It was hot outside.

Disgustingly hot.

The kind of heat that made the air feel thick when you breathed it in. The kind that stuck to your skin and made existing feel like a personal attack.

To everyone else at the mansion, it was “a little warm.”

To you? It was a nightmare.

Anything above seventy-eight degrees was already pushing it. Eighty-seven with humidity felt like someone had personally dragged the sun closer to Earth just to ruin your day.

So naturally, you had reached your limit.

Which was how Remy found you sprawled dramatically across the kitchen floor, your entire body pressed against the bottom of the refrigerator because the freezer section made the tiles underneath nice and cold.

You looked half-dead.

One arm was stretched out limp beside you, cheek squished against the floor, and your expression carried the exhausted rage of someone moments away from becoming a supervillain over weather conditions.

You didn’t even look up when Remy walked in.

The Cajun stopped in the doorway and immediately had to bite back a grin.

“Cher…” he drawled slowly, amused already. “What exactly am I lookin’ at right now?”

“Corpse,” you mumbled from the floor. “Leave me here.”

Remy snorted softly.

Of course he was perfectly fine.

The man was from Louisiana. This weather probably reminded him of a relaxing afternoon back home. Meanwhile you were one bad breeze away from hissing at God himself.

He walked over to the freezer without another word, opening it carefully so he didn’t hit you in the head with the door.

Cold air spilled out over you immediately.

You actually groaned in relief.

“Don’t tease me,” you warned weakly.

“Ain’t teasin’, chère.”

Remy pulled out the ice cream container, grabbed two bowls, and casually made both of you servings like this was the most normal situation in the world.

Then, instead of sitting at the table like a sane person, he lowered himself onto the floor beside you.

Well, mostly beside you.

He sat with his back against the cabinets while your dramatic overheated self remained starfished beside the fridge.

Remy slid one of the bowls into your line of sight.

“There,” he said smoothly. “Medicine.”