No Bra Required! (9 page)

“Just a couple of Paracetamol and a glass of water would be
great, they’re in the medicine cupboard in the utility room.”

“Okay, just give me a minute.”  Lucy made for the door,
but she suddenly realised that Nate was sitting quietly on one of the
armchairs.  “Are you okay Nate?”  Lucy asked as she knelt down to
look closely at his worried face.

Nate nodded solemnly, his eyes brimming with tears. 
“Is Daddy okay?” he asked, almost in a whisper.

“I’m fine Nate, honestly.”  Ed sat up and leaned
forward to grab Nate’s hand. "It's flu, that’s all.”

“Daddy just needs to get some sleep, but I’ll be here to
look after you. Is that okay with you?” Lucy hugged the small boy to her. 
As she did, Ed’s hand that was holding on to Nate’s brushed her breast.

Ed dropped Nate’s hand, as though it was burning his
fingers.  “I’d best go up, I’ll get some water and tablets on my way,” he
said, pulling himself up from the sofa.  “Night, night, Nate and I’ll see
you in the morning.”  He rubbed Nate’s head as he shuffled toward the
door.

Nate watched until Ed closed the door behind him. 
“Daddy will still be here tomorrow, won’t he Lucy?”  The tears that
pricked his eyes moments before now slid down his little cheeks.

“Oh darling of course he will.”  Lucy stroked his head
tenderly.  “He really does just need a long sleep.”

“But when I wasn’t well my mummy went away,” Nate gasped as
sobs now started to escape from his body.

The words were like a knife through Lucy’s heart.  This
poor child, she thought, must think that any illness meant that someone was
leaving.  How could Katie have done this to this sweet, sensitive boy, and
Ed and his parents must have worked so hard over the last three years to make
sure that he felt protected and secure?

“No one is going anywhere Nate. I promise.  Daddy is
going to bed, and I’m going to stay over and look after you.  So, come on,
you get your shoes on, and we’ll go to my daddy’s house and pick up some
clothes and things for me, then we’ll come back and have some tea and look
after daddy, how does that sound?”

“Okay,” Nate whispered, wiping his face on his hands. 
“Can I make Daddy a get-well card?"

“Wow, that’s a brilliant idea. We'll do that after
tea.  Now off you go and get your shoes.”

Nate had been quiet all the way to Gerald’s house, but as
soon as Lucy announced that she would make burgers and waffles for tea, he
became a little brighter.  They’d had tea and made Ed a card, and after
Lucy persuaded him that it would be better to give it to Ed in the morning Nate
went off to bed fairly happily.  As she cleared away all the craft things,
Lucy realised that she hadn’t checked on Ed.  She went into the kitchen
and poured some iced water into a glass and took two more tablets from the
packet that he’d left next to the sink.

With trepidation, she climbed the stairs.  Once on the
landing, she paused and listened carefully, she could hear Nate’s soft snoring
coming from his room.  Relief flooded through Lucy; if he were sound
asleep Nate must feel less anxious than he had earlier.  She walked across
the landing and passed the spare room, where she was staying, before reaching
Ed’s bedroom door at the front of the house. 

She’d been in his room a couple of times before, once to put
some shirts in his room that his ironing lady had returned, and another time to
find his wallet when Ed had called to say that he couldn’t find it.  The
room had been clean and tidy, in a manly sort of way - the bed wasn’t made in
pristine fashion, and Lucy had itched to rearrange the curtains that had been
pulled open haphazardly.

Lucy now opened the door quietly and peeked into the
darkened room, just making out Ed’s body under the duvet.  As her eyes
adjusted to the dimness, she picked her way across the floor, dodging Ed’s
discarded clothes that he’d been wearing earlier.  She placed the glass
and tablets on the bedside cabinet and gently shook Ed’s shoulder as she
perched on the very edge of the bed.

“Ed,” she whispered.  “I’ve brought you some more water
and Paracetamol.  I think you should take them.”

Ed roused slightly and turned over to face her.  “Hi,”
he muttered through chattering teeth.  “God, it's cold in here?”

Lucy shook her head, grateful that she was only wearing a
cotton T-shirt in the warmness of the room.  “I think it’s you.  It’s
actually quite hot in here.  Do you want another blanket or
something?”  Ed shook his head as Lucy turned on the bedside lamp.

“Is that too bright?” she asked.

“No, it’s fine.”  Ed pulled himself to a sitting
position, allowing the duvet to fall, revealing his bare, tanned chest.

