Good morning sunshine.

"Good morning, little filly..."

He nipped the shell of my ear, his lips hovering there, after he did.

I answered him in the most appropriate way I could manage:

"....aaatchoo!"

Yep! And it was not one of these tiny, elegant ones. It was a big one. One that sounds like you just sneezed your brain out with. It was perfectly aimed. Right into his chest.

So much for female grace on my part.

Then I croaked out something like "...morning...yeah...just a bit more sleep...few minutes...please? ...So tired..."

"Tuli?" He let his hand glide above the curve of my hip, then up over my waist and one arm until it rested on my shoulder.

"Tulip?"

"...Hmm...tired... bit longer..."

His hand moved to my forehead then "Jesus! You're burning!"

A mumbled answer from my side: " ...mmh...yes...for you...just ten more minutes..."

I made a rather fruitless attempt to curl around him and groaned as my brain seemed to swash around in my head. It hurt. 

He gently unwound my fingers off him. "None of that, hey?"

"...Shit."

"What?" He started to tuck me into the sheets, only me, not him with me.

"You don't want me to touch you anymore?"

"More than you think, but right now it seems like I've got to cope with a rather off-colored little flower..." and, as he noticed my sweaty skin "...and sooner or later with some drenched sheets too, as it seems."

"...'kay." I accepted that as an adequate explanation and slipped back into sleep almost immediately, starting to snore loudly only seconds later.

The PJ Question

He did not let me sleep for long. It felt like it was about ten minutes. In fact it was approaching three hours. I suppose that was exactly the time he needed to figure out that I had a bad cold or even the flu and he should do something about it.

"Tuli...?"

I heard him. I didn't react. I didn't want to. I wanted more sleep. Maybe he would find back to his usual uncommunicative self, if I just ignored him.

"Tulip." His voice was louder now, but still no reaction from my side. Why couldn't he just shut up? He should be able to make breakfast on his own.

"Wake up girl!" He shaking me tentatively was disturbing enough that I groaned and opened my eyes at last.

I took a look at him, but the sight confused me. Why was he holding out  a pair of his PJ's? Striped ones. What did he want from me? Washing them? But they couldn't be dirty - he never wore any. He sleeps in the nude, like me.

"Huh?"

"You need to wear these!"

"Why?"

"You need to stay warm!"

"...Am warm."

"You're sweating."

"See?"

"Come on, be a good little filly and put them on."

"No."

He looked at me with raised eyebrows.

"...Don't want to...don't like them."

"Tulip!"

"...Not my PJ's." I pouted.

"Dunno where you store yours."

I dragged the sheet over my head. "Leave me alone."

He sat down on the bed heavily, sighed and pulled the sheet off my face again.

"Stop being this childish, will ya?" He stroked my hot cheek. "You could catch pneumonia, because you kick away the sheets. You'd be laying there naked and all sweaty in the cold."

"Radiator?"

"You don't like them either, remember?"

"You, ...watching over me?"

"Come on, sweetie, put them on."

"...Just the bottom?"

"Pneumonia's got something to do with your lungs, Tuli. And if I'm not totally wrong about your anatomy, they're placed in the upper part of your body."

"...Just the top?" Another try.

"Nope!"

"Pleeeease! I feel restrained by them."

"Maybe some restraining would do you good, at the moment."

I wrapped myself around him from behind and kissed his thigh, cursing the cloth of his chinos, which separated my lips and his skin. I tried to get even closer to him, wanting every part of my front in contact with the lower part of his sitting form. Then I angled my head a bit and looked up into his serious eyes.

One of my fingers started to stroke next to his crotch lightly. 

No reaction.

I let my finger wander to the bulge between his legs and kept on stroking.

He kept his straight face.

I wondered what kind of thoughts crossed his mind when he looked down on my naked body.

Wrapped around him like that and only my hip covered by the sheet.

Did he think of me as cuddly and needy then?

Did he think of me as being soft and sensuous?

Or did he even think that I looked somehow submissive in this position?

Did that turn him on? 

Hell, I know for sure, what kind of thoughts crossed my mind then.

"God...Tuli..." He shook his head in annoyance. One of his hands caught up in my hair. "Why are you doing this?"

"What am I doing, handsome?"

"You are trying to distract me from making you wearing these fucking PJ's."

Wham.

"No! I did not...I...I...was just...oh forget about it..."

He chuckled and started to stroke my head. It felt so good. It actually made me purr again.

"What do you think? Maybe you'll wear the PJ's just for me? I bet you'll look very sexy in them."

Bastard.

"Don't make fun of me! It's not fair right now!"

But then I let him put me into them. Reluctantly.

Phone-calls.

I went in and out the whole time.

At one point I heard his hushed voice from somewhere. But he was nowhere to be seen when I opened my eyes. So I closed them again and listened to his low rumbling. It sounded comforting. Soothing. After a moment I realized that he was in the other room, talking on the phone.

