“There is no good reason to be suffering,” she said incredulously. Of course she’d looked up the kind of surgery he’d had. One had to be crazy not to take pain meds so soon after. Especially when one had been crazy enough to slam down on that knee.

For her.

“You decided to stay,” he said, changing the topic with no finesse at all whatsoever. The exhaustion from the pain made the usual sincerity in his eyes twice as potent. “And cook?”

“Yes, you didn’t talk to anyone, did you?” Given his “I’ll take care of it,” she wouldn’t be surprised if he had charmed China into changing the format of the show.

“You asked me not to,” he said simply, and she had the oddest urge to cry.

For a few seconds they were back at her school locker, him taking her bag from her, willing to do as she wanted, no questions asked.

“It isn’t easy to be here.” A tiny piece of honesty felt right. “But it will be a waste if you’re in so much pain, because we can’t do anything when you’re like this.” She checked to see if Trisha had responded to her text.

“I’ll be fine,” he said, but it sounded like a whimper.

“Please tell me where your pain meds are.” How did men make do without purses and bags? She would be lost without her bag.

He watched her search his surroundings with what amusement he could muster. “I can’t take them. They make me loopy.”

“Loopy how?”

“Loopy as in saying whatever the hell pops into my head.” A speaking look. “But also, unable to sleep and terribly queasy and unable to think clearly.”

It was tempting to discount everything he had said to her by blaming it on the meds, but she knew what he had meant and what he hadn’t. Knowing his thoughts was her superpower. (Yay, her!)

“Well, then, you’re on the wrong meds. Why haven’t you told your doctor?” She typed in the symptoms he’d listed and sent them to Trisha.

It took Trisha precisely three minutes to send Ashna a few options for alternatives that she wanted Rico to ask his doctor about.

Ashna made him have his doctor call in a prescription. Then she had China send someone from the crew to pick it up. If the shoot had to be delayed, it had to be delayed.

The rest of the contestants were gracious. All except Danny, who had the gall to roll his eyes as though this were all part of some sort of drama. The idea of beating his conceited ass made the adrenaline return to her veins with added force.

The sheen of sweat on Rico’s brow made her belly cramp. How could he torture himself this way?