Lucy let out a small gasp.  Despite his obvious
illness, Ed looked incredible, his chest was perfectly formed, his bare arms
muscular, and she could see a thin line of hair popping up from underneath the
duvet.  The pathway to pleasure, she thought.

“What?  What’s wrong?”  Ed asked, alarmed.

“N-n-n-nothing,” she stammered.  “You just look really
pale in the lamplight.  Here, take these.”  She took the tablets and
water and passed them to him.

Ed took them from her, swallowed the tablets with a large
gulp of water, and then passed the glass back to Lucy. His fingers touched hers
as she took it from him, and Ed felt a jolt through his body.  Despite his
aching limbs and fever, his desire to drag her into his bed was growing by the
second.

“Has Nate gone to bed?” he asked, trying to change his
focus.

Lucy nodded as she folded her arms, aware that the sight of
Ed’s bare chest and touch of his fingers had woken her nipples up, at this
rate, she was going to have to nickname them Corporal Left and Corporal Right,
they stood to attention so often these days.

“Yes all tucked up and snoring away,” she said, deciding not
to tell Ed about Nate’s worries earlier.

“That’s good.  I think I may have to have tomorrow
off.  Even if it’s just a 24 hour thing, I don’t want to pass it on to my
patients.”

“That’s a good idea, I’d stay in bed if I were you.” 

“It just means that I can’t take Nate to school, so could
you, please?”

“Sure, no problem.”  Lucy nodded as she played with the
edge of the duvet distractedly.  She just wanted to gaze at his body and
drink in his beauty with her eyes.  Even lying there in his sick bed, he
was turning her on.

“Can you ring Callie and tell her you’ll be late, and ask
her to rearrange my non-urgent patients?  Also, could you let Dr Kindler
know?  It’s too late for him to get a locum for tomorrow, but if this
carries on for more than a day he might be able to get our usual locum Sally,
on standby.”  Ed shuffled down under the duvet now and pulled it under his
chin.

Lucy almost sighed with disappointment at his disappearing
chest.  “Sure, no problem, I’ll go and call her now.”

“No,” he said, rubbing a hand across his eyes.  “Not
just yet, tell me what exactly happened with Mrs Bushnell, and tell me what I
should do about Nate.  I don’t know whether it’s the right thing to punish
him now, the moment seems to have passed somehow.”

“Let’s talk about that when you’re feeling better.  If
you want me to, I can tell him that you said he can’t play video games for a
couple of nights, how does that sound?”

“Hmm, good idea, whatever you think,” said Ed sleepily, his
eyes now heavy.

Lucy leaned over and turned off the lamp.  “Okay, I’ll
tell him tomorrow.  Now you get some sleep and shout me if you need
anything, I’m just next door.”  Lucy blushed in the darkness as she
realised merely a couple of feet of brick would be separating them all night.

“I know, let’s just hope I don’t sleep walk,” Ed said
huskily as his eyes now closed fully.

Lucy giggled quietly as she thought of a naked Ed walking
into her room, God she’d never let him leave the way she felt at that moment.

“Night Ed,” she whispered getting up from the bed as she
heard the same soft snoring that had come from Nate’s room earlier.

The next morning Lucy woke after a fitful night’s
sleep.  The noises about the house were unfamiliar to her, the mattress
was a little hard, and the room was too hot because she couldn’t open the
window, but mainly she was desperate for Ed, who was only a few feet
away.  Lucy had contemplated just going and getting in bed with him, but
then wondered whether forcing oneself on a semi-comatose man with a high
temperature was classed as assault, she certainly didn’t want to risk a court
case, imagine the scandal!

She lay in bed for a few minutes, and then leaned over to
pick her watch up; it was 6:30 am. Lucy decided to get up and prepare Nate’s
breakfast before she woke him.  She got out of bed, and picking up her
clothes, made her way to the bathroom to shower.  As the hot water streamed
over her body Lucy realised that she hadn’t thought about Simon for over
forty-eight hours, not once had he entered her thoughts, not even an evil
thought about how she’d like to punish him had come into her head.  The
knowledge of this made her feel lighter, perhaps she was finally moving on.

“Huh, finally,” she muttered.  “It’s only been nearly
four weeks, not four years. How can I feel so together about it?”  With no
one to answer her, Lucy reached across for the shampoo, hoping Ed didn’t mind
her using it.  Lucy started to sing loudly, scrubbing away at her scalp
with vigour.

