Rescue Nights (13 page)

‘White coffee, one sugar.’

The amusement in Andrew’s eyes as he put in his coffee preference made her aware that her reaction was possibly not as seamless as she might have liked.

‘Ouch.’ Bumping into the cold marble of the kitchen benches possibly also didn’t help her sophistication levels.

‘Are you OK there?’ Now Andrew didn’t even bother to hide the humour in his voice.

‘Fine,’ she replied grimly. Where was another shot of tequila when you needed it?

Part of her wanted to walk back over to the man, shimmy out of her panties and climb into his lap. But, she knew herself and how embarrassed she would be in the morning. Hell, part of her already wanted to slam her head against the kitchen bench-top in penance.

Had she really discussed oral sex with her work colleague and stupidly gotten undressed after asking him in? In what universe was that her normal behaviour? Now the alcoholic buzz was lifting and he was still there. He was definitely still there, definitely looking at her with predatory eyes.

Two mugs in her hands, Kate walked back over to the lounge suite. She put Andrew’s cup on the low coffee table and found herself a seat on the armchair opposite him.

Now, legs together, she reminded herself, she didn’t want to flash anything more. Kate couldn’t quite decide if it would have been more or less embarrassing that Andrew caught her in some tiny underwear or if she’d decided to wear her spanks. The spanks would have at least spared her a lecture, as her bruises would have been well hidden. If that had happened, Andrew might have been out of the door, instead of taking up residence on her lounge.

‘So, got any plans for the rest of the weekend?’ she asked.

Maybe normality would just somehow resume and the previous hour could be glossed over.

Andrew let her words hang there, long enough for her to worry that he wasn’t going to let her change the subject.

‘I’m going to play at being an English tourist down at the markets,’ he replied, finally. ‘Want to be tour guide?’

‘I wasn’t trying to hint for an invitation,’ said Kate, suddenly feeling like she had to make that very clear.

‘If I wasn’t wanting to spend tomorrow with you I’m quite capable of making that clear.’

With Andrew’s arrogance, Kate was sure that was true.

He continued, ‘No, I’m asking you to spend the day with me because I really want you to.’

‘I’ll go,’ Kate said simply. She curled her legs up under her and noticed his brown eyes darken with what could only be a strong pull of lust.

Andrew put down his coffee cup, and for a moment Kate thought he was going to reach for her. Instead, he picked up his dinner jacket, discarded on the seat beside him, and got to his feet.

‘I’ll see you in the morning,’ he said, walking out without waiting for her reply.

‘It is open,’ was her response to a late morning knock.

Kate couldn’t figure how it was fair that Andrew strode in to the room with such vigour. Her own head rang with the pain of probably five or six standard drinks too many.

Walking into the dimly lit living room, he looked down upon the leather couch where she had spent the hours after he had left sleeping.

‘What, have you given up pants?’ was his immediate question.

Even with her curled up on the couch she suspected that he managed to note her lack of bra under a t-shirt that wasn’t completely long enough to cover the small black panties.

Kate raised her head only long enough to answer him. ‘Andrew, you are the one man in the world who has complaints that my dress sense isn’t modest enough.’

‘Your dress sense is fine. I’m a guy who is pro-skin, I just don’t know if this attempt to rob me of the half of my brain that forms proper sentences was deliberate or coincidental.’

‘No conspiracy theory needed.’ Kate did actually feel pretty rumpled. ‘I have the hangover from hell and while the idea of more clothes did occur, in a risk benefit analysis, me walking across the room to actually get them was a bridge too far.’

Kate felt a small charge at the idea that she had a strong effect on him. ‘Out,’ she continued. ‘I’ll shower and I’ll knock on your door when I’m ready.’

‘Bloody women,’ Andrew smiled at her. ‘I can’t believe I have to wait for you to accessorize.’

The cushion that was close to hand hit the door as he escaped.

About an hour later, Kate stretched out her denim-clad legs in front of her. Her eyes were shaded from the light and the pounding in her head had lessened to a tolerable level.

‘Are you going to stop sulking now?’ Andrew asked, obviously feeling safe now there was nothing close to throw available in the car.

