One step and he was there, right in front of her, only inches separating them. ‘Harper.’ His hand lifted to her cheek, his finger tracing a delicate line down to her mouth, along her lips, then down over her chin, where he applied gentle pressure to tilt her head back. ‘Harper,’ he whispered close to her mouth, before his lips covered hers softly.
Her mouth opened under his, letting his tongue in to taste her, to allow her to taste him. She’d been reliving that first kiss all week, and it hadn’t come close to the real thing. Soft went to possessive and demanding and their tongues danced around each other’s; her heart rate shot through the roof while her body folded in against the hard wall of muscle that was Cody. His hands held her head. Her hands splayed over his forearms. His chest pressed against her breasts which ached where her nipples pushed against him.
‘Oops, sorry. Warning—incoming patient.’ Karin’s voice slammed into the haze that Cody’s kiss had brought over her. The curtain brackets slid noisily over the bar as Karin left them alone.
Harper stilled and pulled her mouth away from that kiss so slowly it took a while to notice she was no longer touching his lips. She sank onto the bed behind her, her legs no longer capable of doing what they were supposed to. Her eyes felt enormous, probably looking like headlights on a car.
Cody looked just as shocked. Or was that pleased with himself? His eyes had caught the same wide, staring bug hers had. That beautiful mouth that had devoured hers was curving up into a smile that had her heart beating even harder, more than she’d have thought possible. Could she be in danger of a cardiac malfunction?
She stared up at this man who turned her world upside down as easily as most men pulled on their pants in the morning. ‘Wow.’
He grinned. Then a low laugh erupted from him. ‘Yeah, wow.’ His hand cupped her face, his thumb tracing her lips. ‘Guess we’d better act like we’re working.’
‘There is a patient on the way.’
‘There is.’
‘He or she will need this bed.’
‘And your doctoring skills and my nursing ones.’ His smile widened.
‘Did that really just happen? At work?’ Where anyone could’ve burst in on them? Thank goodness it’d been Karin.
‘Yep.’
Damn. Wow. Hell. What now? They’d stepped over the mark and there’d be no going back. Or if they tried to it wouldn’t be easy to return to their former ‘doctor and nurse’ relationship. Huh? You haven’t strictly had that for a week now.
Cody dropped his hand and stepped back. ‘You’re over-thinking it. Don’t,’ he warned before pushing the curtain open and looking out for their patient.
He was right. As always. ‘That drink at the pub?’
He stilled, his hand gripping a bunch of curtain. He didn’t say a word, merely waited.
‘Think we can leave our vehicles here for the night and have more than one glass?’ And maybe get back to kissing at some point. She’d sell her soul for another of those mind-blowing, knee-bending kisses.
His smile was slow, sexy and full of promise. At least, that was how she interpreted it. ‘That’s what taxis are for.’
‘Right, in here.’ Karin’s voice was raised and there was a pause before she brought her patient in.
Harper tried not to look at her but it wasn’t easy. Finally deciding to get it over with, she locked eyes with the registrar, as though to say, So what? You caught us kissing. Big deal. A massive deal, in fact. But Karin didn’t need to know that.
‘Well, well, well,’ the registrar muttered so only she heard. ‘What was it you said last week? “Not interested”, I think. Hate to see you in action when you are.’
‘Shut it, Karin,’ Harper growled, or tried to, but only managed to splutter on a laugh.
‘My lips are sealed. Unlike someone else’s.’ She winked and turned to the teenager she’d shown into the cubicle. ‘Tell me about this abdominal pain. When did it start?’
*
Cody stayed with Karin as she diagnosed probable appendicitis when the girl admitted to pains in her right side. He drew some bloods for a CBC and CRP which would confirm if there was an inflammation of the appendix. He sat with the girl when she had a crying spell at the thought of ‘going under the knife’, as she put it.
All the while Harper cruised through his mind, never leaving, always reminding him of that kiss and how much he wanted to follow up on it. Just as he had on Sunday and all week since. Sheesh. A kiss was a kiss, but Harper’s kisses were something else. Off the planet. Mind-shattering. Body-crunching. Full of promise. I have to have her. As soon as possible.
The thermometer he’d read after taking the girl’s temperature hit the floor and shattered. His neck cricked at the sudden hard movement he made in response.
