Playing the Playboy's Sweetheart (5 page)

‘Emily and I were sisters...’

Hugh smiled back, though of course he didn’t really understand. He was pleased to see his patient looking a lot more relaxed but right now he was more concerned about the nurse because Emily’s face was chalk white and he watched as Jessica turned back to Emily. ‘I’ve looked you up a few times,’ Jessica admitted. ‘I was going to friend you on Facebook but I didn’t know if I’d be welcome...’

‘I’ve tried to look you up too,’ Emily said, ‘though no wonder I didn’t get very far, as that your surname’s changed.’

‘Mum married again and I took Mike’s surname.’

Emily hesitated. She didn’t really want to know how Katrina was doing and yet there was a small part of her that did. ‘How is your mum?’

‘She’s good,’ Emily said. ‘She’s happy. Well, I think she is.’

Does she ever mention me? Emily wanted to ask. And does she ever give me so much as a passing thought?

Tears were starting to sting at the back of Emily’s eyes and she quickly turned away and busied herself with the medicines she had already pulled up—she certainly didn’t want to add to Jessica’s difficult morning with her own gush of emotion.

Thankfully Hugh seemed to realise that Emily was struggling and he started chatting away to Jessica, telling her that it wouldn’t be a long procedure and he’d see her again when she woke up.

Hugh went to go. Rory had administered a stronger sedative, but the emotion in Jessica’s voice in the moment before she went under had Hugh pause at the door. ‘I missed you so much.’

Emily stared into her eyes and was honest in her response. ‘I missed you too.’

Oh, how she had.

They had been weekend and holiday sisters and losing Jessica and even Katrina had been a hurt that had gone unacknowledged by all. And there had been many more losses since then.

Emily held Jessica’s hand as she slid under and then helped wheel her through to the theatre and onto the operating table.

She glanced over to Hugh, who was scrubbing up, and he gave a small nod that said he’d take good care.

He always did.

Hugh worked on smaller procedures himself yet more and more he was honing his skills and was ready for that next step.

As he performed the procedure, an investigative laparoscopy for recurrent abdominal pain, Emily was the furthest thing from his mind.

He carefully checked the abdominal cavity and organs. Jessica had undergone many investigations and all had come back as normal.

As was this.

* * *

With the procedure over and Jessica being moved to Recovery, Hugh headed over there to check on Ernest.

‘He looks terrible...’ Hannah, his wife, was by the trolley, being comforted by their daughter, Laura.

‘He’s just had surgery, Mum, he was never going to be looking his best.’ Laura tried to reassure her mother but her eyes were anxious when they met Hugh’s. ‘I know you warned us about the tubes and things but Mum didn’t realise just how many there would be.’

‘I should never had made him go through with it,’ Hannah fretted. ‘He didn’t want the operation...’

‘He’s actually doing very well,’ Hugh said, checking through the observations. ‘I know it was a big decision but you both made it,’ Hugh said gently. ‘From what I’ve seen of your husband, he wouldn’t be talked into anything he didn’t want to do.’

He spent a few minutes reassuring Hannah but, glancing at Jessica, whose mother was being let in, his mind returned to Emily.

It was none of his business, Hugh told himself. Emily had made it very clear that she wanted no more than the relationship they had at work. Even so, he couldn’t help listening to the conversation that was taking place.

‘Emily’s here...’ They were the first words Jessica said as she struggled to sit up and take off her oxygen as a nurse gently kept her lying down.

‘Emily?’ Katrina said. Hugh wasn’t just idly listening, he was watching and not even attempting to hide that he was.

‘Emily,’ Jessica said again. ‘She’s a nurse here. Maybe you could see her, say hello...’

Katrina shook her head. ‘There’s no need for that. How are you?’

‘But Emily’s here!’ Groggy from anaesthetic, Jessica had no reserves and started pulling her oxygen mask off. ‘Why wouldn’t you want to see her?’

‘Go back to sleep.’ Katrina smiled, replacing the mask. ‘You’re a bit confused from all the medicine.’

Nice get-out, Mum, Hugh thought, but then he got back to business and headed over to let Jessica’s mother know how the procedure had gone.

