She sniffed delicately. ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’
He didn’t recall anyone ever calling him ridiculous before. Except perhaps his sister Hetti, and she certainly hadn’t said it with the kind of undercurrent that was rippling between Effie and himself right at this moment.
It was intoxicating. And unexpected.
The whole night had been so unpredicted. So voltaic.
He didn’t realise they’d reached her apartment until she stopped outside the door and turned to him, her hands playing with each other in that way of hers that he shouldn’t already be able to recognise as showing anxiety.
‘Well... This is me.’ She screwed up her nose. ‘Um...thanks for this evening. It was...’
He was too close, he realised belatedly. Too close and too intent. Wholly unable to tear his eyes from the rise and fall of her chest, which betrayed how shallow her breathing was, from her lips and the way her tongue flickered out to moisten them, as though her body knew what it was doing even if her head didn’t intend it.
He knew exactly how that felt.
Before he could think twice Tak lowered his head, the fleeting sensation of her hot breath on his chin only charging his body all the more, and claimed her mouth with his own.
He knew he was in big trouble in an instant.
She tasted of lust and longing and pure sensation. All exploding inside him. As if he’d detonated a charge he’d known all along would send him skyrocketing.
He couldn’t get enough.
And as her arms looped around his neck, without even the slightest hesitation, and the most delicious of sounds escaped from the back of her throat, he felt as though the whole evening had been building up to this one single moment.
Something rumbled through her, soft and low at first, but as he kissed her and caressed her, sampling her over and over, taking his time and allowing every millimetre of his mouth to become acquainted with every millimetre of hers, it grew louder and more insistent. Tasting, touching, teasing. Angling his head for a better fit and feeling Effie mould her body to his as though by extension. Driving him wild. Heaven and hell all rolled into one. Sweet and sinful, wistful and wild.
He certainly wasn’t prepared for Effie to wrench herself away, pushing him back with her palms even as her fingers still gripped his lapels.
‘I... That is... You...’ She dragged her fingers over her temptingly raw lips incredulously. Her eyes were slightly wide, but still dark with desire. Without warning she swung around, fumbled with her key in the lock, opened the door and finally disappeared inside the flat.
He let her.
He had enough experience with women to know that her head and her body would be at odds with each other right now. If he’d wanted to sway her one way or the other, he could have. But he hadn’t, because he wanted her to come to him herself. To beg him to take her. To be sure there was absolutely no doubt in her mind about what she wanted from him.
He pretended not to hear the voice in his head, telling him that this was far removed from what this evening had been meant to be about that it made a mockery of their ‘buffer’ plan. And he let her go even as the sweetness of her mouth still danced on his tongue.
For several long moments he stood, his eyes glued to the closed door, imagining her on the other side, leaning against the wood and struggling to regain her composure.
But before he had a chance to turn around and make his way down the corridor to the elevator, Effie’s door abruptly swung open and she pushed straight past him, rushing to the adjacent flat, where she began to wildly hammer on the door.
‘Nell? Mrs Appleby? Are you in there?’ There was a distinctly frantic edge to her voice.
‘Will you calm down? You’re going to wake the whole building,’ he said.
‘They aren’t in there.’ She jerked her head maniacally, and he could only assume that she was indicating her own flat.
The blaring TV was a good sign. Still, Effie yelled through the door, her voice higher-pitched than ever. ‘Mrs Appleby? Is everything—?’
Effie practically toppled inside as the door swung open without warning, and Tak found himself lurching forward so as not to be shut out.
‘You’re lucky Mrs Appleby is so deaf that she doesn’t realise you’re trying to beat down her door,’ Nell said, and scowled at her mother before catching sight of Tak. Her eyes narrowed curiously.
If he had any sense of self-preservation at all he would leave. Right now. This wasn’t Hetti. Or Sasha. This wasn’t his responsibility. This was Nell, and she was Effie’s albatross. He prodded himself. Which was why he should already be halfway down the hall.
Instead, Tak folded his arms across his chest and met the kid’s bold gaze.
* * *
Effie struggled to slow her hammering heart. Though whether it was her panic over the fact that Nell hadn’t been where she should have been, or the fact that Tak had been glued to her side since the moment she’d started to freak out, she couldn’t be sure.
She didn’t think she wanted to analyse it too deeply, anyway.
‘Why are you both here?’ She turned her attention back to her daughter. ‘You’re supposed to be in our apartment. You should be in bed.’
‘So you’ve been into the flat?’ Nell didn’t even attempt to drag her gaze from Tak.
He wouldn’t be finding it easy to hold firm, Effie thought, sucking in a breath. ‘Yes. And when you weren’t there I got worried. You couldn’t have left a note? Some indication that you were here and why?’
‘The fact the place is freezing didn’t give it away?’ Nell retorted, finally dragging her focus back to her mother.
Her young voice held an edge of sarcasm that wouldn’t have been there six months ago, but Effie wasn’t ready to call her out on it in front of a stranger. Not this stranger, anyway.
Had the flat been cold? She hadn’t noticed—had only registered the fact that the TV was off—unheard for old Mrs Appleby. Effie wrinkled her nose. In fact she’d been far too preoccupied with that kiss.
