by Karin Baine
They stripped each other on their way to the bedroom, leaving a trail of clothes and underwear in their wake.
With Henri naked beside her, this time Lola didn’t shy away from his gaze. She stood firm as he swept his eyes over her body, regardless that she was quivering inside. Although she was still being judged, she knew it came from a place of appreciation. Henri definitely liked what he saw. And Lola temporarily forgot her own state of undress to marvel at his. His erection stood proud and unrelenting, a confirmation of his desire for her.
The moment her nerves started to creep back she clung to Henri, and every kiss and caress kept them at bay. He backed her onto the bed, his hard body covering the full length of hers. Once upon a time she would have found that intimidating, claustrophobic, knowing he could trap her beneath him with minimal effort. But this was Henri—not the ghost of boyfriends past. Everything he did was out of desire. Something she’d spent too long running from.
Already primed since last night, and with Henri’s hardness pressing into her flesh, Lola knew she was ready. She lifted her hips to make full contact, rubbing against him so his shaft parted her entrance.
‘Lola—’ Henri groaned into her neck and a jolt shot south through her, turning her breath to a gasp.
Her body thrummed at the first touch of him, waiting for more. Another tilt of her pelvis drew him farther in, forced another ragged moan from his lips. He wanted this as much as she did, and she saw no point in their torturing each other any longer.
‘I want you...’ she breathed into his ear, knowing he couldn’t hold out for ever.
A lifesaver, a guardian and a therapist he might be, but beneath it all he was primarily a man. She traced the outline of his ear with her tongue and sucked his lobe into her mouth.
His first blunt entry made her cry out—not through pain, but surprise. He filled her so completely it took a few moments for her to adjust to the new invasion.
‘Are you okay?’ Henri locked his arms out straight and levered himself off her.
Lola could feel him trembling from the restraint while he waited for reassurance that she was happy to continue.
‘I’m fine.’
She took a few deep breaths, her inner muscles gradually easing to let him move freely again. He took his time at first, until she got used to taking all of him inside. The steady rhythm became familiar, relaxed her with every thrust, but the new Lola wanted more. She knew he was holding back—always thinking of her and what he thought she needed.
Lola ground against him, reached down to dig her nails into his buttocks and drive him on. Henri responded by withdrawing fully and then plunging straight back into her, their bodies slapping together with the force. With each new penetration Lola was drifting further from her body. The frequency and intensity increased in time with Henri’s shallow breaths and Lola could hear herself moaning in response. She was climbing higher and higher. And then Henri pressed his thumb into her sex and the added pressure toppled her over the edge.
She clutched at his shoulders as she rode out her climax, releasing all her demons in one long cry. He chased his own satisfaction, pumping into her until he found it with a roar. When he’d given her everything he had, he fell onto the bed next to her.
They lay panting and smiling at each other, like two lovestruck teenagers experimenting with each other’s bodies for the first time. In some ways she was that inexperienced young girl, finally discovering what all the fuss was about. It had probably always been this way for Henri, but she knew for sure that she wanted to discover if it would be as good between them every time.
There was only one way to find out, and as soon as they got their breath back she wanted to test the theory. If nothing else was to come of their time together other than making her feel good, she could live with it. As long as he didn’t break her heart when he tired of being her mentor.
For now she was content to lie in his arms and pretend this feeling of complete and utter bliss was for keeps.
CHAPTER NINE
HENRI DIDN’T THINK he’d ever tire of kissing Lola. Almost a month into their fling, the flames of passion were burning so bright he was in danger of getting burned. It was a shame they’d wasted time avoiding their attraction—now they only had days left before it all ended. Suddenly time was moving way too fast. They needed to make every moment count.
He pressed his lips against hers once more, trying to coax her awake. These mornings waking up with a naked Lola curled up around him were the best way to start the day. He wasn’t looking forward to starting night shifts, or to the day when she wouldn’t be in his bed at all. Despite their agreement that this was a temporary arrangement, Lola had become part of his life—part of him. He was falling for her—hard—and he didn’t know what to do about it.
Having already fallen into a pattern of going to work together when they could, and spending the nights in his bed, they were living as a couple. Even if they hadn’t admitted that to anyone—including themselves. He’d never been in love before. He’d seen the havoc it had wreaked in Angelique’s life and had always had that in mind when his relationships threatened to get serious. He couldn’t afford to be weakened by such a destructive force when the whole family was still dealing with the fallout from the last attack.
Now he was starting to wonder if this was it, and love had sneaked in wearing a pink stethoscope around its neck. This terror taking hold of his heart at the thought of Lola walking away and him never seeing her again was new to him, but he wasn’t convinced it could be any worse than the pain when everything crashed and burned. He had no future to offer her. He was tied to helping Angelique raise the children, and Lola would eventually realise she deserved more than last place in the pecking order.