You what?
Have to take Harper to bed. Today, tonight.
This was not meant to happen. They were supposed to remain professional, with a little bit of friendship added in for good measure after all they’d been through together.
So why did I kiss her?
What choice did he have? As if he could’ve ignored that look in her eyes or dodged that welcoming, delicious mouth that had tormented him since their first kiss.
‘Nurse Brand, you going to sweep up that glass today?’ Karin was grinning from across the bed.
Dropping his head forward, he stared at the mess at his feet. Shoving a hand through his hair, he felt his gut tighten in disbelief. What an idiot. ‘On my way to the cleaning cupboard.’
Karin poked her head out of the curtains to whisper after him as he left, ‘I think Dr White is in Cubicle One, which is on the way to that cupboard.’ Laughter laced the registrar’s voice and grated on Cody’s nerves.
‘We’d prefer it if you could keep what you saw to yourself,’ he ground out through clenched teeth.
‘Relax, Cody. No one will learn anything from me. But you do realise everyone’s already watching the pair of you? We might still be getting to know you, but the same can’t be said for Harper.’
‘Meaning?’
‘That she’s acting different these days. More out there and less control-freak mode.’
Really? Because of him? That’d be…wonderful. Cody swore under his breath. ‘Has anyone considered she’s still coming to terms with last Friday’s incident and is having some major moments where it all comes back to her in full colour?’
Consternation flicked across Karin’s face. ‘I thought she was handling it amazingly well.’ Then she lightened up again. ‘I still think you’re cheering her up immensely.’
‘I need a broom.’ He stomped off, not sure whether he should be happy or annoyed about that last comment. Having Harper happy because of him—yes, he could go with that. Wanted to. He thought about her all the time. It seemed that, whether he was ready or not, he was stepping out into the risk pool because he more than liked her.
Which brought him right back to kissing Harper. Amazing. It definitely needed repeating. He paused at Cubicle One. The curtain was open and it would be rude to ignore the doctor standing beside the bed. Especially as she was looking straight out at him. ‘Hey,’ he said. ‘You okay?’
‘More than,’ she responded in a hurry, and glanced at her watch. ‘One hour and five.’
‘That’s for ever,’ he muttered and headed away. If he’d thought working with Harper prior to that kiss had been hard, he hadn’t had a clue. Kissing her outside of work was one thing, but now the department was no longer a no-go zone. Now… Now he wanted to haul her back into his arms and kiss her until she melted against him; kiss her senseless; kiss her until they were hauling off clothes and getting skin to skin. Hot, slick skin to hot, slick skin. Definitely not to be done in the department.
But there were other places.
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE PUB WAS CROWDED, even out in the garden bar. ‘It’s only just gone three-thirty,’ Cody grumped as he placed a laden tray on the table, where eight of the day shift sat in various s
tates of relaxation.
‘It’s twenty-six degrees outside, the drinks are cold and there’s a one-day cricket game on the screen. Where else would anyone want to be?’ Harper asked before sipping the Pinot Gris he’d bought her.
‘You prefer your sport from a chair, don’t you?’
‘Safer that way. You’ve seen what happened to my knees at tennis. There’s also a bruise on my thigh from a misdirected cricket ball last Sunday.’
‘Not misdirected at all. You were supposed to catch it.’
Sitting on the bench seat beside her, he stretched his legs under the table, then shuffled his butt to move closer. Feeling her length against his leg, he sighed with pleasure. What could be better than this? Taking her to bed.
Jerking sideways, he shook the table, which sent waves of beer and wine slopping over the tops of the glasses and earned him a bunch of wisecracks from everyone. Everyone except Harper. She just stared at him with a half-smile on that mouth he wanted to claim, and a very knowing gleam in her eyes.
‘I shouted the round. I’m allowed to knock things sideways. Okay, guys?’ He grinned around at them all and picked up his beer. ‘Cheers.’ And stop staring at me like I’ve grown another head, or as if I might’ve got too close to Harper. He swallowed beer too fast, gasped and had to suffer the mortification of being slapped on the back by her.
‘Harder, Harper. Give him what for. Cheeky so-and-so needs keeping in line.’
‘Go, girl. Bang him between the shoulder blades. Yep, that’s good.’
Bang him? Wrong phrase, Jess.