instantly liking the large man. “He’s also the one who told me that you might need some medical attention,” he explained with a charming smile that had her stepping back and gesturing for the men to come in.
With a nod and a smile, the men stepped into her apartment and followed her into the kitchen, just in time it seemed. The oven timer chimed in demand as she hurried across the kitchen and grabbed her oven mitts. She managed to shut the timer off and pull the cookies out of the oven before they burned. As she set them on the counter she caught her unexpected guests’ expressions.
Looking as though they were lost in a dream, they slowly looked around the kitchen, taking in every cookie, brownie and delicious treat that she’d spent the last seven hours cooking and…..
Was that a whimper?
Yup, definitely a whimper, she decided, biting back another smile as she gestured to the food around them. “Are you hungry?”
“Always,” the men said in unison, looking deadly serious as they continued to gaze around them.
“Help yourselves,” she said, gesturing to the food.
“Bless you,” Aidan said, reaching for a brownie only to come up empty handed when the large plate suddenly disappeared.
“You should really be looking her over,” the older man said around a large brownie as he backed away, plate of brownies lovingly cradled in his arms.
“Greedy bastard,” Aidan muttered as he, reluctantly, turned his attention away from the brownies and looked at her. “Can I see your arm?” he asked, looking close to pouting over the brownies, she assumed since he couldn’t stop himself from sending the plate in the other man’s arms a wistful glance.
“Oh, God, these are so damn good,” the older man groaned, taking another large bite.
Pleased that he was enjoying the brownie, a recipe she’d created a few years ago, she pulled up her sleeve and tried not to cringe as she showed the incredibly handsome doctor the hive thingies covering her arms. With a frown, he shifted his attention from the brownies to her arm. He gently traced the outer edge of one hive with the tips of his fingers.
“You had prolonged exposure,” he said, sighing heavily as he pulled the backpack off his shoulder and started rummaging through it.
“Is it contagious?” she whispered, throwing the food around them a nervous glance and calling herself all kinds of stupid for not considering that before she offered them any food.
“No,” Aidan said with an unconcerned shake of his head as he searched through his bag. “Tell me, did you take anything after you were exposed?”
“Benadryl,” she answered, looking down at the things on her arm with a frown, wondering if she was going to need to have them surgically removed.
“Are you allergic to anything?” he asked, pulling out a small vile of medicine.
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I just-Ouch!” she nearly shouted when he took her by surprise and jammed a needle in her bicep.
“Sorry about that, but I needed your muscles completely loose. The medicine seems to work faster if your muscles aren’t constricted as they would be if…………are you okay?” he asked, his words trailing off as he studied her, looking concerned and probably for good reason, she mused as she felt the full force of the medicine work its way through her system.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said, nodding to herself as she looked around the kitchen and wondered why she hadn’t baked anything with jelly. God, she loved jelly…..
*-*-*-*
“Help!” the scream tore him from a heavy sleep. The second scream for help had him throwing his legs over the bed. The third had him muttering a curse and racing to the door as he registered the sound of his little brother screaming for help.
“Danny!” Aidan yelled just as he stumbled to a stop in his living room. “Help us, you bastard!” Aidan demanded as Danny stood there frozen, trying to make sense of the scene before him.
His Uncle Jared was on the floor, his arms wrapped around Tinkerbelle who was squirming wildly in an attempt to get to the front door while his brother wrestled with her legs, struggling to get her to stop kicking their uncle. Tinkerbelle didn’t seem all that concerned with having two large men trying to restrain her. In fact, she didn’t really seem to notice them at all.
But, she did notice him.
As soon as she spotted him she stopped struggling, propped her head up on her hands, sighed dramatically and said, “I need to run to the store and get some jelly.”
It was at that moment when he realized that he was in for one hell of a night.
*-*-*-*
“But-”
“No,” he said firmly, rubbing the back of his neck as the small woman sitting across from him continued to glare in his direction.