"...I just asked, if you'd look after them for the next days, so stop arsing about! ...What do ya mean, I'm henpecked? I am not ... still my own boss ...no she didn't tie me to the fucking bed ...she's the one tied there, actually ...oh bugger off Driscoll, keep her out of your dirty fantasies, you've got your own Sheila for that ...she's sick ...what? ...No, not her! ...talking 'bout Tuli, Jesus! ...Yes ...Think it's the flu or some bad cold ...she needs to be looked after ... yes, helpless like a baby ... Thanks, mate! I owe you... CLICK."

Helpless? Me? 

He started to hum after he hung up and bustled around in the living room.

Then the humming seemed to disappear into the kitchen. The bustle went on in there, went on much longer than an 'open fridge - grab beer - and get out as fast as you can - act'.

It made me wonder, what he was up to.

I mean, Egan in the kitchen? Voluntarily?

Should I be delighted, that he found his way in there, on his own?

Or should I be worried?

The sound of something crashing on the floor and heavy cussing interrupted my train of thoughts.

Okay.

I should be worried.

Definitely.

But I was too droopy to.

CLICK. 

Once again the phone. 

This time I hardly understood what he was talking about. He had lowered his voice and rummaged noisily through the cupboards, as he talked.

"...Andy? That you? ...yes ...well, got a problem ...think you can help me out ...it's Tuli ... ill ...thought it might be good for her, if ...chicken broth...no canned one ...can't do ...on my own ...you ...really?  That's great ... No, no need to hurry ...refuses everything right now ...tomorrow's early enough ...When shall I ...oh ...you mean, you even ...Thanks a lot ...real mate ...thanks ... yeah. See you then. CLICK"

After hanging up he went straight for the bedroom. I cracked one eye open, when he was bursting through the door, back first. He was carrying a tray and when he turned, he suddenly seemed to remember me, laying in there and feeling not too well.

He sat the tray softly on the floor next to the bed and knelt down.

"Tuli ...girl..."

I opened the second eye. "...Hmm mmm?"

"Hey you ...how is my little filly feeling?"

"Tired."

"I have to leave you now..."

Suddenly I was wide-awake and gave him what he might have considered the 'roo in the headlights' -look.

"Shh, just for about an hour. I need to run some errands. You're not exactly stocked with flu-remedies. No need to panic, little one."

He stroked my head soothingly.

"...Made you a cuppa. You need to drink, ya know?"

He started to tuck me in for the umpteenth time.

"You just stay here in bed and don't try to get up or anything stupid like that!"

I frowned.

He kissed my forehead.

"What about you just doze off again and I'll be back in a wink. Deal?"

A grunt from my side and there he went.

After I heard the front-door snap shut, my gaze wandered to the tray.

There was a big mug of steaming tea on it. Besides stood my favorite cup.

I sighed deeply and smiled. Until then, I was completely unaware that he might have noticed a thing like that.

Snuggling deeper into the sheets I considered dozing off a good idea and did what he told me.

Egan came back much more noisily than he left. Banging the front door and whistling for Corey, who had settled down beside the bed, as if he wanted to guard my sleep as long as his master was not there to protect me.

There was a clinking sound, and I supposed that Egan had sat down his errands.

Then I heard him starting to leaf through something. He grunted and a by now familiar clicking reached my ear.

"G'day. Name's Egan Trask. I'm calling because of Tulip ...She's ill ...No, she can't call on her own right now ...No, she's not in hospital ...She' s sleeping ...it's the flu  ...She won't come to work for some time ...What do ya mean, a medical certificate? She's febrile, that not enough? ...Why? ...Cause I said so! Jesus! ...Oh, so you think this call is not a sickness certificate? What the ...Huh? ... Late already? ...uha ...just two days without?...'Kay ...got it ...yeah, I take her to the doctor then ...yes ...sure ...yes ...bye. CLICK."

A stream of cussing followed that call. Sick job. Sick rules. Stupid people. That sums it up more or less. I only groaned and buried my head under the pillow.

The Loo Situation.

I woke up much later in a rather grumpy mood. I noticed, that he had changed my PJ's again. Without waking me up. For some odd reason that made me feel patronized. Like I was four years old and had no rights. I got grumpier.

I lay there and steamed a bit. Then I felt the urge to stand up and wander about.

To tell the truth, I needed the bathroom. Badly.

I swung my feet out off the bed, maybe a bit too fast. The room seemed to get blurry. I fell back onto the heap of blankets and cushions with a muffled 'thud'. Of course, that did not improve my mood.

I muttered to myself. "I can do this on my own. I don't need to call for him. I'm a big girl." And obviously I was a petulant one too.

When I finally managed to stand up, I was very pleased with myself.

Staggering into the living room, I paused to focus my vision on an outstretched form on the couch.

