‘He wasn’t cute,’ Joe said. ‘And he looked about eighteen. No wonder he ran.’ He couldn’t help the smile that broke out on his face but Kitty was still cross.
‘Joe, I haven’t had sex in almost seven months, my hormones are going wild and I’m about to burst with frustration. I wasn’t going to marry the guy. It’s just sex.’
Just sex.
Joe saw red. He’d never understood that expression until now. Blackness encroached onto the edges of his vision as a red haze washed over the centre. His scientific background told him that it was probably due to a rush of blood through his body, and he would swear he could feel his blood pressure building. He had a burning desire to punch something.
He didn’t want to think about Kitty having sex with strangers. The very idea horrified him.
He was aware of other men looking at her with interest and listening to their conversation. He took a deep breath and tried to clear his vision as he gripped her elbow and steered her out to the relative quiet of the deck before any other strangers offered to help her out.
‘I was only talking to him,’ she argued again, not prepared to let the discussion drop. ‘What’s the matter with you?’
‘You were talking to him but thinking about sex?’ he replied. ‘You don’t know anything about him.’ He knew he sounded like an irrational fool. Kitty was an adult and could make her own decisions, but he really didn’t want her thinking about having sex with strangers.
Kitty rolled her eyes. ‘If you hadn’t scared him off I might have found out more about him. That’s how meeting people works, Joe. You meet, you talk, you decide if you like each other.’
‘And then you have sex.’
‘That was my plan.’
‘But you’re pregnant.’
‘So? You think people don’t have sex when they’re pregnant?’
He didn’t want to think about her having sex, pregnant or otherwise. Not with strangers, that was for damn sure.
She was grinning at him now, the little dimples in her cheeks twinkling. He didn’t want her to think he was being funny, he was deadly serious. And he wanted her to take him seriously.
He was sorely tempted to offer his services but bit his tongue just in time. There was no way in hell that was a good idea.
She was waiting for his answer. Looking up at him with her big brown eyes, making it difficult to remember just why taking her in his arms and taking her to bed would be so terrible.
‘I don’t want to talk about you having pregnant sex,’ he said as he tried futilely not to imagine what her lips would taste like. Tried not to imagine how her breasts would feel under his fingertips.
‘Why not?’
They were standing very close now and the noise from the bar receded into the distance as Kitty continued to look up at him, a challenge in her dark eyes.
Why not what? He couldn’t remember what he’d said. He couldn’t think straight when she looked at him like that. She was all lips and eyes and breasts and he was a mess.
Their conversation was forgotten as he stared at her lips. He thought about kissing her soundly, showing her what it was like to be kissed by someone who knew her well. Who cared about her. Showing her how much better that was than kissing a complete stranger. Why had he never kissed her before? He couldn’t remember.
Everything receded, the noise, the crowd, until there was just the two of them.
He searched for a good reason not to kiss her now and couldn’t think of one. The urge was overpowering and he didn’t know if he could resist.
He bent his head.
She lifted her chin and tilted her head up to him.
KITTY’S LIPS WERE PARTED. He could see the tip of her tongue, soft and pink between her teeth. Was she waiting for him to kiss her?
His eyes widened as she licked her lips.
Blood pounded in his veins.
Did she want him to kiss her?
How the hell could he know?
Perhaps he was the only one who thought this was a good idea.
No. Scratch that. It was a terrible idea.
He should resist the urge. Although it might be one way to stop her from thinking about sex with strangers... But then where would it leave them?
He was a mess of indecision. He had lost all form of coherent thought and his indecision made him hesitate. In that moment, in that split second when his desire battled with logic, Kitty stepped back.
Her reaction was probably the right one. The best one.
He should also back away before he did something stupid. He’d had several beers and was far from sober. Kissing him was probably the last thing on Kitty’s mind. It was highly likely she would have slapped him and he would have deserved it.
He stepped away. That was best. The combination of her hormones and his blood alcohol level may have made them do something they would regret.
He opened his mouth to say something but he was at a loss for words.
Kitty beat him to it. ‘I’m tired, I think I might head home,’ she said, and she was gone before he could say anything further.
But that was OK. That was good even. That was definitely the sensible outcome.
As he watched her go, he tried to gather his thoughts. His brain was fuzzy and it took some time before he could make his legs move.
‘Where’s Kitty?’ Lisa asked as he went back into the pub.
‘She’s gone home,’ he replied. ‘She was tired.’
One of the other girls at the table stood up. He recognised her from the hospital, she was one of the nurses. He thought her name was Victoria.
‘Would you like to dance?’ she asked him. Her voice was quiet and he had to lean in closer to hear her. Had she done that deliberately? She was standing awfully close to him. She was pressed up against his thigh, her hand on his arm, and she was looking at him as if she had no place she needed to be.
Joe didn’t dance and he’d had enough to drink. He definitely had somewhere better to be. ‘I’ve got a better idea. Do you want to get out of here?’ he said, and was not surprised when she agreed.
Victoria was thin and blonde, the complete opposite of Kitty. She was exactly what he needed to take his mind off what had just happened.
* * *
‘Kitty and Anna, incoming patient, three minutes,’ Davina said. ‘I don’t have much information. He’s a surfer, picked up by the coastguard, suffering from exposure and dehydration. That’s all I’ve got.’
Kitty grabbed a fresh gown and gloves and made her way to the ambulance bay. Dr Anna Lewis was already there.
The ambulance pulled in, followed by a couple of news vans, and Joe jumped out.
Kitty took a deep breath. She hadn’t seen him for several days, not since she’d almost kissed him, but she’d known their paths would cross again. She’d also heard that he’d gone home with Victoria that night. Victoria had made no secret of that fact the next time she and Kitty had had a shift together. What was that all about?
She was still fuming about it. Annoyed with him and annoyed with herself for caring. She didn’t normally have an issue about Joe’s dalliances or relationships, but something