Yes, he should be cross with Emily, Hugh thought a little while later, or at the very least sulk and take his lunch elsewhere, but he could see her sitting, pretending to read a magazine, and Hugh knew she’d been crying.

‘How was your morning?’ Hugh asked, taking his usual seat.

‘Busy,’ Emily said. ‘You’ve got a big afternoon coming up,’ she added, because he and Alex were doing an aneurism repair, but Hugh shook his head.

‘Not any more. Rory wasn’t happy with his blood work, but maybe tonight...’ Hugh yawned and then looked at her swollen eyes. ‘You know, if I was a friend, instead of someone you tolerated because you’re paid to, you could talk to me about this morning.’

Emily didn’t want to talk about that morning but she was glad of the chance to address Friday night. ‘Hugh, I really am sorry about that. It came out all wrong. I just don’t want to mess up our friendship...’

‘You nearly did!’ Hugh said, his voice serious, and Emily nodded. ‘So what was this morning about? I know that it’s hard when a relative comes in.’

‘She’s not a relative, though,’ Emily said, with more than a dash of bitterness, and then decided it couldn’t hurt to explain. ‘When my parents’ marriage broke up my dad moved down here and moved in with Katrina, Jessica’s mum. I used to come down once a month, half the holidays...’

‘How old were you?’

‘Twelve,’ Emily said. ‘I didn’t like Katrina at first but I was always nice to her and my dad made sure to let me know she’d be my stepmum once the divorce was through and that this was my new family. I loved Jessica from the start, though. When I was there we shared a room. She was only little but we used to have such a laugh and then one weekend I came down to stay and found out that Katrina and my dad had split up.’

‘Did you not see them after that?’

‘Nope.’ Emily shook her head. ‘I asked where they were, but it didn’t matter apparently, and clearly I didn’t matter enough to Katrina to stay in touch...’ Emily closed her eyes as she recalled how easily people that she had been told to love, to treat as family, to care for had been removed from her life. ‘It was just the start of it. After Katrina, Dad met someone else and then someone else, then it was Donna and the twins...’ She gave a tight smile, as she recalled that Hugh knew about that. ‘You get the drift.’ She didn’t want to go on but Hugh persisted.

‘Your dad’s getting married again?’

Emily nodded.

‘Do you see the twins?’

‘Not really. I send them presents and things and they might be there at the wedding but Donna has majority access and...’ She shook her head. ‘I’m over talking about it.’ Emily looked around the staffroom that was emptying as everyone headed back. ‘I’d better go...’

It was very possibly her last shift—Emily didn’t know if she’d be coming back and if she did she wasn’t sure if her notice would be served out here or in Theatre.

It was very possibly the last time she would sit chatting to Hugh.

‘I really am sorry for what I said on Friday night...’

‘If you’d just told me the truth then it would have been fine.’

‘Yeah, well, don’t buy me champagne and then demand common sense.’

The opportunity to ask her out was there again.

He could ask her, they both knew it, except Hugh didn’t go for a second try. Instead he gave her a thin smile and Emily walked off.

What was it with Emily that had Hugh pondering calling her back and asking her out again?

In that moment he took a very honest inventory of himself and maybe Olivia had been right to be concerned. No, he’d never have cheated but there was something about his feelings for Emily that sat in a place marked unresolved.

There were many women he fancied and he had many women who were friends.

Sometimes the boundaries merged but never more so than they did with Emily. Hugh considered her a friend, though Emily had kept it pretty much at colleague level, yet there was no one he spoke more readily with, no one who got what he was saying even before the sentence had finished...

As for attraction.

Always.

Absolutely.

Yes.

He saw the tension in Emily’s shoulders as she headed out of the staffroom and, no, he wasn’t going to call her back and make an idiot of himself again.

* * *

Emily knew that too.

She’d left things on such a bad note that she’d probably lost her friend anyway if she quit working here, Emily realised. It was a terrible way to end three years of working together, but Hugh would be a very silly reason to stay.

Tears were starting again as she walked back to work but at the last minute she turned around, about to make her way back to the staffroom, but then she saw Alex walking in.

Yes, she did like Hugh in every way.

