by Lucy Clark
The way she said his name pierced right to his heart and he realised that things were getting out of control. He worked his way up, not wanting to break the contact immediately but knowing he must—and soon. He nipped at her ear lobe and she giggled. The sound was intensely provocative and the last thing he needed right now.
He hadn’t meant to lose control like that, to grab her and smother her with kisses almost the first instant after he’d walked into her apartment…but she was all he’d been able to think about for most of the day, especially as he hadn’t seen that much of her. He’d missed her and his need for her had increased.
‘Melody.’ With his breathing still out of control, he looked down at her face. Her eyes were closed, her parted lips were dark pink and swollen from his kisses, her breathing as ragged as his own. She was a vision of loveliness. Unable to resist, he brushed his lips against hers, forcing himself not to deepen the kiss.
‘Mmm,’ she murmured again, and when he brushed them a third time her hands clamped themselves on either side of his head and held his lips where they belonged. Seductively, she ran her tongue over his lips and was thrilled with the shudder that tore through his body.
Ever so slowly, she kissed him again. Teasing and testing, refusing to deepen the kiss.
‘Melody.’ This time her name was torn from his lips and she was satisfied with the response.
She kissed him again, not wanting him to speak for she’d already sensed his slow but sure withdrawal. Even though their bodies were still pressed firmly together, George had already mentally distanced himself. She didn’t want to think about things rationally and if they stopped completely, then they’d have to talk things through.
Melody just wanted to go on feeling exactly as she was feeling now, not caring about her already bruised heart or the fact that the man in her arms would be leaving within forty-eight hours. She breathed slowly against his mouth before tasting him once again. Now that she knew how incredible they were together, it was something she’d probably crave for the rest of her life.
He didn’t break free and he didn’t hurry her. Instead, he took what she was offering but held himself under rigid control, still marvelling at how easily he’d lost his perspective. Perhaps the building resistance they’d been employing for the past four days had increased his drive. Whatever this was between them, George knew he’d never experience anything like it again. This was unique for him.
Knowing the moment had come when she couldn’t hang onto the physical pull any longer, Melody lowered her hands to his shoulders and slowly opened her eyes. His brown eyes were gazing down into hers, the fire still burning but gradually being doused.
Neither of them spoke but the communication was there. As their breathing steadied to a more normal pace, George reluctantly eased himself away from her. For one fleeting instant he thought Melody might overrule him and drag his body back where it belonged. Instead, she let her hands fall limply to her sides, her gaze dipping briefly to his lips before she looked down at the floor.
He felt awful. How could he have kissed her again? He’d already told himself that they would just be friends, colleagues and nothing more. It wasn’t fair, to either of them, to torture themselves as they just had. Their lives were running on two completely different tracks. Despite how much he was attracted to her, he also owed her the respect and common decency he would show to other female colleagues. Guilt started to swamp him and he opened his mouth, an apology on his lips.
‘Don’t.’ Melody held up her hand. ‘Don’t apologise. We both wanted it, we both needed it and we’ll both take responsibility for it.’
‘You’re right, but I was also going to say I never meant it to happen.’
‘Liar.’ She crossed her arms defensively over her body, rubbing her arms, her body still feeling bereft of his touch. She turned and headed into the living room, leaving him to follow her or stay where he was. She needed to sit down.
‘Why am I a liar?’ He followed her into the living room. She was sitting with her legs tucked beneath her skirt on a large wingback chair. Her hands were clenched tightly in her lap and her eyes were momentarily closed.
Melody fought for composure before opening her eyes to look at him. ‘Because you did mean that kiss to happen. We may not have realised it, but it’s been building ever since we met on Monday.’ She shrugged, displaying a nonchalance she didn’t feel. ‘It was…inevitable.’
He registered the truth of her words as he slumped down into the matching chair beside her. ‘When you opened the door, I guess everything became too much to control. I was relieved we could see each other without being surrounded by people. I was still trying to resist you because I knew it was the right thing to do, and I was slightly annoyed because you left last night without saying goodbye.’ George sighed and shifted in his chair, his gaze intently holding hers.
‘Then I had meeting after meeting,’ he continued, ‘talking to people and presenting information, discussing operating techniques, and the entire time all I could think about was you. About seeing you tonight, about being near you, holding you, kissing you.’ His gaze dropped to encompass her mouth as he spoke, another thread of desire running through her at such a look. He cleared his throat and eased back in his chair. ‘I even snapped at Carmel—twice—and it wasn’t even her fault. It was simply because I was behaving like a hormonal, preoccupied teenager.’
‘Wow.’ She cleared her throat. ‘That’s, ah, a lot of information to process.’
‘We need to be open, to not be afraid to ask questions,’ he stated. ‘Or answer them.’ He reached across, holding out his hand to her, which she accepted. ‘Deal?’
Melody felt warmth wash over her at the soft touch from his hand. Open honesty from a man? Was that possible? ‘Deal.’
‘So…’ He gave her hand a little squeeze before releasing it. George settled back in the chair. ‘You mentioned you studied in Parramatta?’