And if Henri was tempted to give in to the whimsy he only had to think of his sister, who’d given herself completely to another, followed him to another country, borne him children and still been left in pieces. Love was messy and complicated and he’d do better without it.
‘Hmm...?’ Lola’s moan in his ear meant they were both stirring.
‘Morning.’ He turned onto his side so he could stop overthinking this and get lost in the beauty of her yawning smile and still sleepy eyes.
‘What am I going to tell Jules this time?’
Lola stretched out her limbs, then cuddled back into Henri’s side. A far cry from that first night when she’d stayed over and then panicked about getting home before her absence was noticed—and another indication that they were becoming way too comfortable with the situation.
‘You were abducted by aliens and spent the night on board the mother ship?’
‘I think I used that one on Tuesday. And if I say I was with my folks again she’ll wonder why I ever bothered moving out.’
‘You don’t think she’s the tiniest bit suspicious that something’s going on?’
A change in behaviour was always going to draw attention from those who knew them best. Henri had been dodging questions himself about the nature of their relationship—from his sister. But if they admitted they were involved it made it real—and why cause a fuss when it was all but over?
‘I think she’s too caught up in her own misadventures to notice anything. Besides, Jules isn’t the type to hold back. If she thought I was getting it on with a colleague she’d be knocking on the door right now, waiting to hear all the juicy details.’
Lola slid her hand over Henri’s chest, apparently ready to give her flatmate something to gossip about. He wasn’t complaining. If Lola wasn’t in a hurry to bring this out into the open, either, then he was worrying over nothing. After all, she hadn’t expressed any desire to extend the parameters of their contract. For now it was only his heart at stake.
‘You’re not in any rush to leave, then?’
‘None whatsoever.’
The w
icked glint in Lola’s eye as she hooked her bare leg around his waist ensured Henri was wide awake and ready to play. Her newfound confidence in the bedroom was a gift to them both and not one to be wasted.
Everything outside of the bedroom door could wait until he was forced to confront it.
* * *
‘We have an unidentified male in his twenties. Witnesses said he was standing at a bus stop talking on his phone when an assailant punched him in the face and stole it from him. He was knocked unconscious and fell back, cracking his head on the pavement. He hasn’t regained consciousness and has been vomiting.’
The paramedic went on to rhyme off his stats and observations while the resus team went to work, trying to get the patient stabilised.
It was Lola’s job to suction away the vomit and clear his airways. It was a task she frequently carried out without a second thought, but at present one which she was finding difficult not to balk at. She put it down to the nerves bubbling inside her, knowing that today was the day she had to have a talk with Henri about their future. One in which, whether he liked it or not, they were now inextricably linked.
Her stomach heaved again. She’d been so incredibly stupid, and there were not enough tears or worry in the world to fix it.
‘We’re going to need a CT scan and possibly a chest X-ray. I don’t think we should try and wake him up, given the possible neurological problems. I’ll put in a call to the neuro surgeon and we’ll get him moved as soon as we can.’
As ever, Henri was doing everything he could to prevent the worst possible outcome. He could always be counted on to do the right thing. That thought was the only thing getting her through the day without having a nervous breakdown. Henri would know what to do.
Lola just couldn’t bear to see the disappointment back in his eyes when she told him what had happened.
A baby. All her hard work to get here and she’d ruined her career in a moment of madness. She was supposed to be leaving the department in a matter of days—the whole point of placements was to learn and move on. How could she do that now with a permanent reminder of her time in A&E and no chance of completing her training?
It must have happened that first night at Henri’s. It was the only time they hadn’t used protection, and she’d been so carried away by the idea of their fling she hadn’t considered the consequences. Brief encounters weren’t supposed to end in creating new life. She couldn’t even do that right.
This was going to change everything—and, from where she was standing, not for the better. When Jules had offered her a room in her apartment neither of them had expected to be sharing with the screaming, pooping product of Lola’s illicit affair with their registrar. She was going to have to move out, for a start. And go where? Back home?
If she was worried about Henri’s reaction to the news it would be nothing compared to the outrage of her brothers. But what choice would she have as a newly qualified doctor on maternity leave?
Getting knocked up by her superior on her first placement hadn’t been part of her life plan. There was no question that she’d wanted something with Henri that lasted beyond her six weeks on his department, but not like this. A pregnancy should evolve from a loving, lasting relationship. Not be an accident which was going to force them to be together.
She wouldn’t blame him if he ended up hating her—he hadn’t signed on for this, either. But the deed was done and there was a baby on the way. If nothing else he had the right to know he was going to be a father. Now it was all about finding the right place and time to break the news to him gently.
Lola set aside her personal issues to accompany Henri and their patient to the CT scan, waiting silently by his side as images appeared on the screen.
‘That’s a nasty injury. There are major frontal contusions and serious swelling.’ Henri tapped his pen on the screen to point them out, but they were plain to see.