Maybe this way, maybe if they followed Hugh’s way, she could get the best of both worlds—time with the man who made her heart flutter, safe in the knowledge it would end soon. Maybe it would be easier to get a little bit more involved knowing from the start that they had a use-by date on the box.

She could handle that, surely?

As for sex?

There was an unfamiliar shiver in her stomach as she thought of it. No, it would be a terrible idea and yet...

Emily wasn’t completely closed to it either.

No.

If she was going to do this then sex had to stay off the agenda. She was doing this to cement her friendship with Hugh out of work.

A structured timeframe, company at her father’s wedding, a few Saturdays shared and then a very neat ending.

And it would be neat because, after today, she might not be back at the hospital.

Yes, it might be nice to have some time with Hugh and then a more natural break-up away from prying eyes, because she doubted she would be working here by then.

She could do that, Emily decided.

She would do that.

Emily walked into the staffroom, out of the corner of her eye she could see Alex at the urn, making a drink, and it would be very easy for Emily to think she had Hugh in the staffroom alone and so she took a deep breath and just made herself say it.

‘Hugh, did you manage to speak to Alex?’

She watched as Hugh frowned. ‘Speak to Alex about what?’

‘Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten! Hugh, you said that you would try—’

It was Alex who interrupted. ‘Talk to Alex about what?’ Alex said, and Emily jumped as if she hadn’t known that he was in the staffroom.

‘Oh, sorry.’ Emily pretended to fluster. ‘I didn’t know you were here.’

‘What did you want Hugh to ask me about?’ Alex persisted, and Emily didn’t have to fake being embarrassed as a blush started to spread over her cheeks as she spoke.

‘Hugh was going to ask if he could possibly take Friday off and join me for a part of my holiday. I’ve rented a cottage in Cornwall and I was hoping that Hugh might be able to come for a couple of days.’ She turned to Hugh, who was still frowning. ‘I’m sorry, Hugh, I know that you didn’t want anyone at work to know about us.’

‘Are you two...’ A huge grin was spreading over Alex’s face. So that was the reason for Emily’s swollen eyes that morning and Hugh’s dark mood, Alex reasoned. Yes, Alex had also heard the rumour through the grapevine about Gina and Hugh getting off with each other over the weekend. ‘I didn’t realise!’

Neither had Hugh.

In fact, it took a moment for him to work out just what Emily was doing but when it dawned he cleared his throat before answering Alex. ‘We were going to try and keep things well away from work at least until Emily started in Accident and Emergency.’ Hugh looked at Emily, a wry smile turning the edges of his lips. Well, well, his green eyes said, and Emily returned a small smile.

‘That’s lovely news,’ Alex said. ‘And Cornwall is a beautiful part of the world—Jennifer and I have often spoken about buying a holiday house there. I don’t see any problem with taking Friday off—we’re not on take at the weekend. I’m sure I can manage one day without you. Enjoy yourselves!’

‘You’re sure?’ Hugh checked.

‘Absolutely!’ Alex nodded. ‘I can’t wait to see the photos.’

Hugh dragged Emily to one side the very second that he got the chance. ‘You do realise I
am
going to have to come and visit you. Alex’s son, Jonathan, follows me on Facebook. That’s what Alex meant about seeing the photos.’

‘Come and visit on one of the days, then.’ Emily shrugged, unperturbed, because she’d already thought about that. ‘We can take a few selfies and post them. If we change clothes a few times and take pictures of meals and things, we can spread the posts out and pretend that you were there for the whole weekend.’

‘We could,’ Hugh said, ‘but Cornwall’s a pretty big day trip from here.’

‘Then you’ll have to get up very early.’ Emily smiled because she knew what he was getting at. ‘You
shall
be driving home.’

‘So, what made you change your mind?’ Hugh asked.

‘Guilt about Friday night.’ Emily admitted a small part of her reasoning and then she was serious. ‘I don’t want to lose a friend.’

‘You’re not going to lose a friend,’ Hugh said, and then he looked into her blue eyes and tried to fathom the mystery there. ‘I’ll never work you out, Emily.’

‘No, you won’t,’ Emily said. ‘Anyway, working me out isn’t a part of our deal.’

Emily headed back to work, glad that she had their friendship back and very determined to keep it at just that!