Egan.

Fast asleep.

TV still on.

Sports Channel.

I sighed. He looked so adorable.

I shook myself inwardly and reminded me of the mission I had to accomplish: Making it to the bathroom and back on my own. "Without waking him up!" I added silently.

I turned into the opposite direction.

Too fast again.

Blurry room again.

A hearty 'aaatchoo' on top.

And then of course ...'thud'.

Before I knew it someone lifted me up into his arms.

Like I was ...four years old. Shit. Mission failed.

Egan's voice rang sharp into my ears. 

"What the heck are you up to? You ought to stay in bed! Jesus, why can't you just do as you are told?"

I managed a croaky "Loo...?"

"So, why didn't you call me then? I don't want you stumbling around here on your own. You could have hurt yourself, when you tumbled. Besides, your feet are bare, the floor is much too cold..."

Nag, nag, nag ...the whole way to the bathroom.

In there he put me gently down, leaned my back into his chest and tucked my shoulder under his chin. As he started to undo my PJ's, I went all rigid. He stopped.

"What is it, baby?"

"I want to do this on my own. I'm a big girl!"

"Come on, I've changed your clothes before..." Oh yes! I knew that! "...and it's not like I never saw what's under these PJ's..." I knew that too. "...and right now, you're barely able to..." To pee?

"No Egan!"

He turned me around and looked into my face, lifting one eyebrow.

"It's embarrassing, Egan."

Now he frowned. And I felt awkward. I knew he only meant it good. I loved him for that, but...

"...Shy bladder?" I offered sheepishly.

His smile returned. "Right then. But I'll stay in front of the door. And you call, when you're ready."

"I promise, I won't fall off the toilet seat...Sir!" Couldn't help it. He just shook his head, went out and closed the door behind him softly.

A couple of minutes later I was about to go out by myself. I kicked accidentally against the small bin under the sink. It toppled over. Noisily. What else?

Egan was there like a flash. He looked at me and then at the bin.

"Enough now! Back to bed. Instantly!"

He lifted me up again an I heard him mutter something like "...little mule."

"What happened to little filly?"

"She's very stubborn sometimes." But he was grinning.

Doctors' advice.

"Hey...you awake?"

He brushed some hair out of my face and mumbled "Damn it, you're still a bit hot. "

"Hmm..."

"But we need to make a little excursion..."

"Huh?"

"You need a medical ...whatever. You need to see a doctor, so that he can fill out some form for your boss. Said he needs it for the records. As if it was not enough, I told him already ... fucking nitpicker..."

Somewhere in the depths of my brain a little voice reminded me of him making several phone calls the other day...god...please no...

"You called him that? A nitpicker? Egan, tell me!"

"What do ya think? Of course I did not. I'm able to behave, although you might not believe it."

I only grunted.

He just shrugged and started to peruse the clothes rail in our bedroom. One flimsy dress after another failed his examination.

"Jesus, Tuli, I thought you owned at least one pullover and a pair of jeans...can't take you out in one these..."

"You did. Several times and you were not complaining then, quite the opposite."

He threw me an annoyed glance and I gave in.

"In the closet, Egan."

One hour later I was dozing at his shoulder in a hopelessly overcrowded waiting room.

He had his arm around me and informed me that he just couldn't see the sense in this. He was sure I'd pick up some even worse thing between all these sneezing and coughing people.

"You warm?"

"Yes."

"You should be in bed, not here. That's crazy. You really warm?"

"Egan, you dressed me as if we planned a trip to Antarctica..."

"Better like that, than the other way round."

"Sure."

When it was my turn to see the doc, he refused to wait outside. Said he wanted to hear himself, what she would tell me. 

She grinned, as he helped me fighting my way out of a thick pullover, a shirt, a turtle-neck and a t-shirt, so she could listen in on my lungs.

After that she took my temperature and smiled warmly at Egan. She said, that she could see, that he took good care of me and that he should not be too worried.

"It is just a common cold, sir."

"But she's got temperature and is weak, can't even walk straight on her own, completely helpless, ya know..."

Helpless. 

There it was again. If I hadn't my mouth stuffed with a thermometer, I would have protested. I glared at him. 

He glared at the doc.

"I only meant, that it is not the flu. Call it a nasty bug. That's good! This way I don't need to prescribe antibiotics. But she needs to stay in bed for some more days. And she should stay at home at least one more week, if not one and a half!"

Egan said that was what he thought. 

The two of them began to talk about the household remedies he bought the other day. 

She talked him out off that foul-tasting cough mixtures he made me take yesterday and I thought she was a nice doctor.

Then she encouraged him to put me into a bath, with special ingredients against cold, every day instead and when she said the magic word 'tetesept-cold-bath', I thought she was a bitch.

She handed over some of it to him and he took me home, promising to give me that bath right after I had a short nap. I was shuddering already by only thinking of it.

