by Annie O'Neil
‘Here’s the last weight,’ he said, his voice rough with emotion.
‘You all right, Luc?’
Ellie’s eyes met his, her forehead crinkled with concern.
She cared. More than she was willing to admit, but she cared.
That flame in his heart burnt a little bit brighter.
He nodded. ‘We need to lavage the peritoneal cavity with some warm saline to remove any spillage or blood clots.’
She nodded, the furrows in her brow deepening. He was stating the obvious to avoid saying the words he wanted to say most.
I love you, Ellie.
He used a good two and a half litres of the sterile liquid to clean the area then checked the dog’s vitals whilst Ellie used a surgical suction tube to remove the fluid and dry the cavity as much as possible. Hygiene was critical. An iota of infection and the poor pooch risked another visit to the clinic. One he might not return home from. When she’d finished and stepped back from the table, they both changed their gloves and then the instruments. When they’d finished Lucas asked. ‘Want to close, or shall I?’
Ellie gave her forehead a swipe with the sleeve of her surgical gown. She looked tired. Really tired.
He couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen it before, but it was obvious wasn’t it? The poor woman had been working herself to the bone since Drew’s accident. He made a mental note to up his game on clinic hours. Call in some favours. Get her the time off she needed. Be here for her when she needed him. Properly.
Ellie placed fresh surgical towels around the edges of the laparotomy. ‘I’m happy to close. I’m going to use a straightforward continuous suture pattern, so...if you need to get to bed or anything...’ Her voice sounded smaller than it had. Less confident.
‘No chance. I’m going to see this through with you.’
Her eyes flicked up to meet his. ‘Okay. Can you text the family to let them know he’ll be out of surgery in half an hour or so? He won’t be up to much of a family cuddle, but I’m sure he’d love to hear their voices before we get him snugged down in the kennel overnight.’
‘Will you send him home with them tomorrow?’
‘Yup. Normally, I’d do it tonight, but it’s so late and I’d like to triple-check there aren’t any signs of lead poisoning tomorrow.’
Lucas sent the text then fielded the inevitable phone call, assuring the family that Lord Fluffingstein had come through surgery well. Lucas said he’d meet them in the front of the clinic in half an hour, but not before as he was helping Ellie with the final stages of surgery. He watched as Ellie began to weave the synthetic absorbable monofilament sutures into Lord Fluffingstein’s stomach. ‘Nice,’ he said. ‘Perfect apposition of the gastrointestinal tract. I always remember you being a dab hand with a needle.’
Her eyes narrowed a bit. Whether she was smiling or shooting him a look, was difficult to tell. Lucas’s stomach screwed up into a tight knot. Back in the day he would’ve been certain it was a smile.
‘I’ve got some socks you could do for me in the morning,’ he teased.
He grinned at the inevitable arched eyebrow she was sending him and began to hum.
‘What’s that?’ she asked, tying off the final knot and pronouncing the surgery over. ‘Sounds familiar.’
‘“Hound Dog”,’ he said.
Ellie laughed. ‘Of course it is! I can’t believe I didn’t recognise it straight away.’
He began to sing some of the lyrics, enjoying the sound of her laugh, the way her eyes lit up when they met his as she joined in on the chorus.
‘Do you remember when you first sang it?’ she asked, her voice suddenly thick with nostalgia.
‘Course.’ He triple-checked that all of the tubes and needles were clear of Lord Fluffingstein before he and Ellie carefully transferred the pooch to a gurney so they could take him to the recovery kennels. ‘Karaoke night the first week we met.’
‘First night we kissed,’ she added, her eyes meeting his as they wheeled the gurney down the short corridor to the recovery kennels, where a chihuahua with a torn cruciate ligament, a tomcat who’d met the wrong end of a barbed-wire fence and a geriatric cocker spaniel who’d had two hip replacements were already sleeping.