‘Yes.’ Melody smiled. She told him about growing up in that area, about the way her family appreciated vintage cars and her brothers had been over-protective, especially during her teenage years.
George raised his hand and chuckled. ‘I understand completely.’
‘Hey, you’re supposed to be on my side.’
He shook his head. ‘As a brother of twin sisters, I’m a card-carrying member of the over-protective brother club.’
‘Great. Then you’ll get on wonderfully with David and Ethan.’
‘I’d like to meet them sometime.’ George’s words flowed easily from his lips but as he said the words Melody’s spine prickled with apprehension.
‘Does that mean you’re planning on staying in touch after you leave?’
He nodded before shifting in his chair. ‘This is why I’m here tonight. To get to know you, to become better friends with you. I don’t know what this is, Melody, but I do know it doesn’t happen every day.’
‘Did it feel that way with—?’ She stopped, the question about his wife forming before she’d had time to process it.
‘With Veronique?’ At her nod, he thought for a moment. ‘We were colleagues, then friends, then more than friends, then dating, then engaged, then married.’
‘Where are we on that scale?’
‘I think we’re definitely in the “more than friends” bracket but also in the “friends” and “colleagues” brackets as well.’ He stood and walked over to the wall, where there were several pictures of her family as well as framed copies of her medical degrees. ‘You and I—we’re not doing things in the right order.’ He turned to face her.
‘I think that’s why it’s so confusing.’
‘Did things happen in the right order with your ex-fiancé?’
‘Yes. Colleagues, friends, more than friends. We didn’t quite make it to the marriage part.’
‘Because he cheated on you?’
‘Yes. Several times. With several women, women I still see around the hospital, and there are probably more I still do
n’t know about and don’t want to know about.’ She sighed heavily.
‘It still hurts deeply?’
‘Being betrayed? Yes.’ Melody angled her head to the side, feeling a wave of emotions she’d thought she’d dealt with rise to the surface. ‘With Ian, he flat out lied. He was married, didn’t tell me. So that was lying creep number one. A while later, enter lying creep number two who wanted to marry me but with the understanding that he didn’t want children.’ She sniffed and shook her head slowly from side to side. ‘I spent a lot of anxious and soul-searching nights wondering if I could be in a marriage without children and eventually I decided that I could. I could accept that Emir didn’t want children, that our careers, the care we had for our patients would be enough.’
‘You mentioned he moved to Germany to be with the woman he’d impregnated.’
‘Yep.’ Tears welled in her eyes. ‘It made me realise it wasn’t that he didn’t want children, it was that he didn’t want them with me.’ She spread her arms wide then let them drop to her side dejectedly. ‘He didn’t want me.’
‘He really was dead in the head not to want you.’ George’s words were filled with desire and when she looked at him through her tears she could see by his expression that he meant it.
‘Thank you.’ She took a tissue from the table and dabbed at her eyes. ‘Heartbreak isn’t easy but somehow we do survive it.’
‘The heart mends. Amazing, eh,’ he stated rhetorically.
Melody was quiet for a moment before asking softly, ‘How did you feel when you learned of Veronique’s death?’ George clenched his jaw at the question and Melody quickly held up a hand. ‘You don’t have to answer th—’
‘I felt like dying.’
Melody clutched her hands to her chest, her eyes wide with empathy.
‘When I heard the news, I…’ He shook his head. ‘I wanted to die as well.’
She wanted to go to to him, to hold him, but she stayed where she was. ‘I’m very glad you didn’t. Think of all the people you’ve met during the past year. Think of how many lives you’ve touched, how many people you’ve helped, how many lives have been improved. You’ve empowered surgeons around the world to be able to save their patient’s lives. That’s an amazing legacy, George.’
‘And one Veronique wanted for me.’
Melody leaned back in the chair and smiled. ‘You’ve done her proud.’
‘You don’t mind me talking about her?’
She shook her head, once again realising that George had a lot of things he needed to sort out if there was ever going to be anything developing between them in the future. He was still grieving, still…broken. They both were. ‘Veronique was a major part of your life,’ she continued. ‘We’ve all loved and lost. Sometimes through heartbreak, sometimes through death and sometimes through both.’
‘Both?’
She shrugged. ‘My brother, Ethan, went through a difficult time. His wife died from eclampsia and his baby girl died almost a day later. Ethan worked himself into a frenzy and it was only after he had a mild heart attack that he confessed his wife had been drinking heavily during her pregnancy and that his daughter had suffered from foetal alcohol syndrome.’
‘The poor man.’
‘He’s good now. He’s found happiness again and a new family.’
‘And I’ll bet you were his rock, the sister who pulled him through the darkest times of his life.’
‘We’re a close family.’
‘That’s nice.’ George held her close. ‘Family is important. I’ve realised that more and more this year. At first, I couldn’t wait to get away, to leave the hospital where both Veronique and I had worked. Now I have such mixed emotions about going back because I’m not going back to my old life. My old life doesn’t exist any more. It’s gone and I can never get it back.’
It was that, more than any talk about his wife, which pierced Melody’s heart. George wanted his old life back, which only reiterated that he wasn’t ready to look to the future and the possibility of a new life. Which was why his next words threw her completely.
