Excerpts

Excerpt

His Little Christmas Miracle

Emily Forbes

Jess had refused to wear a dress. As if that meant she had some control over the situation. She didn’t want to feel like she was going on a date. They were just two old acquaintances catching up. She tucked her jeans into her boots and tugged a black turtleneck sweater over her head. She did put on make-up, she was too vain not to, but kept it simple. Foundation, mascara, some blush and lip gloss. She still wanted to look pretty but not desperate. Adding a red scarf for some colour, she headed out the door.

She’d insisted on meeting Lucas at the hotel. This wasn’t a date so he didn’t need to collect her, she was quite capable of walking a few streets. She stepped from the plaza into the lodge. She stopped briefly, gathering her thoughts as she admired the room. There were two beautifully decorated Christmas trees in the lobby, one at each end, and the lobby itself was festooned with lights, pine branches, red bows and mistletoe.

The lodge was celebrating Christmas in style and decorations were multiplying in the village too. The Christmas spirit was alive and flourishing in Moose River and Jess smiled to herself. As a child she had loved Christmas. She had looked forward to it all year, partly because the festive season also included her birthday, but it had been her favourite time of year for so many reasons. But then, one year, Christmas had lost its sparkle and Jess was desperate to put it back. Maybe this would be the year.

Jess felt someone watching her and she knew it was Lucas. She turned her head. He was walking towards her, coming to meet her in the lobby. He was wearing a navy suit with a crisp white shirt and a tie the colour of forget-me-nots. She’d never seen him in a suit before. His hair had been brushed, it wasn’t as tousled as she was used to, and she fought the urge to run her fingers through it and mess it up a bit. He looked handsome but she preferred him more casually styled. But perhaps the old Lucas wouldn’t have fitted into this fancy hotel. She wondered how much he’d changed. Probably not as much as she had.

He smiled at her. A dimple appeared in his cheek, a sparkle in his eye. Now he looked like the Lucas she’d fallen in love with.

He reached out and took both her hands in his then leaned down and kissed her cheek, enveloping her in his clean, fresh scent. The caress of his lips sent tingles through her as her body responded to his touch. She could feel every beat of her heart and every whisper of air that brushed past her face as his lips left their imprint on her skin. Despite what she thought, her body didn’t seem to remember that this wasn’t a date or that seven years had passed. Her body reacted as if it had been yesterday that Lucas had been in her bed.

She’d been on a few dates over the past few years but she’d eventually given up because no one else had ever had the same effect on her as Lucas had. The attraction she’d felt for Lucas had been immediate, powerful and irresistible, and she’d never felt the same connection with anyone else. Not one other man had ever made her feel like she might melt with desire. Not one of them had made her feel like she was the centre of the universe, a universe that might explode at any moment. What was the point in dating? she’d asked herself. Why waste time and energy on someone who wasn’t Lucas? If she couldn’t have Lucas she’d rather have nothing.

And it seemed he hadn’t lost the ability to make her feel truly alive. Just a touch, a glance, a kiss could set her off. She’d need to be careful. She’d need to keep her wits about her and remember what was at stake.

‘JJ,’ he said, and his voice washed over her, soft and deep and intimate. How could she feel so much when so little was said? ‘Thank you for coming.’

As if she’d had a choice.

Despite her show of determination she’d known her resolve wasn’t strong enough to withstand the temptation of knowing that Lucas was only a few streets away. She’d known she’d pick up the phone and call him.

‘I hope you don’t mind if we stay in the hotel to eat?’ he asked.

‘I’m not dressed to eat here,’ she said, as she took her hands out of his hold and shrugged out of her coat. Jeans and an old sweater were not five-star dining attire, even if the jeans hugged her curves and the black top made her blonde hair shine like white gold.

He ran his eyes over her and Jess could feel her temperature rise by a degree for every second she spent under his gaze. She could see the appreciation in his eyes and the attention felt good.

‘You look lovely,’ he said as he took her coat. It had been a long time since she’d wanted to capture a man’s interest and despite telling herself this wasn’t a date it was nice to know that Lucas liked what he could see. ‘And you’re safe with me. I can put in a good word for you if need be.’ He was laughing at her and she relaxed. His words reminded her of their first night together all those years ago. She’d felt safe then and she felt safe now.

‘Are you sure? I don’t want to drag down the standards.’