Together they slipped him into the kennel, his sleeping form heavy in their arms. There was something so vulnerable about a post-operative animal. ‘It makes you feel so responsible, doesn’t it? For their welfare.’ His voice sounded loud in the quiet room. He lowered it. ‘Seeing them so defenceless.’
‘I feel that way when Mav’s asleep, too.’ Ellie shifted her body so that her arm brushed against his.
‘I’m not surprised. I’ve only been with him a couple of times when he’s been asleep, but...’ He gave his chest a light thump. ‘It gets you right here.’ He remembered the weight of his sleeping son in his arms when he’d carried him to bed a few evenings back after a particularly long story-reading session at his place. He’d never felt anything more perfect. Never felt a stronger need to care for someone. It was unlike anything he’d ever experienced.
He put his hand on Lord Fluffingstein’s soft ear and gave it a gentle caress. ‘You just want to make sure they never hurt again. That they’re always safe. Don’t we, Lord Fluffingstein? We never ever want you to have to go through anything like this again.’
Ellie smiled at him, leaning against his shoulder for a split second. ‘I knew you were still in there.’
‘What? Who?’
‘The big old softie I met all those years ago.’
‘He was always in there. He just got a little lost along the way.’ Their eyes met and clashed. He hoped his were telling her he was trying to change. Trying to be the man she’d once thought he was.
Her eyes stayed glued to his, a wash of understanding softening her features. ‘Life can do that sometimes. Send you down a path you never expected to be on.’
It wasn’t an outright ‘I forgive you’...but it was close.
A huge warmth filled his chest as the space between them grew smaller, and smaller yet, until the next thing Lucas knew he was holding Ellie’s face in his hands, tipping her chin up to his, their lips millimetres apart, then brushing, sparks of heat flaring between them until he couldn’t bear the distance between them any longer.
He slid one hand into the small of her back and the other onto the nape of her neck, moulded her soft, curvaceous body to his until they were kissing as their lives depended upon it. Not urgently. More...as if every microsecond of contact mattered. Touching and teasing and parting and tasting. It felt familiar and completely new, as if time had granted them a reprieve from their past and given them this fresh start to see if maybe, just maybe, they could find a way to be together again.
And then the buzzer for the front door went.
Ellie pushed back, her hands on his chest, her eyes glued to his. ‘We’d better get that.’
‘When they’re gone, I want to do this again.’
Ellie said nothing, but her body language told him all he needed to know. She did, too.
‘You’d better go get the door.’
‘No,’ he said solidly. ‘I think you should.’
‘What? Have you gone all shy?’
He pointed at his scrubs.
Ellie’s eyes dipped below his waistline and began to blink rapidly.
‘Ah. Oh. Um... I’ll just get the door, then, and give you a chance to...’ She turned to go.
‘Ellie?’ He reached out and took her hand. She didn’t try to pull it away.
‘What?’
‘I’m here for you, you know. Whatever you need.’
The flush of her cheeks told him she knew he was offering more than a helping hand in the OR. She gave his hand a quick, tight squeeze. ‘Thank you. Now let’s let give this family the good news, yeah?’
‘Course.’ He went to the
sink and began to throw cold water on his face and the back of his neck. Once things had subsided down there...he looked in the mirror. Was he the same guy she’d once known? Yes. Was he different as well? Yes.
Older, wiser, hopefully better equipped to handle life’s slings and arrows with a bit more perspective than he’d had back then, a twenty-nine-year-old man fresh out of ten years of training to be a vet. As he stared into the mirror, willing it to tell him what he was capable of, he felt a shift in his heart. He could do this. He could stay. Learn to trust himself enough to take another risk. Take his time earning Ellie’s trust...and love. And no amount of cold water on his face would put out that fire. Not by a long shot.
CHAPTER SEVEN
ELLIE WAS NODDING and smiling and really wishing Lord Fluffingstein’s family would go home and go to sleep because one too many carnal thoughts were getting in the way of her thinking sensibly.
