‘Thanks.’ He stopped outside a door—the door that happened to be right next to the door Janessa stopped outside. ‘But here will be fine for the next six months. I don’t need that much room. Contrary to popular belief, I’m not one of those surgeons who is dictatorial and demanding.’ He smiled at her and she noted the same teasing glint in his eyes that she’d seen when they’d been at the restaurant when he’d been relating some of his more humorous stories.
‘Good to know,’ she countered as she pulled out her key and inserted it into the lock.
He lifted his eyebrows in pleasant surprise. ‘Neighbours, eh?’
‘Looks that way. Hope you don’t snore too loudly.’
He laughed, both of them standing there, looking at each other, the world around them disappearing. Even though she’d told herself all evening that their dinner hadn’t been a date, she couldn’t help but feel like he was about to kiss her goodnight.
Slowly, the smile slipped from his lips as they stood there, staring, the awkwardness mixing with the awareness that seemed to all but sizzle between them. Janessa looked up into his soothing blue eyes and found herself sighing, knowing that if she let herself go, she could look into his eyes all day long and never get bored. It had been a very long time since she’d been attracted to a man in such a way and the sensations he was evoking were making her feel all warm and tingly.
‘Uh …’ She swallowed over her dry throat. ‘Well … thank you for dinner.’
‘My pleasure. Thank you for coming with me. It was nice to spend my first evening here at Adelaide Mercy in such fine company.’
A shy smile touched her lips at his words. ‘Oh … er … thanks, I guess.’
His rich, deep, chuckling laughter rumbled through her. ‘Listen to us. So polite, so full of thank-yous.’
She nodded. ‘Our mothers would be proud.’
‘Yes. Yes, they would.’ He shoved his hands into his pockets, unsure whether he should shake her hand, give her a polite hug or just nod and turn away. It was odd. He wasn’t used to being unsure of himself.
‘Well …’ she said, uncertain what to do next. Her mind, which was usually fairly sharp, seemed to have shut down through sheer mental exhaustion … and the fact that he was so close to her.
‘Well …’ he repeated, knowing he should move, go into his apartment and let her do the same. When she smothered another yawn, he nodded, decision made, and held out his hand in a polite form of saying goodnight. ‘Get inside and get some sleep,’ he said softly as she slipped her hand into his, pleased that he’d made the decision as to how they should end this evening. A handshake. Nice, polite, formal … maybe too formal. Perhaps a quick kiss on the cheek. Yes. A bit less formal, a bit more familiar but still professional.
She looked down at their hands, clasped firmly and perfectly together, the warmth from his touch spreading up her arm to burst forth and heat the rest of her insides.
At the slight tug on her hand, she looked up and realised, belatedly, that he was leaning towards her, heading in to kiss her cheek. However, the moment she moved her head, Miles’s lips connected—not with her cheek but with
her lips!
She gasped in shock and surprise but didn’t immediately pull away, the world around them slipping and sliding and faltering a little as the pressure of Miles’s mouth on hers remained intense, intoxicating and intriguing.
Her eyelids fluttered closed as his spicy scent wound its way around her, drawing her in, heightening every sensation now zinging throughout her. Pleasure, confusion, excitement, doubt.
He was kissing her!
She was kissing him!
Neither of them were moving away.
With her heart pounding so wildly against her chest, she thought it was going to break right through her ribs, Janessa stayed very still, scared that if she shifted, even slightly, he’d think she didn’t like the sensation of having his mouth against hers.
Accidental? Yes. Powerful? Yes. Eager for more? Definitely yes.
He hadn’t meant to kiss her, not like this, not on the lips, but she’d turned at the wrong moment and then … and now … and how was he ever supposed to think coherently ever again? He’d simply been intent on a firm and polite handshake, combined with a small peck on her cheek to let her know that he appreciated her going to dinner with him, and now it had turned into something unknown and electrifying.
He closed his eyes, either to memorise every moment they were sharing or to fight the urge to develop this impromptu kiss even further. The need to haul her close, to hold her firmly against him, to part her lips with his and—
Janessa jerked back, letting go of his hand and stepping back against her apartment door. Miles opened his eyes and looked at her, unable to believe the repressed desire and complete confusion he saw reflected in her rich, chocolate depths.
‘Goodnight.’ The word was choked and dry against her throat. Quickly she turned her back to him, her heart still hammering wildly against her chest, her breathing erratic, her cheeks flushed and her legs threatening to fail her. She fumbled with her key but another second had her door open and she was soon safely on the other side of it.
Breathing a sigh of relief, glad she’d been able to break free from the overwhelming sensations Miles had evoked deep within her, she stayed where she was, head back against the door, eyes closed, eager for her lungs to once again be filled with the appropriate amount of oxygen.
