Awakening the Shy Nurse

by Alison Roberts

  Hugh leaned even closer. So close he could feel the tickle of a windblown lock of hair touch his forehead.

  ‘What do you enjoy, then?’ he asked.

  He hadn’t really intended to use his best flirtatious tone that he knew women loved. He hadn’t actually intended to be this close to Lisa and he certainly hadn’t expected the punch in his gut when she turned her head slowly and he found himself so very close to those remarkable eyes. They were a very dark shade of golden brown right now, with the pupils dilating rapidly towards that intriguing dark rim.

  Hugh knew exactly what that punch in his gut was telling him. He also knew by Lisa’s reaction that she was experiencing the same thing. Whether or not she was prepared to acknowledge that shaft of desire was quite another matter and Hugh knew he should move before she even had the time to think about it. He should step back, say something about it being far too late to be out and about and escape before this odd moment turned into something they might both regret.

  Except he left it a split second too late. Just long enough for his gaze to catch something other than the expression in Lisa’s eyes. He could see the way her lips were parting... The way the tip of her tongue appeared to touch her bottom lip. It was mesmerising, that’s what it was. Hugh was unaware of any movement from either of them but their faces were even closer now. Close enough for their noses to touch as his mouth hovered above hers.

  And then their lips touched. So lightly it was no more than a feather-light brush—not dissimilar to the touch of the wind that Hugh could feel caressing the bare skin on his arms and neck as he bent his head. A scrape of a touch that was also similar to a match being struck and it certainly created a flame. It was impossible not to repeat the action and, this time, Hugh could feel the response.

  He might have expected Lisa to be shocked. He was shocked himself, to be honest, but it seemed that even that gentlest of touches contained something far too powerful to be resisted. On both sides. There was nothing for it but to really kiss her, Hugh decided as he covered her lips with his own and began a conversation that he might have had a thousand times already in his life but he’d never found one quite like this.

  Ever...

  * * *

  Oh...dear Lord...

  She’d wondered what it might be like to be kissed by this man from the moment she’d first clapped eyes on him kissing another woman. She’d imagined how it might feel. She’d even dreamt about it but she’d had no idea, had she?

  It wasn’t the first time she’d been kissed by any means but it felt like it was.

  Who knew that there were such infinite variations in pressure and movement that a kiss could feel like listening to the most amazing music with its different notes and rhythms? That closing your eyes would only intensify other senses and there’d never been anything that tasted like Hugh’s mouth and that the silky glide of his tongue against hers would trigger a sensation that felt like the inside of her whole body was melting...

  She could feel the absolute control that Hugh had but she could sense the strength behind it and she wanted more. So much more. If a kiss with this man could be like this, what would sex be like?

  Any judgement she might have had about people on cruise ships who were intent on finding as much pleasure as possible in the shortest amount of time were disappearing—getting buried under the weight of curiosity. No...make that a kind of desire that Lisa had never, ever experienced before. Hugh hadn’t been that far off the mark, had he, when he’d suggested that she didn’t like sex that much? She’d never been kissed like this, though. Or felt desire that was more like a desperate need to discover something she might otherwise miss out on for the rest of her life.

  It was a subtle change in the engine noise beneath them that finally broke that kiss. Or perhaps it was a need for more oxygen because Lisa knew she was breathing far more rapidly than normal as they pulled apart. Her lips were still parted as well, and her eyes drifted open to find her gaze locking onto Hugh’s.

  His smile grew slowly. ‘I take it back,’ he said.

  ‘Take what back?’ The thought that he was already regretting that kiss was like a shower of cold water in her face.

  ‘Thinking you were so uptight,’ Hugh said. ‘Where did you learn to kiss like that, Lisa Phillips?’

  She couldn’t say anything. Because she’d have to admit that she’d never learned to kiss like that until he’d taught her? Or because she was processing the fact that he’d considered her to be uptight? Lisa could feel herself taking a step back to create some more distance between them.

  Was Hugh laughing at her? She couldn’t let him know that that kiss had, quite possibly, been life-changing for her when it was probably no more than an everyday occurrence for Hugh. He’d think she was immature as well as uptight, wouldn’t he? Had he just been amusing himself all along by kissing her in the first place? Or...and it was a horrible thought...had she been the one who had initiated that kiss? Lisa could feel her cheeks reddening in one of her hated blushes so she turned away so that she could catch the breeze on her face.

  ‘We’re slowing down.’ Hugh broke a silence that was on the verge of becoming really awkward moments later as the engine noise dropped another note. ‘We can’t be that far away from docking. I expect we’ll have a busy clinic in the morning. When most of the passengers have gone ashore, it gives a lot of the crew a chance to visit us.’

  He was talking like her boss, which prompted Lisa to shift her gaze to catch his again. Was he dismissing that kiss as something that shouldn’t have happened between people who had to work together? Or was he warning her that it couldn’t go any further? It was more like there was a question to be seen in his eyes than a warning, however. Maybe he was wondering if he should say something about that kiss? Or was he waiting for an indication from her that she’d enjoyed it as much as he had? That she wasn’t that “uptight” after all?