She wanted Lucas.
Badly.
She wanted to run her fingers through his hair. She wanted to trace her fingers along that gorgeous chest and abdomen of his. She wanted to explore what had been happening in his scrubs before that ruddy buzzer had gone off, reminding her she was living in the here and now and not ten years ago when she and Lucas used to sneak off and take a post-operative shower together.
Her attention swung to the corridor where Lucas was taking long-legged strides to join them. And here was the reason why her mind couldn’t stay focussed.
He slipped into place beside her, one of his big lovely warm hands on the small of her back as he extended the other. ‘Hello, there. I’m Lucas Williams.’
The family went wide-eyed. ‘You’re the Uber-Vet,’ whispered one of the children.
‘Not any more,’ Lucas said, his smile not faltering for a second. In fact, if Ellie wasn’t mistaken, it had just grown brighter. He stood back up and put his hand back on Ellie’s back, as if giving her a physical cue that he had really meant it when he’d said he was here for her.
Here for ever?
No.
She batted the thought away.
That would be ridiculous.
She looked up at him.
His eyes met hers and he dropped her a slow, astonishingly cheeky wink.
Oh, my God. He wanted to take a shower with her, too.
‘The best thing you all can do for Lord Fluffingstein is to get yourselves a good night’s sleep. He’ll be needing lots of TLC in the morning.’
If Ellie wasn’t mistaken, the pressure on her back had turned into a soft, circular rub at the mention of TLC.
Sprays of glittery anticipation made standing still incredibly awkward.
She was going to have sex. With her gorgeous ex. The father of her child no less. The first time she’d had sex in just about for ever. She’d had a couple of relationships over the years, but...meh. None of them had been Lucas and she had a business to run and a child to raise. His child.
‘So we’ll see you in the morning, then?’ Lucas was shaking hands with the owners, then he knelt down to give the children a hug. No wonder he was famous and everyone who’d ever watched television was in love with him.
She was in— Wait, was she still in love him?
She watched the family go in a stunned silence.
No. She couldn’t be...could she?
Lucas held out a hand, guiding her towards the back exit that led to their flat—her flat. Her flat at her clinic in her county—
‘Shower, Ells?’
‘Yes,’ she answered way too quickly and hilariously primly for someone filled to the brim with lust that surely could be sated on this one occasion. Once they’d had tonight she could get on with her life and be quite content. ‘That would be lovely.’
* * *
‘Mmm...’ Lucas rolled over in bed, feeling the sun on his face. He patted his hand out alongside him. No Ellie. The door creaked. There she was...the woman who’d made him feel whole again. No wonder none of his other relationships had worked out. She toed the door open. ‘Ah! You made coffee! You’re an angel.’
‘A crazy-haired angel.’ Ellie grinned, handing him a steaming mug, adding, ‘White and two.’
He pushed himself up to sitting, loving the way her light cotton dressing gown fluttered across her curves as she crossed the room to toe open the French doors. ‘I just want to keep an eye out for Mav,’ she explained.
‘Will he be back before he heads off to surf school?’
‘Not always. Mum usually sends a text if she’s bringing him round, but there’s been nothing so far today.’
He took a draught of the coffee. ‘Delicious.’ He caught her hand in his as she settled in the space next to him on the bed then gave the back of it a kiss. ‘Just like you.’
When he looked up at her, he saw she was frowning.
‘What’s wrong? Don’t like being called delicious?’
‘No, it’s not that.’ She gave his arm a rub, her frown softening into something a bit less worried looking. ‘I just... Do you think Mav should know about...you know...’ she pointed at the two of them ‘...us?’
‘I suppose that depends on where you see this going.’ He was going to give her the lead on this. He had to.
‘Step by step. Super slowly,’ she said with a decisive nod.