‘Goodnight, Janessa. Sleep well,’ she heard him say through the paper-thin walls, and then she heard him open his own door and walk into his apartment. She closed her eyes again and allowed his rich, deep tones to wash over her, delighting at the way her name seemed to sound like a caress from his lips.
Slowly, she opened her eyes and pushed away from the door to walk on unsteady legs towards her bedroom. Miles had just kissed her! The man’s lips had been pressed to hers and
she’d liked it!
Flopping face down onto her bed, she whimpered in confusion. How on earth was she supposed to face him tomorrow at their nine-thirty meeting? How was she supposed to pull herself together and sit across the table from him and talk about work when all she would be able to think about was the way his mouth had felt so warm and perfect against her own?
She had no idea.
Miles put his key down on the empty bookshelf by the door and closed his eyes. Shaking his head, he couldn’t believe what had just happened. He’d kissed another woman. Sheena had been right. He
was
interested in Janessa in the same way he’d been interested in Wendy. He’d loved and lost and the pain had nearly killed him. He couldn’t …
wouldn’t
go there again.
Whatever he felt for Janessa was irrelevant. He was there for the twins. All his relationships at Adelaide Mercy must remain professional. It was a matter of survival.
J
ANESSA
woke up upon hearing a noise and checked her alarm clock.
‘Ten past three,’ she muttered as she flopped back onto the pillow and sighed. With her eyes still closed, she fumbled around for her mobile phone and pager, which were on the nightstand next to her bed. Squinting, she looked with bleary eyes at the bright display on both of them but she hadn’t received any messages or calls. Unsure what noise had woken her, she decided to ignore whatever it was and go back to sleep. Her alarm would be going off in just under three hours and after her hectic day yesterday she deserved all the sleep she could get.
Snuggling into the covers, she allowed her mind to settle back into dreamland where she’d been out at the airfield, flying in her plane, coming in to land, only to find someone was waiting for her. A man. A tall man. With dark brown hair and blue eyes, greeting her with a warm, welcoming smile. As she drew closer to the ground, she could see his features more clearly and was momentarily stunned to discover the man in question was none other than Miles Trevellion.
Her eyes snapped open at the realisation. She was dreaming about him? No. Ridiculous. He meant nothing to her. He was just a colleague … a colleague who had kissed her.
She moaned and buried her face in the pillow. Ever since the man had walked into her NICU, turning her world upside down, he’d been nothing but a harbinger of change and change was something she didn’t like in her world. Change had brought her nothing but pain, trouble and, in the end, loneliness. First her baby, Connor, had died, then Bradley had left, her mother had died and later her father had become sick. She was fine if the change was initiated by her, that way she could control it, but Miles Trevellion was something she couldn’t control and as such he posed a threat to her well-ordered life.
The only way to deal with this change was to treat him as nothing more than a professional colleague. The next time they met there would be no long stares, no touching and definitely no kissing.
She turned over, settling into a new position, forcing her mind to think of a different scenario to soothe her back to sleep.
She’d just started to settle, thinking about driving her father’s beloved Jaguar E-Cabriolet through the lush, green Adelaide hills, the top down on the car, the wind in her hair as all of her stresses floated away, when she heard a noise again. She instinctively knew it was the same noise that had initially woken her and it was coming from next door.
It was the beeping of Miles Trevellion’s mobile phone, no doubt alerting him to the fact that he’d just received a text message. She huffed impatiently as she heard him move around next door, wanting him to be as silent as possible so that she could get some sleep. Didn’t the man have any idea how thin these walls were?
Janessa waited for a few minutes, listening to him, trying to picture the way he’d be moving around the apartment she knew was the mirror image of her own. As she lay there, she began to wonder what he would be wearing. It didn’t sound as though he had shoes on and he was obviously in the kitchen, making himself something to eat.
After another few minutes the noises seemed to settle and she once again started to relax, hoping he’d finished his predawn snack and head back to bed. Then, in the next instant, his mobile phone rang, followed by the crash of a chair falling and then the kettle whistling to signify it had boiled.
‘Oh, for heaven’s sake,’ she growled, and flipped the bedcovers back. Stomping to the wall, she banged her fist on it. ‘Can you keep it down, Miles? Some of us are trying to sleep.’
‘Janessa?’
‘Who else would you be waking at three o’clock in the morning?’ she demanded.
‘Sorry. Didn’t realise you could hear me.’ A pause then, ‘No. No. Not you, Marta. Someone else—my neighbour.’