  Well...she didn’t have to prove anything. And she didn’t want to talk about it either—certainly not with someone who thought sex was just something to enjoy as a physical activity, like dancing or drinking champagne. She’d already let Hugh know how much she disapproved of people who simply jumped into bed with each other for no other reason than giving in to lust.

  Okay, she might have just gained a disturbing new insight into how it could easily happen but, now that she’d had a moment to catch her breath, she could remember that she wasn’t that type of person herself. That she knew it was dangerous to break rules or step too far outside the boundaries of what you knew was the right thing to do. The safe thing.

  Maybe what Hugh was really asking was if she’d like to pretend the kiss had never happened. Or that it was no big deal—which it obviously wasn’t for someone like Hugh. It was the first thing she’d ever seen him doing, after all. Perhaps he’d mentioned work because it was a safer topic and a place where they had discovered a professional connection and that was absolutely something Lisa could use as a life raft when her head was such a whirlpool of jumbled sensations and emotions she was in danger of drowning. She grabbed hold of it.

  ‘And it’s late,’ she added briskly, turning away. ‘Don’t know about you but I need some sleep before I turn up for work. See you in the morning, Hugh.’

  CHAPTER FOUR

  HOW THE HELL had that happened, exactly?

  Okay, he’d been pushing her a bit after being irritated by that unimpressed comment that he had interpreted as judgement on his performance in bed. Deliberately being in her personal space as well as he’d prodded that barrier Lisa seemed to have between herself and the good things in life, but he’d certainly never expected it to end in a kiss. He hadn’t even been attracted to her, given that she was so not his type. Was that what had made that kiss seem so different? Why it had haunted his dreams in the few snatched hours of sleep he’d managed later and why it was still lurking in the perimeter of his consciousness this m
orning?

  Hugh arrived early at the medical centre, despite his lack of sleep, but moving around his familiar environment as he checked that everything had been thoroughly cleaned and restocked in the wake of managing their dramatic case of Alex’s respiratory arrest due to anaphylaxis in the early hours of this morning, he was aware of an unfamiliar tension.

  He might not understand how that kiss had happened exactly but there was no getting away from the fact that it had happened and now it felt like it was going to be more than a little awkward working with Lisa. Most women he knew would be happy to either dismiss that kiss as fun but naughty, given they had to work together, or to enjoy a bit of sexual tension and have fun playing with it for a while. But Lisa wasn’t like any of the women he knew and Hugh wasn’t confident he would know how to respond to a different, less relaxed reaction.

  Sure enough, when she arrived a few minutes before morning surgery was due to begin, she avoided any direct eye contact with him when he gave her a friendly greeting and said that he hoped she’d had enough sleep, given her extended working hours last night.

  She merely nodded, still not meeting his gaze as she reached for a stethoscope to hook around her neck. ‘Shall I set up in the second consulting room to do the initial obs?’

  ‘Yes, please.’ So she was going to pretend the kiss had never happened? That was a bit “head in the sand”, but he could go along with that. And it was always useful to get an idea of what a patient was presenting with, along with baseline observations that let him know whether they had any signs of infection like a fever or any problems with their blood pressure or heart rhythm. A competent nurse could also deal with minor stuff herself, like dressing a burn or closing a small laceration with sticky strips or glue.

  It was a walk-in clinic that didn’t require appointments and the knowledge, based on experience, that they might be very busy for the next couple of hours should have been enough to focus Hugh’s attention completely on his job.

  Except it wasn’t quite enough. He was watching Lisa from the corner of his eye as she moved swiftly around the medical centre for the next few minutes, collecting supplies like the plastic sheaths for the tip of the tympanic thermometer, a new roll of graph paper for the ECG monitor and dressing supplies and antiseptic ointments that might be needed to deal with minor injuries that didn’t need a doctor’s attention. How hard was she finding it to pretend that the kiss hadn’t happened?

  Was she thinking about it as much as he was? Those unwanted flashes of memory that were strong enough to interfere with anything else he might be trying to focus on? Did she have the same, disturbing idea that it could be tempting to do it again or was she avoiding even looking at him directly because she really was wishing it had never happened in the first place?

  He found himself listening in from the treatment room as he made sure the electronic equipment like the X-ray machine was turned on and ready for use, when Janet arrived to help with the surgery by manning the reception area and triaging to get the most important cases seen first.

  ‘Tim’s been telling me about all the excitement last night. Can’t believe something like that happened when I’m not even on call.’

  ‘It was a memorable night, that’s for sure. Possibly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.’

  Hugh flicked another switch to turn the steriliser on. Was Lisa making a reference to the case...or the kiss? Not that it mattered, because maybe he agreed with her—on both counts.

  ‘You could be right. I’ve never seen a cricothyroidotomy done on land, let alone at sea.’

  ‘I’d never seen one done either and I’ve worked in ED a lot. It was amazing. Hugh was amazing. He saved that guy’s life...’

  ‘We saved that guy’s life.’ Hugh couldn’t eavesdrop any more when he was the subject of the conversation.

  Perhaps it was because she was startled by his sudden appearance or the genuine compliment he was offering that Lisa finally looked at him properly and something in Hugh’s gut did an odd little flip as her gaze met his. The last time he’d seen those eyes had been very close up indeed...

