Medical Duo - Dr Chandler's Sleeping Beauty & Christmas with Dr Delicious

by MELANIE MILBURNE

  ‘Sophie, this isn’t a good time,’ she said.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Sophie said with a sob in her voice. ‘I didn’t want to hurt you like this. Charles and I fought it for so long.’

  ‘How long?’ Kitty asked.

  ‘Remember that trip we all took to the Cots-wolds a couple of years ago?’

  ‘Yes,’ Kitty said, seething with resentment as she thought of how she had got held up at the hospital and Charles had gone ahead with Sophie. She had come down later with their other friends, Tom and Claire and Finn. ‘How convenient it must have been for you both to spend the first night down there without anyone else to interrupt your little love tryst.’

  ‘It wasn’t like that, Kitty,’ Sophie said. ‘We didn’t do anything. We just talked. I was going out with Finn, as you know, but things weren’t really working out. Charles was so supportive. He told me I shouldn’t be wasting Finn’s time if I wasn’t truly in love with him.’

  ‘What a pity he didn’t take his own advice,’ Kitty put in.

  Sophie sighed. ‘He loved you, Kitty. He still loves you. But not the way a man should love the woman he’s going to marry and spend the rest of his life with.’

  ‘He could have told me rather than have me find out the way I did,’ Kitty said.

  ‘I’m so sorry about that,’ Sophie said. ‘It just happened. You have to believe that. Our feelings got the better of us. We’d planned to tell you that night. It was a horrible way for you to find out. I was so ashamed. I couldn’t believe I’d lost control like that. It started with a kiss and then suddenly we were in bed and … Well, you know the rest.’

  Kitty pressed her lips together, her thoughts going to the kiss that had been her sensual undoing with Jake. Did she have the right to judge Sophie when she had been guilty of the very same loss of control?

  Of course she had the right.

  It was totally different.

  Neither she nor Jake had betrayed anyone else in indulging their passion for each other. It was all very well for Sophie to apologise, but it didn’t change the fact that her two best friends in the whole world had betrayed her in the most despicable, hurtful way.

  ‘Look, Sophie, I really have to go,’ she said. ‘I appreciate the phone call, but I think it’s best if we all get on with our lives and leave it at that.’

  ‘Remember when we were little girls?’ Sophie said. ‘Remember when we promised each other we’d be each other’s maid of honour?’

  ‘We’re not little girls any more,’ Kitty said. ‘Now, if you don’t mind, I—’

  ‘I won’t feel married if you’re not there,’ Sophie said. ‘It won’t be the same without you. We’ll be one down on the wedding party. I’m not going to ask anyone to take your place. The photos are going to look rubbish.’

  ‘I’m sure Claire or Harriet will do a perfectly fine job of being your bridesmaid and maid of honour,’ Kitty said.

  ‘I don’t want Claire or Harriet,’ Sophie said. ‘I want you. We promised, remember?’

  Kitty looked at the promise ring that was creating a ridge in the flesh of her finger. ‘Not all promises can be kept,’ she said, and ended the call.

  * * *

  Jake knocked on Kitty’s door and listened as her footsteps approached. The door opened and he smiled at her. ‘Sorry I’m late,’ he said, handing her a bottle of champagne.

  ‘How’s Robbie?’ she asked.

  ‘Awake and flirting with the nurses in HDU,’ he said. ‘The operation went well. Lewis Beck is confident he’ll be out of hospital within a week.’

  ‘I’m so glad,’ Kitty said. ‘You must be feeling very relieved.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Jake said, following her to the kitchen. ‘Hey, what’s cooking? It smells delicious.’

  ‘Nothing fancy,’ she said.

  ‘No cucumber sandwiches?’

  She gave him a half-hearted smile before she went in search of glasses. ‘No.’

  ‘Here, let me get those for you,’ he said as she tried to reach the cupboard above her head.

  ‘I don’t think there are any champagne glasses in there,’ she said.

  ‘Nothing wrong with drinking champagne out of a wine glass,’ Jake said. ‘Especially tonight, when we’re celebrating.’

  She gave him another slightly distracted smile as she tucked a little strand of hair behind her ear. ‘Of course.’

