by Karin Baine
‘You’re perfect,’ he whispered back, stealing her objection with a well-timed compliment. It was far from the truth; nevertheless, it had the desired effect on her. The idea of him accepting her, regardless of her flaws, set her heart aflutter and turned her brain to mush. Apparently those two little words were capable of reducing her from a strong, independent woman to just another love-struck girl.
‘Now, lie on the floor for me.’
Her dreamy moment took a nightmarish turn.
‘Pardon me?’
‘I want to demonstrate the recovery position and I can only do that if you kindly lie down. Please.’ It was the plea at the end with a trace of panic which finally broke her down. This wasn’t some sort of sick revenge for disrupting her workplace; he was asking her for help and she owed him big-style. She wouldn’t let him down for the sake of her own pride.
‘Fine.’ Thank goodness she’d swapped her flouncy skirt for jeans or this could’ve been even more awkward. She thought she heard Rob’s sigh of relief when she complied and fell at his feet for the second time that week.
Her pulse was racing as he knelt at her side.
‘Try to relax,’ he said as he unfurled her balled-up hands and moved her arms to her sides.
‘That’s easier said than done when I’m lying here at your mercy.’ And wishing it was in altogether very different circumstances. Everything she’d seen of Rob at work said he was loving and giving and that was bound to extend to other areas of his life.
Jessica’s mind wandered towards the bedroom and what a considerate lover he would make.
‘I’ll be gentle.’
The whispered words in her ear sent an all-points bulletin to body parts south of the border as arousal flooded through her. This was torture. Sweet, sweet torture.
‘I’m feeling a bit hot.’ The urge to flirt with him became too great to ignore. She wanted him to acknowledge that he wasn’t as immune to her as he appeared.
‘You do look flushed. Do you want me to loosen your top button?’
She bit her lip as she nodded. At this moment in time all she wanted was for him to touch her.
It might have been wishful thinking on her part that his bright blue eyes had darkened to glittering sapphires as his fingers brushed the delicate skin at her throat but she really wanted him to rethink the boundaries on their relationship. She swallowed hard as he opened her blouse.
‘Better?’
‘Better,’ she agreed even though she was burning from the inside out.
‘I need you to close your eyes. You’re supposed to be unconscious.’
Jessica was reluctant to block out the image of him smiling down at her as if they were the only people in the room, but she did as he asked of her.
All other senses heightened to compensate for the loss of her sight, the smell of his rich, woody aftershave enveloping her as he leaned over her. Rob explained to their audience that the recovery position was used for those who were unconscious but breathing, and only used if the person didn’t have a neck or spiral injury.
‘The first thing we want to do is check that the patient is responsive, by gently shaking and calling out to them. Jessica, are you awake?’ Rob placed his hands on her shoulders and shook her.
How could she play the unresponsive patient when every part of her was tingling with sexual awareness? Had she known she’d spend her Friday night lying on a cold, dusty floor pretending she was unfazed by his every touch she might’ve found alternative entertainment for the evening. Although getting this close to him would be an incentive to do anything.
‘If there is no response, call for help and move on to the next stage of checking the airways are open and clear. With an unconscious patient you can do this by tilting their head and lifting their chin.’ Rob’s hands were firm as he moved her into position. In her daydream she imagined this as her Sleeping Beauty moment with Rob playing the handsome Prince, come to kiss her into consciousness.
‘Check the breathing now. Look for the chest rising and falling, feel the breath on your cheek or listen for the sounds.’ Rob’s breath was warm on her face, his mouth as close to hers as it could be without touching. She wondered if he could tell her breathing was actually becoming shallow. Perhaps if she acted her part well enough he’d give her mouth to mouth and put her out of her misery.
‘If the person is breathing, then it is safe to move them into the recovery position until help arrives. Put the arm closest to you at a right angle to their body, with the palm facing upwards. Move the palm of their other hand against their chest. Lift the knee furthest from you so their leg is bent and their foot is flat on the floor. You can roll the person onto their side by pulling the bent knee towards you.’ Rob manipulated Jessica’s limbs so she moved at his will. Clearly she was long overdue some physical intimacy with the opposite sex for her to find this as erotic as she did. It wasn’t often that she relinquished control but there was something about this man that made her trust him. That would make an interesting development in her love life, even if it was playing with fire.
‘Rest the head on the free hand, with the mouth pointed towards the floor in case the patient should vomit. Make sure you push the chin away from the chest and keep the knee bent at a right angle to their body. Check breathing again while you wait for an ambulance.’
There was a whoosh of cold air around Jessica’s body and a sense of loss as Rob apparently got back to his feet.
‘I want to see you take turns in your teams, repeating the process and talking me through the steps.’
Jessica opened one eye and squinted up at him. ‘Can I get up now?’
‘Sure. A round of applause, please, for my glamorous assistant.’ Rob reached out to help her up. Jessica wobbled as she got back to her feet and steadied herself with a hand on his chest. In that instant back in his arms, they recreated that heat they’d had in her hallway. She recognised that lust in Rob’s eyes as he stared down at her; it was the same thing coursing through her veins.