Although I glared at him he did as he said and put me back to bed. 

"Sleep! I'll wake you in about an hour."

But I did not sleep. I was more or less calmly awaiting my 'medicine'. I knew what that meant for me. I had tried that cold-bath-shit before and I had hated every minute of it.

After some time the phone rang. Egan talked shortly to someone but it was too hushed to understand a thing. Only the last words came over to me halfway clear.

"Great! See you then. Thanks for spending your time on this." CLICK.

"Egan?"

A very smug looking Egan entered the bedroom.

"I'm here. So, you're awake?"

"Who was that on the phone?"

He ignored my question completely.

"Your bath will await you in just a minute, miss."

I frowned.

"Hey, I asked you...oh damn-it Egan, not the bath...pleeease!" I tried hard to look pathetic.

But it was no use.

"Doctor's advice, little filly. One bath a day." He grinned broadly.

I hated him with a vengeance for that. 

And why the heck was he that good-natured?

What kind of appointment was he looking forward to?

I must admit a lot of very dark thoughts crossed my mind as he left the room to run me that bath.

Remedies.

He still refused to let me walk on my own to the bathroom. He just picked me up and carried me, although I protested as loudly as I could.

When he undressed me I stomped my feet like a naughty child.

"Egan, no! I don't want to go in there!"

He unbuttoned my PJ's with a stoic expression on his face. 

One hand of his was holding me fast. The other one was searching through the wooden basket sitting on the washing machine behind me.

When he found the clip he was looking for, he pinned up my hair with it. I was complaining and fidgeting the whole time.

He then tested the water with his fingers, picked up again my struggling body and simply let me plop down into the tub.

"There. See, nothing to worry about. Just a tub full of hot water and some herbs, like it smells."

He shrugged, but kept watching me. I made a face at him and hugged my knees. 

Yes. Herbs. Just herbs. Ha!

Egan took a look at the package insert, took a look at his watch and took a look at my huddled form.

"Come on, Tuli, do I really need to remind you, that you love a long, hot bath? It will only take 15 minutes and then you can go back to bed."

" ...But...you don't know, what this 15-minute bath will do to me..."

Just then the doorbell rang.

"Tulip, don't act, as if it would kill ya. I need to answer the door now."

I stuck out my tongue at him.

"And girl...don't you dare getting out of that tub when I'm not looking or you'll really get to know me!

Of course the effects of the herbs only hit in when he left the room.

Maybe it might be a warm and soothing feeling, when you just stepped into the tub...but then...just wait a few minutes and your teeth start to chatter. I don't know what exactly in this mixture causes this, but you feel like you're dumped naked at the North Pole, even when you sit in a tub full of hot water.

Although I felt very cold and very miserable and very left alone, I tried to listen in to the male rumble filling our hall. It was not only Egan. There was another voice similar to his, if a tiny bit higher.

 "Mate! Glad to see ya. Come in. Want a beer? Hey, that's the thing. Let me just get this to the kitchen."

"Where's Tulip?"

"Taking her cold bath. Behaved like I a mad dog, when I put her into it."

I knew he was shaking his head, when he said it.

"It's just for her own good. Doctors' orders."

"Egan? Who's there? I want to get out of here!"

"Your 15 minutes are not over by now."

"Egan? I'm cold!" 

"Can't be, you're sitting in a tub full of hot water."

Someone giggled.

"Egan! I'm freezing!" My teeth chattered melodramatically.

"You stay there until I get you, or do you want Andy to see you naked?"

Giggling. Andy's giggle, as I just learned. 

"Egan, thanks for the offer. Another time, 'kay? Think you should take her out of that tub, she really sounds, like she's freezing... can't be that good, especially, when she's got the cold you told me about ... Hey, and before she really does it by herself... not that I would mind seeing her like that ...Okay, okay... I'll keep my trap shut."

Another giggle. Then Andy shouted through the closed bathroom door "Hey Tulip, get well soon! Will ya? Hope I'll see ya back all fresh and healthy at the pub soon, Sweetie!" He hit his hand against the door two times, as if to encourage me.

At the second Andy was out of the front door, Egan was in the bathroom.

"Tuli, why did you ..." He took one look at me sitting in the tub, jittering and his whole demeanor changed in an instant, from a grim master to a very concerned lover.

"Oh no, my poor, little filly...you're really cold...come 'ere girl, I'll rub you down."    I looked at him with big eyes, my teeth still chattering.

"S-s-s-s-w-e-at-s-s. P-p-p-l-ea-s-s-s-e...! N-n-o-w-w...!"

He whisked me out of the tub and into the bedroom in an instant. There he dressed me in long underwear of his and some sweat-pants. Thick woolen socks for my feet and a long sleeved T-Shirt, plus a hoody for my upper body.

Tucked in to bed like that, in front of Egan's watchful eyes the next effect of these herbs took in.