It was high time she put that momentary madness behind her. Except that even now her body heated at the memory of what had happened in the hallway with Tak.
Tak’s low voice broke into her thoughts. ‘Why is your home freezing?’
‘The boiler has probably broken down.’ Jerking her head up, Effie told herself that there was no need for her to feel ashamed. It was none of his business how they lived.
Her daughter, however, had no such qualms. She eyed Tak. ‘It does that a lot.’
‘Not a lot,’ Effie said quickly.
‘Oh, come on, Mum. It’s all the time.’
‘We’ve only been here three months.’
‘And it’s the fourth time it’s gone.’ Nell snorted unapologetically. ‘The thing is ancient and you’ve said it yourself—the landlord is too penny-pinching to replace it.’
‘You’ve called him tonight?’ asked Tak suddenly.
‘Of course.’ Nell pulled a face. ‘He said it’s the weekend, so the earliest he can get someone out will be Monday, but Tuesday is more likely.’
‘Okay—’ began Effie, but Tak cut her off.
‘Not okay. It’s barely spring, it’s been a sub-zero winter and there’s another cold snap on its way. Repairing your faulty boiler is clearly his top responsibility.’
‘As he said, it’s the weekend, so that’s a reasonable time frame.’ At least it was if she didn’t want to risk being seen as a troublesome tenant and risk eviction. ‘We don’t all have the kind of money which gets instant action.’
‘I’m not challenging your financial circumstances,’ he commented unexpectedly. ‘I’m neither blind nor stupid. I do understand how putting yourself through medical school at the same time as raising a child must have crippled you.’
‘Oh.’
Of all people
, she didn’t expect Tak to understand so readily. At all, even.
‘And I realise you must still be sacrificing to send Nell to that school.’
‘It’s worth it,’ Effie cut in quickly, glowering at him. ‘Besides, as soon as I have time to house hunt, I’ll be able to find somewhere much better now that I know the area.’
‘Effie...’
‘Can we just drop it? Please?’
Tak didn’t look happy but, ultimately, he obliged.
‘So you aren’t going to call your landlord again?’
Not quite what she’d meant by ‘drop it’, but at least he wasn’t talking about the school any more. She didn’t want Nell uncomfortable at her new school.
‘Nell just said she called him.’
‘She’s thirteen.’
‘Nell’s very responsible.’ If only she’d never mentioned the shoplifting to Tak.
Her daughter had had to be responsible—it had always been just the two of them. As much as Effie had tried to protect her daughter from growing up too fast, being a single parent and a doctor had nonetheless played its part.
Still, she could be proud of herself that Nell didn’t really understand the kind of true ugliness out there that Effie herself had dealt with for most of her childhood. She’d used select parts of her past to teach her daughter how to be strong, confident, and able to think for herself. Yet she’d kept so much of it back—partly out of shame.
‘I’ve no doubt she’s extremely responsible...for a thirteen-year-old. Call your landlord.’
It was ridiculous that she found herself squaring her shoulders. ‘No.’
There was no way that Tak would understand that calling him a second time would only cause him to push their boiler to the bottom of his list. And she didn’t need him—anyone—telling her what to do. She would protect her own family the way she always had. She’d got this far on her own, hadn’t she?
She threw off the niggling fact that for once—with Tak—she was almost tempted to let someone else in.
‘We don’t need you swooping in, playing some kind of unwanted superhero. We can sort out our own problems.’
For a long moment they glared at each other.
‘Fine.’ Tak turned to her daughter abruptly, as though—insultingly—he considered the thirteen-year-old to be the more reasonable of the two of them. ‘Give me his number and I’ll call him myself.’
‘You can’t!’ Effie gasped.
There would be repercussions if he did. Their landlord wasn’t exactly renowned for his understanding nature. And as much as she might be ready to look for a better home as soon as she had some free time, she didn’t want them to be kicked out by an irate landlord before she had time to line up somewhere new.
‘Wait here,’ she instructed, in as firm a voice as she could manage. ‘I’ll pay Mrs Appleby and then you can argue with me.’
When she got to know the area, and had more than a couple of hours of downtime—hours which were usually spent washing, cleaning and doing the grocery run—then maybe she would have a moment to look for somewhere better.
She found herself shaking the dozing Mrs Appleby awake as gently as possible and thrusting the babysitting payment into the old woman’s hand before hurrying out of the flat to catch up with Nell and Tak. Predictably, they hadn’t listened to a word of her instructions.
She stood back, chewing her lip, as Tak conducted what seemed like a remarkably one-sided conversation, during which he was doing most of the talking and her usually dominant landlord appeared to be doing an unusual amount of conceding.
‘He’ll have someone here first thing in the morning,’ Tak said, ending the call with something approaching satisfaction. ‘You can’t spend the weekend with no heating. It’s unacceptable.’
‘It’s called reasonable,’ Effie countered. ‘At least in my world.’
Tak didn’t appear remotely swayed. ‘I’ll wager that if his own boiler broke down he’d have someone there within the hour.’
‘Well, this isn’t his flat. It’s mine.’