CHAPTER FOUR

I
N
A
MINUTE
she would get up and get dressed and tidy up a bit before Hugh got here, Emily thought, enjoying the warm sun on her skin.

The weather was blissfully warm and after a long walk on the beach Emily had returned to the small cottage she was renting. She made herself a big glass of iced water filled with slices of cucumber and lemon and headed out to the sundeck to enjoy her latest book, along with the sound of the sea in the background.

Emily lay on her stomach and undid her bikini top to avoid strap marks and settled in to read the morning away. Hugh had just texted to say that he expected to get there at about one and that he was bringing not just lunch but afternoon tea and dessert. The plan was to take loads of photos inside and out and change clothes and things and then Hugh would head off for the night and tomorrow Emily could get on with doing precisely nothing.

She was looking forward to seeing him, though, but was just a little bit nervous too because their friendship had mainly been in the safe confines of theatre walls. It was outside Theatre that things tended to get a little out of hand.

Still, she was nicely nervous at the thought of Hugh joining her and Emily put down her book and allowed herself to indulge in one tiny daydream, or rather one tiny memory, Emily corrected herself as she returned to their near kiss the other night.

Ah, but the next night he’d got off with Gina, Emily reminded herself.

They would be friends with
no
benefits, Emily told herself firmly, and then closed her eyes and got back to thinking about a problem that wasn’t named Hugh.

Did she really want to leave her job?

She should be dwelling on that, instead of remembering the feel of his lips on her face, but thinking about work was too complicated for eleven in the morning and she was here to relax after all, so she didn’t fight it when her mind slipped to a kiss that had taken place all those years ago...

* * *

For Hugh, it had been a long and difficult week. He’d had to take Ernest back to Theatre and was very worried about the elderly man, but he was also concerned about Gina. She had been off sick all week and it had not gone unnoticed by Hugh.

The thought of spending a day with Emily, even if it involved a ten-hour round trip, had been a very pleasant distraction during a trying week. His rare quiet times had been taken up with the question that if he
were
going to join Emily for two nights of sizzling sex and two days of the same, what supplies would he bring?

Instead of stopping at the supermarket for a quiche and a few tomatoes, as well as some champagne, which was Hugh’s best attempt at a picnic, he took Alex’s advice and rang Fortnum & Mason and ordered their best picnic hamper, filled with delicious treats. As well as that, while picking it up he bought a few extras in the food hall and so, with a gorgeous scent filling the car, by the time he arrived, just a little behind schedule, Hugh was starving.

He had found the cottage easily but there was no smiling Emily opening the door.

It would seem that there was no Emily home.

Maybe she had gone for a walk, Hugh thought, calling out her name as he headed around the side of the cottage to the back garden, and then he saw an Emily he never had before.

There she lay on her back, and her large breasts were, to his discredit, the first thing that Hugh noticed.

They were very pink, as was her stomach.

For a moment there he did consider waking her up by pouring the remains of her jug of water over her but he knew that Emily would loathe that she had been caught in an unguarded moment and she was doing him a huge favour after all. So Hugh resisted a more fun awakening for Emily and headed back to the front of the house and knocked more loudly on the door while calling out her name, and it was that that Emily woke up to.

God!

Emily pulled off that bikini top that had travelled up around her neck and quickly put on a loose T-shirt before opening the door. ‘Sorry!’ She gave Hugh a wide smile. ‘I was on the phone.’

Liar, Hugh thought. ‘For a moment there I thought that I had the wrong place, or that maybe you’d decided it was all too much trouble.’

‘It’s no trouble, if that’s what I think it is!’ Emily said, her eyes widening when she saw the picnic hamper and then widening more as Hugh unloaded the rest of the car with some very nice treats. ‘How much food have you brought?’

‘Three days’ worth!’ Hugh said, putting the basket down on the kitchen table. ‘Nothing is too much trouble for you, my love,’ he teased. ‘We’re the talk of the hospital, you know!’

‘I do know!’

Since they had announced on Facebook that they were in a relationship the hospital grapevine had gone a little bit wild, but the main comments had been
What took the two of you so long?
Or
About time.

‘We’ll be old news soon,’ Hugh said.