‘Believe me, you’re not lowering our standards.’ He ran his gaze over her again and Jess’s breath caught in her throat as she saw his forget-me-not-blue eyes darken.

He guided her into the restaurant, his hand rested against the small of her back. His touch was so light she should hardly have felt it but she could swear she could feel each individual fingertip and her skin was on fire under the thin wool of her sweater. He took her to a table positioned beside the large picture windows looking out over the outdoor terrace and onto the plaza. Lucas pulled out her chair for her and reached for a bottle of champagne that was chilling in a bucket next to her. He popped the cork and poured them each a glass.

‘To old friends,’ she said, as they touched glasses.

‘And new memories,’ he added. ‘It’s good to see you, JJ.’

She took a nervous sip of her champagne and looked out of the window. Christmas lights were strung up around the terrace and stretched across to the plaza. They surrounded the ice-skating rink and looped through the bare branches of the trees. The ice and snow sparkled under the glow of the lights as skaters glided around the rink. It was the perfect image of a winter wonderland.

‘It’s a beautiful view,’ she said as she got her breathing under control and returned her gaze to Lucas. ‘It’s a beautiful hotel.’

‘You like it?’

‘It’s perfect. Just looking at it makes me happy. Someone has done a very good job.’ The entire lodge conspired to make her feel as though the hotel was giving her a warm hug. Or maybe that was Lucas.

‘Thank you,’ he said.

‘You?’

Lucas nodded. ‘This is my vision.’

‘Really? I thought you were the hotel manager.’

‘That’s my official title but this is my hotel.’

‘Yours? You own it?’

‘Yes. This is my baby.’

‘You dream big, don’t you?’ she said.

‘What do you mean?’

‘You told me you wanted to work in the hospitality industry when you finished university, you never said you actually wanted to own a hotel.’

‘You remember that?’

I remember everything about you, she thought, but she said nothing.

‘I have you to thank for that,’ he told her.

‘Me?’

‘I started planning this the day you vanished from my life.’

‘I didn’t vanish,’ she objected. ‘My father dragged me away. I didn’t have a choice.’

‘In my mind you vanished. I never saw you again. I looked for you, every day, until the end of the season, until the day I left, but you had disappeared.’

‘You looked for me?’ She’d never dared to imagine that he would have thought about her.

‘Of course. Did you think I would just let you go? It’s taken much longer than I thought it would to find you but now we have a chance to fill in all the gaps. Now I have a chance to find what really happened that day. To find out what’s happened since.’

‘I’m not the same person I was then, Lucas.’

She remembered that awful day as if it were yesterday. The shame. The heartbreak. She had felt as though things could never be worse. Until she’d found out that, really, they could. In fact, they could be a lot worse.

Everything had changed after that, including her. The only thing that hadn’t changed, apparently, over the past seven years was how Lucas affected her. As his eyes locked onto hers she knew she would jump right back into bed with him tonight if he asked. She could feel every cell in her body yearning for him. She felt as though if she didn’t keep tight control of her emotions her body would dissolve. The heat between them was enough to melt her core and she could feel herself burning.

She could get lost in him so easily and she couldn’t let that happen. She needed to resist him, needed to keep her distance, but when he looked at her like he was doing now, like she was the only person in the world, she didn’t think she had the willpower to stay away. Sitting there, looking in to his blue eyes, she could pretend that her life was still simple and easy and privileged.

But that wasn’t the truth.

She fought the urge to give in to him. To do so would mean telling him all her secrets. She knew that it was inevitable but she was terrified of what he would think when he found out. Would he forgive her? Would he reject her?

What a complicated situation. Coming back was supposed to be the answer. It was supposed to help her get her life on track but all she’d got were complications and confusion. All she’d got were more questions and fewer answers.

She suspected it would be impossible to get out of this with her heart intact and she wasn’t sure if she could stand to lose him a second time. But that wasn’t going to be her choice to make.

She picked up her glass as it gave her a chance to remove her hand from his, which was the only thing to do if she wanted to think straight. There were things she needed to tell him.

Jess sipped her champagne, steadying the glass on her lip to disguise the shake in her hand. All the times she’d wished he’d been with her and now here he was. It was time for the truth. She couldn’t keep her secret any longer. She took a deep breath and put her glass down on the table. Starting the tale would be difficult but she feared it wouldn’t be the worst part.

