Читать книгу Hot Docs On Call: Hollywood Heartthrobs - Louisa George - Страница 17

CHAPTER SEVEN

‘CALM DOWN. TAKE A deep breath. Breathe, Lola. And again. That’s it. Good. It’s okay. I’ve got you.’ Jake’s arms wrapped round her as he kicked hard towards the beach. Her leg felt as if someone was holding a hot poker against it, the burn ripped through the flesh to the bone. She clung on to his shoulders as he powered through the waves.

She just wanted the pain to stop. I will not cry. ‘Jellyfish? D’you think it’s a jellyfish? Are there more? Don’t get stung too.’ She had to shout over the roar of waves and the rush of white noise in her head, though it came out like a panicked, high-pitched squeal.

‘I didn’t see anything swimming around... But, then, I was distracted...’ He hauled in oxygen, breathing hard as he bore the weight of the two of them. ‘Could be anything. Lola, keep still.’

‘It hurts.’

‘I know it does.’ And he was there for her, holding her, saving her. Regardless of what he’d said about the kissing. He was there, she’d remember that—once she’d got over the pain and the humiliation of being rejected. Again.

In no time at all they reached the beach and he laid her on the sand at the water’s edge and bathed her leg with cooling seawater. His eyes had lost the heat she’d seen before, but there was something else there—concern, hesitation. ‘How’s it feeling now?’

‘Okay. And stop being so bloody nice to me.’ It made things a million times worse, and made her like him even more.

‘First time anyone’s ever complained about me being considerate.’ His tone was kind and patient, in contrast to hers.

‘That’s because you’re showing me your nice side, but I know you have a bad side. And, no, it’s not okay any more. Every time you stop bathing it hurts even more. I think I’ll keep the water on it.’ She bit her lip and shuffled deeper into the water, scanning first for any rogue jellyfish that might have followed them. ‘My heart’s racing really fast.’

‘It’s probably just adrenalin from the shock—you’ll be fine. Just sit a while. Try more deep breaths. In...slowly...and now out...that’s it.’ Calmly he took her hand, pressed two fingers just below her thumb and focused. After way longer than a minute he was still holding her wrist, his palm stroking her skin. Now her heart was beating erratically for an altogether different reason. Again in that considerate tone he said, ‘Here, lean against me. Keep your foot in the water until you feel you can stand. Then I’ll take you to a clinic.’

‘Clinic? I don’t have time... We’ve got to get back. Cameron needs us.’

‘Cameron will have to wait.’

‘Seriously? Have you tried telling her to do anything she doesn’t...?’ But the searing burn was turning now into an aggravating itch. She wanted to tear at her skin. When she looked down she saw huge red welts and blisters starting to appear. So she leaned against him anyway, taking strength from his heat, her fist coiled into his. ‘It’s starting to itch like crazy. Don’t suppose you have jellyfish antidotes back at the lodge?’

‘Sure, I have something for every kind of emergency; polar-bear bait, black widow spider anti-venin. Zombie-killer stakes.’ He pushed her matted hair away from her face with his free hand and pressed a kiss on to the top of her head—as he would to a child. ‘No, oddly, I don’t have jellyfish antidote, even if there is such a thing, but usually you just need cold water and something acidic. Seriously, we’ve got to get it seen by someone. If it was a jellyfish—and it may have been something else—we need to get the right treatment. Some of them are deadly.’

‘And now you’re making me feel so much better about this. But apart from wanting to rip my skin off, I think I’ll take a chance on walking.’ She let him haul her up from the sand and watched while he gathered their things together, then she let him half carry her as she hopped towards the motor scooters. ‘Maybe the cool rush of air as I’m scooting along will help.’

‘You are not driving that scooter on your own, Lola. You’re shaking; you won’t be able to steer. Climb on the front of mine. I’ll send someone to pick yours up later.’ Then he made a quick phone call, flicked his cell phone back into his bag and indicated for her to sit in front of him, old-fashioned side-saddle style.

‘I... Oh, okay.’ She didn’t want to, but she did anyway, sliding her arms around his waist, pressing her head against the solid wall of his chest, breathing in the scent of man and elements and some flowery fragrance from the beautiful blooms all around them, but she didn’t care about that. All she could think of was the pain and the itch and the kiss and the way he’d felt, so hard, so hungry for her. The way he’d turned away from her, denying what he’d so obviously wanted.

And the way he’d looked at her when she’d been hurt, as if he’d do everything in his power to help her. If he hadn’t been so nice she’d have bawled him out all the more for stopping the kissing. Because here she was, with a guy who was the hottest thing on two legs and who also had a damned conscience.