  Jake put the glasses on the bench beside the champagne and put his hands about her waist, bringing her a little closer. ‘What’s up?’ he asked.

  She looked at his shirtfront. ‘Nothing.’

  ‘Hey, remember that I’ve got two sisters,’ Jake said. ‘I know enough about women to know that “nothing” means “something”, and it’s usually something big. So spill it. Tell me what’s worrying you.’

  She slowly raised her grey eyes to his. ‘My ex-best friend called a few minutes ago,’ she said.

  ‘The one who hooked up with your ex?’

  A resentful glitter sparked in her eyes. ‘She wants me to be her maid of honour at their wedding,’ she said. ‘Can you believe that? As if I’d stand at the altar and smile for the cameras while she promises to love the man I thought I was going to marry! Everyone would be staring at me, pitying me—or, worse, laughing at me.’

  Jake frowned in empathy. ‘I can understand how tough a gig it would be for you, but wouldn’t it be better to tough it out? Show them you’re over it? No one will laugh at you. They’ll be pleased you’ve moved on with your life.’

  She chewed at her lip for a moment. ‘I’m not ready to pretend everything’s OK,’ she said. ‘Why should I let them have a perfect day when they’ve ruined everything for me?’

  ‘Aren’t you being a little bit selfish about this?’ he asked.

  Her frown was quick and deep. ‘Selfish?’ she said. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘It’s selfish to want them to suffer for your misery,’ he said. ‘You need to let it go, Kitty. You being angry and resentful won’t stop them loving each other. Charles has made his choice. So it wasn’t you? Move on. Be the bigger person. Show them how mature and grown-up you are about it all.’

  Her frown relaxed a little but her mouth was still pushed forward in a little pout. ‘They’re the ones who are being selfish,’ she said. ‘They’ve wrecked my life.’

  ‘Have they?’ Jake asked, pulling her closer. ‘Have they really?’

  Her eyes meshed with his.

  Jake brushed his thumb over her bottom lip. ‘We wouldn’t be together now if it hadn’t been for them,’ he said. ‘You wouldn’t have come all this way and turned my world upside down, not to mention make me lose a cool one thousand bucks.’

  Her mouth twitched with a ghost of a smile. ‘Was it worth it?’ she asked.

  Jake put a hand in the curve of her back to draw her even closer as he lowered his mouth to hers. ‘Best thousand bucks I’ve ever spent,’ he said, and kissed her.

  Kitty leaned into Jake’s kiss, her body responding to the hot hard heat of him surging against her in arrant maleness. She felt her stomach flip in excitement as his tongue boldly commanded entry to her mouth. She opened to him, whimpering in delight. Her breasts started to ache with the need to feel his touch. She rubbed against him with wanton abandon, her lower body pulsing with the need to feel his possession. She felt the honeyed slickness between her thighs.

  He slipped her top off one of her shoulders and worked his way with his mouth over her sensitive skin, over her collarbone, against her neck, to just below her ear. She felt her flesh rise in tiny goosebumps as his teeth tugged at her earlobe. She rose on tiptoe to subject him to the same sensual assault. She delighted in the deep groan he gave when she tugged his shirt out of his trousers. She ran her hands over his chest, over his pectoral muscles and the taut ridges of his toned abdomen. She boldly unfastened his trousers and sought him with her hand. He groaned again as she stroked him. He was so hard and heavy she could feel the throb of his blood against her fingers.

 
Her insides clamped with lust. It was a consuming force that would allow no other outcome but satiation. She trailed her mouth down over his chest, down, down, down, breathing in the pure male scent of him, teasing him with her teeth and her tongue.

  He put his hands on her shoulders to halt her, but she continued determinedly on her erotic journey of discovery. She wanted to pleasure him, to have him at the mercy of his need for her. She wanted to prove how exciting she could be as a lover—not just to him, but also to herself. She wanted to taste him. To feel him shudder with release.

  He fisted a hand in her hair, groaning again as she took him in her mouth after he’d quickly put on a condom. She felt him brace himself; his thighs rock-hard and slightly apart. She continued on her mission, relishing his response. She felt the exact moment he climaxed. It was so intensely intimate to receive him in such a way.