Ten minutes later and Lucy was out of the shower and drying
between her toes, with her foot up on the side of the bath, when the door swung
open and in walked a sickly looking Ed.

“No, get out!” Lucy cried as she spun her head around
towards the door.  Suddenly, a sharp pain shot up the side of her neck and
into her ear.  “Ahh, my God I think I’ve broken my neck.”  One of
Lucy’s hands went around her neck while the other flapped around trying to find
the towel that she’d just dropped.

“Let me see,” Ed moved forward to examine Lucy’s neck, and
then remembered that she was naked.  “Sorry, sorry, are you okay?” he
cried, now closing his eyes and standing still.

“No, it really hurts, do you think I’ve broken it?” 
Lucy groaned as she tried to turn her head back.

“I doubt it.”  Ed replied, taking a crafty look at
Lucy’s backside through squinted eyes. 

Christ it was perfect he thought, just right for grabbing
hold of.  He then quickly thought of Coco the Clown as a tent started to
form in his pyjama trousers.

“You’ve probably just strained it.  You need to get
some ice on it if you have. Give it a couple of minutes, and then see whether
you can move your head without any pain in your neck.”  Ed turned his back
to Lucy. He had thought of a whole family of clowns, but this erection wasn’t
budging.

“Okay, thank you.”  Lucy whispered.  “Do you think
that you could go now?”  Lucy was conscious that her backside was still
sticking into the air.  She’d managed to grab the discarded towel and was
now wrapping it around herself.

“What, oh yes, sorry.  Only do you think you’ll be long
because I’m dying for a pee?”

“WHAT?”  Lucy roared.

“No…okay, not to worry, I’ll go to the one downstairs. It's
just I feel, so weak…it’s fine I'm sure I’ll manage.”  Ed couldn’t see
Lucy’s face but had a feeling that she wasn’t smiling.  “You take your
time.”

“Idiot,” Lucy muttered, once she heard the door close behind
him.

Tentatively, she turned around and slowly sat down on the
toilet seat, trying hard not to move her head.  After a couple of minutes
massaging her neck with her fingers, Lucy felt the pain ease slightly. 
Very carefully she moved her head from side to side, anticipating another sharp
pain, but there wasn’t one.  There was still a dull ache in Lucy’s neck,
but she guessed that she hadn’t strained it too badly.

After an awkward ten minutes, trying to dress without moving
her neck too much, she gathered her wet hair up, on top of her head and made
her way to Nate’s room, gently knocking at the door.

“Nate,” she called softly as she popped her head around the
door.  “It’s time to get up.”

Nate stirred and rubbed his nose furiously before stretching
his legs and arms.  “Okay,” he mumbled, yawning loudly. 

“Do you need me to help you get dressed?”  Lucy asked,
not sure how much Nate did for himself.

He shot up in bed, his messy hair like an untidy bird’s nest
on his head.  “No way!” He cried.  “I can wash and dress myself.”

Lucy smiled and giggled quietly.  “Okay, I’ll see you
downstairs in a few minutes.  What would you like for breakfast?” she
asked.

“Cornflakes, please.  Now can I have some privatesee?”

“Yes you can have some
privacy
,” Lucy corrected
him.  “I’ll see you downstairs in a few minutes.”  She closed the
door and moved toward the stairs.

Once downstairs Lucy was surprised to see Ed, he was pouring
cereal into a bowl with NATE emblazoned on it.

“What are you doing down here?” she asked Ed’s back. 
“You should be in bed.  Anyway, I thought that you were too weak to come
downstairs.”  She was suddenly embarrassed, remembering that Ed had just
seen her backside in its full glory.

“I know. I do feel really rough, but it’s the least I can do
after you almost broke your neck.”  Ed smiled, still turned away from
Lucy.  “But broken…well it’s rather dramatic.”   He now turned
to face her with a large smile, a smile as big as he could muster as he felt so
ill.

“It was really painful, and as for you, Mr “I’m too weak to
go downstairs for a pee,” you big baby.  Anyway, get yourself back to bed,
you look terrible.”

“I think I will if that’s okay.”  Ed’s smile now turned
into a frown.  He wiped his brow with the back of his hand.  “Oh, I
almost forgot,” he said, pausing at the door.  “Nice glutes, by the way.”
 With that, he disappeared, giggling quietly to himself, but wincing as
his whole body ached.