‘Lucas, there’s something I need to tell you.’

“A Kiss to Melt Her Heart”
Emily Forbes

Gabe tried not to watch as Sophie swung her legs out of the bed. He could see the swell of her breasts under the thin wool of her thermal top and he saw her nipples peak as her body registered the change in temperature.

He moved away but turning his back didn’t stop him from picturing the lines of her body, the softness of her skin, the touch of her fingers. He heard her feet hit the floor as she stood up and he imagined he could feel the air moving as she pulled on her clothes.

He opened the door as she finished putting her boots on and together they stepped outside. The sky glowed green and he heard her intake of breath as she looked up and stretched out a hand as if to touch the lights that danced above their heads. From one edge of the night sky to the other long fingers of light shimmered and glowed. The dark night sky had been overtaken by rich emerald green swirls tinged with sapphire blue and gold. Even the stars were dulled by the magnificence of the Aurora Australis.

Sophie turned in a circle to follow the lights as they danced across the sky. ‘It looks like the world has been turned upside down. I’ve seen these colours in the ocean but never in the sky.’ The colours were crisp and clear, translucent, and she lifted her hand again as if to reach out to touch them. ‘They are so beautiful.’

The lights shone like phosphorescence, splitting the darkness like laser beams. A curtain of coloured smoke wafting across the sky.

‘Do you want to get your camera?’

She shook her head. ‘No. I don’t think I could do it justice. I just want to sit and enjoy it.’

Gabe could feel the length of her thigh against his and he imagined he could feel her body heat even through the thick insulated suits. Indecent thoughts had been running through his head ever since he had enticed her out of bed and now that she was practically sitting in his lap his thoughts were getting more and more r-rated. Despite the fact they were both bundled up in myriad layers of clothing he could picture her shape and he could see her face under the emerald glow of the Southern Lights and that was enough to keep his blood boiling.

She had left her hair loose and the dark curls were poking out from beneath her beanie, spilling over the front of her red suit like a chocolate fountain. He resisted the urge to reach out and lift the weight of her hair in his hands.

Sophie gazed heavenward as the display continued in all its spectacular glory. ‘I can see how being here could become addictive. There’s nowhere else quite like it, is there?’

‘No, it’s hard to give up,’ he agreed. He missed the Ice whenever he left for a break. He was attracted to the wildness and the freedom of Antarctica. It really was the last frontier. Of course there were rules, particularly in terms of safety, but the expeditioners were a little community at the bottom of the Earth, remote and separate from the rest of the world, and that was one of the things he relished.

‘I had the impression that Antarctica was red, white and blue, but now I’ll remember it as emerald and gold,’ she said and he felt her leg twitch as she shivered.

‘Are you cold, Doc?’

‘A little.’

Gabe stood up and reached for her hand. ‘Time to get warm,’ he said as he pulled her to her feet.

They were standing almost chest to chest and Sophie tipped her head back to look up at him. She wasn’t here to forget but to move on. She wanted to make a new start. She wanted new memories and sitting under the Southern Lights drinking hot chocolate was exactly the type of new memory she wanted. She would never see this anywhere else and now, whenever she thought of the Southern Lights, she would associate them with Gabe. Tonight would be a perfect memory. ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘It’s been a perfect day.’

Gabe’s eyes were dark. He wasn’t smiling but he was watching her so intensely that she could feel a yearning in her belly as though a fire was being stoked. She leant towards him as if she was the aurora and he was the South Pole. She was powerless to resist the pull of attraction. She put her hands on his chest and even through his thick jacket she could feel his strength. He felt solid and dependable and masculine.

She felt his arms wrap around her as he pulled her in even closer. He bent his head.

‘Sophie.’

Her name was a whisper on his lips.

It was the first time in weeks she had been called anything other than ‘Doc’ and she liked how her name sounded when he said it. It made her heart sing.

And then the whisper was gone as his lips covered hers.

His beard was rough against her cheek but the contrast between the scratchiness of his beard and the softness of his lips was incredible. Her breath escaped in a sigh as she closed her eyes and opened her mouth to him.

He tasted of cinnamon and chocolate and she knew she would always associate those flavours with Gabe. It was amazing to kiss someone when the only thing you could feel was their mouth. Her hands were on his chest but because of all their layers the only exposed parts of them were their noses and lips. It concentrated her senses and sharpened her focus. Everything she could touch and feel was going into the kiss. Everything she could touch and feel was happening through her lips.