‘So they’ll operate to relieve the pressure on the brain?’
Perhaps the mothering instinct was kicking in already, but Lola could feel tears welling in her eyes as she stared at the screen. An unnecessary, needless act of violence could end this young man’s life before it had barely begun, and she was stressing about entering into the next phase of hers.
‘He’s going to Theatre now, so the neuro surgeons can work on him. They might need to remove part of his skull, and there’s a chance of permanent damage, but we’ve done all we can for now.’
Henri was preparing for the worst, but Lola was still praying he’d pull through.
‘Did we find out who he is yet?’ she asked, once they’d left the claustrophobic scanning area. He was someone’s son...possibly someone’s brother.
‘The police are still on it.’
‘I hope they track down his family. He shouldn’t be on his own.’
It could have been one of her brothers lying there. Moments like this illustrated how important loved ones were. When she was old and grey and on her deathbed, she imagined an even bigger family around her. One of her own. One which included Henri.
‘They will. There are officers here, going through his belongings—it won’t be long before they find a contact.’
Henri dropped an unexpected kiss on her head. It wasn’t like him to show her any affection at work, when they’d been so careful to keep their affair a secret. An ember of hope flickered to life inside Lola. If he wasn’t ready to let her go they might actually be able to salvage something from this mess.
‘Fingers crossed. I’m sure they would want to be here with him.’
‘Ma chérie...always thinking of others.’
Henri stroked her hair back from her face, tucking the wayward strands from her ponytail behind her ear. Lola turned her cheek into his palm and closed her eyes. Nothing else seemed to matter when she was wrapped up in his warmth, and she wished this feeling could last.
The words she needed to say hovered on the tip of her tongue. But the swish of the double doors opening brought the tender moment to an end and forced her to swallow her confession back down.
She backed away, maintaining the illusion of platonic friendship for anyone who passed by. At least by the time her pregnancy started to show she’d be long gone from the department, taking the scandal and her last connection to Henri with her.
That first day seemed a lifetime ago. In a lot of ways it was. Lola wasn’t that same timid girl who’d desperately tried to hide from the registrar’s view. Now she was a practising doctor, a lover and soon-to-be mother. Neither role was she ready to give up.
Whilst she was coming to terms with the idea of having this baby, she didn’t want it to be at the expense of her career, or her relationship with Henri. She wished there was some way she could have it all.
The sadness which had been stalking her since she’d stared at those two blue lines on the pregnancy test finally caught up with her and escaped on a cry.
Henri pulled her into an empty side room and closed the door, obviously still able to compartmentalise all the areas of his life when everything in hers had merged into one.
‘Hey, now...I know what you’re thinking, but it’s not one of your brothers lying there. We’ve done everything we can and his family will get here—don’t worry.’
‘It’s all so unfair.’ She hiccupped on another sob, her misery compounded by the fact that Henri assumed her tears were solely for the young man battling for survival. Although hers wasn’t a life-or-death situation, everything was hanging in the balance for her, too.
She had to tell him. It was time for her to be brave and face up to whatever fate had in store for her next.
‘I know, chérie, but I do have some good news for you. Gabrielle came to us last night and told us everything that’s been going on with her at school. We’ve arranged a meeting with her teachers and the parents of the girls involved.
It’s all very civilised—no shouting, no angry mob with pitchforks—you’d be very proud.’
The worry lines that had accompanied every conversation Henri had had with her about his niece since they’d met had finally evened out. She hated to be the one to put them back.
‘I’m so glad for all of you.’ There was some relief to discover that Gabrielle had finally reached the stage when she was able to confide her troubles in someone other than Lola. Now not only could the school take some action against the bullying, but it also cut the number of secrets Lola was keeping from Henri to one.
‘I’m not happy about what she’s suffered, but at least we can start to do something about it now. You were right—I don’t mind admitting it. There were no dramatics, maybe a few tears, and it all came out on Gabrielle’s terms when she was ready. Thanks in no small part to you, she’s really started to come out of her shell recently.’
‘I don’t know... I think her mum and her very understanding uncle had a lot to do with it, too.’
It was a weight off Lola’s mind to know that the girl would finally get the help she needed, no matter how it came about. Henri was doing a good job keeping on top of his emotions, too, since no bullies had so far been harmed in the wake of Gabrielle’s disclosure. It boded well for the next round of Did You Know? that they were yet to play.
‘This parenting stuff is stressful. I admire anyone who can juggle it and a career at the same time.’
Henri was giving her the perfect opening. She knew he had respect for his sister, who managed to do both. And it wasn’t as if she was asking him to pick one over the other. At this moment she wasn’t expecting anything from him except to hear her out.
‘It’s all good experience for when you have children of your own. You’ll take teenage angst and junk-food-obsessed six-year-olds in your stride by then.’