They unloaded the shopping into the kitchen and Emily gave him a little tour of downstairs but halted him as he went to head upstairs.

‘Where are you going?’

‘Nature’s calling.’

‘There’s a loo downstairs,’ Emily said, because she hadn’t even made the bed upstairs and she had knickers and bras all over the bathroom.

Why the hell had she fallen asleep?

‘How many bedrooms does it have?’ Hugh asked. ‘Seriously, Emily, that was a very long drive.’

‘Two,’ Emily said, but didn’t offer him the use of the spare one. She had, till he’d arrived, felt a bit guilty about making him drive all the way back tonight, but now she was rather relieved that she had been so firm about it.

He looked tired but there was a certain energy to him, a side to him she didn’t really see at work. Usually Hugh wore dark blue scrubs, sometimes she saw him in a suit, but it was the outside-work Hugh that tended to get them into trouble, and now she was starting to see why.

Jeans were just jeans until Hugh decided to wear them. She couldn’t help but notice his bum as he put some food, champagne and wine in the fridge. His top was gunmetal grey and possibly, possibly a bit too tight, or rather too tight for Emily’s liking because she could see the stretch of lean muscles and when he turned around it confirmed his stomach was deliciously flat.

No, it was the fridge contents that were delicious, Emily told herself as her face burnt under his gaze.

‘You’re sunburnt,’ Hugh said, misreading her flaming cheeks.

‘Just a bit.’

‘More than just a bit,’ Hugh said. ‘You’re going to be in absolute agony tonight.’

‘I shan’t, and anyway,’ Emily added, deciding to deal with the spare-room issue he had raised, here and now, ‘if I am in agony you won’t be here to witness it.’

‘Then we’d better get started,’ Hugh said, regretting her choice but for now accepting it. ‘Right, let’s kick things off.’

He sat at the kitchen table and pulled out his phone. ‘Come and sit on my knee and we’ll take a photo of the two of us.’

‘Stop it!’ Emily started to laugh. ‘There’s no way that I’m sitting on your knee. Why don’t I just take a photo of you and then put it up and you can do the same of me?’

‘We’re supposed to be a couple,’ Hugh pointed out. ‘Come on, don’t be shy now...’ he teased.

It wasn’t shyness that was the issue! Emily perched on his knee and tried to deny just how gorgeous he felt to her naked thigh.

‘I’m not some pervy uncle,’ Hugh said, pulling her higher up his lap, but when his hand met her suntanned, oiled thigh and Emily wriggled to get a little bit more comfortable for the picture, he amended that statement. ‘Whoops, maybe I am!’

That made Emily laugh, just enough that a very nice photo was taken and Emily remained on his knee as they examined the image and then Hugh updated his status.

Emily has sunburn in June,
he typed, and then, before posting he thought for a moment. ‘Should I make a joke about you being a Scottish rose or something?’

‘No, because then Alex really would know that we were faking it,’ Emily said. ‘Just leave it at that.’

Hugh posted his status and very soon a couple of his friends had ‘liked’ the image.

‘We should do a few like that,’ Hugh said, but Emily would prefer that they didn’t. She was still on his knee and it felt very nice to be there. She could feel the heat of his palm on her thigh and the solidness between his legs and was actually grateful for the excuse of being sunburnt, because her body felt as if it were on fire.

She smelt of summer—suntan oil, combined with the crisp scent of her T-shirt and an elusive fragrance that seem to be designed just for him, because in that moment both were turned on.

She could feel his eyes burning into the back of her neck and worried she might leave a damp patch on his jeans as his hand pressed a little into her thigh. She was so turned on.

‘What’s for lunch?’ Emily asked, but with the air so thick and lust-laden even that sounded suggestive because had he said
This
and then pulled her a fraction back further onto his lap, offended was the very last thing Emily would have been.

Or had he said
This
and then planted his lips where the pulse in her neck was jumping, Emily might have found herself turning around and so, rather quickly, Emily jumped from his lap.

Her T-shirt felt like a blanket. There it was again—the sudden urge to shed her clothing that occurred when he was around. Emily opened the fridge and was rather tempted to climb into it, just so that she could have a cool place to hide.

‘What do you want for lunch?’ Emily said, but her words were very stilted because she was choosing them very carefully.