  ‘Oh, God,’ he said shakily. ‘This is the most amazing dinner party I’ve ever been to.’

  Kitty smiled as she straightened. ‘That’s just for starters,’ she said. ‘Just wait until you see what I’ve got for dessert.’

  His eyes glinted as he backed her against the kitchen bench. ‘That must mean that the main course is up to me,’ he said.

  Kitty shivered when his hands pulled her top over her head. He tossed it to the floor at their feet and then went to her skirt. He slid the zip down at the back and stroked his hands over her bottom. Her bra and knickers soon joined her skirt and top. She was standing there stark naked, but for some reason she didn’t feel embarrassed. Instead she felt powerfully feminine. The way his gaze devoured her made her skin tingle and her spine melt. She could see the passionate intention in those dark blue depths and it made every hair on her head tingle at the roots.

  He spun her around so her back was to him. Her breath hitched in her throat as she felt him nudging between her quivering thighs. She clutched at the counter-top to steady herself, every nerve screaming for his first thrust. She gasped when he surged into her, her body accepting him with slick moist heat. He drove to the hilt; his movements slow at first, but then gradually building to a pace that carried her at breathtaking speed to the summit of human pleasure.

  She sobbed as her body shuddered and shook with aftershocks, the spasms of her body triggering his final plunge into paradise. She felt him move against her as he emptied himself; his groans of ecstasy making her feel more like a woman than she had ever felt before.

  Jake turned her around to face him. ‘You’re amazing,’ he said, stroking his hands up and down her upper arms.

  Kitty tried to play it cool and casual and looked at him from beneath her lowered lashes in a coquettish manner. ‘I bet you say that to all the girls.’

  A small frown pulled at his brow. ‘Actually, I don’t,’ he said. ‘There’s sex and there’s sex—or so I’ve always thought. But sex with you is something completely different.’

  Kitty wanted to believe him. It had certainly felt that way to her. What she had experienced with him was so far from her experience with her ex that it was as if she were in a different body.

  But she knew the rules of being involved with Jake.

  This was not for the long term. She would be going back to Britain before too long. He would continue with his playboy no-strings lifestyle.

  They would probably never see or hear from each other again.

  She pushed aside the ache that thought caused and gave him a bright smile. ‘Why don’t you open the champagne while I get dressed?’

  His eyes ran over her like a hot blue-tipped flame. ‘I’ve got an even better idea,’ he said. ‘Why don’t you stay just the way you are?’

  ‘I can’t eat dinner with no clothes on,’ she said, giving him a shocked look. ‘What on earth would the neighbours think?’

  He gave her a wolfish smile as he reached for her. ‘I can’t speak for the others, but personally I have no problem with it.’

  Kitty shivered in delight as he bent his head to her neck. ‘What about dinner?’ she asked. ‘Aren’t you hungry yet?’

  ‘Starving,’ he said as he swooped down and captured her mouth.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  ‘TODAY’S the big day,’ Kitty said to Robbie when she visited him on her tea break a few days later. ‘I hear you’re going home.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Robbie said. ‘I can’t wait to get out of here.’

  ‘Has it been that bad?’

  ‘Not really, but I’m sick of being a patient,’ he said. ‘Jake and the girls keep fussing over me like I’m going to have some sort of relapse.’

  ‘That’s because they love you,’ Kitty said. ‘You’re lucky you have siblings who are always looking out for you.’

  ‘I know, but I want to get on with my life,’ he said. ‘I want to re-enrol at university. If I get my skates on I won’t be too far behind.’

  ‘Are you sure you’re not rushing things?’ Kitty asked. ‘You’ve been through a big operation. You still need time to heal. It’s only been a week. A three-hour anaesthetic knocks most people around a bit.’

  ‘I’ll be fine,’ he said. ‘I feel great. I know I look like something from a horror movie, but I feel good.’

  Kitty smiled. ‘Are you going to stay with Jake for a few days? He said he’d offered to look after you.’

  Robbie gave a shrug. ‘For a day or two maybe … I kind of figure Jake needs his own space. I can always stay with Jen or Rosie after that.’

  ‘I’m sure he would be happy to look after you,’ Kitty said. ‘He’s already planned to take a few days off. We talked about it last night.’

