Masquerade (17 page)

Her spine was still tingling at the sound of his voice. She had missed him yesterday. There was no surprise visit in the evening, only a brief phone call in the morning.

“I missed you yesterday,” she said quietly and then immediately slapped her hand across her mouth, her eyes darting to see if anyone had heard her declaration. “I can’t believe I said that.”

Alex leaned over the counter. “I missed you, too. You don’t know how hard it was not to see you last night, but I wanted to respect your need to recover. Next time I might not be so accommodating.”

“Let’s hope there isn’t a next time. I mean a next time that I’m sick, not that you won’t visit.”

Sophie reddened at her babbling. She gave herself a mental shake, she wasn’t going to let her feelings for Alex interfere with her work. She would be the consummate professional around him during the day, but she was going to have him over for dinner very soon. She’d truly been fooling herself to think that one night would’ve been enough. If Alex hadn’t turned up at the hospital, then maybe. Now, she could try to deny it all she liked, but she liked spending time with Alex and she wanted to do it away from the hospital. She wanted to get to know him and see if what she felt for him was something stronger than just a case of lust at first sight. She wanted him alone in the privacy of her own apartment, with all phones switched off or off the hook.

“What is going on in that beautiful head of yours, Sophia?”

Sophie couldn’t help it — she had to flirt. She looked up at him from beneath her lashes. “That’s for me to know and you to find out.”

He laughed huskily. “I shall look forward to that.” As if realizing he’d been standing at the desk for longer than was necessary he straightened. “I’ve got another meeting with admin. I swear if I’d known I would be spending half my time in meetings, I’d have had second thoughts about taking on the job. I miss dealing with patients.”

“It’s only until you know all the procedures, then they’ll leave you alone.” She had a quick glance at the calendar. “Probably in another six months,” she said, winking.

Alex groaned. “I’ll have forgotten how to give an injection in that time.”

“Oh, be off with you, Dr. Scavoni.” She waved her hand airily. “If we need you I’ll be sure to call you.”

Alex gave her a return wink and strode down the hall. The space around her seemed eerily empty. Ridiculous, really, when she was sitting in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the ER.

When she was with Alex, he filled her senses totally and her surroundings disappeared.

“Earth to Sophie. Earth to Sophie.” An harried voice had Sophie looking up at the woman talking to her. She recognized her as Faith, one of the regular agency nurses they called when short staffed. Faith must’ve been called in for the night shift, as her eyes looked extremely tired.

“Sorry, Faith, how can I help you?” Sophie gave herself a swift, mental kick in the shins at letting her thoughts of Alex pull her attention away from the department’s needs.

“The patient in Resus One is declining rapidly, and I just can’t focus anymore.” Faith paused as a huge yawn possessed her. “I was due to knock off over an hour ago, is there someone who can relieve me?”

Phoebe was just arriving, so Sophie called out to her. “Phoebe, double time, I need you in Resus One now.”

“Okay,” Phoebe answered as she hurried off toward the staff room.

“Thanks so much for filling in, Faith. I’ll make sure you get extra pay for the time you’ve worked.”

Sophie sat back in her chair. Yep, it was definitely going to be one of those days.

The morning passed and they managed to get through most of the patients in the waiting room. Sophie only had a couple of episodes of nausea and was starting to feel extremely lightheaded.

Time to get something to eat, she thought.

She went to stand, but the room started whirring around her and her ears buzzed as if her head was the new home for a swarm of bees. She stuck her arm out to get some purchase on something solid, like a wall or filing cabinet or desk, but she connected with a hard surface of warm flesh. Her knees started to buckle and she then found herself being pushed unceremoniously in a chair and her head thrust between her knees.

“Deep breaths, Sophie,” ordered Alex as his fingers wrapped around her wrist to check her pulse.

The buzzing in her mind was receding along with the blackness that had threatened to overwhelm her.

“Your pulse is starting to slow now. Do you want to tell me what happened?” Alex asked as he squatted in front of her.