‘Just because you pulled up well,’ Kate twisted in her seat to face him more fully. ‘Actually, are you sure you aren’t one of those doctors who keeps a pilfered IV in his bathroom for just such a day as this?’

Andrew laughed. ‘Not likely with the way that you check and recheck the drug and equipment list. Anyway, from memory, that trick was one more often pulled by the paramedic staff.’

‘That is probably because some doctors don’t bother with the IV of saline, they go straight to the opiates.’

‘Nice,’ Andrew said. ‘Although I do remember an infamous med ball where almost all the registrars the next day had to self-prescribe anti-emetics just to avoid throwing up while they were treating patients.’

With the twisting road climbing up towards the mountains, Kate almost wished that she or Andrew were dodgy enough for her to have something other than the diet coke in her hand.

However, as the car swept around the corner, the view out towards the sea gave her a burst of pleasure.

‘Pull over,’ Kate directed.

‘Please throw up outside the car,’ Andrew replied, as he parked on the grassy verge.

‘No, dummy, the view.’ Kate loved this view of the area. The sea sat on the horizon and this high into the hills you could even spot the coral cay Green Island.

Kate got out and went around to lean back against the still warm hood of the car. Andrew followed.

‘Do you ever look down at the rainforest and wonder how many people are going to get lost there in the next few years?’ Andrew asked.

‘God you haven’t caught risk assessment disorder as well,’ Kate laughed. ‘I think that illness is one particular to first responders. It seems we can’t go anywhere without first figuring out a rescue or treatment scenario.’

‘Great,’ Andrew said, ruefully. ‘This had better go away when I go back to England. I don’t want to spend every football match I attend thinking about what I would do if the stand collapsed. I was bad enough when I was first a hospital resident and used to spend the train-ride home diagnosing people in my head.’

Kate laughed at the idea of a young Andrew doing exactly that. However, there was a catch, deep down in her throat. This job was just a career pit stop for him and that was something she was going to have to keep at the forefront of her mind.

‘OK, time is a-wasting,’ she said. ‘We don’t want all the good pieces to be sold at the market.’

‘Yee Haw,’ Andrew replied, not even bothering to hide his sarcasm. ‘We wouldn’t want to miss the good stuff.’

Twenty minutes later, Kate and Andrew were again getting out of the car. This time, though, they were in the midst of humanity. The markets up at Kuranda were especially popular on the weekend; tourists loved the picturesque trip and eclectic market finds.

‘Am I going to have to hang around as you shop?’ Andrew asked.

He surprised Kate by casually swapping over to the road side of the path and placing his hand lightly on her back.

Kate tried to ignore the warmth of his palm seeping through the thin cotton of her t-shirt. ‘No, I’m going to hang around while you shop. I presume you like your mother enough to buy something for her. It is what a good tourist son would do.’

‘You’ll have to help me in picking out a gift. My mother won’t just want any market tat,’ Andrew replied.

‘Well then, obviously I’ll have to take off my list all the horrible ugly stuff that I was going to recommend you buy,’ Kate said, shaking her head at the handsome doctor’s arrogance.

As they wandered around the small rainforest village, Andrew kept on putting his hands on her. It was nothing overt, just a hand to the elbow, a touch of his hand. Kate couldn’t help a weird pride at the fact that anyone watching would surely think they were a couple.

The town was busy today, as they had gotten off to a slow start and arrived even after the train, which brought hundreds of tourists here. There was a charm in the historic buildings and even if some of the tourist attractions seemed contrived, there was a real beauty in being nestled high above sea level in the Atherton Tablelands.

‘Would your mum wear an opal brooch?’ she asked, as they looked at the many locally mined jewels in the glass cabinet of the upscale market stall.

‘She wore the metal brooch that I made in metalwork class, but I’m not sure that you are as obliged to wear the gifts of your thirty-six-year-old son as you are when he was a ten-year-old. Would you wear that?’

Kate looked down at the pretty, delicate opal set in filigree silver. ‘I probably wouldn’t but I imagine that a mother of yours might.’

Andrew’s large hand scooped it up and turned it over. ‘Jesus, it’s seven hundred dollars.’

Kate looked up and was grateful that he had pitched his voice low enough that the store-holder hadn’t overheard. ‘Don’t be cheap, Andrew. Anyway, I don’t see you jumping into a metal-working shop anytime soon, so you can’t fall back on home-made’.

