With Patrick. And his gorgeous children…
‘Hayley?’ One of the other midwives put her head round the staffroom door. ‘Mr Buchannan wants you in his office. I don’t know what you’ve done, but you’d better start thinking up your excuses. He looked serious.’
‘OK, thanks.’ Sure that she’d handed over Charlotte’s care without missing anything out, Hayley walked to Patrick’s office. Oddly nervous, she tapped on the door and walked in.
‘You want me?’ Oh, help, why did everything always come out wrong? ‘I mean—I was told you wanted to see me?’ Her cheeks were hot and he stood up in a fluid movement and strode towards her, slamming the door shut behind her with the flat of his hand.
‘You were right the first time. I want you.’ His mouth came down on hers and he kissed her with erotic purpose, his lips as skilled as ever as he aroused her to a state of screaming ecstasy in le
ss time than it took her to gasp his name.
Desperate after several days when she hadn’t been allowed to touch him, Hayley melted against him, his kiss muffling her gasp of shocked pleasure as his hands slid to her thighs.
‘Patrick—’ She tried to say that they probably shouldn’t be doing this here but her mouth refused to do anything except kiss him back.
It was hot, desperate and frantic. When he stripped off the flimsy trousers of her scrub suit Hayley didn’t protest, and when she felt him hard and ready against her, she gave a low moan and dropped her hands to his zip.
He entered her with no preliminaries but she was so ready for him it was as if they’d spent hours indulging in foreplay. And perhaps they had, she thought as her vision blurred. They’d been stepping around each other, trying not to do anything that would unsettle the children—trying not to touch.
But they were touching now. Hungrily. Ravenously seeking their fill of each other, their bodies joining in almost animal desperation. Overtaken by sensations so intense they were almost painful, Hayley felt her body reach its peak and he joined her in the same place, his strong fingers digging hard into her thighs, his mouth silencing her cries.
Breathless, her mind blank, Hayley dropped her head against his shoulder, and suddenly became aware of their surroundings. His computer screen flickered on the desk and somewhere in the distance she heard the wail of an ambulance siren.
‘I’ve been wanting to do that all week.’ Patrick’s voice was low and rough and he scooped her face into his hands and kissed her gently. ‘Sorry. It was a bit fast.’
‘No problem,’ she muttered faintly, her eyes on his mouth. ‘Perhaps we can do it slowly, er, next time. When that midwife said you wanted to see me I thought I’d done something.’
‘You have done something.’ He kissed her again, his mouth lingering on hers. ‘You’ve driven me wild. Living with you and not being able to touch you is starting to have an adverse effect on my mental health. What are the chances of you being able to sneak into my bedroom without the children finding out?
‘Sneaking isn’t something I do well,’ Hayley confessed as she adjusted her clothing. ‘I have a habit of banging into things and falling over, remember? To sneak you have to be stealthy and graceful, and that isn’t me.’
‘I don’t care.’
‘Patrick you do care,’ she said gently, glancing towards the door, relieved that no one had needed the consultant in the past fifteen minutes. ‘You don’t want to hurt or unsettle your children and neither do I.’
‘No.’ Patrick raked his fingers through his hair. ‘So we’ll do this slowly. Tomorrow I’m taking you out to dinner. You can wear a dress that I’m not going to remove and we’ll have a conversation. I’ll book a babysitter for the kids—’
‘Can’t we have dinner at home? Alfie hates Vampire Lips. I’ll cook us something special and you can open a nice bottle of something from your cellar.’
Patrick shook his head. ‘No. I want to spend some time with you without the children.’
‘I love the children,’ Hayley protested, and Patrick lifted his eyebrow.
‘You don’t want to be alone with me?’
‘Of course I do.’ She blushed. ‘It’s just that Posy looked as though she was starting a cold this morning so I don’t want to leave her.’
He held her gaze for a long time. ‘All right, this is what we’ll do. If she’s ill, we won’t go out. But if she’s fine, then I have a surprise for you. And you’ll need to dress up.’
Hayley brightened. ‘Dress up as in lipstick and heels? That sounds fun.’ Happiness bubbled inside her as she reached for the door. It was going to be a lovely evening. He wanted time with her. He liked her. Life was perfect.
As she went back to the staffroom to change, she couldn’t hold back her excitement. He hadn’t mentioned that her contract was almost up. He hadn’t suggested that she look for alternative accommodation. Far from it. He was as desperate for her as she was for him. And now he’d asked her to dinner.
Perhaps he was going to suggest that she just carry on living with them. They’d make plans for the future…
‘Fabulous restaurant,’ Hayley breathed. ‘How on earth did you manage to get a seat right by the window? Don’t tell me—you delivered the chef’s baby.’
‘Actually, yes. Have you met the waiter before?’ Patrick watched as the blushing member of staff retreated to the kitchen.