She was glad for the lights being off for another reason now. Her face was on fire in the dark from her slip-up.
‘I don’t know,’ she attempted. ‘You know what that place is like, there’s always talk.’
‘I guess.’ He let out a long sigh. ‘Oh, well, if it’s out there’s nothing I can do about it. At least I know no one heard it from me.’
He forgot about it then but it took a while for Jasmine to.
He kissed her till she almost had, she kissed him back till she nearly did, but it was there at the back of her mind, just how complicated things were and he didn’t even know.
‘Are you all right?’ He lifted his head.
‘Just tense.’
She almost told him, she nearly did.
Except she’d promised her sister that she wouldn’t.
‘I can fix that.’
And he slid beneath the sheets and she lay there biting her lip, thrashing with her thoughts as his tongue urged her to give in.
He was incredibly patient.
Didn’t seem to mind a jot how long it took.
And she tried to relax to the probe of his tongue. To forget her problems, forget Penny and Lloyd and everything really except …
‘Jed?’
He didn’t answer.
‘Jed?’ She had to tell him, had to tell him now. ‘Things are complicated.’
‘Not from where I am,’ Jed said, lifting his head just a little. ‘You worry too much.’
Maybe she did, Jasmine realised, closing her eyes to the mastery of his mouth.
He gave her no room to think about it anyway. His hands lifted her buttocks so he could concentrate his efforts and he homed in, she pushed on his shoulders, because she should surely tell him, except he pushed back on the pressure she exerted and obliterated her thoughts with his tongue.
He was determined now, felt the shift in her, and it turned him on further. He loved feeling her unbend beneath him, loved the constant fight with her busy mind, and he would win this one and he felt her quiver as he worked on her most tender spot.
He felt her thighs start to tighten and the moans in her throat and he loved the wrestle within in her, loved how her hands moved from his shoulders and to his head, how her body begged him to continue while her mouth urged him to stop.
And then she gave in to him, shocked that he didn’t stop there, that when he should surely abate he worked harder, and she throbbed into him and still his mouth cursed her restraint. Still his tongue told her there was more, and there was.
He rose over her in the dark, his hand moved to the bedside and it was hers that stopped him, stopped a man who, very kindly, never forgot.
‘I told you,’ she said. ‘I’ve got the coil.’
And he smiled down at her as just once she said it. ‘And, yes, as I’ve since found out—he was crap in bed.’
There was nothing to complicate or confuse right now, just the bliss of him sliding inside her, and for Jed he had never been closer to another, just lost himself in her. It was more than sex and they both knew it—it was the most intimate either had ever been. He thrust into her as he wanted to and she tightened her legs around him. He could hear the purr in her throat and feel the scratch of her nails on his back and she knew that, however they denied it, this was fast becoming serious.
And yet there were secrets between them.
For Jed there were no secrets, or there soon wouldn’t be. He’d already made the decision to tell her, he just had to find the right time and tonight wasn’t it. He felt her tighten around him, loved the intimacy and feeling her without the barrier of a sheath, loved the sob into his shoulder and the sudden demand within her that gave Jed permission to let go, which he did, but not fully. He lifted up on his arms and felt every beat of pleasure that shot out of him, he felt every flicker of hers, except he held back on the words that seemed most fitting right now.
He lay there afterwards and he should have been glad he hadn’t said them. Neither of them were ready for love, but for Jed it was starting to feel like it.
And for Jasmine too, she felt as if they were on the edge of something, something that neither had seen, a place they had never intended to go. Except he was in bed beside her and it felt as if he should be, and she knew what to do now.
She wasn’t waiting for the interviews, and Penny would just have to deal with it if it confused things.
Tomorrow, or at the very next opportunity, she would tell Penny.
Then she could be completely honest with Jed.
Then, Jasmine decided, there would be no holding back.
JED WAS GONE before Simon woke up, but her resolve was the same and once she’d given Simon his breakfast and got him dressed, Jasmine picked up the phone and rang Penny.
‘What are you doing, ringing me at work?’ Penny sounded irritated at the intrusion.
‘It’s the only chance I get to speak to you,’ Jasmine said. ‘Of course I can talk to you there if you prefer.’
‘No, this is fine,’ Penny sighed. ‘What did you want?’
‘I was hoping we could catch up away from work. There’s something I’d like to talk about, something I need to check with you.’
‘Fine,’ Penny said.
‘Tonight?’ Jasmine asked.
‘I’m going out tonight.’ And she was working the next one. ‘I’m going to Mum’s on Sunday for dinner—how about then?’
Jasmine really didn’t want to discuss this in front of their mother, but maybe they could go for a walk afterwards, or she could suggest that Penny go back to her place for a coffee?
‘Sounds good.’
‘So, when are you working again?’ Penny asked.
‘In a couple of hours’ time.’ Jasmine smiled. ‘I promise to keep on ignoring you.’
As she dropped Simon off at crèche, Jasmine realised that things were starting to work out—she was starting to think that this was maybe doable and that nine-to-five job in the fracture clinic might not be necessary after all. Vanessa’s mum was looking after Liam this evening, which meant that Ruby would pick Simon up from crèche and take him back to Jasmine’s. Her babysitting arrangements were all under control, if a touch too expensive, but it was worth it to be doing a job she loved and for the first time since way before Simon’s birth things were starting to look stable.
Well, not stable. Her heart leapt in her throat still at the sight of Jed and she was shaky with all the rush of a new romance, but the rest of her life seemed to be slotting together when just a few weeks ago it had seemed an impossible dream.
There was actually no chance to speak to Lisa about anything personal, or Jed, come to that. The department was incredibly busy and the late shift flew by, so much so that Jasmine blinked in surprise when Lisa caught her on the way up to the ward with a geriatric patient and lightly scolded her for not taking her breaks.
‘I had no idea of the time,’ Jasmine admitted, surprised to see it was already seven o’clock. ‘I’ll just take this one up to the ward.’
‘Well, make sure that when you get back you take a break,’ Lisa said. ‘I don’t care how busy the place is, I