Me-Before-You-by-Jojo-Moyes

I couldn’t pretend this wasn’t a bit weird. I reached around him, the scent of
him filling my nostrils, his skin warm against mine. I could not have been in any
closer unless I had begun nibbling on his ear. The thought made me mildly
hysterical, and I struggled to keep myself together.
‘What?’
‘Nothing.’ I took a breath, linked my hands, and adjusted my position until I
felt I had him securely. He was broader than I had expected, somehow heavier.
And then, on a count of three, I pulled back.
‘Jesus,’ he exclaimed, into my shoulder.
‘What?’ I nearly dropped him.
‘Your hands are bloody freezing.’
‘Yes. Well, if you bothered to get out of bed, you’d know that it’s actually
snowing outside.’
I was half joking, but now I realized his skin was hot under his T-shirt – an
intense heat that seemed to come from deep within him. He groaned slightly as I
adjusted him against the pillow, and I tried to make my movements as slow and
gentle as possible. He pointed out the remote control device that would bring his
head and shoulders up. ‘Not too much, though,’ he murmured. ‘A bit dizzy.’
I turned on the bedside light, ignoring his vague protest, so that I could see his
face. ‘Will – are you okay?’ I had to say it twice before he answered me.
‘Not my best day.’
‘Do you need painkillers?’
‘Yes … strong ones.’
‘Maybe some paracetamol?’
He lay back against the cool pillow with a sigh.
I gave him the beaker, watched him swallow.
‘Thank you,’ he said afterwards, and I felt suddenly uneasy.
Will never thanked me for anything.
He closed his eyes, and for a while I just stood in the doorway and watched
him, his chest rising and falling under his T-shirt, his mouth slightly open. His
breathing was shallow, and perhaps a little more laboured than on other days.
But I had never seen him out of his chair, and I wasn’t sure whether it was
something to do with the pressure of lying down.
‘Go,’ he muttered.