She kept her head bent for a few more seconds before gingerly lifting it. Her eyes focused on a pair of gray linen clad legs, strong, muscular thighs stretching the material. She recalled the feel of those thighs brushing against hers.

She groaned. How could she thinking about things like that when she’d just almost passed out?

“What’s wrong? Do you feel faint again?” Alex’s spoke the words rapidly. “I’ll call to see if a bed is free.”

She grabbed Alex’s hand to stop it from reaching for the phone. “Alex, stop. I’m fine. I was feeling lightheaded before I stood. I haven’t eaten much in the past couple of days.” She stood, determined to show him she was fine. She swayed slightly but straightened herself. “See? I can stand and I’m not about to faint. I’ll have some lunch and then I’ll be as right as rain.”

As Alex crossed his arms across the strong expanse of his chest, she knew she hadn’t quite convinced him she was totally recovered.

She bent and got her handbag and straightened again. “Look, no swaying, no knees buckling, no more lightheadedness.” She ran her hand along his arm, the fine hairs bristling under her touch. “Can I go now, Doctor?” She was trying to lighten the mood. A small smile broke out over Alex’s face and Sophie blew out a breath of relief.

“Be careful with what you eat. It’s likely your stomach is still sensitive.”

Sophie rolled her eyes at his concern. “Yes, Alex. I’m going to the local deli and get a toasted sandwich and some soda. Is that okay?”

Tremors rippled through her when his lips landed softly on hers. She hadn’t seen the kiss coming and that made it even more special. The kiss was short and sweet and her heart ached at the gentleness Alex was displaying toward her.

“Yes, Sophia, that is fine.” He headed toward the door but turned to look at her before leaving. “I’m going to be tied up with finance all afternoon, going over bloody budgets. But I’m cooking you dinner. My place, seven o’clock.”

It wasn’t a question but a statement of fact and she was grateful for it — she didn’t want to cook and she did want to spend time with Alex.

“Sounds great,” she said. “And Alex, thanks for coming to my rescue earlier.”

He smiled again and walked out of their shared office. She stood for a few more moments before she headed out to get something to eat.

The afternoon passed without too much drama and definitely no more episodes for Sophie. It was a relief to walk through her door and collapse on the couch. She rested her feet on the low coffee table and closed her eyes. She could sit for a few minutes and then have a shower and get ready to go to Alex’s place.

She must have drifted off to sleep because she was jolted awake by the sound of someone knocking on the door. Her living room was darker than it had been when she’d sat down. She raced to the door and flung it open.

“I’m so sorry, Alex, I’m late aren’t I?” She flipped back a loose strand of hair that had fallen over her eye. She must look a mess, still in her crumpled uniform and her hair all over the show.

“It’s okay, Sophie, you aren’t late. I’ve just got home and wanted to make sure you were okay.”

She tried smoothing down her uniform. “Well, as you can see I’m fine. I must have dozed on the couch, but I’ll be at your place on time — if you let me go now, that is,” she said after looking at her watch.

He laughed that sexy, husky laugh and she tightened her grip on the door and tensed her knees — she really didn’t want to show him how much his close proximity and laugh was affecting her.

“See you soon, Sophie.”

“Bye. Oh, and Alex?” She waited until he’d turned his attention back to her. “So it begins?”

It took a moment before the meaning of the words sunk in. They were the same words he’d spoken to her on New Year’s Eve, before they’d danced. Before they’d left together and spent the night in each other’s arms. With those same words, she’d just told Alex that tonight marked the start of a personal relationship between them. What had happened before was in the past. From tonight onwards, it was a fresh start for the both of them.

“Yes, Sophie, and I couldn’t be happier.”

Twenty minutes later Sophie’s hand was poised to knock on Alex’s door. She pulled it away and swiped her suddenly sweaty palms down her jeans.

Why was she so nervous? She’d had dinner with Alex many times — they’d even shared a meal earlier this week before she got sick. There was no need for her to be this nervous. Nothing had changed from earlier in the week, except that they were taking their friendship to a deeper level. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

The door opened and her breath hitched — Alex was dressed in jeans and a black shirt, the first couple of buttons were undone and showed a glimpse of his impressive chest.

