CHERISH (The Billionaire's Rules, Book 12) Read Online Free Page A

blond to follow him.   “Have a nice dinner,” he said, through a locked jaw, and then the two of
them faded into the crowd at the front of the restaurant and presumably out
into the night.
    Afterward, Cullen and Ivy just stared at
each other.
    And then they both burst out laughing.

 
    ***

 
    “Can you believe that idiot, Montrose?”
Cullen asked, as he shifted into third gear on the way home from the
restaurant.
    “Please don’t ever let that man operate
on me.   Don’t even let him take my
temperature,” Ivy said.  
    Cullen laughed.   “You don’t have to worry about that.”
    She rolled down the window and let the
air in.   It was feeling stuffy in
the car and she was getting a little carsick.
    “That food was a bit rich,” she said,
stifling a belch with the back of her hand.
    Cullen gave her a sidelong glance.   “Everything okay?”
    “Yeah,” she said.   “Just…feeling a bit queasy.   I think it’s all that food and the car
being stuffy…”
    “Sure,” Cullen said.   “We’ll be home in a few and then you can
get in the bath and just relax.   Seeing Becca, meeting with Peg—it’s a lot in one day.”
    “Not to mention having your arch rival
show up at dinner,” she remarked.
    “He’s hardly a rival.   A rival would imply that he’s actually
competitive, but—“
    Suddenly, Ivy was getting sick in the
car.
    “Shit,” Cullen said, pulling quickly
over.  
    Ivy opened the door and vomited onto the
road.   She’d been so surprised by it
that the first bit of sickness had landed on the floor of the car.  
    It was disgusting.   The smell.
    The taste.   The look of everything
splattering.
    She heaved again and again, as Cullen
rubbed her back and soothed her.
    Her guts felt like they were being turned
inside and out and her eyes were feeling like she’d popped blood vessels.
    And then, thankfully, the bout of nausea
seemed to pass.  
    “I’m so sorry—I ruined your car,”
she said.   “And I’m disgusting.”
    “I don’t care about the car and you’re
far from disgusting.   You just ate
some food that didn’t agree with you.”
    She pictured the calamari and made a
face.   “Don’t remind me of that
food.”
    “Come on, let’s get you home,” Cullen
said softly.
    As the continued driving back, Ivy kept
her eyes closed.   “I hope you didn’t
get any of whatever I have.   We both
ate all the same food.”
    “Thanks for reminding me,” he joked.
    As they arrived home, Ivy was hit with
another wave of terrible nausea and she ran to the bathroom, just barely making
it to the toilet in time to get sick all over again.
    This time was even more painful.
    She didn’t have as much food to get out
of her system, and by the end she was throwing up bile.
    Cullen’s expression was concerned as he
felt her forehead.   “You don’t feel
feverish,” he said.
    “I’m sick,” she moaned, as Cullen took
her in his arms.  
    “You’ll be fine.   We just need to get you to bed.”
    She nodded, compliant and weak.
    A few minutes later, she was in bed, just
hoping and praying to fall asleep and wake up feeling better.
    Cullen brought a bucket into the room,
and gave her some water and caressed her hair.  
    “Thanks for taking care of me,” she
murmured.
    “You just rest,” he said.   “Okay?”
    “Okay,” she replied.
    And then, a few minutes later, it was
happening all over again.   She
grabbed the bucket from beside the bed and began throwing up.
    This time, it was absolutely awful.   She felt like crying, it hurt so bad,
and nothing much was coming up.
    “Ivy, I think we should bring you to the
ER,” Cullen told her when she was done being sick.   “I’m worried you have food
poisoning.   The best thing is to
push some meds and intravenous fluids.”
    “I don’t want to go to the hospital and
have Xavier Montrose poking and prodding me,” she whined.
    Cullen chuckled.   “Xavier Montrose will not be working in
the ER tonight,” he