  ‘Lisa was first on the scene,’ he added, ‘and I couldn’t have handled his airway later without her excellent assistance.’

  ‘So he actually arrested?’ Janet was open-mouthed.

  ‘Close enough. His oxygen saturation got down to below seventy percent at one stage and he was unconscious.’

  ‘Wow...’

  ‘Have you had any update on his condition?’

  Lisa shifted her gaze swiftly as he looked back to answer her question. The way she was biting her lower lip was another sign that she was finding any interaction between them awkward this morning and that had the effect of making whatever that was in Hugh’s gut flip back the other way. Yep...this was awkward all right and Hugh was aware of a beat of another, unfamiliar emotion.

  Guilt? He’d imagined himself in a big brother kind of role with Lisa, hadn’t he? Well...nobody would trust him to take on that kind of role again, would they? Had he really asked her if she was a virgin? And suggested that maybe she didn’t like sex? How insulting had that been? Plus, he’d told her how uptight he’d thought she was as well and that had been an unkind thing to say. No wonder Lisa had backed off so fast. She probably wasn’t looking forward to working with him at all and he couldn’t blame her.

  ‘Alex is fine,’ he said aloud. ‘They monitored him in Intensive Care for the rest of the night but everything had settled by the time I spoke to someone an hour or so ago. They’re going to patch up his neck, give him a course of steroids for a couple of days and have advised him to wear a medic alert bracelet and make sure he has his auto-injector within reach at all times. He should be back on board before we sail this evening.’

  A late sailing, Hugh remembered, turning to head into his consulting room as Janet moved to open the doors to their first patients. And after this morning’s surgery he had the day to himself in one of his favourite parts of the world, which was just what he needed. A chance to relax and soak up some of the very best things in life. The kind of things that Lisa didn’t seem to be at all familiar with. That he’d thought he could help her discover. Maybe he could try and step back into that helpful role.

  He turned back. ‘What are you going to do with your first onshore leave, Lisa?’

  If nothing else, he could provide some recommendations for things she could see or do and that might get them past this awkwardness.

  ‘I’m not sure.’ Lisa’s gaze skittered away from his again. ‘One of the team on the excursions desk told me about a walk that was lovely around the Cap d’Antibes but what I’d really love to see is one of the medieval towns.’

  ‘Get up to Eze, if you can. It’s an outstanding example of a medieval village. Or St Paul de Vence, although that could still be pretty crowded on a lovely day like this. It’s a shame we won’t finish in time for you to tag along with one of the organised bus tours. They’re always keen to have someone from our team available as medical cover but a taxi probably wouldn’t be too expensive. Less than fifty euros, probably.’

  The expression on Lisa’s face suggested that their ideas of what wasn’t too expensive were poles apart. She was the one to turn away this time but he caught the hint of smile that felt like an acknowledgement of his effort to restore their working relationship to its former amicability. Not that it seemed to have worked particularly well.

  ‘I expect I’ll just take a walk around Villefranche sur Mer from where the tender boat drops us,’ she said. ‘Or I can find the bus that goes into Nice. I’ll explore the old town and then find somewhere lovely for a late lunch. I’m sure it will be gorgeous.’

  * * *

  Oh...help...

  The first time Lisa had been in this reception area and had realised that she was going to be working with Hugh, she hadn’t been able to dismiss the memory of having seen him kissing that l
eggy blonde woman.

  Now she was totally unable to dismiss the memory of having been kissed herself. And it was so much more than merely a thought. She could actually feel it happening again. The soft press of his lips on hers. The taste of his mouth. The fierce lick of desire that sent an electric buzz to every cell in her body and made her knees feel distinctly weak.

  Biting her bottom lip hard enough to hurt helped. So did avoiding any more than a split second of eye contact. Even better was being able to focus on the patients that started arriving within the next few minutes. Hugh had been right—they were in for a very busy few hours and, best of all, there was plenty for Lisa to do in her consulting room and she wasn’t being asked to assist Hugh in any way.

  An hour in and she was starting to feel a lot more confident that they could continue working together without the awkwardness of that kiss hanging in the air between them. A purely professional exchange presented no problems at all after the first couple.

  ‘This is Elaine.’ Lisa handed the clipboard to Hugh as she took her tenth patient into his consulting room. ‘She’s running a fever of thirty-nine point six, has frequency and pain on urination and the dipstick test was positive for blood in her urine.’

  It would be a quick consult for Hugh to double check the history and any other health issues that Elaine had and then prescribe the antibiotics and other medications to ease the discomfort of a urinary tract infection for their patient.

  Jeff, the next patient, only needed a certificate to be signed by Hugh to give him a day away from his job as a kitchen hand.

  ‘It’s a second degree burn but the blisters are still intact,’ Lisa told him. ‘I’ve cleaned it, put antibiotic cream on and a non-stick gauze dressing and I’ve told Jeff to come back tomorrow for a dressing change so that I can make sure it’s not infected. If it’s looking okay, I think he’ll be able to work as long as he wears gloves and keeps it dry.’