They glared at each other for a long time before Effie finally broke contact, all too acutely aware of Nell’s curious gaze.
‘Pack a bag,’ Tak commanded abruptly. ‘You can’t stay here.’
It was the crossing of the line in the sand that Effie needed. She rooted herself to the spot and lifted her steady gaze to his. This was her daughter, her little family, her problem. She would deal with it. Just as she always had done.
‘Absolutely not.’
‘This place is—’
‘We’re really grateful for you for talking to the landlord,’ she said, cutting him off abruptly, ‘but we’re fine now.’
She didn’t know what was galvanising her—she only knew that something was. Perhaps it was the fact that she had long since learned that ultimately people would let you down and she relied only on herself. No one else. Never anyone else.
Not even him.
It was a bit terrifying that the idea of leaning on Tak Basu—even just a little—was so damn tempting. What was it about this man that slid through her in a way that no one else ever had? Ever.
The next thing she knew she was standing with her hand on the open door. ‘I said that we can take it from here.’
Tak scowled, and looked as though he was about to argue. And then, without warning, he gave a terse nod of his head and strode out. Once in the hallway, he paused long enough to instruct her to call him if she had any more problems and then he was gone.
She chanted over and over in her head, that she was glad.
But even as she closed the door with a flourish, knowing that she would inevitably get the third degree from a barely contained Nell, Effie took a moment to lean her forehead on the cold wood and wonder exactly what she had done.
CHAPTER SIX
‘THAT’S IT! THAT’S it—stop!’ Effie called to the paramedic to stop chest compressions before shouting to her patient above the noise of the helicopter as it raced through the air. ‘Emma, are you with me, sweetheart? You’re okay. You’re in a helicopter, my love. I’m Effie—I’m a doctor. You’re doing well. You’re back with us.’
She exchanged a relieved glance with one of her paramedics. It was a hard enough job even without the additional complication of the cramped helicopter space. For several long minutes they continued tending to their patient, before Effie finally sat back on her heels.
‘Okay—quick recap. We’re back in normal sinus rhythm and she has a line in. We’ve carried out CPR and one shock, straight up. She’s had oxygen, aspirin, no adrenalin.’
The pilot’s voice came over the system. ‘We’re a couple of minutes out from the hospital.’
‘Good,’ Effie acknowledged, smiling brightly down to her patient, whose eyes were finally open. ‘Okay, Emma, we’re nearly at the hospital. You’ve done really well. Now, let’s see if we can keep that heart-rate up, shall we?’
For the next half-hour Effie concentrated on the task in hand: keeping her patient comfortable and carrying out her observations before the helicopter finally landed. There wasn’t time for her to think about whether or not Tak would be in the resus room when she rushed her patient in. But later—much later—she might acknowledge that deep down there was a tiny part of her which prayed that he wouldn’t be there, just as there was another tiny part of her that always hoped he would.
The two parts had been sparring with each other for the last few days.
As they lifted her patient off the helicopter and onto a hospital gurney Effie kept chatting to Emma while the team navigated the long ramp to the hospital. It felt like a win when she finally handed over to the hospital team without Emma going into arrest a second time.
And then there were no distractions or excuses. She was here, in Tak’s hospital, and every corner she turned, every corridor she walked,
seemed to be a home for ghosts of him.
Had it really only been three days since that night at the gala? Since that kiss? Since he’d seen exactly how she lived? It felt like a lifetime, and if she never had to see him again she would be just fine with that.
She ignored the traitorous part of her which whispered that wasn’t true. Just as she pretended that her eyes weren’t scanning through every door, every window, wondering whether he was just on the other side.
‘Are you looking for Tak?’
Effie jumped guiltily as she swung round to see his sister, Hetti. ‘Of course not,’ she lied brightly. ‘I was looking for James, one of my paramedics.’
‘Oh.’
She tried not to react to Hetti’s all too knowing smile.
‘How are you, anyway? How was the ball?’
Effie hesitated ‘Good. Yes, fine.’
‘You enjoyed it?’ Hetti pressed.
‘I...yes. Sure. What did Tak say?’
‘Not a lot, really,’ continued Hetti airily. ‘You know Tak.’
But that was the issue, wasn’t it? Effie didn’t know Tak. Not at all, really. Yet she couldn’t help thinking that Hetti was watching her a little too closely, as though hoping for a reaction.
‘Sure,’ she lied, her grin almost painful.
‘Having said that,’ Hetti added, a little too casually, ‘I’ve never seen him so...shall we say buoyant?’
She would not react. She would not.
‘Oh. Well. That’s good,’ she offered brightly. And then she spoiled it all by smoothing her flight suit down as though it was some designer gown. ‘Well, I’d better find my paramedic and get back to the heli.’
Hetti practically leapt forward to grab her arm. ‘Oh, but...not yet, Effie. There’s something I want to ask you.’
‘There is?’
‘Yes.’
Effie waited patiently.
Hetti clapped her hands and clicked her tongue. ‘Yes. There is.’
The moment was eked out until it was almost uncomfortable.
‘Well... I really should get going...’
A Surgeon for the Single Mom Page 6