I started to sweat. 

Heavily!

That's what that cold-bath effect's in the end...it makes you sweat out your flu. Thoroughly.

He angled his head, when he got the whole thing. He grinned again. I knew then, that I'd had to stand some more of these baths, which he seemed to accept as a real good medicine, 'cause it had this strong effect...a man's man therapy. Did I tell you before, that I thought the doctor was a bitch?

"You thirsty? I've got some tea on the hot plate for you." 

My stomach made a loud growling sound. 

He smiled even broader then. "Hungry?" There's a pot of chicken-broth on the hot plate too..."

I threw him a suspicious glance.

"Don't ya worry, little filly. I didn't try to cook. Why do ya think Andy was here?"

I looked at him even more suspiciously. I was still angry with him for letting me go through that cold-bath.

He kissed my head and the tip of my nose.

"I asked Andy to make some, 'cause I know that you hate canned ones..."

This made me smile a bit.

"I'm worried, ya know? You need to get some food into you...to get back some strength." Under his breath he muttered "...maybe that will get ya good-natured again too..."

"I heard that, Egan...but I think, I'd like some of that soup."

Nighty-night.

It was dark again. I tried to remember, if this was the fourth or the fifth night rushing in. Or even the sixth? This whole drifting in and out of the past few days had confused my sense of time. I didn't like that one bit.

I didn't like the procedure, which repeated itself every damned night either: Sleeping time. And Egan coming into bed. Putting himself down next to me. I hated it!

"Egan...no!"

"You keep on saying that every night, little one. And you know, that I will ignore it like the nights before. So, don't even start!"

"I don't want you in here!"

"Seems like you have to live with it..." He yawned heartily. "I'm tired, don't give me any trouble this time. Just be a good girl, will ya?"

"No!" I was trying desperately to keep him from crawling over me.

"Tulip! Stop it! You're even not strong enough to fight me off when you're healthy. So this is ridiculous. You ain't got the tiniest chance. You're just too weak!"

He was right. 

Unfortunately. 

I was too weak. 

Although I felt better by now, if I had tried to slap him, it would have still come out as a caress.

I huffed and made as I gave into my fate. One more night with Egan. But when he nuzzled my nape and sighed content, I made another attempt.

"Egan...handsome...I really think you should sleep on the couch..." A sneezing attack interrupted me for a minute or so. "...It really is comfortable, you know that. And you'll have a much better sleep there..."

"Nah. You tried that before and it still doesn't work. Just close your eyes and go to dreamland, little filly."

I was far from that. I tried to sit up but he held me down. I wanted to turn my head and look into his face, throwing him some glare at least. But he managed to keep my squirming form to his liking. And he chuckled.

"Damn it, Egan. I'm ill! I'm infectious! Take the fucking couch!"

He just grunted and stroked my neck. Kissed it. 

OK. I had one last ace up my pajama-sleeve.

"Egan, darling...sweetheart...come on...by now you're still healthy...maybe you just got luck...but that could change...please handsome...I don't want you to get it too! I promise to behave well, stay tucked up and won't open a window, won't get up. I'll even call you, when I need the loo!"

"No."

"But..."

"NO!"

And then he went over to that procedure, same as every night. He tucked me in, as in any sense of tucking in. He created some kind of duvet-package around me and sealed it by throwing one arm and one leg over it. This way he made sure, I couldn't free myself from it.

"I hate that, Egan, and you know it!"

"Calm down...shh...shhhh...sleep...everything's fine little filly..."

Bastard.

I was a prisoner in my own sheets. Again. Steaming and sweating.

Hey. I really was concerned about him getting it too. I didn't want him to suffer the same cold...but...there was another thing.

I wanted so desperately to touch him.

And he wouldn't let me.

When I managed to sneak a hand out of that duvet-cocoon the nights before and let it crawl somewhere near his skin or even the boxers he wore, he slapped it away and made sure it was packed in good and proper again.

Yes. He was wearing boxers. He had at least the decency to cover himself that much. He knew very well that he had forced me into the PJ's and maybe he thought that this was some kind of poetic justice.

Not enough for me.

It was pure torture feeling him wrapped around that duvet-cushioned shape of me. Knowing his half-naked body was only a blanket and a pajama away. I could sense his skin and was not able to touch it. No contact to the warmth and smoothness of it. No chance on feeling his heartbeat, throbbing steadily in his chest.

The duvet-package was feel-proof. 

God damn it. And damn him for doing this to me night after night.

"May I touch you?"

"No."

"Just a tiny bit. Your neck or your shoulder?"

"No."

"Your knee or your elbow?"

"No."

"The tip of your nose...with my nose?"

"No. What?"

" If you let me turn around a bit my nose could touch yours..."

"NO! SLEEP!"

"No need to sound so raw!" Pouting now.

He hugged in tighter from behind. 