* * *

‘That’s fire coral rash, pretty sure, Dr Jake.’ Tina was standing over the couch, hands on her ample hips, peering at Lola’s leg. Thankfully the painkillers were kicking in and the intense burning was subsiding, but the itch was driving her mad and there were still angry red welts on her ankle. Not to mention swelling.

And outright humiliation. Typical. Only she would be in the middle of paradise and get attacked by a man-eating plant.

‘Fire coral?’ Jake frowned. ‘What’s that?’

‘Looks like coral, but has venom,’ Tina explained. ‘She’ll live. Vinegar to kill the barbs. Then you can tweezer them out.’

‘Great. I saw some vinegar in the kitchen and I’ll go grab my medical kit.’ Jake nodded. He’d been nothing but focused on her comfort since the second she’d screamed at him in the sea. ‘She needs a hot drink for the shock. If you can get that sorted for me, please.’

‘Sure. She looks mighty pale.’ Tina shook her head and frowned.

He frowned too. ‘She’ll be okay with rest and something to raise her blood sugar.’

‘Hey. I am here.’ Tired of being talked over, Lola managed a smile. ‘You can talk to me if you like. Tina, yes, I’d love a drink if you have time to make me one. And, no, Jake, you’re not going anywhere near me with vinegar and tweezers. I can do it myself.’

‘Really? You can twist your body at that kind of an angle and rip nematocysts out like a pro? This I’ve got to see. Wait right there.’

He dashed out of the room as Lola leaned back on the sofa, closed her eyes and groaned. She did not want to be beholden to him and she did not want him touching her again with all that kind consideration. Really, they needed to talk, not touch. Touching brought about way too many hot thoughts and not enough searing reality.

She didn’t need reminding that her particular searing reality was that she was here to work and not mess about with a doctor, no matter how much her body had other ideas. And now, accompanying Cameron to the location shoot was looking pretty touch and go. ‘Oh...why me?’

‘Because, Miss Bennett, you didn’t have a full wetsuit on.’

Lola had forgotten the housekeeper was still there. ‘Oh, sorry, Tina, I was thinking about how I was going to manage to work this afternoon.’

‘You won’t, no arguing.’ It was Jake again, back with them and holding his large black medical bag, which he set down on the floor. ‘Tina, it’s okay, we can manage here, thanks. I don’t want to take up any more of your time...except I’d be grateful if you could take the dogs for a while. Lola, you’re going to stay there and rest.’

Lola sat up. ‘I can’t do that. There’s too much—’

‘Shh. I’m the doctor and you’ll do what I say. I’ll go with Cameron. Once we’ve got the barbs out you can get some rest. You’ve had a bad shock.’ Not as shocking as necking in an ocean, to be honest, but there it was. He lifted her swollen leg onto a footstool, on which he’d laid out a dressing pack and drape, then he crouched down. ‘Now, this is going to sting so I’ll go slowly.’

‘It won’t sting if I do it.’ She reached for the tweezers, bent her legs and shuffled so she could see the barbs. She didn’t want him to see her frustrated tears or her weakest moments. She just wanted him to go and leave her to recover in peace.

He watched, eyebrows peaked. ‘And pray tell me how you’ll stop the sting if I can’t?’

‘I don’t know. Just let me do it and stop asking questions.’

‘Okay. Go right ahead.’ He rocked back on his heels and smirked as she tried to reach, couldn’t quite, and twisted some more. She got a deep ache low in her back. And still the barbs were stuck in her leg. ‘Go on, Lola, I’m waiting.’

‘Okay, clever clogs, you do it then.’ She all but threw the tweezers at him.

He rocked forward and grabbed them. ‘Stop me any time, there’s no hurry.’

‘No problem.’ She wasn’t sure where this big brave act was coming from, but in truth she didn’t want to owe him anything or to let him see how upset she felt. She was a grown-up, smart adult woman—she could deal with this. ‘I’ll be fine.’

His eyes were gentle and warm as he smiled. ‘Sure you will. You can handle anything, Lola.’

‘Yep.’ At least one of them had some faith in her. She sucked in a breath as he touched her leg, sending shivers of pain through her calf. She would not shout. She would not cry.

He paused, tweezers in mid-air, and it was worse to see compassion mixed with teasing in his eyes. ‘It is okay to scream. I have ear plugs somewhere.’

‘Get on with it, man. The suspense is killing me more than the damned venom ever will.’

The next few minutes passed in a blur of angry stinging, fierce tensing of muscles she hadn’t known she had and almost ripping the stuffing from the chair arm. When Jake felt satisfied he’d removed every barb, he smoothed cream over the now very puce ankle and calf and gave her another dose of painkiller. ‘You did well. Lie back and get some rest. I’m going up to the house to talk Cameron into letting you stay here.’