After Andrew had made his purchase, giving her side-eyes as he handed over his credit card, Kate convinced him that he would also enjoy the scenic cableway.

‘I’ll get the tickets,’ Andrew offered, when Kate reached for her handbag.

‘Only if you are sure your pocket book can withstand it.’

Kate knew she probably should refuse an overture that made it seem date-like. However, she guessed Andrew had too much masculine pride for that to be anything but a tedious argument.

Despite the line-up of people who were also waiting for the Skyrail, when the line got to Kate and Andrew they were let into a glass pod by themselves.

‘I slipped the guy selling the tickets an extra fifty to give us our own gondola,’ Andrew explained. ‘Did you see the teenagers with runny noses behind me? I didn’t want to have to listen to them for the whole hour.’

‘And you complained about the cost of your mother’s gift. I knew it, you are a snob,’ said Kate.

The truth was that she actually appreciated the gesture, even if it did make her nervous. There was something about being sealed off from the rest of the world, even knowing that that seclusion was temporary.

As she settled into her seat, she spotted the indulgent grin on the face of the bribed attendant. ‘He probably thinks you are going to propose to me.’

‘Well, make sure you look happy then when we disembark.’

The Skyrail pods were small, and both of them were tall enough that Kate had to swing her legs to the side to avoid them touching. Andrew sat there, looking too big and blond for comfort. They were lucky that they didn’t have the maximum six people in here. His shoulders would have definitely made for a tight squeeze.

As the gondola started to move, Kate leaned on the glass and looked down at the dense rainforest below. The view was beautiful from up above, and this was an activity where she brought visitors that she actually enjoyed.

‘Don’t tell me cool Kate actually enjoys something as naff as a scenic tour?’ Andrew asked.

‘It is pretty, so bite me,’ Kate replied, without even looking over at the man who was gently mocking her.

Quickly, before she could react, he was sitting next to her, his mouth on her neck and his teeth scraping lightly over her skin. The sensation was both overwhelming and tenderly delicate. For a long moment, Kate just inhaled and enjoyed the feel of Andrew touching her with his mouth.

When she slid back away from him, Andrew looked up and the intensity of his arousal was evident in his gaze.

‘I didn’t think you were the kind of girl who would withdraw a dare,’ he said.

Kate’s head whirled at the sudden shifting of the boundaries between them. ‘So you are not here to sightsee?’

Andrew threaded his hand through the ends of her hair. It seemed he wasn’t a man who backed away from a move.

‘We probably get a better view from the chopper anyway,’ he said. ‘And we are here in a glass box for the next twenty-five minutes, so we have got to find something to do.’

‘What woman wouldn’t want to be thought of as a relief from boredom?’ In contrast to Kate’s words, she punctuated each word with a short kiss, sliding her mouth diagonally against his. The brush of lips was a temptation and, just as she hoped, Andrew dived in. Kate had known last night that this was an inevitable moment and for once, she didn’t want to intellectualize everything. As if sensing her surrender to the universe, Andrew softened his hold and leaned back and let her follow him.

Kissing Andrew was drugging enough that the sensation should probably be on the banned substances list. He was biting gently on her lower lip when she heard the announcement come through the gondola’s sound system.

She pulled back reluctantly and said, ‘OK you have to look now, this is worth the price of admission.’

Andrew grumbled, ‘Well, I already thought I was getting my money’s worth.’

However, when he turned his head he couldn’t hide the look of wonder at the vista opening up before them. The gorge and the waterfall, out the window, were cutting through dense rainforest. The amount of water coming down over rocks was awe inspiring and the forest looked to be from pre-historic times.

Andrew turned to her with intent in his eyes again. ‘OK it’s pretty. Now what?

As he leaned in, putting his hands on her hips, Kate couldn’t hide her flinch.

‘Sorry,’ he said, as he removed his hands from her bruised side. ‘Don’t remind me that I’m still pissed at you for not telling me about your injury.’

Kate almost went to defend herself, but the simple truth was she didn’t want to miss out on any of the pleasure he was giving her with his mouth. With slow deliberation, Andrew put his hands on the glass behind her and began kissing her again.