She melted into him, unable to tell where she stopped and he started. This was the kiss she’d been dreaming of but it was better than she’d imagined. Gabe’s lips were soft but his tongue was searching and as he explored her mouth a rush of heat shot from her chest to her belly and all the way to her toes. It was intense, powerful and all-consuming. It was an incredible feeling but did that make it right?

Sophie wasn’t sure. She pulled away, pushing her hands against his chest until their lips came apart.

*

Sophie lay her in bunk underneath Gabe trying to breathe quietly. Trying to sleep. But it was going to be impossible. Her mind kept replaying that kiss.

She expected to feel guilty but there was no denying she had wanted to kiss him. That she’d wanted to for days. It wasn’t wrong and she wasn’t going to feel guilty about something that felt so right. She was done feeling guilty.

Sitting under that magical sky had made her feel small and insignificant. It had put things into perspective for her and reminded her that they are all temporary. The lights would be there long after she and everyone else she knew had gone. The lights would bathe the world in their colours for eternity but she only had the here and now. She only had one chance at life and she needed to live it.

Life was short. She needed to be brave. She wanted to be fearless. She needed to take a chance and live each moment. She didn’t know how many she had left and she didn’t want to waste any of them.

He’d said it was her decision.

She wanted to feel alive. She wanted to feel happy.

She wanted to live her life without regrets.

It was her decision and she was willing to take a chance.

She wanted to share this night with Gabe.

She tugged her necklace over her head. She stuffed the chain and her wedding rings into the pocket of her fleece and whispered to Gabe. ‘Are you awake?’

CHAPTER ONE

Ellie’s eyes were stinging and she could feel tears welling up, accompanied by an unexpected lump in her throat as the coffin slid soundlessly on the stainless steel rollers and disappeared through the curtain. Behind the curtain, screened from the mourners in the chapel, her grandmother’s body would be taken to the crematory and reduced to bone fragments. Heated to a thousand degrees all that would remain would be able to be contained in a small urn. That urn would end up behind a small brass plaque, next to the ashes of Ellie’s grandfather and parents.

            ‘You okay?’

Jess was sitting to Ellie’s left. She was holding out a pack of tissues.

            Ellie took one and smiled. ‘Yes, I’m ok.’ Her tears weren’t for her grandmother. Her grandmother was eighty-eight years old and her death wasn’t unexpected but it did mean that Ellie was now truly alone, the sole remaining member of her family. She was an only child and her parents had been killed when she was eleven. Her maternal grandparents had been her guardians and now they were both gone too. Her tears were selfish ones.  

            Surrounding her, flanking her, protecting her, were her closest friends. Jessica and Ruby sat on her left, Tilly on her right. She and Jess had been friends for several years now since meeting at university where they’d studied nursing together. They’d gone through the highs and lows of good and bad results, good and bad relationships and good and bad times generally. Ruby and Tilly had become her friends more recently, since they all lived together in Number 71 Hill Street and worked together at Eastern Beaches Hospital, but they had become as close as Jess in recent times. These three were like family to her but they weren’t family.

As she waited for the funeral music to stop playing Ellie thought back over the past two months. In the space of nine weeks she’d lost her boyfriend; well not so much lost as found out he was actually someone else’s cheating husband; and now she’d lost her grandmother, her closest relative.  True, she had her friends but they weren’t what she longed for. She longed for a family to call her own. She wanted to belong. Her friends were fabulous but they weren’t enough. But they were all she had.  

Stop being pathetic, she told herself. It was one thing to cry over the death of a loved one, that was allowed, expected even, but to sit here, at her grandmother’s funeral feeling sorry for herself was being a little too self-indulgent. She was twenty-three years old, she had friends, she would be fine.

            But the empty spot in her heart refused to listen. Ever since her parents had died she’d been conscious of this space waiting to be filled. She knew it could only be filled by love but it was a spot for family and family alone. No matter how much she loved her friends that spot was still there, empty, waiting. What if she never found her soul mate, her one true love? What if that empty spot was never filled?

Ellie shook her head.  She couldn’t think like that. She had to be strong. She had to be positive. Somewhere her perfect partner waited for her, she had to believe that. Rob had been a mistake, it didn’t mean her quest for love was over. At least she hoped not.