The core of the duvet...me...started to complain again.

"Egan, I can't stand this. I just can't be this close to you and not being allowed to touch you!"

Heavy sigh from him. "You're ill! You're not supposed to touch anything, especially in a sexual way. You need to rest. You need to sleep! It's only for your own good."

"It doesn't needs to be in a sexual way..."

He started to sound disgruntled. "What the fuck is wrong with you woman? Why don't you give in and shut up? Damn it. Concentrate on your recovery, will ya?"

I knew he was right. 

But somehow I felt like being slapped. 

I couldn't help it. 

I started to sniffle. 

I hoped he would take it for snuffling.

But I did not fool him.

Although he seems to be completely unaware of most things, he notices a lot.

Especially things, which I don't want him to notice. 

That can be very annoying sometimes.

Another heavy sigh from him. "What?"

"Nothing...my nose is a bit blocked up..."

"Sure."

I snuffled again, demonstratively loud this time. "See? It is blocked...that's the cold."

"God! Tulip. Have you ever been told before, that you really can be a piece of work?"

But he opened the duvet cocoon and slipped in from behind. Wrapping himself around me. Without a blanket in between us this time.

It was my turn to sigh now. 

A content sigh.

I could feel his heartbeat. 

It was throbbing steadily. 

Just as I knew it would be.

I could feel the warmth of his skin too. Through the cloth of the PJ's. Damn these.

He nuzzled my nape again and then kissed it softly. "Better now?"

"Much, much better..."

I wiggled my bum into his groin.

"Tulip!" There was this warning undertone in his voice, which tempted me to wiggle a bit more. But I did not. I lay rather still and got a reward for that.

He sneaked his arm around my waist and let his hand crawl under the pajama-top. Shoving it up in the process. Just a bit. But it was enough.

I felt his hand settle on the naked skin of my belly. I felt the warmth of his arm around my waist. He used it to bring me closer to him. Closer into his embrace.

And there we were.

Skin contact. 

At least.

I felt at peace.

Sleepy now. Last thing I heard before slipping away was his husky voice, telling me to stay like this: My back to him and not to stir, not starting a thing.

I smiled and was out like a light.

One question.

Of course I did not do what I'd been told to. 

He didn't either.

When I woke up early in the morning, I was face to face with him. Face to chest rather. I had wrapped my arms around him like he had his around me.

I felt the pressure of his leg thrown over my hip and caught myself rubbing one of my thighs absent-minded against an impressive morning hard-on...

Gosh! 

I froze. 

Remembering clearly the last words of him before I fell asleep. 

I held my breath. 

Was he awake? 

Did he notice? 

Would he give me the package treatment again?

He only stirred a bit and I relaxed. Letting out my breath slowly. 

When I was sure, that he was still fast asleep I snuggled back into him. No rubbing with my thigh this time. 

But my foot had other ideas and stroked along his hairy calf. All by itself, I swear. It is a naughty foot at times!

I smiled, thinking of the teasing he gave me about the double meaning of the word calf. Back then, end of August, last year. How he used my leg to explain, stroking and tickling it under the white tablecloth of a French restaurant. I still remember the face of the garçon, who probably thought I had my foot at Egan's crotch. It made me blush and it made Egan grin lazily. What a wonderful late summer night that was.

The first real date. 

This irresistible man at my side. 

The slow dancing in the half darkness of that jazz club later. 

Egan, not hiding what was on his mind. 

Suppose he couldn't then. 

Like he couldn't this morning. 

Him grunting brought me back. He pressed me closer to him. My belly touched his. Skin on skin...how wonderful that felt...

Wait, wait. wait...

Suddenly I was wide awake and very aware of the state of my pajamas and where he had put his hands.

There was only one single button of my top closed and the bottom was hanging halfway down my hips. 

He had shoved his hand inside. 

It enclosed one of my buttocks and the other one was trying just then to find its way from my waist to my shoulder. 

Under the remaining cloth at my back. 

So much for behaving...

I shook my head lightly and brought my thigh up again a bit.

"You feel better?"

"Hmmm..."

"Than you should be able to control that wandering leg."

"What?"

"Behave, Tulip. I mean it."

Behaving? Me?

"And what about you?"

"I just make sure you're warm."

"Aha."

"Yep. Go back to sleep girl. It's still early."

I angled my head and looked at his face. His eyes were still closed. He looked boyish. So young, so handsome, so innocent and I knew, he was so not. I loved it.

He pushed my head gently down with his chin. Indicating he wanted me to rest now.

I laid my cheek where he wanted it. But instead of going to sleep I fixed my gaze on his chest. Followed how it heaved and sunk with every deep breath he took. Categorized every beloved hair, growing there.

Suddenly my heart felt so full, that I was afraid it might burst. It was wonderful and odd at the same time. 

And out came...

"Egan?"

Grunt.

"One question?"

Another grunt.