The clapping from the crowd grew so loud she knew there was no choice for them but to break apart. Jessica took a bow but secretly hoped this wasn’t the final curtain. As far as this thing with Rob was concerned, she was waiting for an encore performance.
‘Jessica, could you give me a hand going over the steps with the girls?’ Rob called her back into action before she let her rampant imagination carry her too far away.
For the next twenty minutes she mingled with the pairs, helping them to remember the positions before Rob would give them one last test. In amongst the serious attempts to impress the instructor, there were also moments of fun as the group began to treat Jessica as one of their own. She fell into the role of agony aunt as they came to her seeking advice on boys and fashion, despite her warning she wasn’t an expert on either subject. The innocence and honesty of the group was refreshing for someone who spent her time with cynical television types.
She’d forgotten what it was like to be part of something fun without having to worry about the other parties’ motives. Rob’s participation in the activities here was beginning to make sense. Outside the pressure of work, this was the perfect place to unwind and still make a difference to the community. In some ways the split from Adam had turned her into the same self-serving monster she’d run from. Whilst she’d been cautious to protect herself from further hurt, she’d also been selfish, never taking into consideration how she could help others. Rob had suffered a tragedy which made her situation pale in comparison but he wasn’t drowning in a sea of self-pity; he was still making a difference in other people’s lives. Hers included.
CHAPTER FIVE
IN AMONGST THE throng of excited would-be doctors, Jessica noticed one young girl doubled over at the side of the room.
‘Miss, I don’t think Ciara’s feeling very well.’ The girl’s par
tner confirmed Jessica’s suspicions as she made her way over to the pair.
‘Ciara? Do you need to sit down?’ Jessica pulled a chair over and guided her into it. As soon as she saw the girl’s grey pallor and heard her gasping for air, she knew it was time to call for help. ‘Rob, I need you over here. Now!’
He was there in seconds, kneeling in front of the child and taking both of her hands in his. ‘I need you to take long, deep breaths, Ciara. In and out.’
After a few controlled breaths the initial panic for all concerned began to subside. Maria distracted the rest of the girls with a promise of orange juice and biscuits once Rob assured her that he and Jessica could deal with the patient.
‘Good girl, Ciara. Now, do you have your inhaler?’ Rob’s knowledge of the girl’s condition said a lot about his relationship with those who attended the church. He was clearly more adept at making friends than Jessica had given him credit for.
Ciara nodded and produced the blue inhaler from her pocket. Rob shook it and uncapped it so she could take a couple of puffs to relieve her symptoms. They waited and listened as her breathing slowly regulated.
‘We should really get you home, sweetheart.’ Jessica rubbed her back and looked to Rob for further instruction. It was bound to be a frightening experience for Ciara every time her asthma flared up. Illness at that age was never easy and Jessica knew when she was sick the only place she wanted to be was tucked up in her own bed.
‘I’ll phone your mum and let her know what’s happened. Jessica and I can give you a lift home if she agrees to it. Okay?’ As soon as he got the go-ahead, Rob went off to make the call and Jessica did her bit to pacify Ciara until his return. She had to admit there were certain areas where she was willing to submit to his authority and she didn’t let that happen with just anyone.
He was a take-charge kind of guy but he did it without arrogance or superiority. Nothing seemed to rattle him and she couldn’t help wishing she’d had someone like him beside her when her world had been ripped out from beneath her. Things might have been different if she’d had a partner willing to be with her at any cost.
* * *
Rob called an end to the class. Now he had permission from Ciara’s parents to take her home, he gave her another check-over and made sure she wrapped up before they headed out into the night. She was supposed to have been picked up by a friend of her mother’s when the class was over but he felt more comfortable taking her himself in case of another attack.
It wasn’t the first time he’d dealt with Ciara’s asthma but the difference here was Jessica’s support, for him and his patient. Instead of going into meltdown and causing Ciara to panic in return, she’d stayed calm and helped control the situation. There were no cameras rolling, no bosses to impress and no monetary gain to justify her actions. Her sole concern had been for Ciara’s welfare and again that truly screwed with his idea that all media types were incapable of human emotion.
Bit by bit she was decimating his defences. Even now, with all three of them in his car, she was constantly reaching out to Ciara in the back seat to make sure she was warm enough and making small talk to keep her mind off her asthma. That sort of bedside manner would’ve made her a good doctor if she’d ever thought of following that path. Perhaps it was her choice of profession which had skewed his view of her from the start.
There was no escaping the incredible chemistry they had together. He was almost embarrassed about the display they’d put on during the demonstration, when he’d found every excuse he could for touching her. Perhaps it was because he’d tagged her as forbidden fruit, which made her all the more appealing. Denying himself something, someone who could give him so much pleasure only increased his appetite for it. He was craving Jessica the way a dieter craved carbs and chocolate. Given her sultry looks and breathy responses to his every touch when she was supposed to be unconscious, he didn’t think she was against the idea either.