  Robbie looked at her. ‘You’re good for him, Kitty,’ he said. ‘He’s happier than I’ve ever seen him before.’

  ‘I’m sure that has much more to do with you getting better than anything to do with me,’ she said.

  Robbie frowned. ‘You love him, though, don’t you?’

  Kitty was momentarily caught off guard. She tried not to think about her feelings for Jake. She pushed those thoughts aside every time they surfaced. She had spent a lot of time with him over the last few days. The hospital network was buzzing about their affair, but she had weathered it much better than she had expected. She had even met his sisters on a couple of occasions and had felt totally at ease. It was hard not to, given that the girls and Robbie were so lovely and friendly. Just like the siblings she’d always wished she’d had.

  She hadn’t wanted to admit to herself how much she enjoyed being with Jake. She had accepted the affair for what it was: a brief interlude that was part of her master plan to put her heartbreak over Charles and Sophie behind her. But somehow as each day passed she found it harder and harder to recall Charles’s features, let alone his kisses.

  All she could think of was Jake.

  Her body felt him for hours after they’d made love. It was like carrying a part of him with her wherever she went.

  She didn’t want it to end.

  She didn’t want them to end.

  ‘I’m heading back to Britain for Easter,’ she said, adopting a carefree tone. ‘I’ve really enjoyed being here, though. I’ve learned heaps.’

  Robbie looked at her with studied concentration. ‘Maybe Jake will come and visit you over there some time,’ he said. ‘He’s always wanted to travel. He pretends he doesn’t but really he does. He’s given up everything for the girls and me. I wish he’d just live his own life for a change. He deserves to be happy.’

  ‘I guess he’s been taking care of you all for so long he doesn’t know any other way to be happy,’ she said. ‘You’ll have to show him you’re perfectly capable of looking after yourselves.’ She gave his hand a little squeeze. ‘I’d better get going. A&E is probably stacked to the ceiling with patients by now.’

  Robbie lifted his fingers off the bed in a farewell wave. ‘See you around.’

  Jake came home from work ten days later to see Robbie had packed his things and placed them by the front door. ‘What’s going on?’ he said.

 
‘It’s time I got my own place,’ Robbie said. ‘I’m crowding you.’

  ‘You’re not crowding me,’ Jake said, tossing his jacket over the back of the sofa. ‘We’ve talked about this already. You can stay as long as you want. There’s plenty of room.’

  ‘But what about you and Kitty?’ Robbie asked. ‘You’ve only been over to her place a couple of times, and when she comes over here I can tell she feels she’s in the way.’

  ‘Kitty understands how things are right now,’ Jake said. ‘My priority is to get you back on your feet.’

  ‘But it’s not fair to her or to you,’ Robbie said. ‘She’ll be going back before you know it, and you’ve hardly had any time together.’

  Jake hated being reminded of Kitty’s return to Britain. It was like a nagging toothache that he could mostly ignore if no one brought his attention to it. But even the staff at the hospital had taken it upon themselves to remind him of it lately. He had tried to play down his involvement with her, and Kitty too had been very tight-lipped, but it was hard to pretend he didn’t enjoy having her in his life both at work and in private. Those precious few private moments he’d snatched with her over the last couple of weeks had taken on a special meaning.

  ‘What’s brought this on?’ he asked.

  Robbie shrugged. ‘I just thought it was time to get out of your hair.’

  ‘But I don’t understand,’ Jake said, frowning.

  ‘What’s the point of paying rent you can ill afford right now? It doesn’t make sense when there’s a room going begging here.’

  ‘Kitty thinks it’s best if I start to take more responsibility for myself,’ Robbie said. ‘And the girls too. We all rely on you too much. It’s time we stood on our own feet.’

  Jake felt his spine stiffen and his brows snapped together. ‘Did she suggest you move out?’ he asked.

  ‘Not in so many words …’

  ‘How many words?’ Jake growled. ‘For God’s sake, Robbie, you’ve just had major surgery. You can’t go back to living a normal life as if nothing’s happened. Kitty shouldn’t have put such a damn-fool crazy idea in your head. She has no right to get involved in what’s none of her damn business.’