            The curtain was closed, the music had stopped, the coffin was gone and her grandmother too. There was nothing left to do here.

            She stood and her friends stood with her. They moved en masse to the lounge for the afternoon tea and shadowed her as she spoke to the funeral director and some of her grandmother’s friends, keeping a silent and protective eye on her until Ellie decided that she was able to leave without seeming rude.

            ‘Stat Bar anyone?’ Tilly suggested as they made their way out of the funeral home. The Stat Bar was their favourite after work haunt; a few hundred metres down the hill from the hospital where they all worked and only a few steps from the house they all called home, it was convenient and trendy.

            ‘Would you rather go somewhere else?’ Ruby asked Ellie. ‘Somewhere you can be anonymous?’

            Ellie knew the Stat Bar would be crowded with hospital staff and she knew her friends would understand if she wanted to avoid it today but she shook her head. ‘No, that sounds good. I’m fine, really.’ A few familiar faces weren’t going to bother her.  

            The sun was still shining when they got back to Coogee Beach on Sydney’s south-eastern shore. It was a glorious afternoon, something Ellie couldn’t reconcile with a funeral. Funeral weather was supposed to be overcast at the very least, preferably raining, which is exactly the sort of weather she’d had on the day she farewelled her parents. But, she decided as she sipped her drink, the sun did boost her spirits.

They’d managed to grab a coveted outside table overlooking the beach and the tangy smell of salt in the air, the crisp white sand framing the ocean and the sound of the waves breaking on the shore all conspired to make her feel better. Maybe the fact she was on her second vodka, lime and soda was also helping to improve her mood.

The Stat Bar was beginning to fill up with the after work crowd. The allied health practitioners from the hospital were the first to file through the doors, followed by the junior doctors. As more people gathered in the bar Ellie decided it was time to freshen her makeup, she could only imagine the state of her foundation and mascara following the afternoon funeral. She stood up, hauling her bag from under her chair.

            Her high heels clicked on the tiled floor as she entered the ladies room. She always wore heels when she wasn’t at work as a way of compensating for only being one hundred and fifty-five centimetres tall. She dumped her bag on the bathroom counter and examined her face. Her eyes were a bit bloodshot but not too swollen although the tip of her nose was still red from crying. She pulled a hairbrush and her make-up out from the depths of her handbag. Tipping her head back she squeezed a couple of eye drops into the corner of each eye before sliding the Alice band from her shoulder-length blond hair and running the brush through it. She repositioned the Alice band, using it to hold her hair off her face as she blended a little foundation over her nose. She leant forwards, overbalancing slightly on her high heels as she checked her eyes. The drops were working, her blue eyes looked a little brighter now.  She straightened up and applied a fresh coat of gloss to her lips. She removed a few long blond hairs from her black dress, checking to see that she’d gotten rid of all the stray strands.

            As she walked past the bar to return to her girlfriends she saw Rob, her lying, adulterous ex, paying for his drinks. His distinctive appearance made him easy to pick out in a crowd. He was over six feet tall with perfect posture and, as always he was well-dressed. He was out of his theatre clothes and was wearing an immaculately pressed suit, a sharp contrast to the more casual clothes and various hospital uniforms that surrounded him. He had his back to the ocean and to the rest of the room and she could pass behind him unseen. She hurried past as Rob picked up his drink and turned from the bar. 

            ‘Rob’s here,’ Ruby pointed out when Ellie returned to their table.

            ‘I saw him.’

‘Are you happy to stay?’

Ellie nodded, ‘Yes, I’m fine. Completely recovered.’

She’d had to recover quickly. She and Rob worked together on the orthopaedic ward so she saw him on an almost daily basis and she hadn’t had the luxury of time to retreat to lick her wounds in privacy.  She’d had to maintain a civil working relationship. Rob’s personality was aloof and cool at the best of times, something Tilly had always delighted in reminding Ellie of, and since the breakdown of their relationship he certainly hadn’t become any more amenable but mostly they managed to work together harmoniously. Although she didn’t want to socialise with him she had no problem being in the same bar as him.

‘I’m still embarrassed,’ she admitted, ‘but pleased the whole thing was such a secret that I don’t have to live out my embarrassment in front of the entire hospital. I know I got caught up in all the possibilities of the relationship but I think I might have learnt my lesson, for a while at least. I’m going to take my time from now on, not dive in head first.’