It was approaching the time when he might have to admit there was something going on and stop putting up imaginary barriers between them. Even the strictest dietary regimes left room for the odd lapse.
* * *
He parked as close as he could to Ciara’s house so the cold night didn’t trigger another attack. Jessica was first out of the car to help their patient and they both escorted her to the front door. Rob was acquainted with Ciara’s mother but he was sure she appreciated having a female presence arrive with her daughter too. They refused the invitation for a cup of tea and he left his charge with instructions to watch her closely and phone the doctor in the morning.
‘I’m sorry I ruined everything.’ Ciara hung her head as they said their goodbyes but Rob couldn’t let her go to bed burdened with so much unnecessary guilt.
‘Not at all. We can pick it up again next week when you’ve all had time to practice.’ That seemed to perk her up again, so he was free to leave with a clear conscience too.
‘Will Jessica be there too?’ Ciara’s question left Rob and his new assistant staring at each other for the answer.
‘If she wants to...’ Rob didn’t want to put her on the spot but he had no clue where things would stand in a week’s time. She didn’t need any more footage, so the answer would depend entirely on whether or not she wanted to spend her free time with him and a bunch of Girl Guides.
‘I’d love to.’
Rob matched Jessica’s grin as she committed to another evening with him. He was obviously a masochist when he was looking forward to another round of Let’s pretend we don’t want to rip each other’s clothes off.
As they made their way back to the car, Jessica seemed to lose some of the spring in her step.
‘Is there something wrong?’
She exhaled a slow breath, sending wisps of white whirling into the atmosphere. ‘I just know how horrible it is to have to deal with that at her age.’
‘You had asthma too?’ A lot of things began to fall into place for Rob. If Jessica had spent her childhood in and out of hospital, it would explain her empathy with the children. There was a possibility he’d mistaken her passion for the subject matter as naked ambition. Her admission changed his perception of her even more. Although she would probably see it as a weakness. It made him all the more privileged that she chose to share the information with him.
‘Not asthma, but yeah, I was a sick kid.’ It was a flat statement of fact with no plea for sympathy attached. Yet, as a doctor, Rob’s interest was automatically piqued. Jessica was a fighter and he couldn’t imagine her succumbing to anything, including illness.
‘With any luck, Ciara’s condition will improve as she gets older. I assume that’s what has happened in your case?’ He hadn’t seen any residual physical evidence of whatever had ailed her. Except for the freckles left where the sun had kissed her nose, there were no scars or blemishes on her skin that he could see. And he’d been studying her form very closely these past few days. He knew her aquamarine eyes flashed with amber when she was annoyed and her cheeks flushed red when he was near.
‘Yes, but recovery was long and not without challenges. I hope she does get better but sickness taints everything when you look back on those lost years. Hospital beds and blood tests aren’t the stuff of nostalgic childhood memories. See, it’s left me bitter and twisted.’ Her humourless laugh was more disturbing than the sight of her unshed tears glistening in the darkness of the car. Whatever battle she’d fought had clearly left more than physical scars. Despite all his medical training, Rob had never found the magic cure for emotional trauma. If he had, he might have found it easier to open up the way Jessica could with him.
‘And everything’s okay now?’ He didn’t want to dig any deeper than she was comfortable with about her condition but if there was anything he could do for her in a professional capacity he wouldn’t hesitate to do so.
‘Yeah. I got the all-clear a long
time ago.’ There was a long pause, as if she was debating whether or not to go into further detail. Rob held off on starting the car ignition in case it broke the spell. He wanted to know what had happened in her past to haunt her still. He wanted to help her through it.
‘Childhood leukaemia. Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, to be precise.’
Rob’s breath caught in his throat. He’d seen many patients suffering that particular condition. ALL was such a devastating illness, with an average length of treatment of around two years. A long time snatched from a childhood, to be spent in and out of hospitals. ‘You’ve been through the wars, all right.’
‘I’m a survivor, if nothing else. My heart goes out to Ciara. The fight is never easy.’ With everything else Jessica had been through, she was entitled to feel sorry for herself once in a while but she’d reserved her pity for another little girl. She was a remarkable woman who’d overcome so much and if she ever decided to give motivational talks Rob would be the first to sign up. Perhaps there was something to be said for this unburdening of personal problems. After all, he’d slept a little better himself after finally telling someone about Leah. It was a type of therapy without paying a stranger to listen, or being tagged as a patient. Still, her empathy for others meant she was taking on other worries she could do nothing about.
‘I know but you’re here and you’re healthy now. There’s no reason why Ciara can’t have that in the future too.’
‘You’re right. I’m just being silly.’ Jessica reached for her seat belt and indicated she was ready to go.
‘Not at all. You’re caring and sympathetic. A beautiful person, inside and out.’ In his mind, Rob was reaching out to her, cradling her face in his hands and kissing her. It was his heart telling him he shouldn’t. The only thing he knew for certain was that he didn’t want her to go home just yet. He couldn’t dump her out of the car after she’d laid herself bare to him.