‘Melody—I want to spend together whatever free time we have left. It’s only going to be an hour here or half an hour there, I know, but what do you think?’
‘Do you think that’s wise? Especially given what you’ve just said?’
‘I don’t know any more. I don’t know what’s right or wrong, what might happen or won’t happen. I just know that when I’m around you I feel calm and I haven’t felt calm in a really long time. It’s very selfish of me, and you have every right to say no.’ He looked expectantly into her face.
She was secretly delighted he wanted to spend time with her but was also highly cautious. ‘Well, we both have hectic schedules so it would make it difficult.’ She was trying hard to choose her words carefully. She didn’t want him to think she didn’t want to spend time with him because she did, but she also needed to gauge how much time would be enough for her to hold onto her sanity. Self-preservation was a key factor in her life, especially with her track record of relationships. ‘I’ll be in Theatre tomorrow, doing the second part of that hand reconstruction, while you’ll be doing your last theatre stint of show and tell.’
He chuckled at her wording. ‘That’s exactly how it feels sometimes.’
She smiled at him. ‘We could have breakfast together on Saturday morning before your flight to Melbourne.’
‘At the hotel?’
She shook her head. ‘I know a nice all-day breakfast place I’d like to take you to.’ They could say a private goodbye and then she could come home and cry her heart out.
‘You’ll pick me up?’
‘Sure. Then I can take you straight to the airport.’ Even as she said the words she wasn’t sure it was the best idea but he was right when he’d said they had very little time to spend together.
‘It’s a date.’ The way he looked at her, with a mixture of need, want and desire, left her with little doubt as to how she affected him. He clenched his jaw and shoved his hands into his pockets, as though to keep himself from crossing to her side and gathering her close.
They stared at each other for so long she was about to capitulate and cross to his side, eager to have his mouth on hers once more. George cleared his throat. ‘We’d better start watching these brilliant reconstructive surgeries of yours before I lose all control.’
‘Wait.’ His words took a second or two for her sluggish brain to process. ‘You were serious about that?’
‘Yeah. I really am interested.’ He pulled a USB memory stick from his pocket. ‘The library downloaded the files onto this stick for me and told me to keep it.’
‘You are really strange if your idea of fun is to sit and watch recordings of surgeries.’ She took the stick from him and put it into the USB port at the rear of her television. Soon they were sitting on the lounge facing the television ready to watch the surgery. ‘Are you sure?’ she checked one last time as he put his arm down the back of the lounge, his body very close to hers. It was exciting and comforting and sexy to have him so near. If this was her holiday romance, she couldn’t think of anything better to do on a date. Watching surgery with another surgeon, someone who really understood her work.
‘I want to spend time with you, Melody, and tonight this is all the time I have. I don’t think either of us are emotionally ready for the result our attraction could provide, so…’ He took the remote from her and pressed ‘play’. ‘If this is the way I get to spend time with you, then so be it.’
‘OK, but it goes for over four hours.’
‘If I get bored, which I seriously doubt, I’ll fast-forward and you can provide me with a commentary about what I’ve missed.’
‘Oh, joy.’ Melody couldn’t help but laugh at his seriousness on the issue.
‘Also, can we order some food? I’m starved.’ He kicked off his shoes and pulled out his phone. ‘What do you feel like eating? Noodles? Curry? Pizza?’
‘Er…curry?�
�� She marvelled at how relaxed and at home he seemed. He was probably so sick and tired of living out of a hotel that being at a real home was probably something of a novelty. He ordered some food, told her it would be delivered in half an hour, then snuggled closer to watch Melody performing surgery.
They both watched as the operating theatre came into focus and there she was, standing at the operating table, explaining the finer points of what she was about to do. She felt self-conscious watching herself, never having sat through a viewing of the recording before, but with George asking questions she found herself reaching for the remote to pause it while they discussed things in more detail.
It was liberating to be able to sit down with a man and discuss a subject she was passionate about. He seemed to be really interested and the knowledge thrilled her. It was wonderful and exhilarating, as well as desperate and sad. Here she was, bonding with a man who would leave her in forty-eight hours.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
HER NECK HURT. As the pain sent signals to her brain Melody shifted slightly but the pain continued. It felt as though someone was pinching her neck and she wished they’d stop. It was a mosquito, she realised, and swatted it away. No. The pain was still there.
Slowly, she was drawn out of the dream state to reality. The pain in her neck still there and annoying. She must be sleeping at an odd angle. She shifted slightly, only to come up against a hard obstacle.
Had she left her books on the bed again? She kicked at them with her leg but they didn’t fall. She kicked them harder, only to hear them groan. Groan! Books didn’t groan! Melody frowned. She felt with her foot and realised with a start that it wasn’t a book but a leg!
Her eyes snapped open and she tried desperately to focus. She was in her lounge room, the television still on. She was lying against the back of the lounge suite, her legs entwined with George’s, his arm holding her possessively to his body. George! Oh, no. They’d been watching her reconstruction recordings and had fallen asleep.