‘Good luck with that. I doubt she’ll be happy. It’s okay. Give me a few minutes for the pain to calm down and I’ll come with you.’

‘You’ll stay right there, missy.’

‘Or what?’

‘Or you’ll get a spanking.’ His hand was on the door but instead of leaving he looked at her and shook his head. ‘I shouldn’t have said that.’

She smiled on a sigh. ‘Promises...promises.’

‘Lola...’ There was a warning in his voice but a glint in his eyes.

‘I know, I know. Timing. Work. Stuff. Life. I get it. If you look for excuses you’ll find them.’

‘They’re everywhere, Lola. I don’t need to look. Now, I’m going to tell Cameron that you have to stay here.’

‘My money’s on an immediate departure to the set for all of us, dogs included.’

But Cameron, it seemed, had other ideas. Very surprising.

Apparently she insisted that her assistant stay at the lodge and that Jake stay with her. A situation they both found irritating. More Jake, it seemed.

He slumped down in the chair opposite Lola, grumbling, ‘She was surrounded by Alfredo’s guests and just wafted her hand and told me to stay with you as if it was no big deal that a top neurosurgeon was wasting his time here—and I couldn’t get to talk to her privately. She demanded I come all this way, cancel my clinics and rearrange my schedule, and now she doesn’t even need me to go with her, and won’t let me talk to her.’

Lola lifted her head from the couch then laid it back again when the room started to spin a little. ‘I think you’re just her insurance policy. She hasn’t been feeling great over the last few months on that stupid diet. She probably just needs to know you’re close by in case of emergency. You’re here, filming’s only a few miles away, she can call if she needs you.’

‘Which was exactly what she said to me.’

‘Why do you want to go anyway? Seems to me you don’t want to be here in the first place, so an afternoon off would suit you just fine.’

‘It’s my job.’ He shrugged, pulling out his laptop. ‘Right, if you’re okay with it I’ll log into the clinic intranet and get some work done. I can’t sit around doing nothing.’

‘Me neither.’ Lola swung her legs from the stool and tried to stand. It was relatively easy to bear weight, but the pain knocked the wind out of her lungs. ‘Oof.’

‘What do you think you’re doing?’ He glared at her over the top of his computer screen.

‘Going to get my phone. I’ll do some ringing around, sort out a dress for Cameron for the after-shoot dinner tomorrow night.’

‘All that luggage and she didn’t bring a dress?’

‘Of course she did. I packed more than enough clothes for a whole month. But there are some fabulous Bahamian designers and she wants to try their clothes. I call, they send. She wears. Or not. It’s routine. She could make them a lot of money being seen in one of their creations. Top one on my list is Evelyn Rice—some of her dresses were worn at awards ceremonies earlier in the year and—’

‘Okay.’ Jake came over to her and made her sit back down, his hand slipping around her waist. He was comfortable around her body when there wasn’t the immediate threat of a kiss, it seemed. His voice was soothing. ‘I’ll get your phone. You can make one call. One. Then you need to do something that isn’t work. Solitaire? Knitting? Your script? Yes. Your script. This is legitimate sick time, which means no work—just relaxation.’

‘You know, you can be quite bossy when you try.’ But she had to agree it would be nice to sit and do something for herself. The extra-strong painkillers had started to make her head feel woozy and her limbs like melting honey—limpid and weak. She felt as if she was sinking and flying at the same time, which was doubly weird. ‘My phone’s in my beach bag and my script’s on my dresser in the bedroom.’

‘By the look of you, those meds are kicking in. Very soon you won’t want to do anything, you’ll be asleep in five minutes.’

When he came back she was still trying to find a comfortable position on the sofa. ‘The cushion doesn’t feel right.’ And she was indeed very tired. Very tired indeed.

‘Hold on.’ Jake put her phone and her script on the arm of the sofa and sat down next to her to plump up the cushion. ‘Better?’

‘Not really. But thank you for trying and for talking to Cameron. I know she doesn’t mean to be difficult, she’s just learnt to be like that. She can be really nice—she gave me a dress once, just because I liked it. But I get how everyone sees the bad in her when she gets so demanding. If I could just sell my screenplay then I wouldn’t have to stay... Where did you put it?’ Why was she only hearing her own voice? Was she talking too much? She probably was, but she couldn’t stop even though it was getting harder to control her mouth movements. She had to concentrate to say the words. ‘Ah, there it is. Thank you.’

‘Have you sent it to him to read yet?’

‘My dad?’ Her heart thumped once at the thought of what she’d done but then...she didn’t feel so bad right now... ‘No. I can’t. I haven’t... I should. But, oh, Jake, there’s too much... It’s hard...to explain...I will, though. I will send it to him...’ How to start that conversation? I know you think I’m in LA making the most of Cameron’s connections, but I lied and I keep on lying... ‘I’ll send it tomorrow. Maybe...I might have to...’