Marta? Janessa stepped back and looked at the wall in confusion. Through her sleep-deprived brain she belatedly realised he was talking on the phone to Marta von Hugen, who, she knew from the articles she’d read, was one of his colleagues in America.
Shaking her head, she stomped back to her bed and buried her face beneath the pillow, trying desperately to drown out the sounds from next door. She almost sky-rocketed through the ceiling, though, when someone knocked on her door. The pillow was tossed aside as she flicked back the covers and pulled a robe on over her short nightshirt. Usually, if there was an emergency in the NICU, she would be called or paged but sometimes they knocked on her door.
A second later she stood there, blonde hair loose and dishevelled, robe knotted at her waist, legs and feet bare, door open as she stared into Miles’s wide-awake blue eyes.
‘Didn’t mean to wake you,’ he began, ‘but now that you’re up, I was wondering if you have any herbal teas? I only have coffee,’ he continued, ‘which doesn’t sit too well with jet lag.’
Janessa stood there, glaring at him, one hand on the door, the other over the knotted robe, ensuring that it didn’t accidentally come undone. ‘It’s three o’clock in the morning, Miles.’
‘I know, but we’re both used to being woken at ridiculous hours and I really could do with that tea. One good strong cup of herbal tea will have me sleeping like a baby in no time.’
He smiled at her.
The combination of his eyes sparkling, his lips curving, his straight white teeth shining brightly at her caused her knees to tremble momentarily. Her hand tightened on the door, more for support than anything else. Damn, but he was good looking. She had to be strong. Resist his natural charm. She had to focus and be professional.
‘I apologise once again for waking you and now for disturbing you,’ he went on when she made no reply. ‘My body clock is still on American time and I probably should have remembered to turn my phone to silent. If it’s at all possible that you have some herbal tea, I just need one tea bag and then I’ll be on my way, back next door, leaving you alone to go back to sleep. I promise.’
Again, Janessa didn’t move, didn’t say anything, just stared at him as though he was some sort of apparition. Was she still asleep? Sleepwalking? Sleep-pounding on the wall? Sleep-annoyed?
‘One tea bag,’ she finally murmured, before turning and walking towards the kitchen. As she hadn’t actually invited him in, Miles stayed where he was, but by not following her he was treated to a wonderful view of her smooth, silky legs and the swish of her hips as she sashayed up the hallway. He swallowed, taking in the slim build beneath her silky robe, wondering exactly what she had on underneath.
He shook his head, trying to clear his mind. She was his colleague and the fact that he was clearly attracted to her was something he would need to fight. Then again, what red-blooded male wouldn’t be attracted to Janessa Austen, especially when she looked so young and tousled, fresh from her bed, her hair all messed as it wildly framed the smooth skin of her face, her chocolate-brown eyes half-open and still sleepy? Certainly not him.
She returned a moment or two later, a box of herbal tea in her hands. ‘Take it. Keep it. The whole box. Drink as many as you need.’
‘But I only need—’
‘Take it,’ she said clearly as she placed it in his hands. ‘Consider it a welcoming gift.’
‘Thank you, Janessa.’ His smile was as bright as the early morning sun. ‘That’s very kind of you.’ She could tell by the way he spoke and the look in his eyes that he was being sincere.
‘It’s not
that
kind, Miles. More like self-preservation.’ Her words were still sleepy, tired and he could tell she was trying to hold on to that sensation where you were half awake and half asleep. It was common amongst doctors, especially when they had a callout. If there was any possibility at all of getting back to sleep, even for an extra twenty minutes, they clung to it. ‘Now, if that’s all, goodnight … or morning … or whatever.’ She yawned and covered her mouth with her hand.
‘Yes. Of course. Sorry to have bothered you and woken you and generally annoyed you.’
‘Uh-huh.’ She was starting to close the door to her apartment, needing desperately to shut out the sight of him standing there, dressed in only a pair of jeans and a T-shirt that clearly outlined his firm, muscled torso. He was good looking, intelligent and far too appealing for this hour of the morning.
She was almost there, had almost managed to deal with the situation and close the door, desperately eager to get back to her bed, when her own phone started to ring.
‘No. No. No,’ she whimpered, closing her eyes and momentarily leaning her head against the open door.
‘If it’s an emergency, I don’t mind going,’ Miles offered. ‘It’s quite clear that you need your sleep, Janessa. Sheena told me that you’ve been working longer hours than usual of late.’
‘I may as well give up on the whole sleeping thing,’ she mumbled, leaving the door ajar as she headed back to her bedroom to answer the phone. ‘Hello?’ she said after connecting the call. She listened for a moment, closing her eyes. ‘That’s fine. I’ll be right there.’ She pressed the button on her mobile to end the call.