Then. "Yeah..."

I coughed and cleared my throat after that. He opened his eyes and looked down at me.

"What?" He furrowed his brow.

"Err...what...what do you like most about me?"

The furrow deepened. Then he chuckled.

"Your bum!"

Should have known better.

I mean, why did I ask that? 

I had a cold, not PMS.

Good god, what's wrong with me?

"...The way your skin feels on mine..."

Oh? Maybe there's hope?

"...The way you make me feel when you're around."

"Really?" I got exited. "And what, when I'm not..."

He interrupted me by slapping his favorite part of my body soundly.

A clear signal, that meant...enough now! And no, no further explanations!

5 Days and 5 nights.

We went back to silence. 

For about thirty minutes. 

Then I couldn't help it and touched him again. One of my fingers began to draw little circles on his skin. He sighed, but didn't react any further.

I continued. 

Circles became words.

Safe... Warm... Good... Strong... Need... Love.

I stopped for a second as his hand on my back twitched. 

Then I went on. 

I... love... you.

My palm came to rest over his heart. It was beating a tiny bit faster than before. I placed a soft kiss on his chest and wrote it again. I love you.

I don't know if he had any clue, what I was doing but it made him purr. Bolder now, I let my hand drop to his stomach, and started again to draw circles. Round his belly button.

When I spread my hand to feel as much as I could of this area, this hairy, smooth and warm place, it accidentally brushed over the tip of his penis, which was peeking cheekily out of the waistband of his boxers. He hissed sharply and then groaned. His stomach flattened under my hand, as he took in a deep breath. It made me shiver.

"...Tuli...god...what are you doing?"

"...I... I didn't mean to...I just wanted to..."

He pressed my hand onto his skin and made my fingers brush the bared tip again. I felt dampness. It was he shivering now and this strangled sound escaped his throat. I kissed his neck.

He rolled me on to my back with one sudden move and laid himself on top of me, trapping my hand between us. Right there...

"You must be the devil..." Another groan. "How much self-restraint you think I got? Since five fucking nights you're wiggling that sweet little bum of yours right into my groin. And during the last five fucking days you're tempting me with either looking innocent and helpless or being stubborn like a mule. You know very well, that you acting unpredictable like this, is a bloody turn-on."

Moi? "I don't know shit...I was ill...and you were..."

He shut me up with a kiss. 

The first real kiss after five days and five nights. 

It was fierce and consuming. He held my face in place between his hands and his thumbs brushed over my cheeks and temples again and again. My body went limp under his.

By the time he let me come up for air, I felt hot and feverish. I wondered fleetingly, if the temperature was coming back. But then he kissed me again and the thought just fell away.

It was softer this time. Lovingly. He nibbled at my lips and brushed his tongue over them. Then he kissed the tip of my nose and both eyelids, only to return to my lips. He enticed them to open up for him again, his tongue begging for entry this time. And open up for him I did. I felt myself becoming wet and remembered my hand was still trapped down there. My fingers started to stroke the length of him. He groaned loudly and his mouth dropped down to my neck. In between small bites and kisses I heard him whispering. "...There's my little filly ..." I brushed my thumb over his weeping tip. "...God...yes...my wild child...help me... there... yes....please ..."

A shudder ran through his body. An answering shudder ran through mine.

And then he started to drag heavily at the cloth of my pajamas. Cussing, when they refused to fall away from my body immediately.

"What the fuck...why do you wear these fucking things anyway...?"

"What...? But... you made me wear them...you..."

"I want them off...NOW!" He hissed.

"Egan...yes...oh god...wait...just open the button..." But it was too late. With an ugly sound the cloth of my top tore.

He suddenly stopped and braced himself on his arms, made his body hovering over me.

His gaze bore into mine. Then it swept down to my now half-naked self.

"Damn it...you're so fucking beautiful...you got any idea, what it makes me feel to see this body of yours tangled up in the sheets, all sweaty and fighting against them?"

I was out of words by then. I tried to wiggle out of my pajama pants. When they came down to the height of my knees, and wouldn't go any further I started to struggle to get out of them.

He helped me after a while, by simply ripping them down.

I was completely naked now, squirming at the feel of my bared skin on the sheets, bared to the chill of the air, bared to his gaze, which swept over me, accompanied by a hungry and raw expression on his face. It made me squirm even more, just for him. I started to drag at his boxers. I just loved the image above me. Wanted to admire it some more...

Egan, with his shorts halfway down. His beautiful cock twitching on the height of his stomach, still covered by a bit of cloth at the base of it... his butt and his bollocks still hidden by that cloth too.

It was the most erotic sight. 

The muscles in his arms started to flex by the effort to keep him up. 

I love his arms. I love his chest. If I could eat him, I would. I just can't stop myself from nibbling and licking and kissing any accessible part of him. All the time.

Am I manic? 

When did I lose it? 

