Midwives On Call: From Babies To Bride. Kate Hardy

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СКАЧАТЬ heard the words come out of his mouth and they felt … right. Of course it couldn’t be over yet.

      ‘Oh? What else is in the plan?’

      He could hear the smile in Sophia’s voice. And something more. A willingness to go along with whatever he wanted?

      He wanted to take Sophia home. To his bed. Okay, they both needed to get to work early but there were a lot of hours between now and then. Why shouldn’t they make the most of every single one of them?

      ‘Well, I was thinking …’ Aiden propped himself up on one elbow. Maybe he didn’t need to say anything here. He could just kiss her again. And then he could look into her eyes and he’d know whether she was happy with the new plan.

      He let his mouth hover over hers for a deliciously long moment. Feeling the tingle of their lips not quite touching. Knowing just how much better it was going to get in a nanosecond.

      And then he heard it. Faintly at first but getting steadily louder.

      Sophia’s lips moved under his. Tickling. ‘What is that?’

      ‘My phone.’ He didn’t want to answer it. Dammit … all he wanted to do was kiss Sophia but her lips were moving again. Smiling?

      ‘It’s a siren?’

      ‘Yeah, I know. Cheesy. My kid brother chose it for me.’

      And it could be that kid brother who was calling right now. Highly likely to be, seeing as they hadn’t spoken yet today. In fact, they hadn’t spoken very often for a few days now. Ever since that tense conversation about Aiden smothering Nate because of his misplaced guilt.

      He still wanted to kiss Sophia more than answer it but something else was making his skin prickle and he recognised that sensation.

      Guilt. He barely knew this woman and suddenly she was more important than his brother? What was he thinking?

      ‘I’d better get that. Sorry.’

      ‘No problem.’

      A soft breeze had sprung up, making it colder. Or maybe he just had more skin exposed as he sat up and rummaged in his coat pocket for his phone. Sure enough, the caller ID said ‘Nate’. Aiden swiped the screen.

      ‘Hey … What’s up?’

      ‘Guess.’

      ‘I can’t. You’ll have to tell me.’

      ‘I went for the team trials today.’

      ‘Yeah? How’d that go?’

      ‘I got in, man. I’m in the team.’

      That’s … fantastic.’ The smile that pulled at his lips was genuine. ‘Great news. I reckon it calls for a celebration.’

      ‘Too right. We’re having a few beers back at our place. Thought you might want to drop by.’

      He was listening to Nate but he was looking at Sophia. She still lay on her back, shading her eyes from the sun with her arm. Her hair was still damp and looked almost black where it lay against the pale skin of her shoulders. He couldn’t help his gaze travelling further. Over the rest of that gorgeous, soft-looking skin and the perfect proportions of her small, slim body.

      He’d never wanted anybody this much.

      He’d have to take a rain-check on that celebratory beer with Nate because otherwise he wouldn’t get to take Sophia home and make love to her properly.

      Slowly …

      Or maybe not so slowly the first time …

      His throat suddenly felt dry.

      ‘You still there, man? Where are you, anyway?’

      Impressions flashed through Aiden’s brain with the speed of light. That note in Nate’s voice when he’d made that suggestion so casually that he ‘might’ want to drop by.

      Things hadn’t been quite right between them since that conversation the other day. And if he didn’t join in the celebration of Nate making the Murderball team, it could be interpreted as not being supportive of his brother as he achieved one of his long-held ambitions and that could push them further apart. What then? Would Nate choose not to even tell him when he was moving out of the house to try living independently?

      His brother was trying out his wings and surely that meant that now—more than ever—he needed support. Aiden had to be there for him one hundred per cent.

      How could he even entertain the idea of letting a woman get between them? It wasn’t as if she’d still be in his life in a week or two from now but Nate would be. He would always be in his life and he’d always take priority.

      ‘I’m still here,’ he said. ‘Bad line. I’m out of the city but I’ll be back soon.’

      ‘No worries. You went for a ride? You on a date or something?’

      ‘Yeah … Queenscliff.’

      ‘Oh … of course. This is your number two with Sophia. Hey … hope I’m not interrupting anything.’ His laugh made a lie of his words but didn’t quite ring true for some reason.

      ‘Not at all. Just went for swim, would you believe?’

      ‘Well, don’t hurry back, man. Enjoy yourself. Catch you soon.’

      The beeping signalled that Nate had hung up. The note of disappointment in his words was still there, though. And the odd edge to the laughter as he’d tried to make light of things.

      Aiden dragged his eyes away from Sophia. Closed them, in fact.

      ‘Not a problem,’ he heard himself saying into the silence of a dead line. At least he could sound reluctant now. As though there was something he really had to do even though he didn’t want to. ‘I’ll get there as soon as I can.’

      Sophia was already pulling her clothes on by the time he shoved his phone back into his pocket.

      ‘Sorry about that.’

      ‘It’s not a problem.’ He could hear the note of determined cheerfulness in her voice as she echoed his own words. ‘We’ve had a lovely day. If there’s somewhere else you need to be now, it’s okay. I understand.’

      She might understand but he could see the disappointment in her eyes and he felt like a jerk. He could say it wasn’t that important and the only place he needed to be for now was with her.

      But Nate was disappointed too. He’d have that in the back of his mind all evening if he stayed with Sophia.

      The feeling of being torn was unpleasant. The desire to tell Sophia he only wanted to be with her was strong enough to ring warning bells.

      It wasn’t supposed to feel like this. It was supposed to be fun.

      For both of СКАЧАТЬ