Ellie’s remark made Ruby grin and Tilly laughed.

‘What’s so funny?’ Ellie demanded.

‘Famous last words,’ Tilly replied. ‘I’ve never known anyone to fall in love as quickly as you.’

‘I admit I’m a hopeless romantic,’ Ellie replied to Tilly, ‘and when you fell in love with Marcus, and Ruby and Cort sorted out their lives, I got a bit carried away thinking I could be next but I’m going to be patient.’ She reminded herself that she was going to be strong. Positive. Her perfect partner was out there, she just had to be bide her time. She would find someone. ‘There’s someone out there for me and when the time is right he’ll appear.’

‘How about right now?’ Jess interrupted. ‘There’s a hot guy at the bar.’

            ‘I didn’t mean today,’ Ellie laughed.

            ‘Check him out before you cross him off your list,’ Jess advised, ‘he looks okay to me.’

Ellie turned her head. It wasn’t hard to see who Jess was talking about. Leaning on the bar, wearing faded jeans and a snug black t-shirt that hugged his sculpted arms and chest, was one definitely hot guy. He had one foot on the railing that ran around the base of the bar and his jeans were moulded to his very shapely backside. He was thin, not scrawny, but his waist was narrow. There was no sign of any spread around his middle and Ellie could see a slight ripple of abdominal muscles along his side. He looked naturally slim, not like he spent hours in the gym.

His face was in profile as he waited for his order. He had a square jaw darkened by a hint of stubble, full lips, one dark eyebrow that she could see and dark lashes. He got his order and turned away from them, unaware of their scrutiny as he moved through the crowd. Ellie straightened in her seat and followed his progress across the room. His walk was quite graceful, his long lean lines leant fluidity to his movement, and his steps were confident. He stopped to join the group of surgeons standing with Rob and Ellie watched, intrigued, as Rob introduced him to the others. How did Rob know him?

            ‘Do you know who he is?’ Jess asked. She’d shifted in her chair to get a better look.

            ‘No idea,’ Ellie replied.

She had a good view of him now. Standing beside Rob she could see he was a few inches shorter, around six feet tall. Rob was getting thicker around his middle and the contrast between hot guy and Rob made Rob look older than his thirty-three years. Rob’s hair was more grey than brown although it was still thick. Hot Guy had thick, almost black hair, with a definite curl.

            ‘If Ellie isn’t interested you should go and introduce yourself, Jess,’ Ruby suggested.

            Ellie couldn’t remember saying she wasn’t interested in the hot guy specifically but she bit her tongue because she had just said she was going to bide her time.

            ‘No way. I’m not going to interrupt that group,’ Jess said.

Ellie understood her sentiments. As very recent nursing graduates they still felt there was a pecking order among the medical staff and their social standing in the hospital certainly didn’t allow them to fraternise with the surgeons uninvited out of hours. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy the view.

            She looked back into the bar. Hot guy was still talking to Rob but he was looking at her. Their gazes locked and something flashed through her. A jolt, a strike, a shock to the heart and the rest of the room receded as the spark of connection flared. She sat still, riveted to the spot as he looked her up and down without a hint of embarrassment. She should have been horrified but all she could do was wait for him to finish. Wait for his eyes to meet hers again. Without consciously acknowledging her actions she was waiting to see if she could work out what had happened with that first glance. What was it?

His gaze returned to her face and there it was again. A flash of what? Recognition? Ellie wondered if he knew who she was. She mentally shook her head. No. Rob would never have talked about her.

She didn’t move, she couldn’t move. She knew she was staring but she couldn’t stop. She felt a blush spread up her neck and into her cheeks but still she couldn’t look away.

His smouldering good looks had a slight wildness about them, an edginess, which drew her to him. She imagined she could feel the heat radiating from him. Her fingers itched to touch him and if he’d been standing beside her she knew she would have reached out to feel him. She could imagine the heat of his hands burning her skin and that made her blush even more.

He held her gaze, a hint of mischief in his eyes, almost as though he could read her thoughts, and then he grinned at her. Ellie smiled back. She didn’t mean to and she was surprised to find her face was capable of expression but her smile was an automatic response to the power of his.