He smells and tastes so good...

Something like "You really feel okay?" croaked out of him. 

I nodded.

I was sure by then, that I only had felt that weak, during the last five days, because he had interdicted me to touch him. The loss of feeling him the way I was used to feel him seemed to have a much worse effect on me, than any flu ever might have. But when his hands started to sweep over me now, touching, groping and stroking everywhere, I felt like I could fly.

I arched my back, arched my whole body into his. 

His arms came around my waist and his lips traveled across my face, throat and shoulders. He left a mark at the base of my neck, accompanied by a softly muttered "Mine". He kissed his way down my chest, repeating that word ever so often.

His lips arrived at my breasts and his chant changed into "...all mine..." He sucked at one nipple until it stood at attention to him.

He smiled, content with the result and stroked his fingers over it. Then he applied himself to the other one. When both of them were as hard and erect as they might get, he went further down my body, leaving a wet trail the whole way to my belly button, in which he dipped his tongue. He chuckled softly, when it made me squeal, 'cause he knew damn well, that there seemed to be a direct wire from it to my pussy. Every time he pushed his tongue in deeply, it felt like a jolt going straight down there.

I was trembling, when his lips arrived at my pubic area and his hands started to dig into the cheeks of my bottom.

He threw me one last concerned look and after making sure my body was not shaking from fever, but from what he was doing to me, he dove down.

...Oh...

...My...

...God...

I think I never came this fast, ever.

He gave me no time to come down, did not let me recover. He just braced himself above me and took me right after my peak.

One strong shove and he was all the way in.

I gasped. 

He let out some kind of deep and dangerous growl. 

I'm not sure if it was caused by me tightening hard on him immediately, or if my fingernails hurt him, when I was digging them into his back.

He uttered a groaned "Goooad..." and started to move.

Long, deep strokes.

His eyes were fixed on my face, when I moaned loudly and shoved down his boxers frantically  "...need more skin...".

I wrapped my legs around his now naked butt...

I could feel his muscles there, twitching.

"...so good...Tuli...feels so good...so tight...can't hold back...I ...sorry...I..."

"Closer...Egan...don't worry...go deeper...please...I missed you so much..."

He lowered himself down on to me again. We were both covered with sweat. His fingers cupped my head. His skin slithered over mine. His chest hair was rubbing over my breasts. I moaned and pressed my body as tight to his as I could. Then I bit down on his shoulder.

At least that saved me from letting the whole neighborhood share another time, a very personal moment between Egan and me...

Good morning handsome.

I woke up earlier than him in the morning. It was the first time since the cold got me. It was the first time since some time before. Usually I'm the sleepyhead and he is the early bird. It's not that he doesn't know how to take advantage of that. He uses the fact that I'm cuddly and easy to handle, when I'm still half asleep, for his own good pretty often.

He's a rascal. 

You ever guessed?

But this morning my head felt clear and I was wide awake. I fled the bedroom and some impressive snoring, which emanated from Egan's form.

I started to make some tea and reminded myself to ask Andy for that chicken-broth recipe. 

I knew how to do it with ginger and coconut milk, but Andy's was a real chicken-broth, one that tasted like home. It was much better than my mom's and that really means something!

I snuggled into the old leather couch with a big cup of hot tea, watching the morning news.

A smile settled on my face, when my mind wandered back to the last two 1/2 days.

After we had slept together he held me for a very long time. He kissed my face over and over again. He refused to let me slip from his grip. When I asked him, if everything was alright, he only nodded and tightened his embrace. Unfortunately, after nearly one hour, nature called.

"Egan?"

"Hmm..." rubbing his face against my hair and caressing my lower back.

"I...err...need the loo..."

"Huh?" He looked up, all ruffled and dreamy. 

I cursed my demanding bladder.

"You want me to carry you there?"

"Think, I can manage, Egan. You just stay here and do not move. I want to crawl back into that embrace in just a second."

He smiled. 

When I came back. He was fast asleep.

Since then a lot of things changed.

He let me out of bed for example. We spent much time together on that couch. 

He, reading or switching through TV-channels. 

Me, sheltered in his embrace, either dozing on his chest or reading too.

He didn't force me into these grueling bathes anymore, 'cause he found a way, much more to his liking, to make me sweat.

Oh, I had a bath or two. But the only ingredient beside some bubbly was Egan, who soaped and rinsed my body devotedly...and he did some other things too...

I smiled, nipped at my tea and suddenly realized, that I still had one more week left until I needed to go back to work, I thought, that maybe the doctor was not that much of a bitch.

I leaned back and sighed happily. 

I fleetingly wondered if it was inappropriate to take advantage of his sleeping body this time, when...

...a very familiar sound came out of the bedroom.

"....aaatchoo!"

And a somewhat hoarse "...Tuli...?" followed.

I knew then, that the toughest part of my cold was yet to come...