Jake ran his finger over her cheek. ‘Now I understand why he calls you a chatterbox. One tiny relaxant and you’re in full throttle. Let me know when you need me to reply, because the gaps you’re leaving aren’t big enough for me to get a word in.’

‘Oops, sorry.’

‘No need to apologise. Now read.’ Smiling, Jake lifted her leg and she kind of swung sideways and landed against his arm. Without thinking twice, she snuggled under and into his armpit. He was so warm and strong. Comfortable... And he smelt delicious. Her eyes started to close, her heart slowed a little and it was so tempting just to lie against him and... She should really look at her script, but she didn’t have the energy...

He gave her a little nudge. ‘Lola. Lola...don’t go to sleep here.’

‘Hmm?’

His voice was by her ear, warm and soft. ‘Maybe you should go to bed. You’ll be more comfortable.’

‘Hmm? No. I’m fine.’ There was an opportunity for more innuendo there, but she couldn’t move her mouth enough to say anything much. It was as if her brain was on a go-slow. She just wanted to lie here in his arms and let the pain drift away. ‘Can’t walk... Stay right here?’

When he didn’t answer she let herself fall further down into the black hole. When he nuzzled the top of her head she spiralled further and further... He was very close. Nice and close and warm. Her body started to tingle, starting first in her gut but then spreading through her, to her breasts and down low, deep inside. Half asleep and half turned on. No—all turned on, in a drowsy, calm, warm kind of way. Sex would be delicious right now. Sex with Jake would be more than delicious.

She managed to twist herself so she was facing him. His mouth was only inches from hers. His eyes glittered with concern and desire, his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. ‘Lola—’

Again a warning. She knew exactly what she wanted to do right now, and wondered if he thought the same thing. ‘Jake. I know you said—’

‘Hush.’ He placed a finger over her mouth. ‘You need some rest.’

She curled her hand around his finger and drew it away. Then she leaned close and pressed her mouth against his, because she couldn’t not. Because she knew it was what they both wanted. And for a brief moment she felt his hesitation, heard his low groan before his free hand cupped her cheek and he kissed her back, soft and gentle. She reached for his face, for the soft touch of his skin; she wanted to be sheathed in his scent, to taste him over and over and over.

This time the kiss went deeper than passion, to somewhere beyond the rabid desperation she felt inside. It stoked something fierce, something rare and beautiful. Something precious.

She didn’t want this to stop; she curled the back of her hand against his cheek and melted into the press of his lips against hers, into the dance of his tongue, the tight clutch of her stomach. This was something. He was something. Something important. Something good. For the first time ever she felt soul-deep that this was right.

When he drew away Jake was shaking and there were deep lines across his forehead. He looked unsettled, spooked.

Worse, she felt as if someone had taken her lifeline away. ‘I’m not going crazy, am I? There is something here? You do want this, right?’ She knew her words were coming out a little slurred, as if her mouth was full of cotton-wool. But she wanted to know...needed to know. He’d said they’d talk, well, now she was going to say a few things... ‘Because I want to kiss you. And maybe more. Some more...yes, more.’ She laid her hand on his chest, felt the reassuring beat of his heart under her fingers. There was something about Jake that was different from any other man she’d ever known. There was a quiet strength to him—one that irritated her slightly as he fought the attraction. There was a calmness there. He was funny and beautiful to look at. He made her feel good about herself. He made her think that anything was possible.

He made her lose track of her thinking—and that wasn’t always such a good thing. Because she had to keep her mind focused on her goals. She didn’t want to fall for him—but maybe it was already too late. Right now she was so laconic she didn’t care.

There was a long pause while he looked at her. Sin flashed across his gaze. ‘Yes. Yes, I do want to kiss you again, Lola, and more. But wanting and doing are different things. You’re hurting now, and pretty much flying high on meds, you don’t know what you’re doing—and, to be brutally honest, neither do I. You need to sleep it all off. Things will look different when you wake up.’

His rejection should have hurt, but it didn’t touch her. Because she knew. Knew he wanted her. Knew this was right. She couldn’t stop looking at his mouth. She wanted to feel his mouth on her skin, on her body. Everywhere. ‘Why do you keep pushing me away?’

‘Because I wouldn’t be good for you.’

Oh, you would. So damned good. But she had to admit that her vision had started to blur at the edges and she was feeling quite strange. ‘I think I can decide what’s good for me. I think sex with you would be amazing—’

His growl was low and almost feral as he edged away from her. ‘So do I, Lola. Which is exactly why we’re not going to do it.’