His gaze had her held in place. She felt as though she were in shock, incapable of moving while he was watching her. She tore her eyes away from his, forcing herself to break the connection. She tried to focus on the conversation going on around her, tried to behave normally, tried to pretend she hadn’t just shared a moment with a hot stranger.

She had no idea how successful she was being but thankfully the arrival of Ruby’s fiancé, Cort, provided a welcome distraction.

Cort was an emergency specialist and Ellie wondered if he knew who the hot guy was. She didn’t have to wonder for long.

‘Do you know who the guy in the black t-shirt is over there? The one who’s talking to Rob Coleman?’ Ruby inclined her head in their direction as she asked Cort the question.

‘That’s James Leonardi,’ he said as he took in the group. ‘He’s a new registrar.’

‘In emergency?’ Ellie asked. Was the new reg working with Cort?

Cort shook his head. ‘Orthopaedics.’

            ‘Orthopaedics?’  Ellie repeated. She didn’t know whether to be nervous or delighted. The hot guy was an Orthopod? She was going to have to work with him?

            ‘He’s transferred from Royal North Shore. I understand the Director of Orthopaedics poached him, apparently there are high expectations of him.’

She was vaguely aware that Cort was still talking but her mind had wandered off in the direction of the hot guy. James Leonardi. His name sounded Spanish or Italian. She should have known. That would explain where the heat was coming from, he would have passionate blood running in his veins, it was almost tangible. It was in his eyes too, in the look he had given her. Fire, heat and passion.

There was a silent humming in the air around her. She could feel it and she was convinced it was coming from him. How was it possible to feel such an instant connection with a complete stranger?

            She shifted in her chair. She needed to change position. She needed something else to look at. She was going to be working with the man. She needed to change her focus. She needed to picture him in a white coat, in a sterile environment. In theatre scrubs. No. That wasn’t helping. He looked just as good in her imagination.

Maybe she should go home. Maybe it was a case of out of sight, out of mind.

by Emily Forbes

            Noah was waiting for a shower and it was her job to help him. That was what she was being paid for. She wasn’t being paid to fantasise about getting into bed with him but undressing him did nothing to deter her imagination.

            Ruby wheeled him into the main bathroom before carefully removing his shirt. It was the first time she’d seen him shirtless since the ICU and he looked every bit as good as she remembered. She tried not to stare but she did take her time pulling his t-shirt over his head which gave her a chance to check him out unobserved.

            He had no body fat and his torso was smooth and trim with well defined pectorals and abdominal muscles but his arms were to die for. She was desperate to run her hands from his shoulders down over his biceps and forearms all the way to his fingers.

            She chatted away as she removed his boxer shorts and helped him to transfer to the shower chair. She tried telling herself he was just like any other patient and to stop feasting her eyes on him but it was difficult to do. Every part of him was oversized and glorious. His skin was smooth and while his arms and legs were lightly covered with blonde hair his trunk was hair free except for a narrow trail of fair hair that ran south from his navel. Ruby averted her eyes, afraid she’d be caught out, as she settled him into the shower chair before removing his sling. He had no tattoos that she had seen and she could understand why. Why would he mess with perfection?

            She ran the shower and adjusted the temperature before pushing the shower chair under the flow of water. Noah was able to take care of most of his ablutions using his left hand but Ruby needed to help him with his left side and his hair. But as she stood behind him to wash his hair she realised that the maxi dress she’d thrown on that morning to combat the forecast heat of the day was not the most suitable attire. She hadn’t considered the logistics of the bathroom when she’d dressed. It was spacious with ultramodern fittings. This was good because the shower chair had rolled easily behind the floor to ceiling frameless glass shower screen but the shower head was enormous and the water poured from it like a waterfall. It was nothing like the hospital showers and there was no way she was going to be able to wash him and stay out of the spray.

            Noah’s hair was thick and long and it took ages just to get the water to penetrate the strands. She squeezed shampoo into the palm of her hand and worked it through his hair massaging it into his scalp. Noah closed his eyes and she felt him relax under her touch. Ruby took that as an invitation to feast her eyes on his perfect proportions as she washed his hair. She tipped his head backwards to rinse the shampoo out. His eyes remained closed and she was tempted to run her fingers over the planes of his face. His lips were slightly parted which made it look as if he was waiting to be kissed. She wondered what he’d taste like. Coffee, she suspected.