‘Problem?’ Miles asked and Janessa returned to the front door.
‘It’s Sheena. She’s crying.’
‘Crying? Why? What’s wrong?’ Miles was instantly alert.
‘Nothing’s wrong. She’s just crying.’ Janessa rubbed a hand over her eyes. ‘Excuse me, Miles. I need to get dressed and go see her.’
‘I’ll go put shoes on,’ he remarked, and before she could say another word, he’d disappeared next door. Giving up, Janessa headed back into her room, dismissed the comfortable bed, which was calling her back, and quickly got dressed. Two minutes later there was another knock at her door and Janessa knew it would be Miles.
‘Here,’ he said as she opened her door, pocketing her keys, phone and pager. He held out a cup of what smelled like steaming black coffee. ‘Black. Two sugars.’
‘Coffee? How did you know how I drink it?’
He shrugged. ‘I noticed at the restaurant. Anyway, I brewed some before I thought better of it and came to annoy you for some tea. I thought you could use a cup now, wake you up a bit more.’ She was dressed in a pair of jeans and a baggy knit jumper, which looked warm and cosy. She’d brushed her hair, pulled it back into a ponytail and slipped her feet into a pair of flat shoes. She looked gorgeous, comfortable and very homely, and he realised that whether she was dressed as professional Janessa, sleep-tousled Janessa or comfortable, homely Janessa, she was an incredibly beautiful woman.
She wore no make-up and he detected no pretence about her. Miles couldn’t believe how drawn he was to this woman. He’d worked with all different types of people over the years and ever since the death of his wife he’d been able to keep the lines between business and his personal life completely separate. Why couldn’t he do it with her?
‘Thank you. That was very thoughtful.’ She gratefully accepted the cup and took a sip, trying not to be too affected by his kind gesture. She would have coped better with him being so close to her if he’d remained as lacking in charm and chivalry as she’d first thought, and of course before he’d kissed her. ‘Mmm … just what the doctor ordered.’
Miles couldn’t believe how pleased he was at her appreciation as they headed to the stairwell, both of them sipping the rich brown liquid as they went. ‘You’re more than welcome, especially after you gave me the whole box of tea.’
‘What’s a box of tea between friends?’ she said as a throw-away line.
‘Friends?’ The word was spoken softly and with a hint of surprise. Janessa simply glanced at him over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow.
‘You
do
know what friends are, don’t you?’
Miles smiled, liking the teasing lilt in her tone. ‘It’s been so long, I’m not sure I remember how to make friends. I know how to deal with colleagues, patients, emergencies, but friends …?’ He shook his head as they exited the stairwell, letting the sentence trail off.
‘Well …’ she drawled as they walked through the quiet residential wing foyer, Janessa waving to Arthur as they went by, ‘It looks as though there’s something to teach the great Miles Trevellion after all.’ The words were delivered with a bright smile and Miles almost choked on the liquid in his mouth. He swallowed quickly and coughed once as he continued to stare at her.
In the artificial light of the hospital grounds, dressed casually, demeanour more relaxed than he’d previously seen, Janessa’s smile was wide, bright and completely encompassing, her tired brown eyes twinkling with merriment.
‘Good to know you’re human, like the rest of us,’ she added before they entered the hospital building and made their way to Maternity, several staff members greeting them with a quick hello or a polite smile and nod. Miles could tell that Janessa was not only well liked but respected and he was pleased that he’d be working alongside a colleague of her calibre.
He’d read dossiers on Janessa and other members of the Adelaide Mercy senior team who would be assisting with the various aspects of the twins’ delivery and future surgeries. It was a policy of his to know as much about his teams as he could, and to know that Janessa not only had the skills but the caring personality to match this sort of work was definitely a bonus. Far too often he’d worked with surgeons and physicians who were only interested in the prestige and fame associated with something as unusual as separating conjoined twins. Thankfully, the team at Adelaide Mercy were all invested in this project and perhaps the main reason behind that was Sheena. She was one of their own, a staff member, a colleague, a friend—and even, as Janessa had declared, a sister.
Upon entering Sheena’s room, Miles was once more able to witness the bond between the two women. Janessa crossed instantly to Sheena’s side and put her coffee cup down on the bedside table before immediately embracing the bed-ridden woman, handing her a tissue at the same time.
‘What’s wrong?’ Janessa asked in a soft, caring tone.
‘Nothing,’ Sheena blubbered. ‘Everything. Oh, I don’t know any more,’ she wailed. Miles came and stood on the other side of the bed, watching, deciding it was best to step back and let Janessa handle this, given that she certainly knew Sheena a lot better than he did.