“Hi,” she said, sounding breathless to her own ears. “Hope I’m not too early.”

“Right on time, Sophie. You look lovely.” He stepped back and she entered his apartment.

She’d never been into his home before. The layout was pretty much the same as hers. She was a couple of floors higher but the view from Alex’s balcony was still impressive. The decor had masculine tones of black and grays, with white highlights. It should’ve made the rooms look smaller but the clever use of lighter toned furniture and mirrors gave the rooms an impression of space.

“Wow, your place is really nice, Alex. Your designer has a very good eye. I’ll have to get their name from you when I want to redecorate.”

“Thanks, I’m pleased with how it turned out, and I’ll pass your comments onto my sister — she was the one who decorated it for me.”

His sister. Clearly his family was a talented group of people. “I wish I had a sister,” she said quietly. Then she would’ve had someone to talk to. Having three older brothers, she was always treated as the princess and told never to worry her pretty little head about anything. They still didn’t respect or understand her decision to go into nursing and not the family business. She didn’t see much of them as they were all in various places around the world.

“There is only myself and my sister. She used to follow me and my friends around when we were younger. Always interfering with our plans to dominate the world. Having said that, I wouldn’t be without her.”

“So you planned to dominate the world, did you?” She followed him into the kitchen and took a seat on a breakfast barstool.

“Yes, I was going to cure the world of all disease, my friend Marco was going to ensure that third world countries had clean water, and Tomasso was going to fix the world’s finances.”

“Sounds ambitious. How is everyone doing at achieving their goals?”

He placed a glass of sparkling water before her. “Well, as you know there are still incurable diseases and my specialty is emergency medicine, not research. Marco is actually an architect now so he’s more into building and creating things than designing well systems for third world countries.”

“And Tomasso?” she asked.

“Tomasso … ” Sorrow filled his voice and grief etched his face. She got off her stool and walked around to him.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I’ll understand.”

“No, it’s fine, it happened a long time ago. Tomasso had an accident and died while waiting to get specialized medical help. I was in the car behind. I couldn’t do anything. I felt so helpless.”

Sophie stood beside Alex and laid her head on his shoulder, trying to transmit some comfort and caring toward him. He had shared another hard personal memory with her.

“That’s why you went into emergency medicine, wasn’t it?”

*

Alex stood for a moment longer and soaked up the scent and warmth and caring Sophie was sending his way. He’d surprised himself when he’d told her about his friends and their teenage ramblings. It had been one of the hardest days of his life when he and Marco had stood at the graveside and watched the coffin holding their best friend lowered into the freshly dug soil. If he closed his eyes, he could remember the smell of the roses and the rain-soaked dirt.

“Alex?”

He dragged his mind away from the memory and back to the here and now and Sophie. His beautiful Sophie who was looking up at him, concern darkening the depths of her blue eyes. Something else was hidden, lurking behind the concern, but he couldn’t make it out.

She’d asked him something; he wracked his brains to remember. That’s right, his specialty.

“Yes, that’s why I went into emergency medicine. Too many patients and not enough doctors. Although, to be fair, the paramedics did everything they could at the scene. He was just too far gone.”

Alex gave himself a mental shake — he was happy with the road he’d chosen, he loved the buzz and rush of the ER, he just wished he could get his hands dirty, metaphorically speaking, more often.

“Enough morbid talk, I didn’t ask you here to depress you. I invited you here so that I could wow you with my culinary skills.”

“Any meal that I haven’t had to cook tastes all the better to me.”

He cast a critical eye over her appearance. She had dressed in designer jeans and a plain three-quarter length sweater that hugged her curves and highlighted her slender waist. On a quick glance, she looked happy and healthy. But on a closer look he could see the rings of fatigue under her eyes. Although she’d tried to hide it with makeup, her face was still pale. She should’ve taken the whole week off, not just two days.

“You should take more time off, Sophie, it’s clear you aren’t fully recovered from the bug you had.”

“Alex, I really appreciate your concern, but I’m fine. Now, what are we eating?”