‘Sounds good.’ It did. As he’d learnt, the very best of things were worth waiting for. He scooched over beneath the duvet so they were side by side. ‘Does that include more Mummy and Daddy time?’
She giggled and swotted at the air. ‘It’s so weird to hear you say that.’
‘What? Mummy and Daddy?’
‘Yeah.’ Her nose crinkled up, but she was still smiling.
‘It’s what we are.’
‘It’s what we are now,’ she reminded him as she put her coffee down on the bedside table. ‘Ish.’
He put his mug down on the other side table and climbed out from under the light down covers so that he was sitting astride her legs. He took both of her hands and placed them on his chest. ‘Feel that?’
She waited a moment, then nodded after the thump-thump of his heartbeat registered. ‘Yup.’
‘That’s all yours. Yours and Mav’s.’ He leant in and gave her a deep, hungry kiss, her hands still pressed to his heart. ‘Feel that?’
Her grin widened. ‘I hope that’s not for Mav.’
‘Nope! That’s just for you.’ He sat back on his heels. ‘It’s always been there, Ells. That heartbeat. And I think you feel the same way.’
‘What? All tachycardic?’ She grinned. ‘I’m far too cool for that nonsense.’
‘Oh, yeah?’ He began to tickle her. Tickle and kiss and nuzzle and play until before he knew it, the two of them were naked again—laughing, touching, kissing, caressing—until once again their lovemaking culminated in a climax that shot the pair of them into the stratosphere.
Lucas fell back on to the bed after their breathing had steadied. ‘Well, that was fun.’
‘You make it fun.’ She poked him with a toe, then picked up her coffee mug.
‘Fun like last night fun or fun like carnival fun?’
She pushed her lips out and gave him a studied look over the rim of her lukewarm coffee. ‘Mmm...last night wasn’t really fun, it was more...’ she lowered her voice to a sexy growl ‘...luxurious. Slow and yummy. Like the way you’d want to enjoy a very, very special box of Christmas truffles.’
He could get on board with this line of thinking. ‘Could you get used to having something that decadent on a more regular basis?’
She hesitated before answering. ‘Was this what you imagined happening when you came down here? Slipping into my bed after a long day of saving pets’ lives?’
It was a fair question. One that deserved an honest answer. But just then the door was bashed open and standing in the bedroom doorway, lookin
g completely bewildered, was Maverick.
Ellie yelped and pulled the duvet up more snugly around her. ‘Mav! Hey, there, love.’
‘Morning, Mummy.’ He looked at Lucas next. ‘Hello, Lucas.’
Hmm... Sometimes he was Daddy. Sometimes he was Lucas. Lucas mostly when he wasn’t sure about something.
‘Morning, Mav. Your mum and I were just—’
‘Talking about the day’s surgical rota,’ Ellie cut in with a cheery grin.
‘In bed?’ Maverick clearly thought that was a ridiculous place to talk about work.
Ellie threw Lucas a fix this now look.
‘Absolutely. Did you know that the brain is most creative in the morning?’
‘Is that why you always get up before me, Mummy?’
Maverick seemed to be buying the explanation.
‘It’s one of the reasons, love. Um... Do you mind throwing me that T-shirt over there? And the skirt?’
Lucas bit back a laugh as Maverick handed her the items with a bemused expression.
She wriggled into them with rather amusing efficiency, flipped back the covers then threw Lucas the fresh pair of scrubs they’d brought up from the surgery unit last night that had never quite made it onto his body.
‘Pancakes?’ she asked.
‘Love ’em.’ He grinned his thanks.
This, he thought with a smile, could well be the perfect start to a proper family life.
* * *
A few stacks of pancakes, lashings of maple syrup and several glasses of orange juice later, Ellie breathed a sigh of relief. Lucas had stayed for breakfast but excused himself to make some phone calls for the clinic whilst Ellie and Mav sorted out the day pack he took to camp. Throughout it all? No one mentioned anything about Mummy and Daddy under the covers.