‘I would like,’ Hugh answered, equally carefully, because he was as turned on as she was, ‘whatever you would like.’

Emily pulled out a bottle of wine.

‘That’s what got us here in the first place,’ Hugh pointed out.

‘I’m on holiday,’ Emily said, and poured two glasses.

‘I’ve got a very long drive tonight, so I’d better not.’

‘It’s just for the photos,’ Emily said, putting a glass on the table beside him.

‘That’s very cruel,’ Hugh said.

It actually was—he wanted a glass of wine, he wanted to stay here a while, he wanted her to raise her arms so that he could simply strip off her T-shirt.

Sex was in the air and he didn’t get how Emily consistently denied it.

Hugh watched as she added a few cubes to her wine. ‘That’s so wrong!’

‘Ah, but it’s so nice,’ Emily said, taking a sip.

‘Get changed,’ Hugh said.

‘Changed?’

‘For
tomorrow’s
picnic.’

‘Of course.’

Emily ran upstairs and selected denim shorts and a black halterneck, put on some large silver loops and some lipstick then pulled her hair out of her ponytail.

‘Wow!’ Hugh said, as she came down the stairs. ‘I wish I
was
here tomorrow to see you!’

He had changed too but only into a different T-shirt, which was now white and only served to make his eyes more green.

Help!

‘Aren’t you wearing shorts on your holiday?’ Emily teased, as they headed out to the back garden.

‘I don’t want you getting too excited, Em.’

He was joking, of course, teasing her too, yet, Emily conceded, he was also telling a bit of the truth. Yes, perhaps the less of Hugh’s skin on show the better, Emily thought as she spread a blanket under the shade of a tree.

Hugh was thinking the same because her rather ample breasts were still without a bra and when she bent over, her ample bottom actually had him look away.

‘Oh, my,’ Emily said, opening the hamper. ‘I don’t know where to start.’

‘I do,’ Hugh said, taking out a Scotch egg, ‘these taste nothing like you remember them.’

‘Have you had one already?’ Her eyes accused him of cheating.

‘One, when I was collecting the order.’

‘Anything else?’

‘No.’

She squeezed lemon over wild Scottish salmon and Hugh got straight into the potted lobster, but there was just too much to choose from. From pepper and jalapeno-stuffed olives, to gorgeous cheeses and quince paste, and they chatted and laughed and smacked hands away when someone pounced on a delicacy the other wanted.

They did everything but feed each other and in the end, for safety’s sake, Emily lay on her back rather than face him.

‘I never want to stop eating,’ Emily said.

‘Nor me.’

‘But I have to,’ Emily said, closing her eyes under the lovely weight of feeling full. ‘Though the pastries are calling me.’

‘We’ll have dessert later,’ Hugh said, and she thought of the tiny blueberry and lemon-curd tarts and wanted an empty stomach to devour them. ‘It will be good for the photos to spread them out a bit...’ Hugh’s voice trailed off as realisation hit.

‘Oh!’ Emily’s eyes snapped open and met Hugh’s.

They hadn’t taken a single photo.

Which was the whole point of him being here!

‘Okay,’ Hugh said, and dealt with it immediately. ‘Just stay there.’ He pulled out his phone and took a photo of Emily half-asleep, surrounded by empty containers. ‘I’ll put it up tomorrow.’

‘And if you write “Feeding time at the zoo is over”,’ Emily warned, ‘we’ll be over before we start.’

‘I was going to write exactly that.’ Hugh smiled but for a second it wavered, not that she’d notice. Emily’s eyes were still closed, but because they knew each other so well, shared the same kind of humour, they got all excited over the blood orange no-peel marmalade he’d bought her. The fact that they
got
each other bemused him at times.

Why wouldn’t she give them a try?

It was late afternoon and idyllic and more tempting than dessert was Emily’s breasts falling a little to the side, her nipples beckoning him, and he moved his gaze to her mouth and wondered what would happen if he simply leant over and kissed her.

She’d kiss him right back.

* * *

Emily was very glad that her eyes were closed because she was wondering if sex in a garden was illegal.

Maybe he could stay one night after all?

It would be mean to send him off and there was that lovely champagne he’d bought.