            Rivulets of water were running down his chest, coursing between his pectoral muscles and gathering along his sternum. Ruby watched transfixed as the water made its way towards his stomach. He had dropped the washcloth in his lap, protecting his modesty, but Ruby’s eyes didn’t need to travel any further, she didn’t need to see what lay beneath the cloth, she had the perfect image captured in her memory. By the time she had finished rinsing his hair she was soaking wet and more than slightly aroused.  She needed to gather herself together.

            ‘All done,’ she said as she flicked off the water and pushed him out of the shower. She exchanged the wet wash cloth in his lap for a towel and used a second towel to dry him off. She stood behind him to dry his hair, squeezing the water from it before moving around to stand in front of him to dry his arms and chest. Her wet dress clung to her breasts, stomach and thighs leaving little to the imagination and she could see him looking at her as she leant over him. Her temperature rose steadily as he devoured her with his eyes.

            She dropped her gaze and her hands. Her head dipped as she dried his stomach. Her head was aligned with his. He was close enough to kiss. All she needed to do was lean in a fraction more. She wanted him to close the gap. She wanted him to kiss her.

            He lifted his head. She met his eyes. They had darkened considerably as his pupils dilated. He put his hand over hers, stilling her movements.  She waited to feel his lips on hers but he moved no further.

            ‘I can manage this bit,’ he said. He took over, drying himself from the waist down.

            She waited for him to finish before helping him to put his arm back into the sling. She leant over him, fiddling with the straps. She could feel his breath on her cheek. She lifted her eyes. His lips were millimetres away, tempting and teasing her.

            She still wanted him to kiss her but instead she put her arms around him and helped him to stand.

            They stood, hip to hip, chest to chest. Noah was locked in her embrace. They were as close as lovers.

            Ruby’s nipples were erect, reacting to the dampness of her dress and to the sensation of Noah’s body pressed up against hers. She could feel her nipples brushing his chest. She was aroused but she could feel he was too.

            She looked up at him and met his blue-eyed gaze and this time when their eyes met he didn’t hesitate. He dipped his head and claimed her for himself.

            Ruby met him half way, opening her mouth under the pressure of his lips, giving into desire. She held onto him a little tighter, wrapping her arms a little more firmly around his back, her hands pressed into his shoulder blades as she fought to maintain their balance as their kiss deepened.

            He tasted just like she’d imagined. Soft, warm and sweet with faint traces of his morning coffee. She pressed her hands a little harder into his shoulder blades, trying to bring him closer as he cupped her bottom with his left hand and locked them together. Her knees felt like jelly and she wasn’t sure who was supporting who.

            Noah broke first.

            ‘I have to sit down.’

            Five simple words were enough to jolt her back to reality. And the reality was that he was badly injured and needed all his concentration to keep his balance while standing on one leg.

            While she knew the attraction was mutual the bottom line was that he wasn’t physically capable of taking this any further. Not yet.

            ‘Sorry.’

            ‘Don’t be sorry.’ He grinned as he lowered himself into the wheelchair. ‘You should be thankful. If I was fully fit you wouldn’t be able to keep up. If you start exercising now you might be able to handle me.’

            Ruby raised an eyebrow as she dropped a towel into his lap. The towel concealed his erection but Ruby was pleased to see from his reaction that she affected him as much as he did her. ‘Is that a challenge?’ she asked.

            ‘If you want it to be. But it’s only fair to warn you that I love a challenge.’

            ‘Is that right?’

            She was shivering now but she knew the goose bumps on her arms were more likely to be caused by the look in Noah’s eyes than by her wet dress. But that didn’t matter. If he wanted a challenge she’d give him one. She was eager to see how he coped with her next move.

            She grabbed the skirt of her maxi dress and turned her back to him as she pulled her dress over her head. She wasn’t wearing a bra, she rarely did, but she kept her back turned towards him giving him an eyeful of naked skin but with just a hint of the curve of her breast. She grabbed another towel from the rack and began to rub herself down, drying herself off. She held the towel across her chest as she dried one arm and then the other. She lifted one leg and propped her foot on the edge of the bath to rub that leg before swapping to the other.

            ‘God, Ruby, that’s not fair,’ Noah’s voice was a soft, deep groan. 

            ‘You’re not the only one who likes a challenge,’ she said as she straightened up and wrapped the towel around her chest, tucking one end inside the other to hold it in place. ‘We’ll soon see who can keep up with whom, won’t we?’